Chapter Text
The clinking of medical tools stirred Laura Hollis from her induced slumber. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the harsh overhead light. She tried to bring a hand up to block it out, but found that her wrists and ankles were strapped down.
That’s when the panic set in.
She began kicking and thrashing, anything to free herself from the restraints. But it was useless. She wasn’t going anywhere on her own. The silhouette of tall figure appeared in the light. A shiver ran down her spine against the cold table. Despite the thin hospital gown sticking to her clammy skin, she felt utterly exposed.
“Stay calm, you’ll be released shortly. The examination is over.”
“Examination?” Laura croaked, barely able to speak from how dry her throat was.
Slowly, the doctor’s face came into focus. “Don’t worry, disorientation and short term memory loss are normal side effects.”
“Where am I?” Laura looked around the small room. A few trays of intimidating medical tools were on a counter close by, a toxic waste bin was the in the corner, and a door was to her right.
“Silas.” The doctor answered distractedly while jotting down notes.
“Silas.” Laura repeated. She knew that name. It was on the tip of her tongue, leaving an awful taste.
“Silas is your new home, uh…” The doctor paused her scribbles to flip through the pages on her clipboard. “Laura Hollis.”
“Where’s my dad?” Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult.
“Laura.” The doctor placed a hand over hers. It was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but the sickly feel of her latex glove was far from calming. “I know that things are a little scary right now, but I need you to answer a few very important questions for me before I can let you go. Okay?”
The queasy feeling in Laura’s stomach started to rise, but she swallowed it back down with a nod to the doctor.
“Do you know where you are?” The doctor’s tone slipped into a dull clinical drone, like she’d done this a hundred times over.
“Silas.” And suddenly it hit her. Silas. Silas, the quarantine camp. Silas, the place where people were sent to die. “Am I sick?”
“Your lab results came back negative. Now…” The doctor glanced up. “Do you know who I am?”
“Should I know?” Sweat ran down Laura’s forehead. In stark contrast to the unnerving cool of the examination table, the room was sweltering hot.
The doctor made a few notes before answering. “My name is Dr. Vordenburg. We met when you first arrived. Do you remember?”
Laura shook her head, regretting it immediately as she grew dizzy from the movement.
“That’s okay.” Dr. Vordenburg said with a small smile. “Everything will come back to you in time.” She returned her attention to the clipboard. “Do you have any allergies?”
The questions were endless. What were her dietary habits? Did she smoke? Did she drink? Was she sexually active? Had she even been pregnant? Had she ever broken a bone? Had she ever left the country? Had she ever handled toxic chemicals? What animals had she been around in the past month? When was the last time she used a public transit? Had she ever donated blood? Had she ever had a blood transfusion? How many times had she caught the flu? How many Infected had she come into contact with? How did her mother die?
It felt like they’d been in that room for hours by the time Dr. Vordenburg finished writing on the final page. “Thank you, Laura, for your patience and cooperation. I know the formalities can be a bit stressful.”
“I want to see my dad.” She knew what the doctor was going to say, but she had to at least try.
“Only certified personnel are permitted to see the sick.” Dr. Vordenburg explained as she began unstrapping the wrist and ankle restraints.
“Where is he? He is okay?” Laura gently rubbed the red marks on her wrists as soon as they were free.
“I’m afraid I can’t answer those questions for you.”
“Can I see him?”
There was bit too much hope in her voice, and the doctor frowned at the sound of it. “The sick are cared for in a restricted section. Only certified personnel are permitted access that area. Healthy blood relatives who have recently cohabitated with the sick, such as yourself, are cared for at a neighboring facility within Silas. You’ll be taken there once you’re finished here in Medical.”
“If I’m healthy, can I leave?” Laura questioned, her eyes travelling to the door.
“It’s not that simple. Blood relatives of the sick remain at Silas for several reasons.” Dr. Vordenburg repeatedly tapped her pen against the clipboard as she talked. Each little hit was somehow more irritating than the last. “You’ve been exposed to a deadly infectious disease. Your lab results may have returned negative, but that doesn’t mean you won’t show symptoms in the future. This disease is still a mystery to us. We can’t take the risk of releasing you back into society just yet. I’m sure you are well aware that a cure, or any kind of preventative measure, has yet to be discovered. Here at Silas, we strive to not only help those who are suffering from this disease, but to learn as much as we can from them. We want to know why your father caught the disease, and not you. We want to learn how it spreads, how it attacks, and who may be immune. Your stay at Silas won’t be for nothing. You never know, your DNA could be the key to the cure.” A loud buzzing noise drew Dr. Vordenburg’s attention to a tiny pager clipped to her belt. “Sorry to rush out on you, Laura, but I’m needed elsewhere. I’ll call in a nurse to assist you.”
The doctor was out the door before Laura could think of anything to say. The room felt different without Dr. Vordenburg in it. Still hot, still small, still unnaturally clean, but different. She sat up, having to fight back the nausea that bubbled in her empty stomach as she did. It occurred to her that she could make a run for it. Just open the door and start running until she found an exit, until she was free. But where would she go? Her father was holed up in some restricted area. Even if she could find her way out, she’d never be able to leave him behind like that.
The door swung open and a grumpy middle-aged nurse strode in. She adjusted her reading glasses while peering down at the clipboard in her hands. “Laura Hollis?”
“Yes?” If possible, her voice had grown even hoarser.
“Come with me.” The nurse unenthusiastically beckoned for her to follow, already turning back out of the doorway. Laura, to the best of her wobbly ability, trailed after the nurse. They walked down a long sharply lit hallway. The tile felt icy cold against her bare feet.
“Where are we going?” Laura asked as they turned a corner.
“Right this way, kid.” The nurse pointed to a room up ahead. “In you go.”
Laura stepped through the open doorway, wrapping her arms around herself as she did. To the left was a small barrier almost her exact height. Hanging from the ceiling over a small drain in the floor was a hefty shower head. Laura cringed when the room’s foul odor enveloped her; it was a hot diabolical mix of dehydrated piss and dog breath.
“Strip down, please.” The nurse instructed before moving to a lever on the opposite wall.
“What?” Laura halted in her tracks. She looked at the door-less shower, at the small privacy wall, at the open doorway from which they’d entered, and then back to the nurse.
She tapped her foot impatiently. “It’s a sanitation shower, same as the one you had coming into the building.”
Laura had no memory of showering, but then again she couldn’t even recall what day it was. The last thing she could remember was seeing her father being wheeled into an ambulance, but even that felt like it may have just been a dream.
The nurse snapped her fingers and pointed to the waiting shower. “We don’t have all day, let’s go. It’ll be over before you know it.”
Laura tiptoed her way into the shower. The floor was moist and grimy against her bare feet. She considered asking for a pair of shower shoes but the irritated look on the nurse’s face silenced her. With shaky fingers she undid the hospital gown and placed it over the barrier. She was just tall enough to see over it. The nurse pulled the lever without warning, and a wall of shockingly cold water rained down on her. She shrieked, using every last bit of her willpower to remain under the harsh spray.
The water cut off and Laura shivered violently. The nurse appeared by the barrier and handed her a towel. She wordlessly left the room while Laura dried off. When the nurse returned, she had in her hands freshly washed scrubs and a pair of cheaply made slip-on shoes.
“Put this on for now.” The nurse placed the clothing on the barrier. “The belongings you packed this morning will be waiting for you in your room.”
Laura dressed herself quickly. Though it felt strange to go commando, the clean scrubs were a big step up from the hospital gown.
“This way.” The nurse took off at a fast pace that Laura had trouble matching. They walked out of the room and back down the hallway they’d come from. They took a different turn, speeding down a new hallway until they reached a locked glass door. On the other side was a second glass door, but through that Laura could see the outside world. The nurse ran an ID card through a scanner and the doors opened on their own. The sun was nice and warm on Laura’s chilled skin. She squinted through brightness, taking in her surroundings all while trying to keep up with the nurse.
The Medical building they’d exited was small compared to the formidable structures that it was sandwiched between. The two massive buildings looked like hospitals from the outside. Around the outskirts of the buildings were trees as far as Laura could see. It was as if they’d built Silas in the middle of a forest. At the edge of the trees was a tall barbed wire fence complete with guard towers. It was then that Laura noticed the militarized personnel walking the grounds. They wore dark gray outfits, with black ties and heavy boots. Strapped to their belts were flashlights, batons, and Taser guns.
The nurse glanced over her shoulder at Laura and noticed her apprehension. “Hey, kid, just follow the rules and you won’t have any trouble here.”
“The rules?” Laura tried to clear her throat, but that only made the hoarseness worse.
“You’ll be filled in on everything, don’t worry.” The nurse gave a weak salute to the armed guard they were approaching. “How’s the wife, Johnny?”
“She’s doing just fine, Gloria.” The guard grumbled as he escorted them to the front doors of the larger building. The keys hooked to his belt jingled as he walked. They walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the doors, the guard punched in a code on the numbered keypad. He waved up to the camera that was watching them and the automated doors slid apart.
“See you in a few, Johnny.” The nurse called back as she and Laura walked inside and straight to an elevator. Gloria looked over at Laura while she ran her ID card through a scanner. “Doing okay, kid?”
Laura nodded, but the truth was that she was far from okay. Her throat was dry, her stomach was empty and twisted up in anxious knots, her wet hair was dripping cold droplets down her back, the sun had warmed her up to the point that she’d begun sweating, she felt defenseless and exposed, and on top of all that she still couldn’t remember how she’d gotten to Silas in the first place or how her father was doing.
“We’re going up to Young Adult Residence on the fifth floor.” The nurse explained. “Ground level is for Silas personnel only. Just a bunch of offices and such. If you’re needed down there, you’ll be escorted. Second floor has the cafeteria, third floor has your recreation rooms, fourth floor is for kids under eighteen, fifth floor is the young adults, sixth floor has your thirty and older crowd, and the top floor is restricted. Oh, and from now on, you’ll have to take the stairs when you go to different floors. Only the staff get to use these babies.”
The elevator came to an abrupt stop. The doors separated with a whine, and Laura followed the nurse out.
“To your left…” Gloria pointed in the direction. “You’ll see a few office rooms. Those belong to the counselors. If you have any questions or concerns, try taking it up with those guys. They’ll be the ones who’ll run all of your activities and let you know when it’s time for your checkups.”
“Checkups?” Laura asked uneasily. She dreaded the idea of going back to that Medical place.
The nurse began walking again. “Listen, kid, this place ain’t no resort. Serious business is going on here. I’ve seen people waltz in just as fit as can be, then see them get wheeled right on out in a body bag by the end of the week. Now, I don’t mean to alarm you or anything, but it’s stuff like that we’re trying to prevent. A few checkups here and there could save your life.”
They stopped in front of a door marked 307. It was the same as all the other doors they’d passed, and all the ones still down the long hallway. The nurse gave a few knocks before entering. The room was exceptionally small and dull, with gray cinder block walls and the same boring tiled floors as the rest of the building. It held two single beds at opposite walls, each with its own night stand and lamp. One of the beds had a cheetah print pillow and a tattered old book on it. On the other bed, Laura’s duffel bag sat on the bare mattress beside her favorite yellow pillow and folded white sheets. A thin window with plain curtains filled the wall space between the two sides of the room. To the left of the doorway was a cramped bathroom with a toilet and shower, the sink to which was across to the right of the doorway. The mirror that hung above the sink reflected back to Laura an image of herself that she almost didn’t recognize.
Laura turned to face the nurse. “How long do I have to stay here?”
With one foot out the door, Gloria shook her head. “It’s complicated, kid. Your counselor will be around soon. Stay here until then.”
With a final “see you around”, the nurse shut the door and Laura found herself alone at Silas for the first time. She walked over to the window and peered out. Down below was a view of the seemingly endless forest. A few mountains and hills filled out the landscape in the distance.
She turned her attention to her duffel bag. Rifling through it, she found a week’s worth of clothes, the locket that her father had given her as a high school graduation present, and the framed family portrait that had sat atop her bedroom dresser for as long as she could remember. She ran her fingers along the picture. Her parents looked so happy, so young and full of life. Laura could tell that she’d been crying just before the photo had been taken. Her little toddler cheeks were all red and puffy.
Not sure how much time she had before that counselor would arrive, she quickly changed into something more comfortable and hit up the bathroom. Everything was kept fairly clean, with the exception of the ungodly large tangle of dark hair in the shower drain. She headed over to the sink and used her hands to drink from it. Minutes passed before her thirst was fully quenched. The relief was heavenly. Laura slipped out of the Silas shoes that nurse had given her and put on a pair of her old favorites. The soles were worn down from years of use and they had a few stains splattered across them, but they felt like home. Laura used the clean sheets to make her bed, placing the yellow pillow by the headboard when she was done.
When a knock finally came on the door, it startled her. A tall blonde, not all that much older than Laura herself, poked her head inside. “Laura Hollis?”
Laura nodded. “Um, yeah, that’s me.”
The blonde opened the door wider and extended her hand. “Hi, Laura. My name is Elizabeth Spielsdorf, but you can call me Betty. It’s so nice to meet you.”
Laura shook the offered hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”
“I’m one of the Young Adult counselors here at Silas, which means that it is my job to help you acclimate to life under quarantine. I bet you have a lot of questions, and I’ll be happy to answer anything that I can.”
Laura fidgeted nervously with her hands. “When can I leave?”
Betty’s upbeat attitude never faltered. “That’s a good question. Leaving Silas prior to the quarantine being lifted actually calls for an approval process that has to be okayed by your assigned doctor, the Silas board of disease research professionals, and the Director.”
Laura didn’t bother hiding her disappointment. “Can you at least tell me how my dad is doing?”
“Well, I don’t actually have that information at this particular moment in time, but you should rest assured that he is in good hands. The Silas treatment facility is one of the best in the country. Has anyone briefed you on the rules?” She handed Laura a paper with a bulleted list. “Just keep up with this and you’ll have no problems.”
Laura scanned the page. “Must carry an ID card at all times? I don’t have one of those.”
“Oh, silly me.” Betty reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a laminated picture ID card swinging from a lanyard. “Now you do.”
“Where did this picture come from?” Laura asked as she took the card into her hands.
“That picture was taken when you arrived this morning.” Betty answered with a friendly smile. “It’s okay, the memory loss will go away after a while.” She checked the time on her wristwatch. “You’ll notice on the list that meal times are designated by age group. Your age group eats breakfast at eight, lunch at one, and dinner at seven. Young adult group activities are scheduled from two to four. On the weekdays, lights out is at ten. On the weekends, it’s at midnight. Weekends are the only time that group activities are optional.”
“Group activities?” She felt nervous from merely saying the words out loud.
Betty lit up. “Oh, yes! Our group activities are phenomenal. You’ll love them, trust me. This morning we had our monthly book discussion on Dracula, and we voted on The Styrian as our novel to read for June. I’ll find you a copy. We do a lot of community building exercises, and on nice days we like to take supervised trips outside. Sometimes we watch movies, sometimes we do crafts. It all depends. We counselors really listen to your feedback and try our best to cater toward how the group is feeling.”
“How many people are quarantined here?” Laura felt dumb for asking, but it was a question that had been on her mind for a while.
“Technically, everyone here is under quarantine. All personnel who work at Silas live here as well.” Betty clarified. “It’s just too risky to let anyone leave. The whole purpose of having quarantined locations is to prevent the further spread of a disease. Any one of us could be carrying it and we’d have no idea. As of right now, Silas is a one-way trip. For everyone. But to answer your question, there’s roughly about a eight hundred people at Silas overall.” She gestured to the hallway. “In a few minutes it’ll be you meal time for dinner. We should head down to the cafeteria.”
Folding up the list of rules, Laura slipped her ID card around her neck and followed Betty out of the room.
“You won’t need a key to get back in. Residence rooms have no locks.” She pointed to a wall mounted camera as they walked by it. “Stealing is strictly prohibited at Silas, but with our guards watching the security monitors night and day, it’s nothing to worry about. Your belongings will be safe in your room.”
“What about my roommate?” Laura asked as they headed down a stairwell. “What if she turns out to be some kind of kleptomaniac or something?”
Betty laughed. “Oh, you won’t need to worry about her.”
Laura was about to ask exactly why she didn’t need to worry about her new roommate, but she stopped short as the stairwell erupted into chaos. People seemed to enter from every floor. Laura had trouble keeping up with Betty through the traffic. By the time they reached the cafeteria doors on the second floor, Laura was out of breath. She and Betty stood out of the way, watching the sea of young adults filter inside.
“Wait here.” Betty instructed before skipping off to flag someone down. She returned quickly with a redhead in tow. “Laura, this is LaFontaine. LaFontaine, this is Laura. Today is Laura’s first day at Silas.”
LaFontaine gave a polite nod. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Laura glanced around. The crowd had finally died down, with the last few stragglers finding their way in.
“LaFontaine agreed to show you how the cafeteria works.” Betty clapped her hands together. “Well, I’m off. If you need anything, Laura, my office is on the fifth floor, second door to the left. You can’t miss it. I’ll see tomorrow at your first group activity. I hope you enjoy your stay at Silas.”
Laura wanted to roll her eyes, but LaFontaine beat her to it. Oblivious, Betty turned on her heel and reentered the stairwell.
“They, them, their.” LaFontaine said once they were alone in the hallway.
“Sorry?” Laura raised a perplexed brow.
LaFontaine shrugged. “My pronouns. I go by they, them, and their.”
“Oh. Okay.” Laura had never heard of such a thing, but she wasn’t about to disrespect the wishes of a total stranger.
They gave her a curious look. “Really? That’s it?”
“Um...” She felt her own awkwardness caving in on her. “Yeah? Why, were you just joking?”
LaFontaine shook their head. “Definitely not joking. I just usually get a lot of funny looks and grammar related lectures from people when I mention it. But I don’t identify as male or female, so it doesn’t make any sense to use those pronouns, you know?”
Laura made a mental note to do some research on this topic at another time. Exploring the gender spectrum would make a great article for her Journalism 101 class in the fall—if she would even be able to still take it, that is.
LaFontaine nodded toward the open doors. “You hungry?”
On cue, Laura’s stomach growled. LaFontaine led the way into the cafeteria. It was enormous, twice the size of the one Laura had known in high school. Despite its sheer size, not a single table was left empty in the entire room.
“The food isn’t too bad.” LaFontaine said as they handed Laura a tray. “Could be a lot worse.” They slid their tray down the counter, looking through the glass cover at their options. They smiled at a burly cafeteria worker awaiting their request. “I’ll take some of the pasta, please.”
Laura watched as the worker scooped up a generous portion of pasta and messily dumped it on LaFontaine’s tray. The worker looked to Laura as LaFontaine slid down to the next choice of food. Feeling the pressure, Laura panicked and asked for the pasta as well.
When the two of them had full trays, Laura followed LaFontaine through the crowded cafeteria to a table in the back. LaFontaine took a seat between two other redheads, leaving Laura with the only remaining seat on the end.
“Everyone, this is Laura. Laura, this is everyone.” LaFontaine announced before shoveling a spoonful of pasta into their mouth.
The girl with red curls smiled politely across the table at Laura. “Lola Perry, but most people just call me Perry.”
The other redhead, an exceptionally tall girl, waved at her from down the table. “Hey, I’m Danny.”
“Kirsch.” The boy next to her declared. He pointed his thumb at the girl to his right. “That’s SJ.” The girl made no sign of greeting or recognition. She simply stared at the tray of food in front of her. Kirsch leaned in and whispered, “She doesn’t talk much to any of us these days. It’s nothing personal.”
Once the table’s interest in her had fizzled out, Laura was able to eat her dinner while quietly observing the group of friends. They were all older than she was, though only by a year or two. It was clear that the five of them had known each other for quite some time. They finished each other’s sentences and brought up old inside jokes with ease. None of them seemed to mind Laura’s lack of contribution to the conversation, but she assumed it was something they’d grown used to with their silent friend SJ.
Most of the people in the cafeteria had already cleared out by the end of the hour. When a bell tone sounded over the loud speakers to signal the official end of meal time, the group collected their trays and headed for the door. As they weaved through the tables, Laura noticed a dark haired girl sitting alone across the way.
She was absolutely gorgeous. She held a book in her hands, which she intently read despite the loud cafeteria chatter. Laura was so utterly fixated on the stranger that she nearly bumped into Kirsch’s back when he came to an abrupt stop to toss his tray in the collection bin. Laura placed her tray on top of his, glancing back to get one last look at the beautiful girl sitting alone before the flow of traffic pushed her out of the cafeteria doors.
Hesitantly, Laura tapped LaFontaine’s shoulder. “Hey, uh, do you know who that girl sitting by herself was? The one who kept reading while everyone else was leaving?”
LaFontaine grinned as they began the long ascent up the stairwell. “Pale, wears all black, kind of broody and mysterious looking?”
Laura nodded eagerly.
“That’d be Carmilla.” LaFontaine answered before giving Laura a sly look. “I get it now.”
“Get what?” She asked, checking behind them to see if the girl named Carmilla was anywhere in sight. Unfortunately, she wasn’t.
“Why Betty introduced us.” They explained.
“I’m lost.” Laura admitted. In front of them Danny and Kirsch began taking the stairs two at a time in a race to see which of them could make it to the fifth floor first.
LaFontaine chuckled at the pair of goofballs bounding up the stairs, or possibly just at Laura’s naivety. Maybe even both. Laura couldn’t really tell. “Betty wanted to make sure that you met the other queers. That woman truly has a sixth sense when it comes to spotting us.”
“Wait, what—“ Laura nearly tripped over her own feet. Luckily, she was able to grab the railing and keep herself steady. “So all of you are gay?”
“Gay? No.” LaFontaine clarified. “Queer? Yes.”
“Oh. Okay.” Laura had assumed that LaFontaine identified as queer, but she never would have guessed that the entire table did as well. The news certainly put a lot of their jokes and stories into an entirely new perspective. “But about that girl…”
LaFontaine gave a hearty laugh. “Well, like I said, she’s broody and mysterious. A bit of a loner, you know? All she does is sit by herself and read. She rarely ever talks during group stuff. No one really knows anything about her. I mean, she aged up from the Under Eighteens at the beginning of the year, but that’s about all I know.”
Laura wasn’t quite satisfied with that answer, but she let it go. She’d have plenty of time to revisit the subject later.
When they reached the fifth floor, Laura once again found herself out of breath. Climbing that many stairs every day was going to be a major adjustment for her.
“Hey, Laura.” Danny had a victorious glow about her, having easily beaten Kirsch in their race. “In a little while we’re heading down to the rec rooms. Want to join us?”
“Maybe tomorrow.” She decided quickly. “I’m pretty exhausted. I think I’ll just head to bed.”
Laura bid farewell to LaFontaine, Danny, Perry, Kirsch, and SJ. They were nice people and she was glad Betty had introduced her to them. Making friends on the first day seemed like a good sign.
After a brief moment of confusion, Laura headed down what she hoped was the right hallway. She was relieved to find the door marked 307 about halfway down. The room was empty, still no roommate to be found. She kicked off her shoes, grabbed a towel and a change of clothes from her bag, and went into the small bathroom. In the middle of her hot shower, she heard someone enter the room from the hallway. She was glad she had preemptively brought her sleep clothes into the bathroom with her. Walking out in just a towel would have been an awkward first encounter. She dried off and pulled on her pajama shorts and oversized Veronica Mars shirt. Taking a calming breath and hoping for the best, she exited the bathroom.
Her roommate was there, sprawled out on her bed with a book covering her face. Laura swallowed hard as a wave of nerves hit her.
Of course, she thought. Of course it would be her.
The beautiful, broody, mysterious, dark haired girl named Carmilla curiously peered over the top of her book at Laura, who blushed as she realized she was staring.
“Uh, hi.” Laura hastily looked away. “I’m Laura.”
“Carmilla.” She replied lazily as she brought the book up to hide her eyes.
Unsure of what to do, Laura awkwardly took a seat on her bed. She ran a hand through her wet hair. “So…what happened to your last roommate?”
“Transferred.” Carmilla grumbled indifferently.
“Transferred?” Laura asked. “Like to a different quarantine camp?”
She let out an annoyed sigh. “Like to the Infected section.”
“Oh.” Laura dropped the attempt to converse with her. She contemplated apologizing for bothering her while she was reading, but the silent tension in the room held her back. Turning off her lamp, Laura slid into bed and faced the wall. She could practically feel Carmilla’s eyes on the back of her head, but chose to ignore it.
Though she was tired, she had trouble falling asleep. The day’s events, or at least the events she could remember, consumed her thoughts. So much had happened in such a brief amount of time. She wondered how her dad was doing, and if the room he was being kept in was anything like the room she was in now. She wondered what would happen if a cure was never found. Would they stay under quarantine forever? Would the healthy relatives be able to leave after a certain amount of time? She wondered about her new roommate. Which of her family members was sick? How long had she been at Silas? Was there a crazy personality hiding underneath all that beauty?
Laura rolled over to find that Carmilla was fast asleep on the other bed, still in her day clothes with her lamp still on. Her book rested on her chest, rising and falling with every breath she took. She looked so peaceful.
When Laura closed her eyes, she effortlessly drifted off to sleep.