Hunter dropped his crutches and his knees buckled. His legs gave out and he collapsed onto the ground. Rocking back and forth, he curled up in a ball and started babbling panicked gibberish.
He looked at me and started screaming.
"The walls are closing in! Why did I not notice how small this room was? Holy Hephaestus, the room's getting smaller! I can't breathe!"
Well, I didn't know that Hunter was claustrophobic.
Well.
I know now.
"HUNTER. It's okay."
To be honest, I had no idea what to do.
I ran to the door and tried to open it.
I couldn't.
No surprise there. Besides, all the crazed shippers were probably waiting out there.
So.
This was bad.
Hunter could literally die from a heart attack or something.
And if he didn't die, the shippers would kill us.
Oh look at that.
A lose-lose situation.
What else is new?
"Hunter. Hunter, just calm down. Relax."
I sat down next to him and started to cuddle with him.
No. Don't YOU start now. YOU are not shipping us. I command you not to.
"Shhh. It's okay."
Suddenly, Hunter began crawling towards the wall and started pushing it. The wall wasn't going anywhere.
He was breathing rapidly now.
I started banging on the wall and shouting.
"HELP US. PLEASE."
Suddenly the door opened just a crack. A small bottle was slipped in. And then the door closed.
*~*~*
There was a note on the bottle saying: Give this to Hunter. It'll cure his claustrophobia for as long as he stays in this room. We swear on the River Styx that it is not a love potion. And no. We are not letting you out. If you get bored, we'll send some stuff in for you two to do.
Signed, the Hunzie Shippers.
*~*~*
I was hoping the note would say something about Marshall, but I had to deal with this first.
"Hunter. Stay very still, okay?"
I slowly approached him.
"Open your mouth."
I said, authoritatively.
To my amazement, he obeyed.
I poured the drink into his mouth.
"Now swallow it."
Hunter blinked a few times. He looked around.
"Hey Teddykins."
"Thank gods. I was starting to get worried."
"The walls stopped moving."
"Good job, Holmes."
Pause.
"That was sarcasm."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"Okay now you're just flinging around insults like crazy."
