Chap­ter VII begins with the pro­tag­o­nist wak­ing up in Pas­tor Meeks’s office, dis­ori­ent­ed and con­fused, to the sound of heat­ed argu­ments. She finds her­self lying on a blue plaid sofa, sur­round­ed by chaos. Pas­tor Meeks is in the midst of an angry con­fronta­tion with a thin deliv­ery­man, who is hold­ing a large pink Bible. The pas­tor, vis­i­bly irri­tat­ed, crit­i­cizes the col­or of the Bibles, ques­tion­ing their appro­pri­ate­ness for his con­gre­ga­tion. He seems more focused on the col­or than the actu­al pur­pose of the Bible. Mean­while, the deliv­ery­man, who appears sad and meek, tries to explain that he’s sim­ply fol­low­ing orders, but his voice is quick­ly drowned out by the pas­tor’s anger.

At the same time, the protagonist’s broth­er Fish is involved in a heat­ed argu­ment with Miss Rose­mary. Fish insists that Mibs doesn’t need a doc­tor, think­ing that she should just go home instead, while Miss Rose­mary is fran­ti­cal­ly try­ing to main­tain con­trol over the sit­u­a­tion. She des­per­ate­ly clings to the tele­phone, try­ing to reach some­one who can help, but it seems the sit­u­a­tion is spi­ral­ing out of her con­trol. Fish, in a dis­play of frus­tra­tion, climbs over the pastor’s desk to ral­ly their grand­pa, but unfor­tu­nate­ly, he’s asleep and unaware of the chaos unfold­ing around him. The dis­or­der con­tin­ues to inten­si­fy as each per­son in the room becomes more involved in the con­flicts that are tak­ing place.

In the midst of all the exter­nal com­mo­tion, the pro­tag­o­nist expe­ri­ences her own inter­nal strug­gle. She begins to hear two dis­tinct voic­es in her head, which mir­ror the argu­ments occur­ring in the room. The voic­es argue back and forth, fur­ther con­fus­ing her and adding to her already over­whelm­ing sense of dis­ori­en­ta­tion. As she tries to make sense of her thoughts, she recalls a pre­vi­ous encounter involv­ing Bobbi’s tat­too that had inex­plic­a­bly spo­ken to her. This mem­o­ry only adds to her con­fu­sion, as she tries to under­stand the strange con­nec­tion between her and the world around her. She feels over­whelmed by the noise in her head and yearns for peace and qui­et, want­i­ng a moment to focus on her own aspi­ra­tions and not be con­sumed by the chaos of the exter­nal world.

The ongo­ing argu­ments in the office, com­bined with the over­whelm­ing noise, make her feel unno­ticed and trapped. She longs for an escape, want­i­ng noth­ing more than to leave and head to Sali­na Hope Hos­pi­tal to be with her father. At the same time, she feels an urgent desire to acti­vate her latent abil­i­ties, hop­ing that they will help her find a way out of her cur­rent predica­ment. The ten­sion builds as the chaot­ic argu­ments about pink Bibles and emo­tion­al pleas to adults con­tin­ue to spi­ral out of con­trol, push­ing her fur­ther into a state of frus­tra­tion and anx­i­ety. Notic­ing a moment when the focus shifts else­where, she qui­et­ly slips away, eager to escape the noise and con­fu­sion that have been tor­ment­ing her thoughts.

Once out­side the pastor’s office, she encoun­ters Will Junior, who express­es con­cern for her well-being. He holds the birth­day pen set she lost, and in her des­per­a­tion, she implores him for a way to escape the mad­ness. Her request reflects her urgent need for a reprieve from the over­whelm­ing chaos around her, a desire to find some sem­blance of peace and free­dom. Will Junior’s pres­ence offers a brief moment of relief, though the chaos still looms large in her mind.

This chap­ter high­lights the protagonist’s sense of being caught in the mid­dle of an emo­tion­al storm, both exter­nal­ly and inter­nal­ly. The dis­ar­ray in the room mir­rors the tur­moil she feels with­in her­self, caught between her yearn­ing for qui­et and the urgent need to con­nect with her father. Her inter­nal con­flict, brought on by the voic­es in her head, deep­ens as the sit­u­a­tion around her esca­lates. This sets the stage for her even­tu­al need to find a way to escape, both phys­i­cal­ly and men­tal­ly, from the cacoph­o­ny that sur­rounds her. As she moves through the space, the read­er is remind­ed of how exter­nal chaos often reflects inner tur­moil, and how the search for peace can some­times feel impos­si­ble when sur­round­ed by noise and con­fu­sion.