The day passes too quickly, and suddenly, it's Saturday morning. I send a quick text to my family informing them that I am not dead and will call them tomorrow. I stop myself from typing "...if I survive."

I still haven't thought up a believable excuse against staying overnight. Worst case scenario, I decide that I will look at my phone and announce, "Oh no, my grandma is dying—Got to go!" and screw the consequences to my career.

I pull up the location of Vocal's old hideout on my phone and plug one earbud into my ear to listen to the directions to keep one ear open and my eyes free (drive safely, people).

I bike as slowly as I can to the site, hoping for once that some villain attack interrupts my progress. Maybe if I'm late enough, Aaron will leave me behind.

Instead of animated objects walking around and helping people out, the central quadrant has little robots. It's hard to see them at first because they are colored to blend into their environment, but every once in a while, one will move enough to make you look twice at that wall. I'm already jumpy when I enter the quadrant, so the robots almost cause me to fall off my bike multiple times.

The coordinates lead to an empty lot of dirt. A "For Sale" sign is planted up front, but it is decorated with so much foreboding graffiti that it is hard to glean any other information from it.

Aaron, two of the others from Group G, and someone new stand on the lot. The two group members are Xenith and Greg. They are both silent workers with goth attire. I've heard the two of them are dating, but I've never seen them show public affection toward one another.

The unknown person is a girl shorter than me by an inch. She has short reddish hair and grey eyes, but her vibe gives off if plant growth were scattered everywhere. As I approach the lot, she bounces back and forth between her feet, a smile on her face that tells me she has never met a villain before and has no idea what she's getting into.

I lock my bike to the "For Sale" sign next to a dark green bike that I assume is Aaron's.

"Hey Ruby!" Aaron waves at me and turns to the new girl. Thrusting his thumb at me, he tells her, "That's Ruby." He turns back to me. "This is Jina. She just moved into town from Mexico. She's the newest employee of Security Saver, and she decided to join our group! Isn't that great?"

That explains the excitement. I watch as Jina hops up to me and shoots her hand out. "Hello. I am Jina. Oh, Aaron said that. I am very excited for today! I love danger!"

I stare at her and then at Aaron, Xenith, and Greg. They no longer are paying attention to the newbie. I look back at Jina. I decide Aaron is officially stupid for allowing someone this naïve on a trip like this. "You do know this is a supervillain's old hideout, right?"

She bobs her head. "Yes! I want to see a villain! Super scary, right?"

"When did you say you moved here?"

"I moved yesterday, but I got this job last week." Oh no. This poor girl has no idea what she has gotten herself into.

"I'm going to explain the situation since clearly no one else has," I tell her. "This way, you don't die within the week."

"Okay!"

"This is not something to be happy about," I try to control my breathing.

"Ah, come on! It is like a movie! Think of the fun we will have."

"No. Not fun." Time for a new approach. "What do you know about Vocal?"

"He is a supervillain that can read minds." She wiggles her fingers at me. "Spooky, ay?"

"And?"

"He is very scary?" She says it like that's the most exciting thing ever.

"Is that really all Aaron told you?"

"Yep!" I feel like glaring at Aaron, but that would break the "be nice to people" rule. He, of all people, should know to inform newbies about the villains here lest they mistake life for a comic book.

"Let me fill you in. Vocal has never been caught on camera or by the police. Since he can read minds, he can manifest your greatest fears and twist them until your mind is warped beyond all recognition..." I recall the earlier Vocal victims: stumbling around, shaking on the ground, crying for mercy, babbling nonsense...

"Cool!" Jina exclaims.

"No! Not cool!" I groan with exasperation. Jina is hard to argue with. Not only because she refuses to believe the most simple of knowledge but also because throughout the whole conversation, the smile on her face stays constant. I wish the world was not so demanding that it has to dash that smile.

But as much as my reason screams for me to stop trying to impose my scars onto everyone else, my memories better recall the crazed eyes of the victims, not just of Vocal's attacks but of other villains as well. Many people have come into my shop hoping for a respite. Their eyes are either haunted by the horrors of the day, tear-stained from the grief of losing a loved one, or dead with hollow emotion.

Vocal's attacks are the worst. The only things that remain of him are the empty faces of his victims.

I take a deep breath to calm my frayed nerves. What a week it has been. "Listen-- Jina-- this city is a new world compared to everywhere else. It can be exciting to be amongst such powerful people, but you also have to learn to be careful. Just like you would never walk across a street filled with cars, there are certain things here you cannot do. A guy even made a rulebook about it."

Jina pouts and rolls her eyes. "Thanks for the advice, but rules are not my thing. I can take care of myself. Vocal is not really that scary to me. More bark than bite, yeah?"

I open my mouth to protest, but the last team member-- Parker-- has arrived, and Aaron has started dictating instructions.

"Alright, time's a'wasting, so we're going to split up." Blood rushes out of my face. Isn't the worst thing to do in a horror movie (which I'm now convinced this is) splitting up? And what happened to "sticking with the crowd"? More attention = bad.

It's too late to question Aaron now that he's determined. Knowing my luck, I'd just be fired. 

Maybe that's not the worst thing in the world right now. 

"Parker and I will take the back. Xenith and Greg will take the left part of the front side. And Jina and Ruby? You'll take the right part of the front." He passes out radios and maps of the hideout to each of us. "Does everyone have a bag?" He had requested we bring a bag to carry any items we find. I double-check mine is secure on my shoulder. I had compacted my bike repairing tools in my backpack and now have plenty of room for storing other things with minimal difference in weight. Jina, on the other hand, shakes her head. Aaron had apparently forgotten to mention a lot of things to her.

Aaron pulls out a pile of extra backpacks and hands one to Jina. He grabs one for himself. "Keep your radio on. If you find tech too big to move, mark it on your map. We'll meet back up here at 2 for lunch. Any questions?" There are none. "Okay! Let's get adventuring!"

The entrance to Vocal's hideout is hidden under a pile of dirt. For an entrance to a super-secret, scary villain hideout, the trapdoor doesn't look intimidating. I almost relax. Almost.

The inside is only lit by the bright lights from Electronica's robots. They circle the place in patterns, scanning for any unusual activity. Aaron holds up something to one of them, and the robot scans each of us. I hold my breath, expecting something to go wrong and hoping the robots don't start shooting at us with the scary weapons strapped to their sides. But nothing happens.

We each turn on our radios and split up to search the area. Despite the throw-up stuck in my gut, I find myself fascinated by the hideout. Tall metal beams support the rocky roof and arch across one another so that the passageway feels like it's leading up to something impressive. Tile squares line the floor. I walk to avoid the cracks as my superstitions kick in. It takes effort to stop so I can focus on my surroundings instead.

Ten minutes in, and there's still nothing. The map says we'll reach the first split in a few minutes.

"You are jumpy," Jina's voice startles me. I glare as she grins.

"Yeah," I reply. "Not really the place I wanted to be this weekend."

"This Vocal guy freaks you out, huh?"

"Yeah."

"But this is not the first time you have done this?"

"I've never intentionally done something like this before."

"Intentionally?" I stay silent. That's all the answer she needs.

The split in the path comes soon after, and we decide to take the left path. It leads into a vast control room. Only one of Electronica's robots hovers here.

"Look through the drawers for anything interesting," I instruct. "I'll try to figure out what this stuff does." Jina nods and begins searching. I walk over to the control panel.

It is too much to expect that the buttons and switches are labeled. Regardless, the system looks relatively simple. I find the power switch first, and the whole panel blinks to life. I survey the system and press the "view mode" button. The room rumbles, and the wall in front of us is revealed to be a curtain covering a window.

"Woah." Beyond the window is a massive stadium. There don't appear to be any entrances into the stadium besides a forced hole in the wall. I glance down at the panel. The labels make too much sense now. "Jina, do you know what this is?" I can hardly contain my excitement.

Jina, on the other hand, looks confused. "No?"

"This is where a battle between Vocal and the Gladiators took place. This is why the media could never catch Vocal on video!" I point to the control board. "Vocal controlled the stadium from up here, fighting the Gladiators with illusions mixed with reality." I nod to a button that says "Switch Modes." I bet he knew all the Gladiators' fears and made them a reality with his inventions!"

Jina grins. "I thought you were scared of Vocal."

I glare at her. "I can appreciate finding something no one else has." I hesitate. I'm not sure what each mode is, and that scares me, but some of them could spit out the tech we're looking for. I gingerly press the "Switch Modes" button.

One second.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Nothing. Vocal must have used all his tricks when he was fighting the Gladiators.

"Hey, I found something." Jina shows me a metal box that fits neatly into her hand. I pluck it from her hand. It's heavier than I thought it would be. Upon initial inspection, it bears no screws or openings. Closer inspection reveals thin indented lines along the edges from where it is sealed together. Which means something might be inside.

"Good find." I smile at Jina. She gives me a thumbs up. I join her in searching through the place for more gadgets.

As we work, I wonder how there's still enough energy to power the control panel. I guess there may be an internal power source in this base still giving everything juice, but, oddly enough, the Gladiators haven't shut it down yet.

Besides a few wonky screws, nothing else sticks out. I mark the control panel on our map in case another team member wants to mess around with it, and we head out.

This time, we take the right path. We face another intersection that splits three ways. We go right again and reach a dead end. Jina insists we stay to search for a secret passageway, despite my insistence that villains never use secret passageways. After five minutes of searching, I finally pull her away from the wall to go back the way we came. 

The middle passageway leads farther in, so we take the left path first. This passage leads to a door.

I smack Jina's hand away from the door handle. "There could be a trap on the door."

"Right, right." She's still smiling.

We inspect the door, looking for any sign of wires or openings in the wall that could emit deadly poisons. In the end, I admit there is nothing. We still stand a meter from the door and open it with bike tools duck-taped together. Just to be safe.

A small light that flickers to life as we enter. Four of Electronica's robots hover in four corners of the room. I get chills as I stare at the machines, floating in a synchronized design.

The room is the jackpot we've been looking for. Inventions line the walls and are piled half-broken on steel desks: Everything from robots to weapons to hologram-projecting devices. Judging from the extra surveillance on the room, the Gladiators must have decided not to move anything for fear it might go off.

I realize Jina is waiting for my instructions. "Be careful," I tell her. "Some of these inventions might try to kill us if we move them or turn them on. Take one of everything you can safely grab." Jina grins and instantly races to the nearest pile of inventions. I follow her, feeling a smile settle on my face.

At first, I try to take everything I can get my hands on. But soon enough, I realize my backpack won't survive holding so many items. I take out a few things and start observing each piece of equipment, prioritizing the technology that looks most helpful.

I keep glancing at the robots hovering in the middle of the room. More than the others, these feel like they're watching us as we sift through Vocal's things. I shudder and try to focus on our task. 

When in doubt, MOVE AWAY.

"Hey, Jina." I keep my eyes on the robots. "I think we have enough stuff. We should go."

"I need more time. My backpack has plenty of space."

I realize that the hovering robots have not moved since we arrived. "No... No, we should go now." Electronica is smart enough to have her robots rotate in a circle as they guard. I look around, searching for the reason the robots are stationary.

Jina frowns at the tone in my voice. "There is no danger. We need to grab this tech for Aaron." She reaches for more inventions. I spot something that spikes fear in my chest. In the pile of inventions is one of Electronica's robots. No... the paint on the side is slightly different. I crane my neck to look at the hovering robots. The same paint job. These aren't Electronica's robots: They are Vocal's.

This design is more ancient than Electronica's robots. Which means she probably modeled her current ones off those of her enemies. She must've seen the old design in the workshop and decided to repurpose it to guard the base. That's exactly the sort of ironic thing Electronica loves to do. That explains why the robots are stationary instead of floating around: they most likely have different functions.

But why would Vocal make it so Electronica could take over his robots when all his other technology is guarded against her?

Unless he only wanted her to think that she had.

Pieces of the problem meld together like two wires perfectly soldered together. It isn't that Electronica can't take over Vocal's technology; she can't overrule their primary functions. If a machine is designed to take in input and shoot at intruders, she can change who the intruder is but not the shooting. If these drones haven't started shooting yet, we haven't found what they are designed to protect.

"Jina!" I shout. I take five steps away from everything. "Don't touch anything else!" I look over at her. I'm too late. The robots whir as Jina picks up a knife taken from the desk. As they turn to face her, my suspicions are confirmed. "GET DOWN!" I scream as the drones open fire. Jina drops under one of the desks and cowers behind a pile of inventions.

I grab the nearest weapon (A boomerang. Why does Vocal have a boomerang?) and chuck it at the closest robot. I have never thrown a boomerang, nor have I ever wanted to, but this one somehow manages to crash into the robot. It explodes in a display of scrap metal. As the remaining drones whir, the boomerang twists in midair and sails back to me. I barely catch it. Oh. Oh. That's why he made a boomerang weapon.

The other three drones are flashing red. So much for not attracting attention.

I throw the boomerang again as I run behind a cabinet of inventions. I hear something explode. The boomerang tries to come back to me. It collides once against the cabinet. Then it hits again. But the robots mistake it as a threat and shoot it. Rest in peace boomerang. Rest in peace.

Desperately, I look around for some sort of shield. There is no shield and no convenient piece of scrap metal. The cabinet and desks are the only things big enough to hide behind.

I grab another weapon (A typical laser gun. I miss the boomerang already.) I don't think I can duck out, shoot the robots, and duck back behind cover before getting shot, but it's better than nothing.

The pelting of bullets becomes louder as the drones close in on my cabinet. In hindsight, it would have been safer to hide inside the cabinet. (Knowing my luck, there's another boomerang inside.)

I would throw a grenade if I weren't positive it would blow me and Jina along with it.

None of my rules are helping me in this situation. The robots will come around the corner any second, and I don't think running away will do me any favors.

As I am deciding which deity to pray to, I hear a cry as the sound of bullets increases. Then, silence.

I wait a few more seconds before I peek around the cabinet. Jina is standing with the largest machine gun I have ever seen. She's bleeding from a cut along her cheek and on her shoulder. The machine gun limply falls from her hands as she staggers forward. I rush forward and help steady her. She's shaking all over.

"We should find something to wrap around your shoulder," I'm saying, my voice sounding like it comes from somewhere else. "How bad does it hurt?" she doesn't respond. Her eyes aren't focusing on anything. "Can I take a look at it?" She doesn't respond again. I roll up her sleeve to take a look anyway.

I almost pass out as the wound comes into focus. I quickly turn away, taking deep breaths and swallowing down bile. I don't know how Jina isn't crying right now. She's probably in shock. I pull out my water bottle from my backpack. I try tearing up my hoodie for bandages only to discover I am terrible at tearing up clothes. Instead, I take a knife from the array of weapons in the room and cut up the hoodie with it (Rest in peace hoodie. Rest in peace). I pour water on one of the pieces and use it to dab away the worst of the blood. I hope there's no bullet still lodged in there. I can barely survive looking at the wound, much less trying to fish something out of it.

If there is a bullet still in the wound, it doesn't show itself. I wrap the wound with another of my hoodie pieces, hoping all those movies and books tell the truth about what to do in these situations. I should have included a first-aid section in my book.

The radio buzzes to life, almost killing me from the shock. "Hey, everyone?" It's Aaron speaking. "About half the drones just flashed red and floated away."

Another voice. Xenith's. "Yeah. Same on our end."

I race to the door and fumble with my radio. "They're under Vocal's control!" I shout into it. "Jina and I found a weird knife-- They attacked us! Jina is in shock, we need backup!" Silence. "Hello? Guys?" Nothing. Then, from the hallway, I hear a sound. There is no time to go to the door and listen to what it is like in some suspenseful horror movie. I immediately start piling things in front of the door. I even try pushing over the cabinet, but it's either nailed to the floor or too heavy for my puny limbs.

Light starts to shine from the cracks in the doors.

The sounds grow louder. I can hear them clearly now.

"What do you fear?"

"What makes you squirm?"

"When will you lose hope?"

I'm shaking. Shaking so hard I can hardly think. The recording is coming out of every robot outside. The result is an eerie cacophony that shakes me to my soul.

"What do you fear?"

"What makes you squirm?"

"When will you lose hope?"

Bullets decorate the door. I clear away some of the inventions inside the cabinet and pull Jina inside. She's trembling too.

She's saying something now in the darkness of the cabinet. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize... You were right, and I didn't listen." I'm glad it's dark, so I can't see the look in her eyes right now.

"Hey, it's okay. You couldn't have known it would be like this. Most people outside the city don't. The people with powers in this city aren't just parading around with capes. They are... something else."

Silence. Then, "Do you think the Gladiators will rescue us?"

Oh, the hope of someone untainted by the real world. "Maybe. Hopefully. But... Doubtful."

Silence again. Then, with a lighter tone, "Did you say there was a guidebook for situations like this?"

I smile. I had forgotten about my rulebook. I quickly run through the rules as I fish for my copy.

If you see something suspicious / out of the ordinary / a supervillain, and the heroes aren't already at the scene, call the police.

I hand the rulebook to Jina. "You can borrow mine for now. It has lots of notes in the margins, but you can ignore those if you want." Mainly as a reminder to post clarifications on my blog.

I take out my phone next. I dial 911. The phone rings.

"What's your emergency?"

"Yeah, so me and my friends, we prowl the streets and keep note on Vocal's old hideouts, yah?" I can tell Jina is looking at me strangely. This thick, accented voice is the one I use whenever I call the police. My face heats up as I continue talking. It's strange having someone bear witness to a piece of my alternate self. "And then we saw a group of fellas go in the one near the Gladiator statues all official like. We followed them, just to see. And then Electronica's floating things, those metal devices, they turned red! My friend was shot, and I saw two of those fellas get trapped in some room. The floaters are chanting something awful and shooting bullets at the door." I hold the phone out to record the drone of Vocal's voice. After a few seconds, I put it back to my ear. "They're at the front, down the right path. Follow the murderous hoverers, and you'll find them real quick. Thank ye mister goodbye." I end the call before the police officer can respond. Hopefully, they caught all that.

"Who did you call and why did you use that strange voice?" Some of the mirth has returned to Jina's voice.

"The police. I use that voice whenever I call them to stay anonymous."

"Is that a rule in the book?"

"Eh... sort of."

Silence. Why does silence keep coming back? I hate having nothing to distract me from the endless chanting.

"I do not think the police will arrive in time." Jina's voice sounds so sad. My heart breaks.

"Well... Electronica should still be monitoring 911 calls. If so, and if she's not busy elsewhere, she should be able to reach us quicker than the police." I pause. "And, until then, if the drones get inside, we are in a cabinet full of an evil genius's inventions. I'm sure we can find something that will hold off the robots, even for a little bit."

"Yeah... yeah! Good idea!" I hear Jina sit up straighter. "We will survive. The robots will not defeat us!" I decide not to mention this is not a little army. "We will find something useful!" Wow. Talking to your friends is a good stress reliever for some people.

It soon becomes painfully evident that we should have brought a flashlight with us. Half of the things we find in the cabinet don't make sense by touch and are more likely to kill us than the robots outside. All we have is a sword, the weird knife (which neither of us wants to use), a tube that is probably a blowgun, and a little spider robot that emits a friendly sound every three minutes. It's like a Furby: supposed to be cute but ends up being the most creepy thing in this place.

And no. There is no boomerang.

The hail of gunfire pauses. The chanting gets louder. Not ominous at all. There are whirs and clicks as the devices float into the room. Then, the chanting stops.

I never would have thought I would miss hearing Vocal's voice. The silence makes me queasy with anxiety.

We wait in the quiet, shivering shoulder to shoulder. Jina holds the sword. I clutch the blowgun.

"Beep bop boop!" Exclaims the little spider. Both Jina and I jolt. I give the robot a murderous glare. I've decided I will have to clarify that my rule about being nice to people doesn't apply to robots.

Jina kicks open the cabinet doors. Maybe it's instinct, maybe it's stupidity, or maybe she's just really surprised. Whatever the case, the twenty or so drones in the room and the many more outside start flashing red and face us.

"Close the doors!" I shout as the drones whir. I pull shut one door and pull Jina behind it as the drones start shooting. Luckily, this cabinet is large enough to avoid getting hit. Jina's face is white with terror. "Oops," she whispers. Okay... so surprise, not instinct.

"It's fine." It's not fine! "We can still survive this." We definitely CANNOT survive this. "Now that we can see, let's try to look for long range weapons." We. Are. Doomed.

"Y-yes. I will do that." She starts rummaging through the covered part of the cabinet while I observe the thing in my hands again. It isn't a blowgun, so it's a good thing I didn't try to use it. It looks to be a laser pointer. I grit my teeth in disappointment. Just in case, I point the laser pointer outside (hoping and pleading my hand isn't shot off in the process) and press the button. A red light comes out, but nothing else happens.

A moment later, my mind registers pain in my hand. I cry out and pull away. Curse it all... my hand did get shot! I make a mental note to add a new rule around this in my guide. The pain is too intense for me to think of specifics.

On the positive side, my hand is still attached to my arm. As far as good things go, that's the only positive I can think of. The wound is already bleeding too much for my poor anxiety-riddled stomach to handle, and I left my torn-up hoodie outside. I try to compensate by pressing my hand into my shirt. I hope breakfast was too far ago for my stomach to bring it back up.

And then I hear something. Something that manages to slip past the noise of the guns. A faint, scurrying sound. I wish I could look out and see what disaster is coming next.

Jina must hear it too because she taps my shoulder. I look around at her and see she's pointing at the spider robot struggling to get out of her hands. Then, we hear many tiny electronic devices speak in a simultaneous chorus: "Beep bop boop." And then the explosions start.

The gunfire on our cabinet decreases dramatically. Jina peeks out before I can stop her. "Oh! They are everywhere." I can't resist. I also peek out.

At least a hundred spider robots are attacking the drones. They fall from the ceiling onto the drones and rip into the drones with their pincers. Every so often, they all say, "Beep bop boop." It's so terrifying I almost wish we had been killed by the drones instead. Almost.

Despite their numbers, the spiders are losing. That they had come at all is a miracle.

"It was the light." Jina points out the spider symbol on the laser pointer. "It called them."

I shiver at the ominous phrase. "Any luck finding long-ranged weapons?"

"I think so." She hands me something that looks suspiciously like a water gun. I hope I can fire it with one hand.

"What about for you?"

She points to the sword. "It has buttons on it and strange openings. I have not determined what they do."

"Well, get ready for some trial and error."

We never test out the weapons. Explosions from the hallway cause the robots to flash red again. As the drones turn to face the new threat, a small metal object speeds into the room. The drones are too slow to react to the object. It tears through them like paper.

In under a minute, the remaining drones are destroyed. The surviving spider robots deactivate. I feel close to collapsing beside them.

Electronica steps into the room. The little metal object zips into an orbit around her. She flips her braid from her shoulder to her back. "Are you both okay?" I nod my head as Jina shakes hers.

"You are not okay," she tells me. "Your hand is bleeding."

"Tis but a flesh wound," I reply.

"What?"

"It's not life threatening."

"Is that how you determine your injuries?"

"Well, my life is the main priority."

"Can you both walk?" Electronica interrupts. We both nod our heads. "Great. I'll escort you out."

I take the pieces of my hoodie and wrap them around my hand. Then, Jina and I grab our things and head out.

I try to get a better look at the metal object as we walk, but its quick movements and my vision swimming from the pain prevent me from seeing it as anything other than a shiny metal blur.

"Do you mind telling me what prompted the drones to attack you?" asks Electronica.

"When we started picking up inventions, the drones in the room attacked," Jina explains. "We killed those drones and more came after us." I notice she leaves out describing the item that prompted the attack. On the one hand, that lets us study the knife. On the other hand, it might be safer in the possession of the Gladiators.

I'll talk to Jina about that later.

It takes some skillful maneuvering to get both Jina and me up the ladder with her shoulder busted and my hand dead. We eventually manage with Electronica's robots carrying part of our weight.

Outside, Aaron and the rest of Group G are talking to the police. I'm surprised the officers arrived so quickly. Instinct warns me to get as far away from here as fast as possible, but the need for a doctor (both for Jina and me) without crazy medical expenses weighs supreme.

I brush through the police and Aaron's questions and soon am escorted to the nearest hospital. They fix my hand in a few hours, and I leave, promising to keep my hand wrapped and unstrained for the next week. I decide it's better to have a shot hand (even with the unfair amounts of pain) than to stay in Vocal's hideout for a night.

By this point, I am starving. It's well past 2, and almost dying takes it out of you. Fortunately, I didn't throw up any of my breakfast (Aaron expelled his stomach when he saw Jina's shoulder).

I pick up some fast food and chow down. Realizing I still have the equipment we gathered, I drop by Security Saver to store them. To top it off, I buy a new hoodie.

With nothing else planned for the day, I bike home early. Well... walk my bike home. My hand hurts too much for biking to be a safe option. I have had enough excitement for the day.

At home, I actually relax. I even flick on the TV I barely use. I doze off with the whirrs of the TV humming me into a dreamless sleep.