Lightbulb woke up at 10:56am somehow more tired than the day before. The crack in her bulb throbbed and she groaned, she would really have to see Test Tube about that... She did not sleep good at all, for the first few hours she slept like a brick, but for the remainder of the night she she couldn't stop tossing and turning. The pillows felt horrendous against her injury. Everytime she turned in bed she would press the cracked glass against the bed, causing the edges to flare up with pain. She woke up 7 separate times last night in various forms of pain.
Lightbulb winced as she draged herself out of bed, the sudden movement causing her head to pound and her head to spin. She leaned against the foot of her bed in a daze as her head swam, she really needed to get to Test Tube... Passing the still passed out Knife on the way Lightbulb stumbled out of the room and into the hallway. Lightbulb was getting real sick of these long hallways.
Lightbulb leaned heavily against the wall; passing many numbered hotel doors as she went. She could hear YinYang arguing with themselves, an obnoxiously loud sneeze from tissues followed by an equally loud groan from who she assumed to be Trophy. Most rooms had some type of noise coming from them, was the hotel always this loud? The noise just made Lightbulb's headache even worse. As she finally made it to the stairs. The stairs seemed to move and blur together, Lightbulb whimpered and leaned against the cold wall. She felt sick.
Lightbulb took a deep breath and took the stairs as fast as she could. The vertigo hit her like a train half way down and she had to stop. She slid down the wall and sat on the steps, her head in her hands. There was no way she was going to get down the rest of the steps. "Lightbulb?" Lightbulb tiredly looked up to see a concerned Paper at the bottom of the stairs. "Are you alright? What are you doing on the stairs?" Paper joined Lightbulb on the steps.
"Oh- heeyyyy Paper.." Lightbulb moved her head too quickly and another dizzy spell hit her, her face twisted in pain, Paper's concern only got worse. "I uh- woke up with this killer headache and my cracks were bothering me so I thought I would go to the medical office to see if Test Tube had anything but- I kinda got stuck on the stairs..." Lightbulb laughed anxiously. Paper hooked his arm around hers. "C'mon let's get you down." Paper helped her stand and get down the rest of the stairs.
"Do you need help getting to the medical office? I can help you there." Paper asked, worried. Lightbulb shook her head. "Nahhh, don't worry about it, I can make it." Lightbulb smirked confidently, making Paper smile, but he seemed unconvinced. "Alright...if you're sure. You know where it is right?" Lightbulb nodded and started off towards the medical office. "Uh... Lightbulb? The med office is that way..." Paper pointed towards a room that branched off of the main lobby. Lightbulb laughed nervously. "Right! I knew that." Lightbulb went the correct way towards the med office, Paper just shook his head.
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When Lightbulb opened the med office door she didn't expect to see anyone but Test Tube and an unconscious Mephone4. She was quickly proven wrong however as she heard 2 very familiar voices. "Test Tube pleeease I'm begging you! You have to tell us what happened!" Fan clutched his phone tightly in his hands, a desperate expression on his face. Paintbrush stood tall next to him, arms crossed, their face stuck in a determined glare. Test Tube nervously fiddled with her glasses under Paintbrush and Fan's stare. "Listen, I'm sorry but OJ asked me not to tell anyone! And that includes you two!"
Paintbrush's frown deepened. "But Test Tube we both heard Paper talking to OJ last night! We know something happened to the remaining contestants! So-" "So can you please tell us what happened!? Or at least if Lightbulb's alright!? We've been freaking out about it all day!" Fan interupted Paintbrush mid sentence, they glared at him but he didn't seem to notice. Test Tube anxiously glanced to a side room labeled "infirmary". "I'm sorry! But I-" "Testy?" Lightbulb decided to interrupt them but immediately regretted it as all three of them stared at her with varying expressions.
Test Tube looked to her and then between Fan and Paintbrush, they probably weren't supposed to see her. Fan stared at her with shock, his eyes wide. Lightbulb suddenly felt self conscious. Paintbrush's expression changed from surprise to relief in such a short span of time she almost missed it. But their relief slowly began to bleed into confusion and anger as they looked her over. "Lightbulb! What are you doing here?! You should be in bed-" As Test Tube rambled Paintbrush approached Lightbulb, the ends of their bristles smoking.
"Uh- Painty I-" "What. Happened." It was not a question, it was a demand. Paintbrush analyzed Lightbulb's face with such an intensity Lightbulb had never seen before. Paintbrush's furious face got more angry and concerned the more they looked at the cracks in her glass. "Did someone do this?" The very thought made the ends of Paintbrush's bristles catch fire. Lightbulb gulped, her arms frozen at her sides. "Who. Did. This... Because when I find them I swear I'll-" "Paintbrush! Painty it's fine! I'm fine!"
Paintbrush's bristles only flared up more. "What do you mean "it's fine?" There's nothing fine about this! You're hurt..." Paintbrush's voice quieted down at the end, but their fury didn't recede. Their face was an equal mix of worry and anger. Paintbrush rubbed their thumb over a crack and Lightbulb winced. Lightbulb grabbed Paintbrush's arm softly and pulled it away. She gave them a small smile. "Painty, I promise I'm fine, my head hurts, but I'm fine..." Paintbrush still looked ready to kill someone but their face eventually softened, Paintbrush nodded and backed off, finally calming down as their bristles extinguished.
"Lightbulb..." Fan finally spoke up. "What happened?" Lightbulb looked to Test Tube. Test Tube sighed and hesitantly nodded, giving her permission. With a shaky breath, Lightbulb started her story.
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Test Tube dug around in a box as Lightbulb finished explaining. Both Paintbrush and Fan's eyes were wide. Fan hesitantly reached for his phone but Paintbrush smacked his hand away. "If you post that on your blog, I'm setting you on fire." Fan put his hands behind his back and looked away sheepishly. "Aha! Found it!" Test Tube pulled out a long piece of baby blue cotton fabric. "Since your bulb is glass and we don't have any of the shards, there isn't really any way for the crack to be healed, but as long as we keep the hole covered, your body should eventually get used to the missing glass."
Test Tube carefully tied the fabric around Lightbulb's head, making sure to completely cover the hole in Lightbulb's head. Lightbulb gasped, "I'm like a pirate!"
Lightbulb jumped up and down excitedly but quickly stopped as her head throbbed. Test Tube reached into a drawer and handed Lightbulb a bottle of pills. "Try to take these whenever you wake up and before you go to sleep. It should help with the headaches." Lightbulb thanked her as Paintbrush and Fan digested the information.
"So... Everyone's gonna be alright.. right?" Fan asked hesitantly. "Yes, none of their injuries are in any way life threatening to them as long as they're careful." Test Tube closed the drawer. Fan shook his head. "No I mean... mentally, that stuff had to have been traumatic..." Fan looked to Lightbulb but she gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Fan, if I'm feeling off, you three will be the first to know, and I'm sure the others know to tell Test Tube or someone if anything is wrong." Lightbulb said confidently, Fan's spirit rose. "Ya I guess you're right."
Test Tube looked towards the infirmary, a worried expression on her face. "Ya..." She hesitantly agreed. The others didn't seem to notice her hesitance as they left for the medical office door. "I'll be sure to talk to you later Testy! I gotta go tell Paper I made it here ok! Bye byeeeeee!" Lightbulb's voice faded as she, Paintbrush and Fan all left the office. Test Tube slowly opened the infirmary door. A crack of light from the main office allowed a small section of the dark room to be seen. Mephone4 lied on the bed, asleep. The plate of breakfast Test Tube brought him earlier that day sat cold and untouched on the table next to him.
Test Tube sighed. She grabbed the plate of food and dumped it into the trash, the food now inedible for being sat out for hours. Test Tube silently closed the door, now even more worried than she was before. She put the now dirty plate on her desk to bring back to the kitchen later and sat in her office chair, defeated. He had not come out of the infirmary all day. OJ had come by earlier in the morning to ask how he was doing, but Test Tube couldn't give him an answer because if she was being honest, she had no idea how he was doing. Whatever dream he had last night completely shut him down. She could tell something was wrong, but no matter how much she asked, he either changed the subject or said he was "fine."
He was obviously not fine. Test Tube didn't know what to do. Mephone4 was infamous for being confidently self centered and sarcastic. Always poking fun at the contestants in order to get a rise out of them. But when she spoke to him, not once did he ever try. She expected some sort of comment, a joke or a jab towards her like he always did during the show. But he barely even spoke to her, and when he did, he didn't say much. Test Tube was at a loss. Lightbulb was probably right, they most likely did know that if something was wrong they should tell her. But she was almost certain that despite this knowledge, Mephone wouldn't.
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1724 words, I literally just made a character sheet and now I'm gonna have to redo it later :') anyway I hope you liked this more Lightbulb centric chapter, is that some lightbrush I see 😏. (I'm shipping trash ignore me-)
Anyway late post cause tomorrow is finals week and I'ma be ✨stressed.✨