Picture Day (Inanimate Insanity AU)

Missing

Fan's POV:

"She's missing."

"She's missing?! What do you mean she's missing?!" I exclaim concerned. "She was here this morning but then her name was called to get her picture taken and after that i havent seen her at all. I waited by the gym for her to come out but she never did and she wouldnt answer her phone when i texted her! She always answers her phone Fan, ALWAYS!" Paintbrush grabs my shoulders and shakes me.

"Paintbrush calm down," Test Tube says, "Fan already convinced me that there is probably a more reasonable explanation, she probably just went out of a back door."

Paintbrush shakes their head, "She would've came out of the same door she went in from."

We all sit there silently for a while not really knowing what else to say and still trying to gey Paintbrush to calm down. Eventually the bell rings.

Test Tube waves and walks off. I start to walk off as well, but Paintbrush grabs my shoulder.

"I'm not going to class until I find Lightbulb... but... I cant do it alone... will you help me find her?" They say to me with a stressed look on their face

I stare at Paintbrush for a bit trying to find the right words to say. I didnt want to get any bad grades or anything, but Lightbulb is my friend, I cant just let her go missing and do nothing about it.

"Sure, I'll help," I smile at Paintbrush. They smile back. "Thank you."

And so our journey to find Lightbulb began. We first looked in the gym, the place Lightbulb went missing to begin with. We looked in the closets and around the running track, but there was no sign of Lightbulb.

Paintbrush frowned and was very clearly worried that we would never find Lightbulb. I put my hand on their back to comfort them.

"What now?" I ask. "Theres no sign of her in here, lets look somewhere else." Paintbrush responds looking at the floor before beginning to make their way out of the gym.

I then remember what test tube said about the other missing people, about how they dissapeared after they had gotten their pictures taken.

"Paintbrush wait," I grab Paintbrush's arm and they turn to look at me, "Test Tube told me that the other missing people dissapeared after they were called up to get their pictures taken, and I think maybe we should check out the cameras while the teachers are gone."

Paintbrush stares at me blankly. "Thats... kind of stupid honestly." They state still staring at me.

"But its worth a shot!" I exclaim before rushing over to the cameras that were set up in the center of the gym.

"Fan! You cant just mess with the schools equipment!" Paintbrush snaps. I just ignore them and begin to examine the cameras.

I notice there are two buttons each of a different color, one being red, and the other being blue.

"Paintbrush, grab me a chair or something, I want to take a picture of it to see what happens." I say now becoming more curious

Paintbrush groans and grabs a chair then sets it in place. "I still think this is a stupid idea." Paintbrush mumbles with an annoyed look on their face.

I then click the blue button. We both look at the chair to see if anything suspicious happened, but it seemed fine. Next I pressed the red button.

A blinding flash then caused us both to cover our eyes. "What the-" Paintbrush blinks repeatedly to adjust their vision after the flash. "No picture flash should be that bright!"