FORCE OF HABIT [An Evil Test Tube Fanfic]

FADED

Test Tube quickly got ready in her lab gear, putting her hair up and everything before going out to check who that was. After she went up the tube, a shrill voice greeted her skeptically.

"Hi. I didn't get to say that to you before."

"Oh, Balloon! Is that all you came for?"

"Not really. Test Tube, have you been noticing the disappearances? How people are going missing?"

She shook her head, lying. He continued.

"Well, multiple people have gone missing. A lot of the others think they got murdered, or they died accidentally. Either way, people think they're dead."

The way he didn't group himself into that made her shudder.

"A few other people assume they got kidnapped by some random person. Someone who wanted to grab a quick and easy target."

She glanced away, worried about what he's getting at.

"You know, I heard it. I heard Apple. I was coming over here two days ago, thanks to your ad, but I heard her screams. Nobody believed me. I know she's in there, Test Tube. I know what you've done."

She was quick to defend herself, waving her arms out in front of her.
"No, no, no, you got it all wrong! That wasn't Apple, it was-"

His tone became more aggressive, speaking louder.
"I'm not dumb. I heard you when you asked Fan to meet in private. You said that immediately after he mentioned the missing people."
He speaks through gritted teeth.
"You aren't getting off scot-free."

She fumbled over her words, attempting to explain herself. She eventually kept quiet for a second.

He sighed, worry showing on his face for a second.
"It would be better to tell the others. I don't want them to stick with the belief that you're a good perso-"

She hit him in the face with as much power as she could. He collapsed where he stood, knocked out cold. That sentence must've hit a nerve. She carried him with her down the tube and into the main part of her lab, where she forced his limp body to drink one of the chemicals. She shoved him into one of the empty cells, the one beside Apple's, and left him for the time being. She'll have to wait for him to wake up.

An entire hour passed before Balloon woke up. He looked around, realizing he was another one of Test Tube's guinea pigs. He didn't know how to feel.

Genuinely. He didn't know how to feel. He felt nothing. He didn't know what to say.

Test Tube rushed over soon enough, blood on her sleeves. She stood in front of the glass with her journal, panting.
"Sorry, sorry, I was with Apple. She got a bit stressed again. Sorry about hitting you and kidnapping you, by the way."

He shrugged, his voice mostly monotone with slight fluctuations.
"Okay. I won't believe you, though."

She stared at him for a moment.
"Why are you talking like that?"

"I don't know, I don't care."
He kept his hands to his sides.

She squinted at him, kneeling.
"Are you okay?"

"I'm.. I don't know."

"Can you feel anything, anything at all?"

"I don't think so."

"Yes or no, Balloon."

"No."

She noted that down, staring at Balloon.
"Anything else that's abnormal? Pain, weird sensations, etcetera?"

"No."

She nodded, standing again.
"I better get going th-.."
She froze in place.
"OH MY GOSH, I FORGOT TO BANDAGE APPLE."
Suddenly, she took off, supposedly to bandage Apple.

Balloon scooted near the corner, sighing. He didn't feel anything. That's not exactly anything new for him, but this is completely involuntary. He wanted to shout at her, to hate her, to want to get out of here, but he didn't care enough to do it. He could hear Test Tube scrambling back, heading inside of the cell beside his while whimpering shy apologies. He didn't listen to it. He wished he wanted to, but he didn't.

After bandaging up Apple's hands and wrists for the second time, hugging her tightly before exiting the cell, she went to her bed. She thought about what Fan said to her.

'I promise I don't want to keep doing this.'

'Then why are you?'

'Then why are you?'. It kept playing in her mind like a song on repeat. She was asking herself that same question. Why IS she doing this still? She genuinely doesn't know. It really should've stopped at Lightbulb. She swallows her guilt and writes in her journal.

"BALLOON: SUPPOSEDLY EMOTIONLESS. HE SAID IT HIMSELF. HE DOESN'T SEEM TO KNOW OR CARE ABOUT MANY THINGS, NOT GIVING A STRAIGHT OPINION UNTIL TOLD TO. FURTHER TESTING NEEDED. END REPORT FIVE."

She takes a deep breath, puts her hair down, and simply waits for the nighttime.