Project: Shimmer (ii Blue Eyes AU)

[17] -Red Light-

Warning for auditory and visual hallucinations.
-------------------

    Mephone hid in the infirmary for what felt like hours. He said he would go to sleep, he wanted to sleep, but his body wouldn't let him. His hands still shook from the anxiety attack he had just moments ago. Invasive thoughts of Paintbrush confronting him and telling everyone what they saw when he fell unconscious wouldn't leave his head. He felt sick. The anxiety combined with the insomnia and lack of sleep made his stomach churn. Of course, the fact he had unknowingly gotten used to food in his system and hadn't eaten at all in 2 days didn't help matters. Mephone was tired. Just tired.

    The creek of the infirmary door made Mephone freeze. He heard someone slowly pull the curtain in front of his bed to the side. "...Mephone?" Mephone recognized the voice and breathed a sigh of relief, it wasn't Paintbrush. He could feel Test Tube's eyes looking at him. "Mephone? I thought you would be asleep..." Mephone just shrugged. Test Tube walked over to where he sat on the bed. She gestured to the spot next to him. "May I?" Mephone nodded and Test Tube sat down, the bed sinking with her.

    It was silent for a moment, Test Tube hesitantly spoke. "You doing okay? You've been in here for a while." Mephone blinked. "What time is it?" Mephone cringed at how scratchy his voice sounded, it was probably due to all the crying... "It's around 9:30 now, you've been in here for 2 hours." Mephone cringed again, that didn't sound good. "Knife and Lightbulb came by earlier, they wanted to know if you were alright. They said Baseball and Suitcase were worried as well..." Mephone grimaced, he was fine, they shouldn't be worried about him.

    "Especially after what you did to me."

    Mephone jumped, his eyes wide. His gaze flew around the room, searching for him.

                      ....but nothing was there...

    "Mephone?" Test Tube put a hand on his shoulder. Mephone flinched, the touch feeling like a hot iron against his skin. "Are you okay? You're shaking..." Mephone gripped his arm to stop himself. "Yeah, I'm just cold.." an excuse manifested itself as if on instinct. Lying to them was starting to noticably get easier...Mephone didn't know how to feel about that. Despite this, Test Tube didn't seem to buy it, she was too smart for that. "Mephone..the others are pretty worried, maybe you should talk to them?"

    Mephone was still shaken by the voice, but he had to roll his eyes at that. "Worried? What do they have to be worried about..?" Test Tube looked confused, and concerned. "What do you mean? They're worried about you." Mephone gripped his arm tighter. "Why would they worry about me? It's not like we're super close or anything...what reason do they have to be worried?.." Mephone trailed off as Test Tube's expression softened into something Mephone didn't recognize.

    "Mephone, do you even realize how much you've done for them?" Mephone's confusion only grew. Test Tube sighed, she looked at him, a fond expression on her face as she remembered the early days of season 2. "Without your show, Fan and I never would have broken out of our shells and became friends." Test Tube laughed at how awkward they used to be. "And Paintbrush, if they never met Lightbulb, I have no idea where they would be emotionally because Lightbulb is such a positive influence on them."

    Mephone looked at his hands, he had no idea how to feel. "Your show is what gave OJ his hotel in season 1. Your show is what made Knife change his attitude, it's what Fan practically obsessed over for weeks. Your show made all of this possible.." Test Tube smiled at him. "You made all of this possible.." Mephone stayed silent, a familiar yellow phantom lurked in his peripheral vision, but he refused to look at him. "I spoke with some of the others at the hotel after I got eliminated, and every month when a new episode would come out they would gather in the lobby and watch it together." Mephone could barely hear Test Tube talking at this point, all he heard was static. Her voice was so muffled by the ringing in his ears it was beyond comprehension.