Chapter Text
🧪
I awoke to the repeated buzzing noise that had clearly been coming from my laptop from throughout the night. I could hear it humming, vibrating violently against my desk. I was reluctant to open my eyes, especially given the fact that the sun was just barely seeping through the gaps between the blinds. I could tell, despite my blurred vision. I reached for my glasses.
The dreaded noise continued, probably the main cause of the sudden ring in my ears. It was unexpected and loud, worse than ever before. I cupped the sides of my head, squinting my eyes shut as if that would help at all, and eventually the squeal subsided. The buzzing didn’t, however.
I drew in a long, concentrated breath and stood myself up from my bed. I didn’t bother to make it just yet… I was still exhausted. I staggered toward the desk, going limp in the chair infront of it before reaching for the laptop. The scolding blue light of the screen scorched my eyes, provoking a never-before-heard hiss from myself. I blinked the burning sensation away, shaking my head in a weary effort to wake myself up.
I logged in, immediately catching on to the source of the noise. The group chat was active—Of course, of course it was! At, what, 6:00 in the morning? Lightbulb wasn’t active… of course. She’d be able to sleep through a darn parade. So it was only Fan and Paintbrush talking. It made me curious to know what they were talking about… they don’t usually speak to each other one-on-one. So I opened the chat.
┈┈┈┈
🪭
I gasped when I caught eye of who was active. My fingers immediately darted to the keyboard, typing all messy and frantic like a madman.
🪭: 𝖳𝖤𝖲𝖳 𝖳𝖴𝖡𝖤
: 𝖮𝖧 𝖬𝖸 𝖦𝖮𝖲𝖧
: 𝖧𝖨𝖨𝖨
: 𝖸𝖮𝖴'𝖱𝖤 𝖴𝖯 𝖤𝖠𝖱𝖫𝖸?
🧪: 𝖸𝖾𝗌, 𝖨 𝖺𝗆
: 𝖬𝗒 𝖺𝗅𝖺𝗋𝗆 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗌𝖾𝗍 𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗅𝗒 𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗅𝗂𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗈𝖽𝖺𝗒.
Oh, yes! Test Tube had a project to do today… she’d been talking about it constantly for weeks now. I sure hope it all goes to plan… oh, what am I thinking? Of course it will! TT’s smart when it comes to these things.
🪭: 𝖱𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍, 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗃𝖾𝖼𝗍!!!
: 𝖢𝖺𝗇 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗆𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗈𝗇 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇?
: 𝖲𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒
: 𝖥𝗈𝗋𝗀𝗈𝗍
🧪: 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌 𝖺𝗅𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍. 𝖣𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒. 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖧𝗒𝖽𝗋𝗈𝗀𝖾𝗇 𝖢𝗒𝖺𝗇𝗂𝖽𝖾.
: 𝖨'𝖽 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌... 𝖨𝗍 𝗏𝖺𝗉𝗈𝗋𝗂𝗓𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝟤𝟨 𝖽𝖾𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗌.
: 𝖨𝗍'𝗌 𝖺 𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒 𝗁𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗅𝗒 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝗆𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗅... 𝖨'𝖽 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖾𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝖨 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗂𝗍 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗋𝗒𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖽𝗂𝖿𝖿𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌.
🪭: 𝖨 𝗄𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝗈𝖿 𝗎𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗆𝖾𝖺𝗇𝗌
: 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐, 𝖨 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝗂𝗌𝗍...
: 𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗀𝗈𝖾𝗌 𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎!!! : )
🧪: 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎!
: 𝖨'𝗆 𝗌𝗎𝗋𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅. : )
Test Tube went offline straight after, probably getting up to brush her teeth the usual three minutes she spent. Paintbrush had went offline too, at this point. I had no plans for the day.. I didn’t feel like going out at all, either.
I just thought I would lay in bed a little longer. It’s still morning. What else have I got to do?
┈┈┈┈
🧪
Once I closed down my laptop, I got onto my morning routine, making my bed, brushing my teeth… what any sane person would do after waking up, in a nutshell. I wanted to take an hour or two before starting the experiment… it would take up a lot of my energy very quickly. It definitely required patience. So I turned on the TV, curled up on the side of the sofa and wrapped my fingers around the mug of coffee that had significantly cooled since I made it.
═════════•°•⚠️•°•════════
A few hours had passed, and I had managed to create the mixture I wanted. It was still a liquid in this freezing temperature, which I was very thankful for. If it had evaporated, I would’ve been dead already… but that didn’t matter! The room was staying at the temperature I had set it, not automatically warming any time soon… the real question was: How on earth do I get rid of this? I don’t think it’s simply something I can pour down the drain, and I very clearly can’t evaporate it, as mentioned before.
So I just stared at the liquid for a moment, biting down the habit of tapping at the flask in my impatience. I could separate the two elements and alter the cyanide’s chemical structure—but, that would take a lot of work. Oh! Hydrogen peroxide, that’d make it vastly less toxic, wouldn’t it? So I grinned and reached out to grab it.
However, in the process, I felt a cold fluid leak over my gloved hand.
I flinched with a sharp yell, jolting backward. I fixated my interest onto the spilled chemical dripping off of the bench. My breathing was irregular and panicked, even more so when the thought of the effects came into mind. I could be slowly dying right now.
…
No, no, that couldn’t happen. It just couldn’t. I just need to… somehow clean this up, take a shower. Calm down my breathing. I’ll be okay.
So I didn’t think about it. I just cleaned up the mess like it was spilled water, ignoring the rapid beating of my heart. Eventually, the panicked feeling subsided, and the bench was tidy. I was okay. My breathing was fine, I wasn’t nauseous nor dizzy, I actually felt…
amazing.
Light. Like there was nothing capable of bothering me, weakening me. I felt invincible in a way. I felt I could live forever.
Before the dampness of the fluid started to grate me, and I decided on scrambling upstairs for a shower.
┈┈┈┈
💡
💡: 𝖦𝖮𝖮𝖣 𝖬𝖮𝖱𝖭𝖨𝖭𝖦!!! : 𝖣
: 𝖦𝗈𝗌𝗁, 𝖨 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗌𝗅𝖾𝗉𝗍 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗈𝖽𝖺𝗒...
🖌: 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗁, 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖽𝗂𝖽
: 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗐𝗂𝗍𝖼𝗁 𝗍𝗈 𝖽𝗆𝗌 𝗉𝗅𝗌
💡: ???
: 𝖲𝗎𝗋𝖾??? 𝗈_𝖮
Gosh, what a way to wake up! I didn’t want to be dragged into a private conversation with Painty… what could’ve happened? Is everybody getting along? Scrolling up and checking the conversations, everything seemed fine. If Paintbrush had something to say, why couldn’t they just tell me in the group chat? Either way, I did what they told me to.
💡: 𝖯𝖠𝖨𝖭𝖳𝖸𝖸𝖸
🖌: 𝗁𝖾𝗒 𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝖻𝗎𝗅𝖻
💡: 𝖲𝗎𝗉
: 𝖸𝖾𝗋 𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗂𝖿𝖿𝗒 @_@ 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗎𝖾???
🖌️: 𝗂 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝖺𝗇 𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗎𝖾
: 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖾 𝗈𝗇 𝖶𝖾𝖽𝗇𝖾𝗌𝖽𝖺𝗒?
I’m free any day, really… Painty should know that.
💡: 𝖮𝖥𝖢!!!
: 𝖣𝗈 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗇𝖺 𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗎𝗍????!!!!!!
: 𝖨 𝖺𝗆 𝗌𝗈 𝖽𝗈𝗐𝗇!!!!
🖌: 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌
: 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗀𝗈𝗇𝗇𝖺 𝖺𝗌𝗄, 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗁
: 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾'𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎
💡: 𝖶𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋'𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖯𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗒!! ^_^
: 𝖨 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗆𝗂𝗇𝖽
🖌️: 𝖺𝗅𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍
I started to think… why did Painty want to just hang out all of a sudden? Usually, we’d just brush on the topic until it escalated, but right now it seems they’re just going straight into it. And why were they acting so strange?
💡: 𝖶𝗁𝖺𝗓𝗓𝗎𝗉 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗎𝖽𝖽𝖾𝗇 𝗋𝖾𝗊𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝗈?
: 𝖨 𝖽𝗎𝗇𝗇𝗈
: 𝖨𝗍 𝗌𝖾𝖾𝗆𝗌 𝖺 𝖻𝗂𝗍 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎,,
They had read my message, that was for sure. They took their sweet time answering, though. I counted up the seconds it took for them to respond.
🖌: 𝖨 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗒𝗈𝗎
: 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗒 𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗅𝗅
63.
💡: 𝖶𝖾𝗅𝗅
: 𝖭𝗈
: 𝖭𝗈𝗍 𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗅𝗅
My thumbs hovered above my phone’s keyboard for a moment, before I continued typing.
: 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝖺 𝗀𝗈...
: 𝖲𝖾𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗎𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗅 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗇 : 𝟥
I didn’t want to turn the phone off manually. I let the screen dim until I could finally see my own face in the reflection of the black screen.
┈┈┈┈
🪭
The cars outside woke me up.
I had been sleeping for—gosh, how long…? About 11 hours. It was 7:00PM now, the sun was starting to disappear behind the clouds. I didn’t know how I could sleep for so long. Maybe I could go back to sleep. Maybe I could sleep forever.
…
Oh.. right, I still hadn’t checked in on Test Tube. But looking over at my phone brewed some kind of achy feeling in my chest, something that swelled and tightened so much to the point where I could barely breathe.
I calmed down once I looked away, back at the sunset’s light bleeding through the curtains.
Maybe I should sleep some more.
┈┈┈┈
🧪
My shower was long, most likely long enough to rinse all of the toxic chemicals off of my skin. But who could really tell? Either way, I felt fine. I felt alive. That was all that mattered, wasn’t it?
So I brushed my hair with such ease, such relaxation and serenity that I almost forgot about the chemical spill. Why would I worry about that? I had never felt happier in my life. Maybe it was a blessing by whatever being was out there. I was so happy, I was so calm, I didn’t even realise my eyes were slowly closing. So my hairbrush dropped out of my hand and I collapsed to the floor.
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My body was cold and damp. I couldn’t move at all. I couldn’t hear my own breathing. I didn’t even know if I was breathing. Was my heart still beating? How could I tell, if my hand wouldn’t budge to check?
Ｆｒｉｅｎｄ
It wasn’t speaking to me. Surely not. I didn’t recognize this voice—if you could even call it that. What was a voice meant to sound like? Where am I? What am I doing here?
Ｙｏｕ'ｖｅ Ｗａｓｔｅｄ
Ｓｏ Ｍｕｃｈ Ｔｉｍｅ
Maybe it was talking to me. My lip trembled whilst the unbearable knot in my stomach formed, tightening within every second of this apparent nightmare.
ＩＳｈａｌｌＧｉｖｅ Ｙｏｕ
Ｏｎｅ Ｍｏｍｅｎｔ Ｔｏ Ｓｐｅａｋ
Ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｏｎｅ Ｍｏｍｅｎｔ
Ｉｓ Ａｌｌ Ｙｏｕ Ｄｅｓｅｒｖｅ
“Wh… Where am I?” I finally barked out, every nerve in my body almost sizzling under my skin.
Ｔｈａｔ
Ｉｓ Ｎｏｔ Ａ Ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ
Ｉ Ｃａｎ Ａｎｓｗｅｒ
Ｐｌｅａｓｅ Ｔｒｙ Ａｇａｉｎ
Was this a robot? Surely, it must be. If I asked another simple question like “Who are you,” or “what am I doing here,” I would most likely get the same answer. So I didn’t know what to ask it. I just stared off blankly into this inky blackness ahead of me.
Ｙｏｕ Ｄｏ Ｎｏｔ Ｈａｖｅ
Ａ Ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ Ｆｏｒ Ｍｅ
I shook my head, although it sounded more like a statement rather than a question, my gaze lowering to my feet. I felt particularly vulnerable in this situation.
Ｔｈｅｎ
Ａｎｓｗｅｒ Ａ Ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ
Ｏｆ Ｍｉｎｅ
I looked up at the void again.
Ｔｅｌｌ Ｍｅ
Ｗｈａｔ Ｉｓ Ｙｏｕｒ Ｎａｍｅ
That’s when my breath hitched. Surely, anybody would be able to recall their own name. It’s something you can’t simply just… forget. In my case, however… I just couldn’t trace back to it.
Ｙｏｕ Ｈａｖｅ Ｆｉｖｅ Ｓｅｃｏｎｄｓ
Ｔｏ Ａｎｓｗｅｒ Ｍｙ Ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ
I panicked. “W-Wait—!”
Ｉ Ａｍ Ｃｏｕｎｔｉｎｇ
I drew in a shaky breath, then tried to calm myself once again. “I’m… I-I can’t tell you that.”
Ｗｈｙ Ｎｏｔ
ＥｖｅｒｙＢｕｄｄｙ Ｋｎｏｗｓ
Ｔｈｅｉｒ Ｏｗｎ Ｎａｍｅ
Ｗｈｙ Ａｒｅ Ｙｏｕ
Ａｎｙ Ｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔ
Ｆｒｏｍ Ｔｈｅｍ
I felt suddenly colder. My fingers could just barely twitch now. At least I wasn’t fully paralysed.
“Am I dead?” I whispered out the only other question weighing on my mind.
Ｄｏ Ｙｏｕ Ｂｅｌｉｅｖｅ
Ｔｈａｔ Ｙｏｕ Ａｒｅ
“… Yes,” I responded, maybe the only truth I’ve told in a while. But how would I know?
Ｔｈｅｎ
Ｙｏｕ Ａｒｅ
Ｗｈａｔ Ｙｏｕ Ｂｅｌｉｅｖｅ
I felt something tug harshly on my arm, I felt the fluid from before dropping from my skin. I flinched, finally being able to move my body. I yelled out, hoping that somebody would help. I didn’t want to go. Not yet. Not like this.
——
But then I jolted awake.