Bellflower 52 (Patreon)

In this installment of the Bellflower, Rachel & Deidre hope their intervention & laying all cards on the table was enough to open Holly's eyes on what's going on at the Bellflower. But can they trust Holly, even if she does know the truth? And in what other ways might Penny retaliate for taking Holly off the grid?

Finally. More Bellflower!

I'm retrospectively realizing that interventions/cult-deprogramming style scenes are difficult to write & there are way too many points to cover & think about. I had this started but hit something of a roadblock for a while. And I'd delete & rewrite. And delete & rewrite. Etc etc. Now, I think I've finally been able to at least blow myself out of that wedge to at least progress. Originally, I wanted to at least incorporate some of the forthcoming lunch into this chapter, but between the conversation, Rachel's thoughts, & texts, this chapter was already feeling quite fat. So prepare for a potential pig-out in the next, hopefully with only a fraction of the wait time!

Another check off the roadmap. I finished another thing (a little out of order) & scheduled it for tomorrow. So there's that as well, if you like something slightly on the ruder side.

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52

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Holly wasn’t saying much on the ride back to Oakmont. 

And Rachel really couldn’t blame her, even as concerned as she was.

Lit only in short glimpses by the street lights they passed, Rachel could just vaguely make out her sister’s reflection in the front passenger window. And even then, there was a lot of her big, round shoulder in the way. But she could still see enough. And after all these years together, the expression Holly wore was a little tough to read. 

She didn’t quite seem angry, which was good, considering just how pissed off she had been for some of the white lies that led her to come out here. Now, her look was almost a little more glum, but with a sharpness to it. Focused. Just sort of… contemplative. Like she was actually just trying to process what was all said this evening. Which Rachel considered a good thing. Mission accomplished. And yet maybe that’s why Rachel wasn’t used to her sister having this kind of an expression. It was new, or at least very rare for her. Holly was never really the deeply introspective type. For her, nothing ever seemed to scrape past the surface level. Well there’s a first time for everything.

Catching herself, Rachel didn’t mean that in a snide way. At least not now, in this very moment. And sure, the revelation that Holly had actually instructed Penny to fuck with her apartment search did irk her. A lot, frankly, if she stopped to give it much thought. But she was actively choosing not to do that, & chalk that bit of malice up to Holly just being oblivious to everything going on & not realizing how seriously fucked it was. Besides, what did Holly actually do to impede her? As if ultimately Penny wasn’t already trying to fuck with her. 

No, Rachel thought to herself sternly, trying not to dwell. More than anything, she was actually kind of impressed with just how almost unexpectedly receptive Holly had actually been through the evening. Relatively open to what the girls were all saying, or at the absolute very least, not just flatly laughing in their faces. And it all seemed quite likely that was only a product of the week she was having, & the way Holly herself could start to see the cracks starting to form. If not for that, there’s no way she would’ve offered them an iota of the same charitability. 

And now, considering how much of Holly’s large, round profile bulged out over the sides of her already-large front seat, Rachel was just thankful that the opportunity finally came when it did. She was just getting so… unwieldy. It was crazy enough Holly had blown up so much in such a short period of time. But Rachel still had a hard time fathoming what Holly had kept alluding to when it came to Penny’s mindfuckery. How she was lulled into thinking she’s ‘bigger, sure, but not that fat?’ Like how do you just not even realize? And even worse, just how jarring must it be to have reality all come crashing back? Suddenly be significantly heavier than you realized? It was that shock that made this evening possible.

A few bad days aside, the fact Holly wasn’t having a more severe breakdown also seemed like some small miracle. Rachel always looked at Holly’s usual positivity through a cynical lens. Assumed it was fake. But maybe it wasn’t? And maybe that was the only thing helping her to keep on persevering this week. 

Still, on some level, Rachel worried they might have thrown too much at her too quickly. After all, current scale readings aside, Holly was utterly a normie, through & through. And news that the biggest selling point of the condo she was paying a mortgage & HOA fees, that weaseled its way into becoming the lynchpin of her entire lifestyle was really, really bad & evil actually? All of that normality suddenly just utterly shattered? 

Another street light & Holly squinched her brow a little. The gears were turning in there. She was curious as to exactly what it was that was floating around in Holly’s mind in this very instance. But for her, it seemed all the more prudent to just let Holly be right now. Alone with her own thoughts. Why keep pressing the issue? She just hoped tonight would finally be enough to get her to finally open her goddamn eyes, once & for all. Hopefully put the breaks on, at the absolutely very least.

Besides, quite frankly? After coordinating all this, fretting & second guessing every part of this until the very moment they walked inside, & all of the emotional labor of trying to be supportive & extra sympathetic for her sister? Who tried to sabotage her moving out?! Rachel just felt absolutely drained. She needed some recovery time to herself too. After only fiddling with it so far, Rachel finally powered her phone up again, & leaned further into the back seat with a soft sigh, her round face illuminated by its restart screen glow. 

Deidre on the other hand, as outgoing as she was, wasn’t quite equipped to handle the sisterly silence. It felt uneasy to her. Unbearable. 

Once or twice, she almost reached to put on music. She needed something. Anything. But ultimately with the heaviness of the evening, & the way she thought Holly seemed to be taking it, she honestly didn’t know what to even put on. Hell, she almost opted for terrestrial radio, just so that decision of ‘vibes’ didn’t fall directly onto her. But she had never even tried using that in this car over the course of owning it. She didn’t even know how to get it on without messing with it. Not while she was trying to pay attention to the road. Still, the big quiet only made her become more & more anxious by the second.

“In the next. 1,000. Feet. Turn right on. Anders. Lane.” The voice from the nav app cut in. It startled her at first, before Deidre tried to play it off as if she wasn’t. All the more reason to finally break the silence.

“Y’know, I had my issues,” Deidre muttered in Holly’s direction. “Believing all this insanity at first.”

“I’m- I-” Holly stammered before taking a frustrated sigh & trying again. “The insane part is that like… the more I think about things? The harder a time I have trying to argue against any of it. I mean I don’t not believe you all. It’s just…”

“Insanely fucked,” Rachel interjected from the back, with the intent of trying to crack a smile. Her phone, finally reaching its lock screen again. 

“Yeah,” Holly nodded softly, more bewildered than smiley. Still, the vibe lightened slightly. “It’s fucked.”

“And I don’t blame you. Look, it’s not like we certainly have all the answers,” Deidre admitted. “But that’s why it’s so damn crucial to just stop & at the very least pay close attention. That’s the point we were trying to drive at with the whole ‘stay mindful’ thing.”

“Instead of just like- coasting?” Holly asked.
“Yeah,” Rachel perked up. “Like operating on autopilot.” The fact that Holly asked more as a clarifying question & less dismissively this time around gave her hope that things were truly starting to click.

“The inch you give that lets Penny take a mile.” Deidre sighed. “It’s important to have your wits about you. Pay attention to everything. And I don’t just mean like what you see & hear. But like how you feel. Obviously, your appetite.” She chuckled to herself. “Like I’m telling you, just be ready. There’s going to be a moment when you step foot anywhere near the building & suddenly you’re probably going to feel really hungry again.”

“Oh fuck, you’re right.” Rachel reeled, muttering. She knew the feeling all too well at this point. Stepping back into the elevator only to feel immediately famished. Penny’s way of exerting dominance for doing something it didn’t like. She should’ve been mentally preparing for it all night, but with so much going on, she kind of put it entirely out of her mind.
“So we are going back?” Holly seemed to panic. “You tell me that the evil AI in our condos is bent on trying to turn us all into landwhales or whatever… but we still are… like… going back?”

“Yeah, I’m frankly never too stoked about the prospect of going back,” Deidre admitted. 

“Can’t we get a hotel? Sleep at the office? Anything?” Holly spitballed. “At least til we figure out what’s going on?” As much as Rachel wanted to agree, she knew they couldn’t.

“We can’t.” she rasped from the back seat, the understanding in her voice palpable though.

“What?!” Holly stammered. “Why not?”

“Because the instant we start deviating too much from our standard routine, the more Penny will know something is amiss & try & find a way to not only bring us back in the fold, but punish us.” Deidre explained. “And if not us, our friends & neighbors.”

“It’s psychotic, how vindictive it is. For a robot.” Rachel murmured to herself, knowing full well. But she was also a bit sidetracked. Her phone suddenly got inundated with a bunch of texts that she must’ve gotten while it was off, & her eyes lit up. 

“We’ve probably already garnered too much suspicion this evening as it is,” Deidre lamented. “We’ll all have to play things pretty lowkey for a day or two. And even then, we’ll have to watch out.” She paused before shooting Holly a look. “Sorry again for- well… all the secrecy. Dragging you out here. Last thing we were looking to do is violate your trust.”

“It’s… fine,” Holly sighed softly. “I- don’t even know what to trust any more.” She flapped her pudgy hand on her round belly, trying to bring her elbow in closer, still worried she was spilling over too much.
“Well, I hope you can trust that your sister & I both are trying our best to look out for you.” Deidre tried to offer, compassionately. “Right, Rachel?”

“Huh? Yeah. Of course.” a distracted Rachel appeased. But her head was elsewhere. There were so many texts. All from Camille. She worried something was seriously wrong. But as she started going through, it started to just sound a little lonely. Needy, but in an endearing way. Some were clumped but mostly they came in at different times. She parsed through them.

“Are you SURE you’re busy tonight?”

“Couldn’t possibly swing by AFTER could you?” 

“Sorry”

“Not trying to bug you. Just suddenly felt so goddamn hungry.” 

“Thought we could maybe order something again.”

“Make a night of it.”

“It’s cool if not.”

“I know with work”

“How am I only getting hungrier?” Uh-oh, Rachel thought.

“FUCK I dont know if I have ever been more hungry in my entire life”

Dammit. The line sort of unsettled Rachel a little. It seemed as if Penny was, in fact, on to something being amiss. And per usual, the AI was trying to send Rachel a message.

“Okay [pizza emoji] coming. Youre missing out”

“Maybe you can come feed me some when youre done??”

“Regina was a doll! Brought cupcakes. And there [sic] actually SOO good!” [pig emoji]

“Theres more [pizza emoji] coming too” What did she mean more pizza coming?

“Amazing combo” 100 emoji.

“Dont knock it until you try it”

“Stop over if you can”

“If you want”

Then there’s one that’s just a pig emoji.

“Fuck” 

“Warning you now!”
“Might just explode!!” Rachel clicked her tongue against her teeth. 

Bomb emoji. She had just gotten done saying how vindictive Penny was. And here the evil bot was taking out its frustrations on the girl she liked.

Then just another pig emoji. 

“Know I’m bugging you but raincheck?”

“Think I overdid it” Flanked by two pig emojis. Rachel took a deep breath.

“Instead would you like to go check out that new Helios place tomorrow? With Regina?”

“Mediterranean. With a buffet!”
“For lunch?” It was telling, Cami being stuffed but still fixating on food & lining up future meals. 

”That is if I don’t literally just fucking POP tonight!” [pig emoji] [bomb emoji]

“Did I mention I feel like I might?”

Then another bomb emoji.

Rachel sighed. On the one hand, she knew Camille wasn’t exactly suffering. But Penny making her unwittingly gorge herself like that? It fucked her up.

“Please don’t explode” Rachel responded. “I’m down for lunch” She followed. A buffet? Fuck. This might be bad. “If only to keep you from reaching the point of nearly exploding again”

“Isn’t that right, Rachel?” Deidre asked.

“Huh?!” Rachel looked up. She was utterly lost.

“I was just stressing to Holly,” Deidre rasped a little, seemingly frustrated she wasn’t paying attention. “How paramount, & well, pretty obvious it should be, not to mention a word of any of this to Penny. How we have to be extra careful around her.”

“Oh. Yeah. No! Totally!” Rachel agreed. “You’re going to delete the app now right? Get that shit the fuck off your phone.”

“I- guess I have to…” Holly kind of resigned herself, realizing she hadn’t quite thought that part through. More than anything, it started dawning on Holly the amount of creature comforts that might go away if she were to keep Penny at a distance.

“Uh yeah!” Rachel affirmed sarcastically. “Should go without saying.” Her tone was reflex in responding to something Holly said. But Holly didn’t deserve the usual ire. At least not tonight. Rachel collected herself. “I get how it’s probably going to be tough to give up,” She said with a short sigh & a much softer voice. “So if there’s anything I can do to help you like… adjust? Just let me know, okay? Whatever I can do to help ween you off of this. I- I just- I don’t want to lose you, Hol.” There was a brief pause & resurgence of the silence. Just the sound of Deidre’s tires hitting splits in the road as she merged back onto the highway.

“Thank you,” Holly finally said with a genuine appreciation Rachel never expected to hear out of her. She craned her neck towards the center to look back, but there was too much of her. Her cheeks & chins seemed to get in the way. 

“Of course.” Rachel mustered, fighting back a tear of her own. She laid her hand on Holly’s soft shoulder.

The pasta seemed to keep flowing.
And what was unfortunately becoming something of a pattern, the three plates she kind of over-anticipated became more like five in actuality. Daphne was starting to have a really hard time stopping herself. After one more debug & one final forkful, she leaned back in her chair with a creak, lifted up the bottom of her tee, & gave her tight, pale belly a soft rub. It gurgled back in response, with the contents making her wince a little.

“Phew,” she exhaled. “In the future, couldja at least try to make it like 75% less delicious? Then I might not eat like such a hog!”

“Apologies, I am afraid that falls a little outside of my programming,” Penny said in her flat pleasant tone. “Only the best for those I am designed to serve. And especially for you!” The machine emphasized. It seemed like a canned line to Daphne.

“Lil’ ol’ me?” She pishawed, blowing it off. She waved it away, but the hand gesture jostled her a little more than she liked. “Well so much for a late night coding sesh,” she whined. “After all that? I kind of feel as though I could almost use a nap.”

“Miss Daphne, you say that as if now is not a perfectly fine time to turn in for the evening.” Penny backhandedly nagged.

“Fine. I’m too full to put up much of a fight.” Daphne resigned. “Just, don’t make me move right just yet. I dunno if I can.”

“Take all the time you need, so long as you are comfy.” Penny said, as a mechanical arm lowered & softly pulled the office chair a wee bit back, while spinning it to the side. A full, ailing Daphne, did not see the sudden new bluetooth connection established on her laptop. Had she not been too concerned with rubbing her tummy, she wouldn’t have seen the lines of code from her AI project start to go through a couple of edits. Or the subsequent lines that were added & swapped in. 

Penny was at work.

She was hypervigilant now, after Deidre’s warning.

And Holly could feel it starting to happen. Her satisfied stomach started to feel a few errant pangs of hunger now again as they drove up to the entrance of the Bellflower’s garage.
“Not a word,” Deidre reminded softly with a solemn nod. Holly dipped her chin back with a soft bob. As they rounded the pillars & reached Deidre’s assigned spot, the sensations of peckishness grew just slightly. As the SUV came to a stop, Holly fumbled for the door handle, having an issue maneuvering her thick arm. But the instant the door opened, more of the ambient hunger seemed to hit her. It weirdly helped reaffirm everything the girls had told her. As crazy as the sound thing… well… sounded? She could actually feel it happening, the less protected she was by the confines of the car.
“Oooph,” Rachel winced, stepping out. She felt it too, & had a much harder time trying to hide it.
The strange part was that after worrying all evening about how she was much bigger than she perceived herself, something about stepping out onto the concrete parking deck made her round body feel at least just the slightest more nimble. Not that she was exactly prancing, but oddly not as weighed down as she had felt. Not necessarily more agile, but at the very least slightly more mobile. And that wasn’t entirely unwelcome, given the long day she had just had.

Slowly & quietly, the three women made their way towards the nearest elevator. To Holly, they weren’t exactly like high schoolers trying to sneak in past angry parents later than they should have, but it kind of had that unspoken vibe, as they shot a few looks at one another. The elevator dinged & the door slowly opened before any of them could even press the button.

“Miss Deidre? Miss Rachel? Miss Holly?” Penny chimed. The sing-songy pleasantness was tinged with a sense of worry. “I seemed to lose you all for a bit there. Is everything alright?”
“Couldn’t be better,” Rachel hissed flatly. Her & Deidre, exhausted, stepped onto the elevator. Holly, upon hearing the voice once again, & now with new context seemed a bit frozen. Hesitant. Frightened. It didn’t help that suddenly, like a punch to the gut, Holly was suddenly almost ravenous again. Her usual, incessant, resting level of hunger she had seemingly almost grown too comfortable with feeling. 

“Holy fuck,” she mouthed softly. When Rachel realized Holly still hadn’t even gotten on, she snagged Holly’s hand to help guide her in.

“Come on, Hol.” She winked, trying to offer a skittish but genuine smile. “It’s going to be alright. For now, let’s just get you to bed.”

“Is Miss Holly okay?” Penny inquired. “Her heart rate seems-”
“She just needs a good night’s rest,” Deidre interrupted, hitting the buttons for their floors. “C’mon. Up we go.” She said to Holly with the patience of a kindergarten teacher.
As the doors shut, both Rachel & Deidre shot each other a glance. They hadn’t expected Holly to be so shellshocked, & now seemed a bit worried.

After an agonizingly slow elevator ride, Rachel & Holly finally reached the condo again. Holly was suddenly so impossibly hungry she could just barely think. But what little thinking she could actually do treated her empty stomach with a severe mistrust.

“Long day,” Rachel exhaled between puckered lips. She too was doing everything in her power not to run to the fridge, even with the more experience she had, staving off the cravings.

“It is quite late, but is there anything I can offer either of you?” Penny asked as the door suddenly closed. Rachel looked to Holly, who bit her lip. “Anything. Anything at all.” The robot continued to press.

”I would like…” Holly started with a sigh. Rachel’s eyes shot wide. “Some crackers. With a little bit of peanut butter.” It took a second, but a flash of relief hit the younger sister’s face.
“Just… crackers? With peanut butter?” An almost disappointed Penny seemed to recoil. “Ok, let me prepare the bo-”

”No.” Holly struggled. It was taking every last bit of her self-control. “Not the whole box. Just- fou- I mean five.”

”Five, Miss Holly?” It was asked with as much shock as the AI’s kayfabe voice could potentially muster. 

”Yes. Five peanut butter crackers.” Holly maintained. “And just five crackers.”

“I think I have some 2% in there that I bought for myself” Rachel offered with a smile. “Because you know with a salty cracker & peanut butter, you’ll probably want a little something to wash it down.” It was a small gesture.
“Ok,” Holly smirked, recognizing it. “But just this once.” Holly took a few more lumbering steps towards her bedroom. “And Rachel?”
“Yeah, Hol,” Rachel looked back as she collapsed onto her bed on the couch. 

“Thanks again,” Holly said, tears welling. “For everything.”
“Thank you,” Rachel gestured back with a warm smile. “For just giving me a chance.”

As a less-than-thrilled Penny’s arms seemed to methodically prep just five cracker sandwiches, Holly retired to her bedroom. And Rachel sighed, kicking her feet up & genuinely hoped things would start to change, at least just this one time, for the better.