Wake Up; Stay Awake

Stop Caring

Warning on this Chapter for:
- Self Harm
- Panic Attacks

The first thing Mephone noticed when walking into the lab was the strange scent.
Which- now that he thought of it, wasn't a strange scent for a lab.

Mephone was left to lean against one of the walls as Test tube began... setting up..?
She started laying out sheets on the table in the middle of the room, and pressing buttons on machines.
Mephone could only watch, zoning in and out. He felt the presence of someone beside him, and then turned to see that it was just Fan.

Huffing, in a somewhat positive manner-, Fan looked up to the side to face Mephone.
"Well! This is like... a robot doctors appointment! Test tube is cool like that. Wait- hey,- doesn't that technically make her your actual doctor?"
She rambled, beginning to talk more,- mostly to herself.
Mephone couldn't find the energy or motivation to even nod. He just felt so tired. Maybe he could just fall back asleep on the table- it did have that... hospital-y cushion on it afterall.

"So, Test tube- er-, what exactly is the... plan here? If the battery is... not functioning properly, or- whatever, how are we gonna..?"

Mephone heard OJ's voice speak from behind, getting louder as he strolled into the lab through the doorway.
Paper followed close behind.

Test tube raised her head, and smiled sweetly, proceeding to push her glasses up and fix her posture.
"Well... we don't exactly know what the problem is yet, or- well, if there even really is a real problem, so... we just do some quick checks and then determine that." She stated, just folding the last part of the sheet that lay on the table.

Mephone didn't get it. She was right, there. There was no problem. What were they even testing? His battery was fine, he was fine, it was all fine.

Test tube walked over, taking Mephone and gently sitting him down on the table.
He could see Paper, Fan and OJ watching from different parts of the lab.
Then, he slowly lifted his head to look up at Test tube, who now had a pen and clipboard in her hand.

He disliked the sudden atmosphere change. This whole procedure was very familiar.

She coughed, and then tapped her pen on the board.

"Okay... so.. Mephone! Can you count to ten real quick for me?"

He raised an eyebrow. Why the hell did she want him to count? Did she think he couldn't? Yes he could. He wasn't dumb. He was only a little tired.
Breathing in, he hummed, and then opened his mouth to talk- his eyes still occasionally shutting on him.

"Hmm... one.. two..", He paused, and glanced around the room. The four faces still stared, and they sometimes would look at eachother instead.
"-three.. four.. four- five.. six n' seven.."

Test tube looked up at him, and down at her clipboard repeatedly. It made him nervous. He disliked when people looked at him like that.

"Eight-nine-ten." He finished with a groan, and he raised a hand to clutch his head.
Test tube let the hand holding the clipboard fall to her side as she leaned closer to Mephone, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey- you alright?"

He thought for a moment. The sooner this shit was over with, the sooner she could declare him as fine- the sooner he could go back to fucking sleep.

Shakily, he removed the hand from his head and forced a smile.
"...Yuppers.." He answered, trying to add some humor. Maybe if she... laughed a little, she'd let him go.
He was wrong.

"Did you get a pain in your head?" She inquired, a worried expression plastered on her face.
How did she know?
"...Nope. Just... an... itch..?" He replied.
Slowly she nodded, looking skeptical. Did she not believe him?