My Sweet Cupcake- A Nightvale Fanfiction

Chapter 23

As soon as Carlos' toe stepped through the doors, a wild-eyed nurse approached him and pulled hastily on his sleeve. She began to walk down the hall, dragging Carlos behind her. 

"Um, could you tell me where Cecil is?" Carlos asked. The nurse kept a straight face and had a sickly cast to her face. There was horror in her eyes, and Carlos could see it. Carl noticed a slash on the right side of her arm, bandaged and cleaned, but blood still soaked through.

"Did Cecil do this?"  Carlos asked himself. They finally reached the room at the end of the hall, where the lights had a purple aura to them,  the lighting dimmer than just a few seconds ago. The nurse pursed her lips, inhaled sharply, and pushed open the door. Carlos gasped. He saw a wounded doctor slumped against the wall, her shoulder deeply cut but not bleeding at all. There was another nurse cradling his leg in his arms and cowering under the table that held the plastic flowers and "get-well" cards. Cecil was hunched over himself, sitting on the bed, eight different plum colored tentacles emerging out from his back, dotted with heliotrope colored spots. He was staring at the sheets and, for once, his third eye was opened. All three eyeballs glowed bright purple and there was a crack in his glasses. The room was almost pitch black. Cecil heard the door open and slowly turned his head to see who had entered. 

"...Carlos?" Cecil asked in a voice that seemed too high and fragile for him. As Carlos slowly walked towards him, he could see the cracks emerging from the problem at hand. As he got closer to Cecil, he could see that Cecil's blonde hair was ragged and thin, not as much as it used to be. The one crack in his glassed turned into tons of smaller fractures. Cecil's hands were clasped in his lap to prevent him from hurting anyone else. He was violently shaking and there were tears running down his face. Cecil didn't meet Carlos' eyes. Carlos knelt down beside the bed and tried to get Cecil's attention. 

"Cecil? What's wrong?" Carlos asked. Cecil's facial features shifted. His mouth was stretched into a frown that Carlos hated to see. Carlos shook Cecil's shoulder. "Hey, Cecil, talk to me. What's going on? What happened?" Fresh tears welled up in Cecil's eyes as he finally met Carlos' gaze. 

"I didn't mean to hurt them." He whispered in a heart-breaking voice. 

"But what happened?" 

"The medicine. It was hurting me..." Cecil's voice began to break and he covered his face with is hands like a small child. Carlos could hear the pain in Cecil's voice as he cried into his hands. Carlos didn't know what to do, so he stood up and sat down silently next to Cecil. 

"Um, I'll just leave you two." Said the nurse. Her heels clicked down the hall. There was a long silence, punctured only by Cecil's sniffs and cries. Carlos stared down at his boyfriend with sad eyes and wondered how one accident could reduce Cecil to the horrible state he was in now. Cecil suddenly stopped. He choked and said something.

"Carlos?" Cecil didn't make any move to look up. "I...I want to die." He said quietly. Carlos froze. Cecil had never said anything like that before. A wave of panic rose in Carlos' stomach. 

"Cecil?" Carlos asked. "Why are you saying that?" Cecil didn't answer. Carlos got up and knelt down in front of Cecil, taking his hands away from his face. "Why are you saying that?" Cecil didn't answer. He just stared blankly ahead. Carlos was getting more worried. "Cecil! Who told you that?" Carlos yelled, his eyes making tear he was unaware of. "Cecil, answer me! Why are you saying that?!" Now Carlos was crying just like Cecil, his voice breaking as every second passed. "Answer me, Cecil!" Carlos yelled again. "Answer me, damn it! Who told you that?" Carlos was pulling on his brown hair and crying. Cecil was completely unaware until he blinked a couple of times and saw Carlos sobbing below him.

"Carlos?" Cecil asked in his normal voice. Carlos looked up, not meeting Cecil's eyes, and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Please don't say that. Please." He whispered. And as Carlos hugged Cecil, he realised that what he had said earlier was wrong. A scientist was not always fine. Because he wasn't.