Burnout

Work Work Work

I didn't have any dreams last night after going back to sleep, which was pretty disappointing. Maybe those two dreams being connected was just a coincidence and I was never going to have another one of those dreams again? I hoped that wasn't the case, everyone loved me in that reality. Sure, they appreciated me here, and I could tell Mikey loved me, but it just wasn't the same. April loved me, Mikey loved me and supported me, and there was almost nothing wrong there. It was useless to keep standing there and waiting, though, so I decided to test if this was real again. I went to the petri dish, opened it, and took more flesh off of my arm before putting it into the dish. This was real, so I closed the dish and rewrapped my arm. The spot I'd removed from before had a scab covering it, which was a good sign that it would be healing soon. I put the petri dish in a group of other petri dishes so that it was less likely to be seen as strange and observed by anyone who might've gone to look at my stuff while I was away. I didn't know what I was even going to do with those samples now that I had them, why was I even keeping them? Well, obviously I was keeping them for some kind of experiment, but I didn't have any ideas for any kind of experiment. Maybe it was just some sick and twisted part of my mind that wanted to follow the dream I'd had, or maybe it was even more messed up because I wanted to keep that part of myself alive for no reason other than to have it. 

It didn't matter either way, I was just going to have to focus on that later. My mind was a bit fuzzy from exhaustion and I had to check on the circumstances of the day to make some sort of plan, if I could even focus on a plan. Our home echoed with the lively sounds of morning conversation, speech devoid of the pain and regrets that might be brought with the day ahead. I migrated to the source of the sound and smelled the warm pizza they were having for breakfast, noting that it must've been a new pizza. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, much better than they were doing last night. I decided to observe from afar, just to see what they talk about when I'm not there. They were laughing, but I didn't know what they were laughing about. 

"Dudes, dudes, listen up!" Mikey was trying to catch his breath while being interrupted by his own laughter. "I'll call him right now, this new phone's great!" I wondered who they were talking about while they dialed the number, but then I got my answer as my t-phone loudly announced my presence to them all. The laughter stopped and heads turned in my direction.

"Donnie? What're you doing over there?" Leo walked over to me.

"What're you guys doing calling me with a new phone? And why's it so funny?" I wasn't going to assume anything, it was probably harmless fun.

"We wanted to know how you'd respond if a random number called you with a filtered voice is all." Leo spoke slowly, as if he were having to come up with that on the spot. 

"We thought it'd be funny to prank call you." Mikey didn't take any time saying that, so I knew it wasn't something more serious like Leo was trying to convince me of.

"Oh, alright I guess. It wouldn't work, though, I don't answer for random numbers."

"Wait, really?" Leo looked confused. "What if we had to call from a different phone or something? Or what if someone was calling about a hostage situation? You need to be ready to answer the phone in case something bad happens!"

"Literally all three of you have t-phones on you, strapped to your chests. It's really hard to lose all of them, y'know. Plus, if there were a hostage situation, you could have them call on your phones instead." I sighed and pinched where the bridge of my nose would be if I were a human.

"You never know, Donnie, you need to be ready. But that's not the point." Leo seemed to be shaking off the negativity. "Today's a day off from training, I know you're happy about that. Now you have all day to work on your science stuff!" He smiled at me, thinking that I would be excited. I couldn't disappoint him, so I gave him a smile that probably looked fake.