Unity

Ten: Hallucinations

On December Fourth, Mallory and I emerged from her bedroom not quite friends again but teammates. I had a fistful of long black hair and Mallory had a novice haircut that I was very ashamed of. Lynette and Chance looked us up and down, standing a few feet from the door they had reopened.

"Wow." Chance said.

"Yeah." Lynette echoed. "Mallory your hair looks great!"

I blushed and glanced at Mallory. She smiled and played with the shoulder-length edges. She shrugged.

"Soarin cut it it for me." She said quietly.

"Really?" Lynette said as Chance's jaw dropped. "You should do mine sometime!"

I raised one eyebrow and stared pointedly at Lynette's chin-length hair. She glared back and I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender.

"You two are okay now?" Chance placed a hand on the side of my arm.

My pulse raced. I looked down at my hand and ran a thumb over the harsh edges of Mallory's hair.

"I think we're okay." Mallory's voice said gently beside me. I'd never seen her acting so docile before.

Chance removed his hand and nodded. Mallory met my eyes and smiled hesitantly. I saw Lynette inch in between us and pull Mallory away before she started talking to her.

# ~ # ~ # ~ #

"Hmmm... you could just keep a stash of chips in a pack on your waist or something, then you'd be fine." I pointed out.

"Yeah but you'd never get a full night's sleep ever again." Lynette argued.

"So you're saying you could live without ever tasting chocolate, chicken or... cherries ever again?!" I countered.

"Why do all of your examples begin with C-H?" Mallory mused quietly.

"Because... shut up." I responded. "It doesn't even matter, it's hardly even a question! Obviously-"

The door slid open. We all looked up from our spot on the floor in front of the fire. Chance entered the wing with sweat causing his shirt to cling to his chest and his long bangs pulled back by a headband that looked ridiculous. I smiled. Chance smiled back.

"What's up?" He walked up to us.

"Oh you can settle this for us!" Lynette insisted. "Mallory asked whether you would rather be unable to survive without eating something every hour or never taste anything for the rest of your life. You've got to be our tiebreaker."

Chance tilted his head in thought. His eyes squinted and one strand of hair fell from his headband. He snapped his fingers.

"Never taste anything." He said decisively.

"But food!!" I jumped up onto the couch.

"Just think about it though, if you can never taste anything you'll be able to eat any food at all. You won't be put off by the taste, therefore making it easier to survive in situations with a low food supply." Chance leaned in closer to me and tapped my forehead.

I grabbed the back of the couch, kneeling as he stood behind it, and frowned. I glared at him and squished up my face in thought, trying to counter his statement. Chance tried to cover a smile that slowly crept onto his face.

"But you would lose taste for everything! Everything ever!" I pointed out. "In a survival situation what if you accidentally ate something bad? You wouldn't be able to tell now would you?"

"That's why I've memorized what wild plants are deadly." Chance folded his arms in victory.

"Yeah, I have too." Lynette chimed in. "Hasn't everyone?"