What's It Like Outside? [An II Fanfiction]

Chapter 21: Keeping My Promise

Trigger Warnings: Manipulation, Grief, Death threats, Panic attack, Attempted murder

Lightbulb weakly lifted her head up as she heard the door open behind her. She had managed to get a bit of sleep in that night, but it was pretty difficult knowing what Test Tube had planned to do when she left.

"I'm back!" Test Tube called out as she entered the room. She tossed her phone on the desk and walked over to Lightbulb.

"You're still just sitting here? Did you even try to escape last night?" She kneeled down and put her hand on Lightbulb's shoulder. "Or have I broken you so much you don't care anymore? Cuz the door was unlocked." She lied about that last part just to fuck with her.

"Wh-" "Anyway, I have good news! Or- well, good news for me. Not so much for you." Test Tube continued, cutting off Lightbulb.

Lightbulb raised an eyebrow, not too excited by the sound of it. Test Tube placed her had on Lightbulb's cheek and turned her head to face her. She pulled Lightbulb's bandanna down, leaving it loosely hanging around her neck. Lightbulb blinked her eyes open, adjusting to the sight of the room- but mostly Test Tube's face 7 inches away from her own.

"I did it!" Test Tube exclaimed.

Lightbulb blinked. She didn't want to believe Test Tube was talking about what she thought she was. "..no..."

"I killed them!" Test Tube stood up. "They're dead. Balloon and Baseball- y'know- the only two people who understood your pain from all this? Now you're never gonna see them again!" She exclaimed happily.

Lightbulb broke down crying. She wanted nothing more right now than to hurt Test Tube, to get back at her for everything she's done or at least just avenge her friends, but she couldn't. She couldn't stand up, she couldn't talk due to how much she was crying, she couldn't do anything. She was just stuck sobbing in the middle of this stupid office with the person who'd made her life hell for the past week.

"Hey hey it's alright, it was either you or them." Test Tube added, knowing she was making it worse. '...although maybe it doesn't have to be..' She thought, walking over to her desk. She sat down and spun the chair to face the desk, grabbing a spiral notebook and a pencil. She was mumbling to herself as she wrote, but Lightbulb was too busy grieving to bother paying attention to what she was saying.

After a little while, Lightbulb started calming down a bit- or just didn't have the energy to cry as hard anymore- and was able to make out bits of Test Tube's brainstorming.

"I think there's a cliff nearby, I could use that..."

"..What are you talking about..?" Lightbulb asked quietly, her voice thick with emotion.

Test Tube perked her head up a little but didn't look away from her paper. "Eh, just planning how I'm gonna kill you, nothing important."

"Wh- YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T!!" Lightbulb yelled out.

"I changed my mind, alright?" Test Tube chewed on the eraser on her pencil. "Ooh, a wood chipper could be fun!" She quickly scribbled down the idea.

Lightbulb turned her head back and stared at her, absolutely mortified. "...Wood chipper...??"

"Well that's just an idea, I dunno yet" Test Tube explained.

Lightbulb slowly turned her head back and stared at the ground, unsure how to react. She'd assumed this would be inevitable before, but now that it was actually going to happen, it all felt so much worse. She just sat there as Test Tube came up with more ideas, each one playing in Lightbulb's head like it was actually happening. She felt sick to her stomach. She just wanted to go home, to be with Paintbrush and Fan and Bot and all the people who actually cared about her. She wanted to see Baseball and Balloon again.