ֆɛȶȶʟɛ ɦօʊʀ ✯ Ŧเռռ¹

That's My Cap!

◻▫◻▫◻▫◻▫◻

LOOK, I NEVER ASKED to wake up in a candy wonderland, much less find myself in a gown.

It had been a long . . . what, a couple of hours, give or take? One moment, I was tracking down my hamster to wherever he'd gotten himself into again; and the next, the scent of sweet licorice was drifting towards my nostrils.

I could feel the weight of light blankets over my torso- yes, it also reeked of sugar. There were light footsteps scuffing about the room, laced with whispers and talking.

At the mention of a particular 'girl in green pants', my mind rushed to vacillate between curiosity and precaution.

They're talking about me. Who the blood are these people? Where am I? Why does everything smell like candy?

Eventually, the curiosity won. I went to peek through one eye and managed to make out what looked like a talking pez dispenser, those pink ones. There was someone else, too. Some dude with strange fashion taste. Blue shirt and a darker shade of shorts, and . . . are those ears in that hat?

"I'll be able to run some tests once she wakes up. Maybe figure out how it happened." The Pink Pez Dispenser said. "In the meantime, you should check how Jake is dealing."

"Right. Of course. Will do, Princess." Blue Shorts Dude saluted before marching off outside the large, arched candy bar doors.

I shut my eyes back close. Pink Pez Dispenser said something about running tests on me. I was not about to let that happen.

When I heard the low chirr of the doors and the loud chunk as it shut close, my eyes flew open and darted around the room from left to right and high to low. There weren't any other patients. A relieved sigh escaped my lips. All clear.

To my left, sunlight spilled in from . . . a balcony, I caught on with spiking elation. I threw off the blanket, realized with disgust that I was wearing a hospital gown for a moment, and strode my way to the balcony with sparsely limping legs, probably from inertia.

How far along from the ground was I? I did not know. Did I honestly care? Double nope. I didn't trust anyone who used other people for their weird science experiments. If my best chance at survival would be tied to a 60% chance of breaking every bone in my legs, then so be it.

Once my hands met with the railing, I peered over the balcony. Then, my heart sank; but not from the height. Someone had hollered from behind me.

"Hey, stop!"

I whirled around. It was the Blue Shorts Dude.

"What do you think you're doing? You know how high this tower is, right?" A smile itched at his mouth. Then, he seemed to fix his stance and cleared his throat. "Sorry. Excuse me for intruding, I didn't realize you were awake."

"Who . . ." I started, but my attention abruptly got swept away by something in his hand. "That's my cap! Give it." I demanded.

Blue Shorts blinked. Maybe it wasn't every day he met someone with that much temperament. But he quickly shrugged off the novelty and started padding towards the me tentatively, holding his hands up in surrender. My eyes never left my cap on his right, taking note of the fern wrapped around his arm like boxers' hand wraps without reaching the hand. I didn't even realize I was shifting like an anxious beaver.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise." His tone moderated to something a little more soothing. "My name is Finn. Finn Mertens."

Soon enough, Finn, apparently, managed to come up just at arm's length before me with his arms still up. I narrowed my eyes at him, shifting on my feet skeptically.

Then, he offered me my cap back. "What's yours?"

For a second, my mind flashed to snatching back my cap, knocking the breath out of this guy and jumping off the ledge to my very likely death. But I held back. Instead, I searched his eyes for any sign of malice or underlying motive, but to no avail. Knowing that, it allowed me to relax the shoulders I didn't know were tense until now.

I reached for the tip of my cap. Finally, I conceded.

"Blythe. Daria Blythe."

◻▫◻▫◻▫◻▫◻