Ring.
My eyes shot wide open before shutting again, groggy with sleep.
Ring ring.
Slowly, I sat up from my bed and let out a loud yawn. Before I could do anything else, though, the doorbell rang again. The rude awakening flared my temper, but I held it back. Instead I reached for a shirt and made my way through my apartment to the front door.
Ring ring ring.
"Hold your horses," I said as I reached the door.
I opened the door just as the bell went off again and was greeted by two familiar faces. The first was Kay's. Normally a shy girl, she kept to herself. At the same time, when you managed to get her to open up, she was a sweet friend. This morning, she wore a light blue shirt with a long, flowing black skirt. It barely hid her nice figure, but only barely. Her blonde hair reached down to her shoulders and currently hid part of her face as she wore a nervous look.
The woman accompanying her was Jess, one of her best friends. She was more of a trouble maker than Kay, but in a good way. Yet, she was just as sweet. Always a caring person, she would always find time to help her friends out when they needed it. She was slightly larger, but she still made it work perfectly; especially around her chest. Her pink tank top did little to conceal any skin, but did go well with her blue jeans. What always struck me most about her, though, was her face. It was both cute and striking at the same time, always framed perfectly with her long, black hair. That fact still rang true, even with a look that matched Kay.
"Zach, we need your help," said Jess anxiously.
"Are you guys ok?" I asked, concerned.
"Yeah," she answered, giving a look to her friend. "I mean no. I mean, we don't know. Can we come in?"
"Sure," I said, moving to the side.
Quickly, they shuffled in to my living room as I closed the door behind them. The three of us then stood there for a few minutes, the silence stretching out. It was clear both didn't know where to start, but I was patient; worried, but patient.
Finally, Jess spoke up. "Something happened last night, and we don't know what to do."
"What happened?" I asked.
"We were having a sleep over," Kay said. "We just out in my apartment and played games. But, when we woke up, we found something was different with us."
"Different?"
"Just look."
Kay turned around, lifting her hair up as she did, with Jess joining her seconds later. On the back of both their necks was a small device of some sort; like a computer chip with a bit of wiring going into their skin. They only showed me for a second before turning around again, clearly embarrassed.
"What are those?" I asked, trying to contain my shock.
"We don't know," Jess said. "We woke up with them this morning. We don't know where they came from."
"And we can't remove them," Kay said. "They are attached tight and any attempt to take them out just hurts us."
"That's not all," muttered Jess.
"There's more?" I asked.
Jess looked at Kay for a moment before pinching her own arm sharply. Instantly, Kay yelped, grabbing her own arm in the same place.
"Ow!" she shouted at her. "What did you do that for?"
"We had to show him."
"You could have warned me first," Kay shot back, rubbing her arm slightly.
"Wait," I said, slowly realizing what happened. "You felt that?"
"Yeah," she answered. "We feel everything the other feels."
"We think it's the things on our necks," said Jess.
I reached for the door handle as I said, "we need to get you both to the hospital. Maybe they can-"
Both reached out at the same time and each grabbed an arm. "No!" they said in unison. A moment later, they let go, but continued to stare at me.
"We don't want to go to the hospital," said Jess. "Who knows what they'll try to do. Please, just let us stay here until we figure things out."
I glanced between both of them before sighing. "Alright. But, if anything happens, we go straight to the hospital. Deal?"
Kay smiled slightly. "Deal."
"Any chance I can get some food?" Jess asked. "We rushed over so fast that we didn't have time for breakfast."
"Sure," I replied. "I have some cereal and fruit in the kitchen."
I led them to the kitchen and grabbed a few bowls while they sat down at the table. Kay took some fruit from the bowl at the center while Jess poured herself some cereal and I did the same. As we ate, the silence grew along with the awkwardness. More so, though, my curiosity grew about their situation.
Breaking the silence, I asked, "How much do you guys share?"
Jess stopped eating and looked at Kay. "From what we can tell, everything the others feel physically. I can't taste the banana Kay is eating right now, but I can feel it in my mouth. Or her mouth, I guess. For me, it's sort of like chewing on something tasteless."
"And I feel the spoon and cereal as Jess eats," said Kay. "It's really unnerving."
"So, it's just the sense of touch, then," I said, thinking out loud. "Yet, you also receive the effects of that touch, like pain. I wonder how any technology can do that."
Kay raised her voice. "I don't care how it does it, I don't want to have it happening to me."
The tension in the room grew until Jess let out a loud sigh. "This whole thing is stressing me out. Mind if I take a shower?"
I shrugged. "Uh, sure. Though, what will you do for fresh clothes?"
"I was just going to borrow some of yours, big man," she said with a wink.
It took me only a moment to realize that would work. While I wasn't overweight or muscular, I was tall and certainly much taller than the both of them. Any shirt or pants I give her would suffice, if not drown her.
"Alright. Let me grab you some and a towel, then."
I quickly grabbed a large shirt, a pair of sweatpants, and a towel from my room and handed them to Jess, who was waiting outside of my bathroom. She thanked me with a smile before heading inside. Thinking ahead, I turned around and grabbed a second set of everything and laid it on my bed in case Kay wanted one later too. Afterwards, I found Kay curled on the sofa. I sat on the opposite side, being careful not to get too close. I knew she was scared right now and I didn't want to make matters worse. In the background, I heard the water of the shower as Jess started the shower in her own attempt to calm down.
Kay shivered in front of me as she said, "It's so odd. I can feel the water hitting her skin."
"But not the heat?" I asked.
She placed her hand on her upper chest. "No. It is just hitting my skin, massaging my body. I can even feel it falling down my skin. But, I know there is no water really there." She held herself tighter. "I hate this. It's like my body doesn't know what to feel."
