Call Me When It's Over ||An Inanimate Insanity Fanfic||

Sick Day (One of Many)

 Lightbulb knew something was off the second she woke up. It was too quiet. Usually, whenever she woke up, the hotel would be buzzing with life. She blinked her eyes open, and looked around the still-dark room.

"What time is it?" She muttered, looking over at her very bright LED digital alarm clock she bought from some dude behind a Walmart. It was 1:00 am. Perfect, just the time she needed to be awake. She groaned as she sat up, her body ached and her throat felt sore, even though she had felt perfectly fine yesterday.

Lightbulb looked over at her roommate, Test Tube, who was sound asleep. Looks like she was probably the only one awake. If Test Tube was asleep, you best believe so was the rest of the hotel. Lightbulb carefully climbed out of bed, her hair falling in her face as she did so. She pushed it out of her face as she stumbled across the room, careful not to wake her roommate. She stopped at the door and just stared at the handle for a second, debating if she should just lay back down.

"Lightbulb..?" The groggy voice made Lightbulb jump, and she turned around to see a tired Test Tube sitting up. "What're you doing?" Test Tube grumbled, squinting at Lightbulb.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." Lightbulb lied. She, of course, was up to something. She always was. However, this particular something was actually for her own good. She was simply on her way to get some medicine so that the aches would go away. Test Tube simply shrugged and laid back down. Lightbulb opened the door and walked into the empty and oddly chilly hallway. She walked through the hall, and as her room was the farthest from the stairs, she heard a lot of interesting things on the way. For example, she heard some quite intense "gaming" from one of the rooms. Yeah... very intense "gaming". She ignored everything though, her mind set on getting the medicine. She cringed at the thought of taking more medicine than she already had to. She hated when she could taste the medicine sometimes. It always tasted like ass.

She was ripped away from her thoughts by the sound of small clicks. She looked behind her and saw a little red crab scurrying across the floor. A small smile formed on her face.

"Baxter, what are you doing out of your tank?" She whispered, crouching down and letting the little red crustacean crawl into her hands. As she stood up, she lifted up her hands so that Baxter could crawl onto her head. "Silly goober." She whisper-laughed at the small creature. After the encounter, she continued on her way, humming a tune. Her throat still hurt and her body still ached, but she was no doubt in a better mood now that Baxter was here. She'd almost forgotten about the pain! She'd also forgotten where she was going.

"What was I doing again...?" She wondered to herself as she walked down the hall. Then, the pain hit her again. Suddenly it felt impossible to walk, and she just sat down in the middle of the hall. Her throat felt like it had been scratched by a cat, and her body felt like it did after exercising a lot. She laid down, Baxter scurrying away from her. She'd almost forgotten about her pet in the midst of the pain. After some time, and despite the pain, Lightbulb felt herself drift away back into sleep, still laying in the middle of the hallway.

"Lightbulb?!" The voice yanked Lightbulb out of her uncomfortable sleep, and made her shoot up. She immediately regretted the decision as she felt the pain from last night resurface, even worse than before. What was even worse? It felt like she was on fire. Finally, she turned her attention to the voice that had woken her up as she stood up. It was Test Tube.

"What?" Her voice was hoarse, and barely a whisper. It hurt to talk.

"WHAT are you doing laying on the floor?!" Test Tube whisper-shouted. Then, the surprise and anger on her face slowly turned to concern as she got a good look at Lightbulb.

"Sleeping." Lightbulb muttered. Then she started to painfully walk away, every step hurting like hell. She didn't want to get scolded.

"You are not walking alone. Something is clearly wrong." Test Tube said, appearing beside the clearly ill Lightbulb.

"I'm fine." Lightbulb croaked, trying to put on a smile. She was not fine, though, and it was clear.

"No, you're not. You are going back to bed this instant. You look sick as... as can be." Test Tube fumbled over her words, clearly trying to refrain from cursing. Her face was full of concern. Lightbulb decided to just give in, and let herself be guided back to her room. Once she was there, she climbed into her bed and laid on her back, staring at the ceiling.

"Stay put. I'll be back with some medicine." Test Tube said. That made Lightbulb remember. She already had medicine to take. She looked over at her clock, and sure enough, it read 6:00 am. She rolled onto her side, now facing her nightstand. She opened the drawer to it, which held her medicine. She sat up as she opened the different bottles. She didn't bother to get water, which she found was a mistake as the medicine struggled to get down her throat. It hurt and tasted awful. She shivered as she closed the bottles and tossed them carelessly back into the drawer before slamming it shut. After that, she fell backward onto her bed. She just wanted to sleep the day away.

Then the door bust open, a worried Test Tube left standing in the doorway. "Are you okay?! I heard a loud, concerning noise!" She exclaimed before hurrying over to Lightbulb's bedside.

"I'm fine. I was just... uh... messing around." Lightbulb whispered, putting on a smile and sitting up. No one knew she took medicine. She wouldn't let them start knowing now.

"Well.. stop messing around you- you jeebweezer! You're gonna get hurt!" Test Tube huffed, crossing her arms. Lightbulb snickered at the "insult" Test Tube would always use.

"H-Hey! Don't laugh at me!" Test Tube exclaimed, yet her eyes glittered with humor... and something else Lightbulb couldn't decipher.

"Here's the medicine." Test Tube said, handing Lightbulb some ibuprofen. Lightbulb smiled and quickly took it. Once again, she made the mistake of not taking it with water. She cringed at the taste.

Test Tube looked at Lightbulb with a bewildered expression before turning and slowly walking out the door, probably to go do some sciencey stuff. Lightbulb laid back down, her smile fading. She felt horrible. She hadn't felt this way in a while. Not since... not since before the first season. She shuffled uncomfortably as she remembered what had happened before she'd joined Inanimate Insanity. She'd forgotten it. She wanted it to stay gone forever. She laid there in silence for what felt like forever and a day. After a good while, she heard the door creak open. She quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. She didn't want to be disturbed right now.

"Lightbulb?" Her stomach did flips when she heard the voice. Not the kind of flips it does when you're anxious, the good ones. It was Paintbrush, her best friend.

"Oh. She's asleep." Paintbrush whispered. They seemed a bit... disappointed? Lightbulb didn't let herself believe they were disappointed. She didn't let herself believe that they would want her to be awake. Despite that, she sat up and stretched.

"Oh! Did I wake you up? Sorry if I did." Paintbrush apologized. "I was already awake, you're fine. Whatcha here for Painty?" Lightbulb asked, putting on her biggest smile. Her throat still hurt but she wouldn't let Painty see her all weak and stuff! "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" Paintbrush said, smiling. They didn't smile much, and Lightbulb was happy when they got to see their smile. Their smile was so pretty, and it made Lightbulb feel all warm and fuzzy.

"Lightbulb? Earth to Lightbulb!" Paintbrush called, having walked over to wave a hand in front of Lightbulb's face.

"Oh! Uh, sorry!" Lightbulb chuckled, although she was quieter than normal. "I'd love to hang out sometime!" Lightbulb said, doing awkward finger guns at her best friend. "Nice! Meet me in the art room at 8!" Paintbrush said, winking at Lightbulb before walking out of the room. Lightbulb sighed and laid back down, feeling much better. She felt good enough to take a nap, even, and that's just what she did.