The Dorm Guard

*

I watched as Estelle continued to pile sliced up bananas into the blender, ignoring the already overflowing milk and other sweets and treats she had crammed in. She struggled to put the lid on, having to crawl onto the countertop to push down on it.

Alexis wandered in, sketchbook under her arm, and sat down on the stool next to me. "Babe," she greeted.

"Darling," I replied, my eyes still glued to the upcoming catastrophe.

"What"s with the smell?" Alexis sniffed the air, furrowing her brows in confusion.

"I read about this weird milkshake recipes online," Estelle explained, the lid finally clipping into place, "In a nutsh.e.l.l, you put every sweet thing in the fridge into a blender."

"Take a wild guess what it"s called," Amia said with an eye roll as she crunched on the leftover chocolate the Princess had left out.

"Shake Chaos!" Estelle exclaimed happily.

Alexis scoffed, turning her blind eyes to me in astonishment. "They never fail to surprise," she stated.

I agreed. "I"m actually kinda scared," I confessed.

"Why"re you here then?" Alexis asked, opening her book.

"I"m the Dorm Guard. I fear for everyone"s safety." I promptly closed Alexis" clean sketchbook, "Maybe go over to Robyn if you want to draw." I gestured over my shoulder to Robyn, who was sitting at the dining table doing homework. Even from my angle, I could see her bright yellow duck slippers kicking back and forth under the table.

Alexis, smartly, placed the book on her lap to wait for the storm to pa.s.s.

"Prepare yourselves!" Estelle shouted, hopping off the counter and clapping excitedly.

"Will the blades even turn?" Amia asked with a mouthful of chocolate, "It"s pretty full."

"I demand them to turn!" Estelle countered, turning on the blender from the wall and turning the k.n.o.b. At first, the machinery did nothing, not for lack of trying as it whirred and struggled, but something gave way, and the strange mixture of ingredients started to slowly mix together. It was not as climactic as Estelle was hyping it to be. She almost seemed disappointed, until the lid shot off the blender, allowing the milkshake to fly around the kitchen in a tornado of chocolate, banana, and sticky caramel mess.

Sensing the danger, I rushed over to Estelle, who by now was covered in her creation and laughing maniacally, and turned off the blender, my hand and front covered in the drink. It was an uncomfortable chunky mess. "You didn"t put nuts in this, did you?" I asked, forgetting to ask before.

Estelle scoffed, stepping past me to pull out some cups, "Of course not. I"m not silly."

I looked around the kitchen, noticing the complete mess it was now in, and noted Amia, who sat on the counter across the room with her legs tucked into her chest and a shocked expression on her face. Estelle continued to prepare the cups with curly straws, either oblivious or ignoring the mess she had just made.

"Who wants to try it with me?" Estelle asked, enough of the mixture surviving to fill two cups.

"Nuh-uh!" Amia shook her head, crossing her arms in a denied gesture.

"I"ll try some," Alexis announced. Estelle jumped excitedly, walking over to the blind artist.

"You don"t know what it looks like, Alexis," I said, watching the red-brown liquid seep into my blue shirt, "Looks like something a clown would throw up."

Alexis shrugged, "I"m content with poisoning myself today," she informed, Estelle pressing the cup to her hands. She brought the rim of it to her nose and took a quick whiff, "Are there strawberries in this?"

Estelle nodded, "That okay?"

"Yeah, that"s fine," she said, "Just trying to figure out what I"m drinking."

"That"s no fun." Estelle brought her cup to Alexis", causing a playful clinking sound, "To our health."

"Or lack thereof," Alexis countered, bringing the cup to her lips.

I could feel my shirt stick to my front, the need for a shower becoming overwhelming as I realised some of the concoction was in my hair. I walked over to the sink and started washing my hands and arms.

A moment later, I heard a spit-take and gagging. I looked over my shoulder and watched as both Estelle and Alexis recoiled in disgust, slamming their cups on the benchtops and retching.

"Oh my G.o.d, that"s bad…" Alexis spat, sticking her tongue out and running her teeth over her taste buds.

"This was such a mistake," Estelle admitted, wiping it off her face with a disgusted look, "But totally worth it."

Curious, I licked some excess milkshake on my arm, cringing at the strange taste. It was difficult to describe. It was agonisingly sweet and fruity, but there was an underlying tanginess that made my body tense up. "Did you put mint and orange in this?" I guessed, spitting into the sink.

"Yeah, probably," Estelle, despite her opinions of her own drink, took another sip, grimacing from the taste and tolerating it this time around. "It"s got a surprising aftertaste."

We all shared a word of disgust for Estelle. Amia"s face was stuck in a frown as she slipped off the counter, to a clean tile of the kitchen floor, and shuffled herself away from the mess.

I could hear the ringing before I heard it; the soft chime of a bell followed by Ava"s voice. "Robyn!" she called, "We"re going to be-"

She stood in the doorway, dressed in her usual afterschool outfit of blue jeans and an orange sweater, standing on one foot trying to tie her shoe. She seemed shocked at the sight of the kitchen, scanning the room for evidence as to what just happened. When she didn"t say anything, I tried to explain, but she held a hand up, "I don"t want to know." She placed her bell on the table by the door before she kneeled down and tied her shoes.

She lifted her head to Robyn, who"s back was to her hunched over her homework, and called out to her. "Robyn, come on! You"re not even dressed yet!" Ava swapped to her other shoe, but Robyn was unresponsive, "Robyn!" Ava called out her name a few times, trying to get her attention.

I raised an eyebrow at Robyn"s obliviousness. I leaned back slightly to try and see if she was wearing her hearing aids, the bright red ones were obvious behind her light hair. Ava slowly got to her feet, glancing at the bell for a second before clapping, "Robyn!"

Amia stopped walking, giving a concerned look to Robyn when she didn"t even flinch. Alexis cradled her cup, tilting her head at what she was hearing. Robyn wasn"t completely deaf, her hearing aids helped her understand just enough to react to someone shouting, but she was ignorant to it.

Ava took in a deep breath and yelled, "Robyn!"

Robyn lifted her eyes, whether because she sensed Ava or just coincidence, I wasn"t sure. She took a glance at Estelle and me in the kitchen, a look of shock crossing her face at the state it was in, having not even seen what had previously happened.

When Ava grabbed her shoulders to turn her around, Robyn released a frightened yelp, throwing her hands up to her ears, clasping her hearing aids in place. Ava was taken aback by the reaction, releasing her friend and standing in front of her, her hands uncertainly in front of her. "Robyn," she said instead of signed, her eyes turning gla.s.sy as she seemed to realise something the rest of us didn"t, "What… What happened?"

Robyn"s breathing began to labour, her eyes darting around the room from each face to the next, her hands yet to leave her ears. Her face started to heat up, a strange, unprovoked panic setting in as she shook her head profusely.

Ava made a move for Robyn"s ears, managing to detach her left hand enough to cram her fingers under the hearing aid to pull it out, under Robyn"s duress and silent objection as she squirmed and tried to pull away.

I looked at everyone else, all of us too stunned by the fighting pair to separate them or do anything. What snapped me from my daze was a loud smack.

I couldn"t tell where, but Robyn had slapped Ava, the impact shocking her enough to retreat from her efforts to take off Robyn"s hearing aid. Ava looked genuinely hurt, her arms pressing against her chest as she slowly backed away from her friend, her friend, in return, hanging her head, hands still pressed against her ears.

Ava pressed her lips together, adopting a more cautious approach as she leant down on her knees and shuffled closer, forcing herself to be in Robyn"s sight as she signed, with such shaky hands, "Robyn, what"s wrong?"

Robyn strongly wiped her arm against her eyes, shaking her head as she stood up and ran past Ava, fleeing the room. Ava didn"t move from her place, her arms hanging on her sides as she slowly sat on her legs. She seemed to be in a deep state of thought, only responding to us when Alexis asked, "What"s going on Ava?"

I watched as Ava"s hands slowly, agonisingly slowly, curled into fists at her side. The tension stretching up her arms as she lifted her chin and stood up. "I"m going to find out…" her words were harsh and sharp as if she was holding herself back from screeching.

"Don"t do anything rash, Aves," Alexis said, turning in her seat. It sounded like a warning.

Ava bit the inside of her cheeks, the tightness in her shoulders and arms relaxing, but with that came some very sudden trembles, in her arms, her lips, her stance, everything just started to shake. Tears streamed down her face, she blinked profusely to try and stop this, pressing her hands to her face to try and hide it.

Alexis hopped off the chair and approached Ava, placing a hand on her back in an act of comfort, which resulted in Ava hugging her, sobbing into her shoulder. "Please… please… not to her…" she spluttered.

I watched Alexis" jaw clench, her own eyes getting gla.s.sy from the distress of her friend. "Ava, you knew that this might happen," Alexis said softly.

Ava sniffed, pulling away from her to wipe her eyes, calming down enough to stop crying. "This just seems so sudden," she spluttered, her breathing uneven, "Why didn"t she tell me? We could"ve fixed it, there are ways to fix it."

"I know, A. I know," Alexis agreed.

"I"m sorry, but what"s happening?" I asked, too utterly confused to just go along with what was happening.

"Robyn may have lost her hearing," Alexis informed, "Like completely. Hears absolutely nothing now."

I widened my eyes at the information, the reminder distressing Ava more. "I thought she was doing fine," Ava said, looking to me, "Why didn"t she tell me?"

"Maybe it was gradual," Estelle tried, her voice meek, "Maybe she didn"t even notice?"

Ava shook her head. "Did you see that? The look on her face?" she wiped her cheeks again, blinking away the gla.s.sy appearance of her eyes, "She knew. She knew and didn"t tell me; did she tell any of you?"

We all murmured a no. This was news to me, but I recalled how Robyn acted the other day during the soap opera marathon, how she seemed concerned about something, but I figured it was school related or just her natural absentness.

"Whatever…" Ava finally said, tucking loose strands behind her ears. "She"s going to be late for ballet. We need… we need to get going. Excuse me." She quickly exited the room, a hand pressed to her cheek to hide the oncoming of more tears.

When Ava was out of earshot, Alexis started swearing, at first softly, but it grew louder until she found where she was previously sitting and whacked the countertop in frustration. "G.o.dd.a.m.nit!" she hissed.

"I thought Robyn"s hearing aids let her hear a little bit," Amia remarked, standing by the doorway, sheepishly glancing down after Ava.

"They can only help if she can hear," Alexis said, "If she can"t hear, they can"t do anything."

"Well, can they fix it?" Amia asked hopefully, her hands clasping each other as she fitted her chin between her knuckles.

Alexis shrugged, "I don"t think so."

A silence blanketed over all of us, Estelle turning to me for an answer. "Will Robyn be alright then?"

I blinked at her question, thinking for a moment how to say this. "She will be," I a.s.sured, "It"s not the end of the world if she does become 100% deaf, just… very unfortunate. And unfair."

Estelle accepted my answer with a solemn nod, standing uncomfortably in her damp, sticky clothes, but the heaviness that lingered in the air prevented her from leaving. The tension was lifted when I cleared my throat and told Amia to find me a bucket so that we could all clean up the mess in the kitchen, and Estelle and I could clean ourselves off.