Glass was determined when she came down from the Up Above. She had a plan, a directory. A goal.
And
then, spotting the board, she saw three new names there again, soon to
be so many she had lost count how many were there in the first place.
Then she stared around at the others, who looked up at her with slow
eyes. She lost the sense of voice, the presence of mind she had just a
moment before. Everything felt so quiet down here.
“D-does anyone know how to make a doll?” she said out loud. She felt stupid. Why didn’t she know how to do it?
“I do!” Wayside propped up. “Or, at least I think I do.”
Glass nodded at him. “Come with me.”
“Why?” he said, echoing the minds of those around him.
“I think we need to make the things it says on the board.”
Glances. Stares. Furrowed brows. Shakes or nods, but no agreement. Cometh peered up.
“You think this because the Noise is telling you to?”
“…well,” she hesitated. “Yes.”
Sneers.
“You’ve listened to much to that bogus!” “It’s Noise! Don’t listen to it!” “She’s lost her nutter up there.”
Glass stuttered. She wasn’t used to being called a liar. There was little to believe she would be.
Wayside joined her. “I’ve been up there a lot too. It’s not just Noise. Some of it must have meaning.”
“It was powerful enough to end The Silence!” Cometh said. “And you think it wants you well?”
Glass
muttered. “Not us. Not… it doesn’t want… it wants a doll. I say we try
making one, see what happens. You might not believe me, but it’s worth a
shot.”
Song grimaced. “And why would what the Noise say appear on the board? Are you saying they are connected?”
“I don’t know! But I want to find out. Don’t you?”
“There isn’t much to say you’re right, here.”
“You have any better ideas?!” she snapped.
They gasped, froze, stuttered. Looked at each other. Glass closed her eyes and felt her stomach curl.
“I’m
going to make a doll. If anyone wants to join me, I’d be happy to let
them. But as long as none of you know what else the board means, I don’t
think we should be fighting about this.”
She turned around and left,
stumbled across the warehouses, grabbed whatever she thought to be
useful, took it to the Up Above, and began clanking away at it.