Chapter 3She Cut AC Cables For Her Environmental Crusade

The dorm warden and the maintenance technician arrived shortly after.

The moment the door opened, the heat forced them to take a step back.

It was 2:00 PM. The outside temperature was pushing a hundred degrees.

The windows were wide open, letting in waves of scorching air.

Worse, the dorm floor was slick with dirty, stagnant water.

The combination of extreme heat and standing water turned the room into a literal steam bath.

The warden’s face twisted in disgust. "Where did all this water come from? Did a pipe burst?"

Sienna peeked out from behind Gable, looking entirely innocent.

"No, ma'am. I brought that water up from the campus lake."

"I read online that splashing water on the floor cools a room through evaporation. It's ancient ecological wisdom. Plus, natural water carries natural energy."

The technician stared at the foul-smelling lake water, holding back his temper with visible effort.

"Kid, the ancients lived in open-air stone pavilions. This is a sealed brick dormitory!"

"Pouring stagnant pond water in this heat just sends the humidity through the roof. Anyone staying in here is going to get heatstroke!"

Sienna pouted. "Sir, don't let modern science blind you. Ancient wisdom is never wrong."

Some students in the hall murmured.

Seeing her standing there with such righteous conviction, someone whispered, "It's bizarre... but she really did it to try and cool the room down."

"Yeah, she's clearly not playing with a full deck, but her heart's in the right place."

"She was just trying to help."

Just then, our fourth roommate, Brooke, walked in from the balcony.

Her neck was covered in angry red heat rashes, her energy entirely sapped by the humidity.

She looked at the ruined insulin, then at the sweat-drenched Sienna, and sighed.

"Tess, Gloria, let's just drop it."

"Sienna came from a really remote rural town; maybe she just doesn't understand. She was just trying to help us unplug from materialism. She spent all morning dripping sweat writing out environmental quotes for us."

"Let's all just take a step back, do a good deed, and bear with it."

There it was.

She was just trying to help.

In my past life, that single, casual phrase had served as a shield for every bit of fatal damage she inflicted.

Sienna’s eyes welled with tears of gratitude as she looked at Brooke.

"Thank you, Brooke. Thank you for understanding. I just want to rescue everyone from the abyss of consumerism."

I locked eyes with Brooke.

"She cut the AC cord, destroyed Tess’s life-saving medicine, and locked someone with a heart condition in a hundred-degree steam room."

"And you call that trying to help?"

Brooke flinched under my gaze, her voice dropping to a whisper. "But look at her... do you want to push her over the edge?"

Before I could respond, Sienna stepped forward, pulling a dirty rag pouch from her pocket and opening it with trembling hands.

Inside was a small pile of crumpled ones and quarters.

"Tess, Gloria, I know you're used to luxury."

"This is thirty dollars I saved from recycling plastic bottles. I'm giving it to you. Go buy some processed ice pops to cool down, just please stop hating me."

She held the money out with both hands, tears dropping onto the dirty bills. With her faded dress and tearful eyes, she looked like a helpless orphan being bullied by wealthy aristocrats.

The tide in the hallway turned instantly.

"Oh, come on. She gave them her recycling money. Is it really that deep?"

"It's just a little warm. College girls these days are way too fragile."

"Forgive and forget. No need to crucify her."

Tess stared at the thirty dollars, shaking with silent fury, tears of humiliation spilling over as the weight of the crowd's judgment choked out any words she had.

Gable barked at the crowd to disperse, then turned to Sienna.

"Sienna, destroying university property and damaging a peer's critical medical supplies cannot be resolved with thirty dollars. My office. Now."

Sienna clutched her thirty dollars like a martyr carrying her cross, looking back at me with a mix of pity and a bizarre, fanatical zeal as she followed Gable out.