Chapter 2

My single room application wasn't approved on the spot.

Zoe said she had to check vacancies with the housing department first and report it to the college.

Hearing the mention of the college, Katie wept even harder. "Please don't involve the school. They'll just think I'm making trouble again."

Someone outside the door felt a pang of pity. "Ms. Harrison, maybe they should go back and just talk it out. It sets a bad precedent to cause a scene about room changes on the very first day."

"Exactly. Just bear with it for a few days, clear the air, and it'll be fine."

Zoe looked at me. It wasn't a look of favoritism. It was sheer conflict.

The school's procedures moved slowly, but the guilt-tripping spread fast.

Katie knew exactly how to leverage that. Clutching the remote, she spoke in a voice that was just loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear.

"Jane, I just want you to let go of your material greed. The glaciers are melting. Polar bears don't even have a place to stand anymore. If we can't handle a little heat, how much longer can Earth survive?"

In my last life, it was at this exact line that I had backed down.

I had figured that since it was the first day of school, I shouldn't make things too tense, so I followed her back to the room.

That night, Katie had locked away the remote and unplugged the fans, saying she wanted us to listen to the summer insects outside.

I had lain there suffocating until 4:00 am. My heart raced, and my breath grew heavier with each passing moment.

When I reached for my heart medication, she cried that modern medicine was full of chemical toxins that would ruin my body's natural balance.

Later, I fell to my knees, gasping for air. My fingers clawed at the bedpost as my vision blacked out, until I lost consciousness completely.

This time, I placed my phone on the desk and hit record. "Ms. Harrison, I'm willing to follow protocol. But until the single room is approved, I'm not sleeping in that dorm. If the school can't provide another bed right now, please give me a statement in writing.

"State that I have submitted records for a severe heart condition and that the room currently faces extreme conditions of intentional power cuts and a refusal to allow cooling."

The office went silent again.

Katie stopped crying. The way she looked at me was as if she were looking at a sinner beyond redemption.

Zoe remained quiet for a few seconds, then picked up the phone to call the dormitory office. "Send someone over to Room 503 of Wynwood Building Two right away. A student reported that they aren't allowed to use the AC or the fans."

The voice on the other end said something indistinct.

Zoe's face grew strained, and her tone sharpened. "Yes, I'm serious. A student has a heart condition and cannot overheat."

Katie suddenly rushed up to me. "Why do you have to blow this out of proportion?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an air of self-righteous victimhood. "We could have walked this spiritual path together."

Outside the door, several phones were already raised and aimed at us.

I took a step back. "Get away from me. The smell of your sweat makes me sick."

Katie bit her lip, tears instantly spilling over. "This is the scent of nature! How can you insult me like that?"

Sobbing, she turned and ran back toward the room.

Zoe closed her eyes for a brief moment and grabbed her keys from the desk. "Let's go. To 503."

When we reached Room 503, the door was half-open, and our other roommate, Miley Roman, could be heard sobbing uncontrollably inside.

Zoe pushed the door open. A wave of suffocating heat blasted us, laced with a strange, sour, rancid odor.

Katie stood beneath the AC outlet with a pair of scissors in hand. On the floor lay a section of the AC power cord, cleanly snipped in two.

She tilted her face up, looking like a martyr. "Since the remote wasn't enough to make you give up, I'll take away our temptation to indulge completely."

Miley was slumped on the floor, cradling a small, unplugged portable cooler. Inside the box were several vials of imported insulin, already cloudy and ruined from the heat.

Shaking with rage, Miley pointed a finger at Katie and screamed, "Are you insane? You unplugged my cooler! That was my insulin for the whole semester!"

Katie looked down at the medicine, her face filled with pity. "Miley, such expensive medicine is such a luxury. When elderly people in the mountains get sick, they push through it on their own. Material things don't bring true health. Why don't you try letting your body fight the illness itself?"

Miley's face went completely pale. "I have Type 1 diabetes! I will die without insulin!"

Katie sighed, shaking her head. "That's because you're too dependent on modern medicine. Nature will give us—"

"Nature can screw itself!" Miley scrambled up from the floor, grabbed a book from her desk, and hurled it straight at Katie.

Katie shrieked and ducked behind Zoe. "Ms. Harrison! She's attacking me! Modern toxins have corrupted her sanity!"