Going Mental

Burning

//TW!! MENTIONS OF EATING DISORDERS + GORE//

No POV

"Mr. MePad?" MePad glanced up, wiping his tears. He sniffled. "Yes, Soap?"

Soap was standing there, her hands behind her back. Her legs were close together, and she looked worried. "Where did Balloon go? Why didn't he want to go?"

MePads heart sank. He couldn't tell them, it was quite possible Lightbulb, Fan, and Paper knew what the problem with Balloons parents was. Soap was friends with Fan.

"He...He went to his new home." MePad smiled, rubbing his left eye. "Why didn't he want to go?"

"Because he would miss you all." MePad explained, standing up.

"Why are you crying?" MePad paused. "Because I'll miss him too."

"So...he isn't coming back?" Soap looked up. MePad was overwhelmed by all the questions. "No he won't be coming back."

Soap frowned. "I wanted to say goodbye." MePad kneeled down. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sure we'll see him again. Now how about you...go mop the hallway? I know how much you love cleaning."

Soap smiled sadly, and nodded. "I'd like that." He stood up, and lead her to the kitchen. He sighed, turning on the faucet and filling up a bucket of water.

He thought silently to himself. Maybe MePhone had Balloons address. Maybe they could find him and bring them back.

MePad found that hard to believe.

He was startled when he felt a burn on his hand. The scalding hot water had overflowed the bucket, and burned his hand. He mumbled a few things under his breath, and dumped out some extra water. He put a small amount of soap in, just so she would be more satisfied with the outcome.

MePad pulled the heavy bucket out of the sink, spilling a bit of water on the floor. Ignoring it, he continued out into the hallway, and dropped it at Soaps feet. She had already retrieved the mop. MePad enjoyed seeing her motivated. It motivated him, in a sense.

"Thank you, Mr. MePad!" Soap smiled brightly, putting the mop in the bucket, and wringing it out afterwards. She plopped it on the floor, and began scrubbing, not doing a super great job. MePad couldn't complain, though, her efforts were what mattered.

Well, her efforts and his own efforts to not let her find out what happened.

After watching her silently for a few moments, a thought hit him. Well, really two thoughts.

The first thought, Paintbrush was still sitting on the floor waiting for MePad.

The second thought? Nickel had therapy in less than an hour.

MePad quickly stood up. "I'm going to go interview Paintbrush, and then I have to take Nickel somewhere. Will you be alright?" Soap pondered his question, before nodding vigorously with a smile on her face

"Great! I'll be right back!" MePad exclaimed.

He hastily dashed down the hall, coming to a stop just at Paintbrush's feet. Paintbrush looked up. "What happened?" They immediately asked, a bit of worry in their voice.

"Nothing of your concern, everything is a-okay!" MePad forced out a smile, before reaching his hand out to help Paintbrush up. Paintbrush rolled their eyes, and picked themselves up, ignoring MePads offer.

Nervously, MePad opened the interview room door, and allowed Paintbrush inside. Paintbrush plopped themselves down on the couch, a bit more aggressively than MePad would have hoped, and folded their arms. "Well? Come on."