Once Again

Chapter 4

The next day brought a moment of disorientation as Merle puzzled over where she was. She had woken up, expecting a normal, textured ceiling with a purple butterfly in the left corner, but instead she saw a yellow ceiling about five feet lower than normal. Merle resisted the urge to sit up in mock surprise, instead flipping over and burying her face in the clean smelling pillow. One would think that if you wake up, you would be ready to get up and be somewhat productive, but no. Merle still felt way too sleepy to be healthy.

Merle considered getting up in an attempt to look more mature than she already was, as waking up earlier was clearly something not everyone did, but she decided against it. Honestly, she didn't especially consider the scientists as people who would treat her differently even if she tried, so Merle just laid in bed contemplating her life. Like a midlife crisis, not that there were midlife crises nowadays. It took awhile for Merle to shake herself out of her drowsiness, finally rolling over and nearly falling off the bed.

Making an effort to keep some semblance of her usual morning routine, Merle acted like she was home. This didn't fully erase the fact that she wasn't home, she was at a crappy hospital somewhere, but it was relaxing. Routine was relaxing in general.

She finished, wondering whether or not she would get breakfast. Merle hadn't seen any food bars of any sort other than the one at the entrance of the hospital, and she had no idea how to get there. Almost immediately, she noticed a ledge in the corner. From her vantage point, it was partially blocked by the dresser, which was probably why it had escaped her scrutiny last night. Two inches to the left, and Merle couldn't see the ledge at all.

On it was a pamphlet, something that not many places used anymore, preferring to stick with the more modern touch screen wall. Walking over to the ledge, Merle picked it up. It seemed to be detailed everything that could be found in the hospital, along with a map that unfurled itself from the back. Merle momentarily wondered about why they used a pamphlet, but put it down to the general lack of any electronics whatsoever in the room.

It was typically seen as irresponsible to have Dewws use electronics too often, as it was supposed to detrimental to a Deww's mental health. Based off all the toys for children in the room, they wouldn't stick any sort of electronic in here as well.

And it saved money, of course.

The cafeteria didn't seem far from where she was. Merle looked for the entrance of the building, but not finding it within thirty seconds, gave it up as a lost cause. It wasn't nearly that important that she would find it on the map; it was bound to be on there somewhere. She wandered to the cafeteria, hoping that maybe there would be some method of getting there faster. There were a couple elevators, but they were useless as the cafeteria seemed to be on the same floor.

When Merle estimated herself to be awfully close to the cafeteria (but not close enough), a loud stomping behind made her turn around. It was David, beet-faced and breathing heavily like he had just run a marathon.

"Gosh," pant, "You run really," pant, "really fast."

Merle gave him a confused look, as she couldn't run to save her life, let alone for how hard David was breathing.

"I wasn't running," Merle said, instantly berating herself at her reply. There were probably a million other responses, and she used the one that made David seem like an idiot. Not that he wasn't, but still. I wasn't running? David returned her baffled countenance.

"Not running? You call that not running?" David replied, momentary breathlessness gone. "You literally sprinted across half of the building, and you call that not running?" Merle became even more befuddled than she already was. She couldn't have possibly been running, as she didn't feel tired. Nor did she feel like she had actually traveled any distance whatsoever. Merle continued puzzling over the event that had just taken place, trying to think of a reasonable solution that didn't come back to David being delusional. It finally occurred to her, after David had caught his breath and began tiredly straightening up, that it might have been connected to the delay in her muscles.