How many lightbulbs does it take?

6. To have a nice chat

The hallways of the hospital we're harder for me to navigate considering the lack of experience with this area.

Lucky for me, the other me was always there to help navigate. I think the hardest part was walking up the stairs. The elevators were down for some reason. So we had to go up like a million flights of stairs! I felt like i aged fifty years by the time we got out.

I was lead to a chair to sit in while I waited for the go ahead to go in the room. The other me stayed back with me and talked me through what we were going to tell the doctors. That we were the patient's sisters and we were there to see her.

But when the doctor's came I bearly spoke at all. Oj introduced us and i simply nodded as he spoke. After that we entered the room without him. I did hit the doctor in the shins with my stick as I walked though the door though. Judging from his pained grunt i could tell he was mad but the door was slammed before I could say anything!

"Yikes-" other me started, "She's worse then I remember!"
"Whats wrong with her?"
"She looks like her glass was caved in! A lot of bandages too... Plus a cast."
"Oh no! I wonder what happened to her!"
"I don't know, but shes sleeping. I'm not sure if waking her up is a good idea."

I gripped what I assume is a hospital bed to find my positioning and snapped my fingers a few times.

"AH-" she yelled. Shes clearly a light sleeper.
"Hello!" I said chipperly.
"... WHAT THE F-" but i cut her off.
"No!" I dropped my hand on her face. "No swearing!"
"Who the HELL are you!"
"Did you hear what I just said or are we both missing one of our five senses!"
"Answer the question copycat!"
"I'm lightbulb but this one calls me Blue!"
I gestured in the general area of other me and continued my speech.
"You see, both of us are from alternate realities!"
"Wait. That means the lab WASN'T a dream? The whole time. I thought I was going INSANE and instead its just TIME TRAVEL SHANAIGANS?"
"You came out of a portal!"
"I thought I just woke up!"
"Hey girls you're both beautiful, now why don't you explain how exactly you got those nasty scars? " Other me bumped into me. Her voice grew from joking to fascinated while she spoke.

"Bit of a personal question to be asked when there are a lot more important things going on!" The bedridden one yelled.
"Like what!"
"Like how am i going to get back home to fan? How did i get here? Why am i here, Why did NO ONE TELL ME I WAS IN A DIFFERENT FUTURE EARLIER!!"
"oh! Let me run it down for you then. Testtube made a new time machine thingy. I activated it while shes away. You came out. You got sent to the emergency room because you look like you jumped off a cliff, and we wanted to tell you in person! Does that cover it all?"

Silence gree between them for a second. "I suppose.." The voice from the bed said sulking.
"Now i want my answers! What happened to you"
"Test tube happened!" The angry one yelled. "Its her fault Marshmello assaulted me! Its her fault i sliced my arm! Its her fault the fire started! Its her fault I haven't seen the sun in years and am malnourished as HELL."
"Testtube did all that? Really?" her voice was more confused now.

"I understand how you feel!" I piped up. I lost my eye sight because of her.."
"Is that where you got the cracks from?"
"Yeah!"
"Pft- to think I thought no one but Fan and I would understand... I suppose im still right because you're still me. How'd you get here anyway?"
The first lightbulb chimed in at the chance. "Oh I opened it twice! On accident the second time heh-"

Silence returned with a vengeance.
"Er. Other me? Do you think we can talk alone for a minute?" she remained silent for a second as if shocked. "Yeah of course! If you need any help just shout!" Once the door slammed shut i retued my attention to the bedridden bulb again.

"So," She started, "what happened to you? I took a breath and explained.
"Testtube fused me and painty together."
"How does THAT work?"
"Using the same experiment she used to re-combine yinyang! It was awful. Once she shocked us like five times with this huge chunky colar."
"Yikes- was anyone else there with you two?"
"Mhm! Salt, Oj, Balloon, and Suitcase! I feel guilty though... They wouldn't have been there if it weren't.. For me."
"Sigh- yeah I've felt that one. I was the one testtube reached out to first. I just... Thought it would be fun. I don't know how I'm ever going to let myself live with it. You better listen to me when I say its not your fault though."
"It is my fau-!"
"Hey hey! Listen. You couldn't have possibly known. Don't you dare even suggest it's your fault ever again."
"But... That's what you're doing to yourself."
"Oh i know its not my fault. Yet that doesn't make the guilt go away. I'll carry that till the day I die."
"That's not healthy!"
"Ill tell you whats not healthy. Bearly eating for years! Sleeping on the floor of a sensory deprivation room! I feel so overwhelmed sense I've gotten out. I've been keeping my eyes shut this whole conversation! Sigh. There isn't any way to fix my pain. I'll just live with it and the only reason im living with it is for Fan. I would be dead if it weren't for him."
"Don't say that! I healed! So can you!"
"Have you really healed? Or have you just caged the pain? You said yourself you feel guilty."
"Well... Im getting better aren't I?"
"..... Or maybe things will crash down all over again. It always does when things finally get better. Oh god... I miss paintbrush... "
"...What happened to you guys anyway?"
"It was- more psychology then anything else. She locked us in a room and waited for results. Well she certainly got results. Blood bathed results for sure."
"That just sounds like mindless abuse! Practically putting two tains facing each other on the railway and calling the explosion science!"
"Oh trust me it was completely obserd."
"What happened to the others? You only mentioned Fan getting out with you."
"Oh. Their dead. Deader then dead. Bearly corpses dead."
"W-what!"
"Yeah. I don't really want to think about it."
"Thats fine we can just talk about something el-"

"Blue we need to leave!"
"Why!"
"We were only given ten minutes to visit!"
"Its been that long already?"
"Yeah! I was bored out of my mind!"
"Okay I'm coming!"
"Hey!" the shattered bulb yelled. "When can i go home?"
"This weekend probably!"
"..."
"Oh! Doi- two days! We're coming back to take you back to the hotel tomorrow though. Just be patient!"
"Im already a patient!"
Her tone was jokingly so i chuckled.
"Would you look at that! You still have a sense of humor!"
"Heh- am I really that dull?"
"You don't want the answer to that, see you tomorrow!"
"Alright.."

As the door shut I realized the sadness in her tone. She was alone in the dark right after that experience? She hadn't been able to sleep alone for weeks after what happened at the lab! Poor thing...

Before we could leave a doctor approached me and asked about my injuries. It took me several minutes to convince him i wasn't a patient. However after that things went swimmingly all the way until I went to sleep. Other me found an audio play to listen to with her rather then a movie before we both went to sleep.

((Word count 1336))
((So this one got morr personal. If you read my other fic you would know i love using characters as talking peices for certain situations. I don't think thats a bad thing if done correctly-- anywho. Heres the important bit of the authors note

I've been thinking about including the lightbulb from inanimate analysis bc i just read it but im not sure i should bc that comic is still vary early in the story. The theme of healing doesn't match a character who hasn't even been emotionally affected by the abuse yet. Share your thoughts on the matter in the comments if you can!))