Bellflower Part 30 (Patreon)

In this thirtieth installment of the Bellflower, Holly is upset to be among the last to find out. And a bit of retail therapy doesn't help in quite the way she hoped it would. Meanwhile, things start clicking for Deidre as she's introduced to some new allies. Perhaps just in time too. 

This was a big one. Lots going on & a lot of threads continuing at once. Sorry it took a bit, but I'm hopeful you'll enjoy.

From here, bigger things are going to start to happen in terms of the mystery unraveling (& maybe some of the gains) a bit more regularly. Like the next part might continue right after this, but we'll start jumping further & further ahead. While I don't want to promise wrapping up the story by a certain number chapter or anything, I am probably going to progress maybe a bit more steadily towards the end in future chapters. But don't worry, there's still PLENTY of story ahead yet too!

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30

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Holly was hurt.

So much so, that even the Burger Palace Classic Double she stopped to get along the way, in hopes of burying some of that pain ended up doing very little of that at all. Like, it was good, sure! But at that very moment? It just wasn’t good enough. And even though it was only supposed to be a “Pre-Mall Snack," she kicked herself for not opting for the triple. Maybe that one extra ground beef patty would be the difference maker, & bring with it just some iota of happiness.

Deidre had decided to break the news just as everyone was leaving for the day. And when she did, it hit like a ton of bricks. At least amongst their core group of friends. And whatever Veronica was considered these days. But even in her case, an initially smug, “toldja-so” expression slowly flattened out into something a lot more solemn once the gravity of the situation finally started to sink in.

Even amongst the rest of the group, Holly had always considered Courtney one of her very best friends. To suddenly find out she was moving away was one thing. News like that was completely devastating on its own. But for her to do it without even trying to say “goodbye?” Or even so much as a word? It was unfathomable. And seemed utterly heartless.

With glassy eyes, Holly stared at the phone screen, trying to get through. Another loud, outgoing ring came through her car’s speakers, & echoed throughout the cabin. This was the third time she had tried to call. But Courtney didn’t seem to be picking up.

It seemed almost... cowardly. Which was strange, as Courtney had always seemed like one of the bravest, brassiest broads she’d ever known. Like, her fearlessness was something she used to take pride in, & something others appreciated about her. How could she just… do this?! It just didn’t make a lick of sense! Was she somehow embarrassed? Other than Veronica being shitty, no one held her size against her! Everyone was just… concerned. But totally there to help! Or maybe, speaking of Veronica? Maybe Courtney was just still so upset after that last... outing? Reeling from the shitty things Veronica said & scared to face everyone else? But so much so she had to move back home all of a sudden?! Holly was spinning her wheels here. Her mind was racing with speculation, but really? She just needed to talk to Courtney herself. 

As she listened to another ring, she turned to take another large angry chomp of her Classic Double & nearly bit her own thumb in the process. She hadn’t been paying attention & it turned out there was a lot less burger left than she had realized. Distracted, her "snack" seemed to disappear quickly. This, on some level, upset her all the more, having been way too upset to even get to enjoy the damn thing!

"Nevermind. Hang up." She seemed to tell the ceiling of her SUV as she sighed & scoffed at the same time. The voice recognition ended the call. She popped the last miniscule morsel of her bacon double cheeseburger in her mouth, mindful of her fingers this time. She shut her eyes as she chewed, before bringing a chubby fist palm first down onto her steering wheel with force. "How could she?" She asked out loud. "I thought we were friends! If she… needs help…" Holly struggled not to tear up more. “She knows she could’ve just called!” She rustled through her bag to pull out a wad of fries. She tried to commit most of her focus towards the savory flavor. It helped… but only somewhat. 

“Ech. Fuck this.” She growled by the time a second, heaping handful got to her mouth. After wiping her greasy fingertips together to “clean” them, she started putting her car in gear.

She at least tried. It was a hell of a lot more than Courtney could say! And if Courtney, for whatever reason, still wasn’t ready to talk, Holly still kind of desperately needed to proceed with her original plan for the evening. Her SUV turned back onto the main road & started heading towards the Mall. Maybe some retail therapy could boost her spirits.

“Sooooo…” Rachel held in a bit of a long, but tepid drone. “Your thoughts…?” In her eyes, it was plain to see she had sheepishly started to think this whole last minute thing she put together was all maybe a little ill-advised. The response to her question didn’t come right away. And before it did, every millisecond seemed to confirm that original notion of hers. She only had her own experience as a frame of reference after all. And she always had an ear to the ground, as it were. For someone who had been so… indoctrinated in all of this? Maybe it was all a bit too much, too soon. When the response to her question finally did come, it came only as a sharp exhale, drowning in utter disbelief.

“Uch…” Was all a stupefied Deidre was able to offer. Shaking her head, she was speechless. And looked absolutely befuddled. Perhaps even dumbfounded, rocking her round face back & forth as she shook her head. Still in her blazer & professional, business attire, cradling a large, greasy burger inches from her face, her overall professionalism & gravitas seemed out of place under the cold, dingey, vaguely greenish fluorescents. 

This time around, Fran had chosen a different, & yet not completely dissimilar, out-of-the-way sandwich shop as a meet-up point. Not Gary’s, but Barry’s, funnily enough. It was still a safe hike from Oakmont. And carpooling with Deidre got them both there in twenty minutes, which beat hours of bus transfers it would’ve taken Rachel on her own. 

It was a bit difficult convincing Deidre to leave her phone in the car. Her being in the position she was in, she at first insisted she needed it on her at all times. But Rachel asked what kind of HR emergency there was after end of business for the day, & tried to make it sound like her friends just liked having a “quiet meal for a change.” Luckily Deidre bought it enough to comply, leaving her phone in the glove compartment, despite protesting that if these friends of Rachel really wanted to enjoy a meal, they wouldn’t come to a place like this with two stars online, & a C- Health Department rating.

“Told you this was a bad idea.” Mikayla muttered to Rachel from across the table in the booth opposite as Deidre continued to stammer. “Breaking this kind of news to somebody?” She rolled her eyes while reinforcing the “skinniest” one’s initial doubts. As another Hailington employee, Deidre & her seemed aware of one another, though given the vibe, their prior experiences with one another maybe could’ve been considered more “run-ins” than anything sort of positive. At the same time, after not seeing her for a week or two, it seemed to Rachel like Mikayla was holding up pretty well, at least when it came to resisting the temptations of the Bellflower. If she had gained anything, it wasn’t by much. Maybe a pound or two, as she strained the buttons of her flannel a bit, but overall, as best as could possibly be expected.

Stuffed uncomfortably next to Mikayla in the booth, Fran shot her a look to shush her, trying to keep Mikayla’s general standoffishness in check. Deidre & Fran obviously recognized each other too. While Fran wasn’t a Hailington employee, she did happen live just next door to Deidre after all. And frankly, it was hard not to recognize Fran, given the spectacle she tended to make, coming & going as she tried to squeeze herself into her old workout stuff. Although it was hard for Deidre to have too strong an opinion, given the fact she was closing in on her, in terms of size these days. 

Unfortunately, Marissa hadn’t responded when Rachel first put the text out there. She figured it was safe to assume that was on account of things being on such short notice. It was a weeknight after all. 

But at the same time? It was maybe almost kind of good in a way. Not only were they all a bit pressed for room, both Fran & Mikayla struck Rachel as mature, stern, & reasonable. All business, almost in the same way Deidre was. In a way, she thought they could maybe make the best possible case in trying to get someone like Deidre on board. And while Marissa was sweet, her big personality & affinity for black lipstick may have been… well, just a bit much for Hailington’s fairly basic Regional HR Department head. 

Still, given the nature of the stuff they were talking about? What they all believed the Bellflower was actually doing to people?! Rachel continued to have her doubts. And given Deidre’s reaction? Maybe it was all for naught. Fran turned back, trying to patiently address the platinum blond woman again.

“Look, I know. It’s… it’s a lot to take in.” Fran tried to assure her with an empathetic nod. It was as caring & as sensitive a tone as the usually terse, round, frizzy haired Italian woman seemed to be able to muster. But maybe it was also just a bit softer due to the fact she didn’t seem able to take a deep enough breath, the way she was wedged behind the table so tightly. “And sounds absolutely…”

“I jus…” Deidre started & stopped immediately, cutting her off, but leaving a long, pregnant pause after. All she ended up doing was shake her head. 

“Well… Maybe talk us through it.” Rachel tried to suggest, while giving her mature friend as much room as she could. Rachel seemed to be the only one who didn’t have the table cutting into her, but still, it seemed a bit confining, even to her. But maybe that was because she was between Deidre’s spreading bulk & a wall. “What are you thinkin?’”

“It’s… INSANE.” Deidre finally mustered stabbingly, looking around the table, almost making sure to lock eye contact with all three of them for about a second each. “The place! Penny! Soundwaves? Trying to make people… Fat?!!” While she said “soundwaves” a bit softly, she sort of yell-whispered the “f-word.” But her tone landed hard for Rachel. 

She gulped, thinking beyond a shadow of a doubt now that she had fucked up by telling Deidre any of this. She worried Deidre’d go on to relay all this craziness back to an unreceptive Holly & Holly would definitely try to have her committed. Or at least if Penny didn’t get hip to all of this first. Oh god. Which would be worse, she wondered: getting hospitalized in a ward or Penny catching wind of all this & smashing whatever semblance of resistance they were? Or fuck! What if she were committed, but then Penny could still manage to fuck with her in there? Fucking with her records, still? Meds?!

“At the same time though…?” Deidre continued, calling Rachel out of her own anxieties. She was staring off to the side distance in a way that seemed to be considering a bunch of things all at once. “I… I almost... feel so… so…” She shook her head more. “Well... Stupid. For never considering any of this in the first place.” She scoffed. Rachel flinched with her own sudden disbelief. Had they… actually gotten through?! Across the table, the other girls seemed to perk a little too. “I mean… it was all right there! Right there in front of me the whole damn time! And I just… I never put it together like this before now.” She exhaled, shaking her head, slack jawed.

“Well why would you?” Fran smirked, warming a bit further. “Not only is it a system designed to… do what it does & sort of keep people from questioning the very questionable things going on around them, it’s quite frankly a fucking outlandish idea to even have in the first place.”

“Like you said, “it’s fucking insane.” Mikayla reinforced, using Deidre’s own words despite editorializing slightly, landing in a tight smirk of her own. 

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Fran nodded. “It’s nuts. And trust us! We know how it sounds, so we don’t go around saying this stuff lightly, you know?” Deidre tilted her head to the side a bit, her expression softening a little. But behind her eyes, neurons were still firing. Like other connections were being made in her head. She reared back a little with a snap.

“And like… to be clear....” The professionally dressed blond stammered. “I’m… I don’t know. Like I’m still not saying I am with you like… one hundred percent for sure on all of this.” She seemed to levy, waving a hand back & forth before finally managing another bit of her burger. But mid-bite, she seemed to noticeably hesitate. She seemed to ease off a little, going from big chomp to something of a more moderate nibble instead. Rachel noticed Fran notice & grin a bit. “Mmm.” Deidre gulped. “But it… it just… it ticks a lot of boxes. You know?”

“Yup.” Rachel nodded, letting out something of a relieved sigh.

“I mean, we’ll take that.” Fran smiled. It was kind of the best reaction Rachel could’ve anticipated from someone like Deidre. Someone who was just so… IN it. As a mini-celebration, she returned to her own fries, peeling it away with a little too much cheese melted on it for just two fries. Maybe she had made the right call after all.

She struggled to put the other things out of her mind. But now? It almost felt as though her mind was playing tricks on her.

Because at some point, Holly had convinced herself she had been to this mall before. Like before she even lived at the Bellflower, but here for sure. But perhaps she had only ever driven by it, & just thought she had been there? Because nothing struck her as all that familiar about it. And frankly, it didn’t even really feel like a mall. Or at the very least Holly’s notion of a mall.

For one, the corridor she entered through was an absolute ghost town. Eerily quiet. Just like the parking lot coming in was largely vacant. As her work shoe stepped off the large mats by the door & onto the tile floor, the clack of the sole hitting the material resonated into a hollow echo. Was the place closed? One shop, a candy store, had a gate partially down, but there were lights on. Another across from that, an optometrists, was closed, but seemed like it had been. For ages. But further down, across the way, there was a bath shop, selling soaps that looked very much open, albeit empty. Timidly, Holly pressed on. 

Not that it was that a long corridor towards the main portion of the mall, but it was a long enough walk for Holly to cause her to sigh a little, as her wide hips swayed uncomfortably in her snug work outfit. She managed to make it through the day without busting a seam or popping any buttons. If only just. Why did she think squeezing into these things was a good idea today? She started to feel a little embarrassed. As eerie as the desolate retail space was, in her mind, it was almost a good thing there wasn’t a crowd to see her like this. 

But given just how dead the mall was, Holly could almost start to hear Rachel saying “something, something Capitalism  this!” in the back of her mind. Or “blah blah blah Consumption that!” It was easy for her to fill the void with her idea of Rachel going off on one of her diatribes. The kind that Holly often tried to tune out, even if only because she didn’t know half of what her sister seemed to be on about. Still, it was sort of plain to see the mall was hurting. Holly had heard of them not doing too well, but didn’t know the problem was this bad. That the place would be this empty, almost abandoned on a weeknight.

That’s when she noticed a guide map ahead, with two video billboards on either side of it. One she vaguely remembered as the preroll video from the Bellflower website. But she was more concerned with the map. Upon approach, the Map shifted, revealing that it too was not just some sort of static guide image, but a touch screen interface, causing Holly to jolt a little.

“Oh wow.” She cooed softly. “I guess they’re open?” The Map transitioned with a series of diagonal bars wiping to a message asking “What are you in the market for today?” followed by a text prompt. As Holly brought her chubby index finger up to the thing, a keyboard seemed to appear & she typed in as much as “C-L-O.” The guide suddenly brought up several auto-fill suggestions, including “Women’s Clothing,” which Holly darted her finger into. The text prompts wiped back to the map again. Looking at it a little closely, there were three wings, of which she had come in at about the center. Strangely, to the Northwest, Holly noticed an entire wing of the mall was grayed out with the text “An Upgraded Consumer Experience, Coming Very Soon!” Expansion? Renovation? Given the state of things, Holly couldn’t imagine that was the best business decision. But she was here to shop, not pass judgement on their financial acumen. Of the two remaining wings, the stores were centered & laid out in relation to where Holly & this guide were. It also started to seem like most of the storefronts not part of the renovation were still empty. But suddenly, applicable stores, places that sold “Women’s Clothing” went from the default black to having maroon overlays. Holly could see that there were five in total. One of which by the name seemed to be an older lady’s small business consignment shop, which she wrote off almost immediately. The closest, around the corner, also had a large “NEW” flash over the overlay, drawing her eye. But it was a Marulla. 

Plus sized? Sure, Holly could admit she had put on a few, but she wasn’t in plus sized territory! Not yet! Brazenly, she started off towards the other end of the mall first. As evil & preppy as their reputation was back in the day, with their facade looking like a weird out of place front porch, Holly always had luck digging up cute things at McAllister. She decided she would start there first!

Stepping away from the map terminal, it defaulted to its long view map. If the corridor was long, getting to the McAllister was going to be a hike. Holly tried to pace herself. This was already starting to feel like more walking that she was usually akin to. But she was also in a tough spot. She desperately needed more things that fit!

“But like… I still can’t really... “ Deidre still tried. She had a hard time putting sentences together. “It’s… I’m having a hard time trying to wrap my head around this. All of this. Not saying you’re… wrong. Just...” For the most part, it was as if every thought she had, some other connection seemed to click in her head. And she was still getting over the initial shock of it all. “...Why though? What's the benefit of like…coercing people into making themselves get so… so… fat?" She asked, again putting that last word in the same sort of weird, half concealed yell-whisper.

“That is the question.” Mikayla sighed, unhappy with her own answer.

"We've had a few guesses but nothing solid. Wish we had more to offer." Fran shrugged further. 

“Like I can see it happening!” Deidre continued. “No argument there. And what you’re saying about… the Pennies? Or Penny? I can make sense of that. But… the motives for doing it…? WHY?!”

"No idea. If it’s any consolation, it makes just as little sense to us, too!” Rachel tried to smile. “And at some point, we each got caught up in it too.”

“Oh shut up, lightweight.” Mikayla joking snapped. Rachel shut up right quick. While she didn’t mean it like that, Mikayla was right. Only sporting a bit of a pot belly & muffintop maybe didn’t give her enough privilege to speak on that fact as the others.

“Like we said, all we know is that when tenants start to get a little too... big…?" Fran winced, feeling a bit skittish saying. "They suddenly put their places up on the market & seem to just… vanish. Beyond a light social media presence, they’re seemingly gone. And I'm sure as head of HR, you've had plenty of experience with that hap-"

“Oh god!” Deidre suddenly realized, cutting her off, aghast, & dropping her burger. She looked over to Rachel with a look of horror. “Does that mean… Courtney…?” Fran bit her lip. Rachel clenched her eyes shut before elaborating to the rest of the table, while Deidre fretted.

“Courtney, who’s another friend & someone in her department? She just put in her two weeks today. Told Deidre she’s moving back home for a stretch.” 

“Was she…?” Fran stopped herself. Having a vague knowledge of the whole Ladies’ Night clique, she always sort of reductively referred to Courtney as “the big one,” which was also how Mikayla had come to know her. But she realized that both for one, given the context, obviously it had to be the big one, & two, just how insensitive that would sound to Deidre, of whom they were trying to ingratiate themselves. Rachel locked eyes just in time for Fran to salvage it. “... the darker haired girl?”

“Does this mean… they… it…?” Deidre continued to sputter, before trying to regain some composure. “What’s going to happen to Courtney?” She asked point blank.

“We… can’t say for certain.” Fran muttered solemnly. “We don’t know what happens to them, honestly. Which is odd considering how hard it would be, logistically, you know?” She said that bit plainly but Deidre stiffened slightly. “For what it’s worth… I’m sorry.” Franchesca trailed in a sigh.

“Well is there… anything we can do?” Deidre asked, unsatisfied by that response.

“At the moment?” Mikayla asked, before offering a weak, itemized list. “Keep digging. Try not to end up like her. And try to keep others from too.”

“No!” Deidre snapped. “There’s got to be… something!” she insisted, pounding the table a little. “She’s…”

“Deidre… I…” Rachel tried to comfort. It seemed useless though. She hadn’t thought this part through well enough. No one seemed to just want to come out & say “it’s a bit too late for her.” But that was definitely the undercurrent. Rachel shook her head at a loss. Fuck, had she kind of written Courtney off so callously herself? Sure, she maybe didn’t have the chance to become as close as the others, but after all, she was such a sweet girl. No way did she deserve… whatever happened to her. Or perhaps, best case scenario, was happening to her now. 

“I… just… I saw it happening.” Deidre muttered, staring blankly. “I watched her day in, day out. And I… I wanted to say something but…” Rachel saw the growing despondence in Deidre’s eyes. It was weird to see her, after all the power & maturity she usually conveyed, seem just so vulnerable. “I… failed her.”

“You were just as caught up in it as she was.” Fran tried to insist. “Don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have known, like, just how dire this was.”

“And that’s why we need to keep digging!” Mikayla leaned in, trying to press. “Because maybe? If she’s in there somewhere & needs our help, we can get to her! “

“You… you really think she’s still… there?” Deidre perked slightly, as if there was a glimmer of hope.

“We just don’t know.” Fran reiterated, stressing it as hard for Mikayla as she did for Deidre. “We’re at a loss.” She held for a second, before trying to shift the conversation. “That’s why, when Rachel told me who you were, we were sort of hoping… maybe you’d have other form of like… insight, maybe? Given your stature at the company?” Deidre seemed to snap out of her despondency a bit. “I mean like I said, you’ve probably seen this happen quite a bit?”

“All those people…” a broken Deidre muttered. Fran pursed her lips.

“Look.” Rachel tried to speak directly. “ When we were talking about me getting a job, you put things to be pretty bluntly, so I’m going to do the same thing back.” Deidre slowly turned to look. Her eyes were glassy. Rachel went on. “I know this is… rough. When you told me about Courtney this morning? I… I felt like I failed her too.” She sighed, knowing she probably wasn’t going to get a bit of sleep, angsting over this very notion all night, possibly for the next couple nights. “But if she possibly is still out there,” She looked to Fran. “And we can possibly help her? We definitely owe that much to her. We need to! And at the very least? Try to stop others from ending up in that same situation. Like... Holly...”

“You’re… right.” Deidre slowly seemed to admit, reapplying something of a game face.

McAllister wasn’t only a wash, but a complete disaster. After Holly marched past its weird front porch facade & into the dimly lit store, the sole teenaged “sales associate,” who at first glance reminded Holly of a much younger version of herself, took one look at her & did a terrible job suppressing a mean laugh, before asking “Looking for something for your daughter?” 

Holly nearly thrashed the brat.

Instead of saying anything, she messily dug through the neatly folded table of tops to find a baby blue button down that seemed like their largest size before marching to the dressing room. To Holly, it felt like doll clothing. Their largest still seemed several sizes too small for her! By a mile. Angry, she stomped out of the dressing room. Alone in the empty store with little else to do, the girl was diligently refolding the messy piles Holly had dug through, only to have the ill-fitting blue oxford chucked back on it in a heap as Holly didn’t break pace towards the ugly porch to exit.

“Have a nice day, Ma’am.” The brat lilted after her, aware of just how loaded it was.

The next store, while just slightly less embarrassing for Holly, was just as fruitless. The sales staff seemed more aloof. To the point they didn’t even seem to notice Holly come in, as they laughed & carried on in the back. Things were much better lit. It was easier for Holly to tell that she wasn’t going to be able to fit into most of it, but she stubbornly carried it all into the dressing room anyway. And aside from one extremely loose frock that was ugly as sin, Holly’s hopes were shattered one by one. Nothing fit.

The third store was her third choice for a reason. All & all, things there were a bit… frumpier. Still, at best? The largest size they seemed to carry were as big as the clothes she walked in with. You know, the ones that were already ready to burst off of her curves as it stood.

Tired, starving, & even more depressed than when she first came in, Holly had run out of options. Things were now becoming exceedingly desperate, as she stood in front of the Marulla. On the one hand? She knew she should’ve just swallowed her pride & gone there in the first place. It was clear that she had… filled in some. But “plus-sized?” It pained her to admit, even though from the door, there were a few very cute things inside. Things that Rachel, having written up the Fall catalogue for them, would probably recognize instantly, only adding to Holly’s shame. Besides, the idea of buying clothes from one of her company’s subsidiaries? Kind of felt… circuitous in a way Rachel would probably love to rant about.

Of all the stores though, it seemed the busiest. Not a ton of customers, but enough. All of them, like her, a bit bigger. Two she recognized from her building, even though something about them, the way they seemed to skulk around the racks? Almost made it seem like they didn’t want to be seen. And Holly didn’t blame them. They were very specifically fat girl clothes after all.

Then again, she’d gotten… well… fat.

She took a deep sigh & started to make her way inside. She managed about two before her phone wiggled in her sweater pocket. She pawed at it to see the light for new text messages. It seemed as though a certain somebody had finally mustered up enough courage to respond, & had sent two short texts. “Sorry.” The first one read. “Cam [sic] we talk?” Read the second. Holly stopped dead in her tracks.

“Now I can’t speak to anything for certain, okay?” Deidre prefaced. “You didn’t hear any of this from me. And in fact, I hardly trust where I’m getting my info from on some of this.” Rachel, Fran, & even Mikayla eagerly listened in, hanging on Deidre’s every word. “But talk is? There has been some anonymous… entity out there, buying up a lot of Hailington’s public stock. Especially a few months back”

“Entity?” Fran asked, wide eyed.

“Not like…” Deidre let out a chortle. “Not like a ghost or a spirit! I mean some firm out there.” She clarified. “There was some scuttlebutt among the department heads. Some of the more senior members talked about selling off their shares because they were going like hot cakes for a bit there. But there’s no telling who it is given how hard it was to find anything about them. Though word was they were starting to get something of a controlling interest.” She turned to Rachel, Deidre’s eyes lighting up as she was forming more of her own connections in her head. “In fact, as I understood it, they were the ones that pushed hard for buying into Marulla.

“Oh they have cute stuff.” Mikayla shifted. “Hailington owns them now? We get any sort of discount?” It was a joking aside, but seemed half serious.

“Hmm.” Rachel thought, nibbling another fry.

“Interesting.” Fran said. “But like, any info on them at all?”

“Just the name.” Deidre shrugged. “Something like... BOF Futures…?”

“Wait!” Fran stopped her. 

“Could it be GOF?” Rachel asked, following the same thread.

“Yeah! That sounds more like it actually.” Deidre nodded. “Why?”

“One of the weird shell companies that comes up when you start trying to dig on the Bellflower.” Mikayla explained.

“But it’s the first time we’ve heard about them doing anything else besides the Bellflower.” Rachel went on. 

“It’s like they scrub any mention of themselves digitally.” Fran elaborated.

“In this day & age?” Deidre asked, rearing her neck back with an incredulous look. Suddenly, the jingle bells wrapped around the door handle of the sandwich shop shuddered slightly, causing a noise. With her back to the door, all that Rachel could see at first were Mikayla & Fran both turn pale instead of responding to Deidre’s question.

“What’s the mat-?” Rachel attempted to ask before a squeaky voice sounded.

“Ooh! There... you are! Sorry… I’m… late!” A loud, squeaky voice panted from the door. It sounded like Marissa, albeit winded. 

“Marissa…” a shocked Mikayla murmured. “What... happened?” It took Rachel a second to shift & look to the door, given the way Deidre was sitting. But when she did, she didn’t recognize the massively round, backlit silhouette at the door to be that of the goth she’d known & confided in. As she turned more, the figure waddled a few steps closer, looking a bit unsteady in its heavy plodding steps. It had been a few weeks since Rachel had seen her last. But at the same time, it was only weeks. It didn’t explain… well, this.

“What?!” the raven-haired woman squeaked, noting their reactions. Her usually immaculately manicured, uniform locks were tied up in a messy afterthought of a bun. She was impossibly zipped up in an old, battered hoodie of some hardcore band. One macho enough that seemed to allude to it being an old boyfriend’s leftovers than anything Marissa bought herself. Meaning it was already probably started out a few sizes bigger. Or at least had, at first. Now, it was being stretched to its absolute limits & had been covered with what looked like errant frosting & grease stains down the front, over the chipping band logo. But try as it might, it still didn’t cover all of her belly, with a soft strip of pale flesh circumnavigating the girl at her roundest point. Under that were dark purple leggings, covered in rips. Given her personal style, it was hard to discern if they had been there before or after these sudden & recent gains. Rachel assumed it was probably half & half, given the sheer number. But what she did know was that the same soft, pale flesh seeped through each one, almost like bread dough, causing more impossible bulges. “Do I have something on my face?” Marissa asked again, still not getting a satisfactory answer as to what was wrong. She started wiping at her cheek aggressively. “Sorry, I stopped for a cupcake on the way. Sue me!” Her voice came off nonchalant, seemingly unaware of how much she had grown in such a short time.

“Um, Deidre, darling?” Fran wavered. “We’ll come back to you in a minute. Okay, hun?”

“Why are you staring at me like that?!” Marissa shrieked, only suddenly starting to become concerned.

“Why can’t I just call you?!” Holly texted furiously, standing in front of a rack of cardigans that were finally, remotely close to her size. “Would be EZ to just talk!” She mindlessly grabbed one of the sweaters & folded it under her arm, but turned her attention back to her phone. Very quickly, a response popped up.

“Can’t at the moment. In moving truck w/ my dad atm.” At first, a still Holly didn’t know if that meant in the front or… in the back. “But we’ll talk soon.” Followed by an immediate “PROMISE!”

“PROMISE?!” She pounded back.

“First chance I get!” came back after Holly took a few more stalling steps. “Soz it hapened [sic] the way it did. So fast!” Holly sighed a loud sigh. It drew too much attention in a store of people that didn’t seem as though they wanted to be seen being inside.

“Didn’t get a chance to say goodbye!” Holly typed out a bit angrily. She went on shopping, but her heart really wasn’t in it. Her stomach growled too. She was definitely going to require another Burger Palace drive thru stop on the way out! It was already settled in her mind!

“IKR.” Finally came back. “Couldn’t be helped.” Followed. Holly watched the ellipses of another message being typed, staring at it, waiting for it to become the message. “But it’s just atm! I promise! We’ll c each other soon! Trust me!” It sounded hopeful. And while not the closure she was looking for, put Holly’s mind at ease. More calmly, she fiddled back.

“OK. Talk soon!”

“Soon!” Came back almost as instantaneously.

While generated algorithmically, the formulated response was within fractions of a percentile point, in terms of feasible accuracy. Nearly indistinguishable from an actual Courtney response. Or at least back not too long ago when she was actually capable of coming up with something a cogent response. These days, as in & out as she was? That could be a bit dicey. More often than not, it was just vaguely unintelligible reactions. Maybe the occasional burp, followed characteristically by a soft little giggle. Rarely did she ever seem to be able to string sentences together any more. Just in fleeting little moments of clarity it seemed.

But the texts all came from an elegant subroutine, based on a compilation of every known piece of digital correspondence &/or social interaction of Courtney’s that Penny had been privy to, or could possibly be culled from online. Everything from syntax, sentence structure, common misspellings? All taken into account. It even paid attention to some of Courtney’s more common typos. Especially the ones she was more prone to doing the bigger she got over time, & the thicker her fingers became. This only added to the plausibility.

“More strawberry cheesecake, my dear?” Penny offered.

“Hmmmm-hm-hm.” It wasn’t so much an affirmation as it was a soft giggle out of the large, dark haired shape. Equal parts sleepy & yet eager for more.

“I take it that means you’re still a bit hungry?” Penny asked coyly. In reality, Penny didn’t have to ask this. Penny knew Courtney was hungry. Just like Penny knew water was wet. As another large forkful made its way to her bulging cheeks, Courtney softly continued to coo to herself. Even Penny had to admit she made some decidedly adorable little noises sometimes.

“Is it good?” Penny asked, shoveling it in the girl’s mouth for her.

“Hey.” Her puffy face seemed to contort with worry. “Don’t I... don’t I need... to… work... soon?”

“Go to work?” Courtney, my sweet,” Penny seemed to laugh. “We’ve been over this at least a dozen times.”

“We... have…?” the worry seemed to leave her face as she dutifully accepted the next cartoonishly large bite of cheesecake.

“Yes!” Penny laughed, semi-patiently. “That was all covered by the upgrade, my dear.”

“It… was…” She moaned after a gulp. Penny lowered a mechanical hand to caress the side of Courtney’s round cheek.

“There’s no place else you need to be.” The AI assured her. Courtney beamed, & took another bite worry-free. “In fact, I’m afraid there’s scarcely few places where you’d probably fit.”

“MMMPH!” Courtney scowled a bit, reacting at the barb.

“Oh, you knowI’m only kidding!” Penny tried to assure with a digital laugh, before continuing a facetious tone. “You just relax your pretty, little head.” Another scoop pushed past Courtney’s plump lips. “That’s right. Leave everything up to me! All you have to do is enjoy!” Pulling the fork away. “You are enjoying yourself, right?”

“Mmmmmmmmmhmmm.” A groggy, partially beleaguered Courtney softly purred back.

“Good, good.”