Chapter 2She Cut AC Cables For Her Environmental Crusade

The request wasn't approved on the spot.

Gable said she had to contact housing to verify empty beds and submit the paperwork.

Hearing the word "paperwork," Sienna wept even harder.

"Please don't involve the university board. They'll just think I'm making trouble again."

A student outside softened.

"Dean, maybe they should just go back and talk it out."

"Yeah, it's just a few days. They'll figure it out once they settle in."

Gable looked at me.

It wasn't a look of bias, but of sheer exhaustion with the bureaucratic process.

University administration was slow, but moral lynching was lightning-fast.

Sienna knew exactly how to play this.

She held the key, her voice carrying perfectly down the hallway.

"Gloria, I just want you to shed your materialistic greed."

"The glaciers are melting, and polar bears have nowhere to stand."

"If we can't even endure a little heat, how much longer can the earth survive?"

In my past life, those words made me back down.

I had thought it was bad form to start the semester with a massive scene, so I followed her back to the room.

That night, she locked up the thermostat, unplugged the fans, and told us to listen to the summer cicadas.

I was suffocating by 4:00 AM, my heart hammering like a trapped bird, my breathing sounding like a broken bellows.

When I reached for my emergency beta-blockers, she cried that Western medicine was full of synthetic toxins that would disrupt my body's natural aura.

In the end, I was on my knees, gasping for air, clutching the bedframe as my vision faded into black.

This time, I laid my phone on the desk and tapped record.

"Dean, I'm happy to wait for the system."

"But until the single room is approved, I am not sleeping in that dorm. If the school cannot provide temporary lodging, I require a written statement."

"A statement acknowledging that I submitted severe cardiac medical records, and that the university is forcing me to stay in a room where someone has illegally cut the power and refused basic ventilation."

The office went dead silent again.

Sienna stopped crying.

The way she looked at me was no longer sorrowful; it was the look of a judge condemning a hopeless sinner.

Gable remained silent for a few seconds before picking up her desk phone to call the dorm warden.

"Davenport Hall, Suite 503. Send someone up immediately."

"A student is reporting that a roommate has restricted AC and fan usage."

A pause as the voice on the other end replied.

Gable's face darkened. "No, I am not joking. One of the residents has a severe heart condition. She cannot be exposed to extreme heat."

Sienna lunged toward me.

"Why do you have to make such a big deal out of this?" she hissed, her voice dripping with self-righteous misery. "We could have walked this path of discipline together!"

Outside the door, several students raised their phones, recording us.

I took a step back.

"Get away from me. The smell of your sweat is making me nauseous."

Sienna bit her lip, fresh tears spilling over instantly.

"This is the scent of nature! How can you insult me like that?"

Weeping loudly, she turned and bolted back toward the dorms.

Gable closed her eyes, rubbing her temples, before grabbing her keys.

"Let's go. Davenport 503."

When we reached the suite, the door was half-open. The sound of our other roommate, Tess, sobbing hysterically echoed down the corridor.

Gable pushed the door open.

A blast of stifling, suffocating air hit us, carrying a bizarre, sour stench.

Sienna stood beneath the AC unit, holding a pair of heavy-duty scissors.

On the floor lay the cleanly severed power cord of the AC unit.

She held her head high, looking like a martyr standing before the flames.

"Since the key wasn't enough to make you understand, I've removed the temptation of luxury entirely."

Tess was collapsed on the floor, clutching a small, dead portable mini-fridge to her chest.

Inside were several vials of imported insulin, already turning cloudy and useless from the rapid heat.

Tess shook with pure rage, pointing a trembling finger at Sienna.

"Are you insane?! You unplugged my medical fridge! That was my entire semester's worth of insulin!"

Sienna looked at the ruined medicine with nothing but serene pity.

"Tess, such expensive synthetic drugs are a luxury."

"The elderly in remote villages survive diseases through sheer willpower. Material goods cannot bring true health. Why won't you let your body heal itself naturally?"

Tess’s face drained of color. "I have Type 1 diabetes! I will literally die without insulin!"

Sienna sighed, shaking her head. "That's only because you're coddled by modern medicine. Mother Nature will grant us..."

"Mother Nature can go screw herself!"

Tess scrambled to her feet, grabbed a heavy textbook from her desk, and hurled it straight at Sienna's head.

Sienna shrieked, ducking behind Gable.

"Dean! She's getting violent! The synthetic poisons have warped her mind!"