When she woke up, Devin had 127 unread messages on her phone. 126 of them were from her class group chat, which she skimmed through before writing them off as irrelevant. She took her time with the last one.
Friends were hard to come by, but she found a new one in Elliot. They had met... What was it, a few months ago? She read the short message multiple times before deciding on an appropriate response.
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She closed WhatsApp, flicking through a few different apps before finding herself back on Wattpad. Sixty eight notifications were waiting for her. Devin stretched, clicking the first one before slipping on her glasses and feeling the now familiar weightless feeling that came with them.
She moved forwards, reaching for the area of the wall in front of her. She could see faint cracks on a few of the bricks near her. Muscle memory drove her as she let her mind wander.
Devin didn't know what she was doing. That much was obvious to anyone. But somehow, she was doing it. And somehow, her boss believed she knew. More than that, her boss was somehow convinced that they had taught her. What kind of self respecting workplace puts out ads with bright red writing and a white background anyways? What kind of graphic designer did they hire? How did she not need more training before being allowed to float around such a delicate place?
Devin finished fixing that section of the wall and moves on to the next one, questions flooding her mind. And before she knew it, she was done.
She looked back at her body hesitantly. Devin was bored again. And when she was bored, she made quick decisions.
She moved away from her body, into the maze of fourth walls around her. She didn't recognize most of it– the wall was always changing, pieces were always moving somewhere else. Still, she mapped the place out in her mind, hoping it wouldn't change too much on her way back.
If time existed in the fourth wall dimension, half an hour would have passed before she saw them.
At first Devin thought she was dreaming. But no, there was another person there, floating next to a small crack in the wall. They didn't seem to be fixing or breaking it. They were just there, watching. Devin moved closer.
They were shorter than her, and when they turned around, Devin could see their dark eyes and even darker eyebags. Their eyes widened as they saw her approach, looking around wildly. They moved their hands in quick motions. It took Devin a moment to realize it must have been sign language. She opened her mouth to say she didn't understand, but the words caught in her throat. She swallowed, and only then did she realise that she hasn't taken a breath since she came there. The other person must have seen the panicked look on her face, because they tapped their throat, then shook their head tiredly.
Devin understood them for the first time. She couldn't speak here. No one could. So she stopped trying.
She forced herself to take in a breath, noting the way it seemed to pass through her entirety. She raised her hand, waving at the person in front of her. They smiled, shaking their head. They pointed behind her, back to where she came from, and mouthed a sentence. Devin only caught the end of it.
...before it's too late.
Devin nodded, turned, and moved as quickly as she could back to where she came from. She would have to learn sign language, or at least to read lips. Next time, she promised herself, because after what she had just seen, how could she stay away?
