Day 2- Thermometer/delirium/"They don't care about you"
Eight shivered violently beneath the covers as she tried and failed to fall back asleep. She didn’t understand… How could she be feeling so bad when the doctors had said she was well enough to leave the hospital? She’d been eating more healthy foods, and actually taking the time to rest, and making sure the burn on her back was covered at all times. How did she end up sick? Not just that, but how did she end up so sick that she was right back where she started, bedridden and weak and now feeling as if her insides were boiling while the rest of her froze?
Moving hurt. Even turning her head to the side hurt. She tried to slide down farther under the blankets but it was no use. It was too much movement for too little of a result, as she simply could not stop shivering. If she could just sleep, it would all go away for a while. But she couldn’t. She was too hot and too cold at the same time, and far too achey to even think about sleep. If only Pearl and Marina could help… But they didn’t understand what was going on.
“Hey, Eight? You still alive under there?” Pearl asked, her voice muffled from Eight's head being hidden under the blankets. Eight could only respond with a weak groan.
"I'll take that as a no." Pearl joked. She approached the side of Eight's bed and sat down on the edge, "Sorry, girl. I know bein' sick sucks." Eight would've nodded in agreement, but her head hurt too much to move it.
"Lift up your tongue for a sec. Gotta see if that fever's gone down any." Pearl said. Eight did as she was asked and let the petite inkling slip the end of an electronic thermometer in her mouth. A few seconds later when it beeped, Pearl removed it and let out a sigh.
"Shit. Still way too warm…" she muttered, "Hang on, I'mma go see if 'Rina knows any way to cool you down faster. I'll be right back."
It wasn't even a minute after Pearl left that Eight finally managed to fall asleep. Yet unlike what she hoped, it was anything but restful. She dreamed she was back down in the Metro, as many of her recent dreams had been. Nightmares, every single one of them.
This time she dreamed she was alone on the dark platform where she'd first awoken. All around her was a sea of that sickly green ink. She stood, unarmed, on the only magenta spot in the area, barely big enough to fit both feet inside of.
"Welcome back, 10,008." The horribly familiar voice of Tartar spoke from somewhere in the room, "This next test is one designed specifically for you, and was meant to be impassable. You were not supposed to survive. Now you will pay for your defiance by joining the other failed test subjects."
One by one, Sanitized Octolings emerged from the Ink until Eight was completely surrounded. Each one had a yellow bracelet and anklet like she did, though the numbers were gone from all of them. Their cold, dead hands groped and grabbed at Eight's body, making her feel like she was burning every time one of them touched her. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry out for Pearl and Marina, for someone to help her… but her voice wouldn't work. Ice cold and burning liquid stuck to her skin as she was dragged down, down into the deadly green ink.
Eight looked up to see her new friends standing there beside Tartar, who had now appeared in person. They didn’t move to help. They just stood there and watched Eight suffer. A voice, growing louder with each word, spoke inside Eight's head, in her own voice.
They don't care about you.
You're just a burden to them. Always have been.
"Stop fighting." Pearl said.
"You'll only hurt worse. If you struggle." Marina said.
"Let go. Just let go. It's over."
Y o u ' r e b e t t e r o f f d e a d…
"Eight! Stop fighting!" Pearl demanded, struggling to hold down the feverish octoling, even sitting on top of her.
"Please, Eight, you're only going to make it worse by struggling!" Marina begged, "Let go of my hand and just let me—!"
She happened to have some medicine that would provide some relief from the concerningly high fever Eight was running, but it had to be rubbed on the skin and clearly whatever Eight was dreaming about made that impossible.
"Eight! Snap out of it! Wake up! It's just us!" Pearl lightly tapped Eight's cheek in an attempt to gently but quickly rouse her from the nightmare. It took a few tries, but eventually she jerked to the side and her eyes snapped open. Her face was flushed bright red and she was drenched in sweat. She looked absolutely terrified as she tried to remember where she was. When Pearl and Marina's worried faces came into focus, she felt both relief and another wave of panic coming on. She tried to squirm away, but all the strength was gone from her body, and all she could do was lie there as she broke down in tears. All sound was drowned out by her thundering triple heartbeats, and she was shaking even more than she had been before.
"Easy, girl. You're okay." Pearl reached out to comfort her, "It was just a dream."
Eight couldn’t stop herself from lunging at her, throwing her arms around the tiny squid and just letting the tears fall. She was scared. She was sick. She was way too hot (Pearl was nice and cool, though). And her whole body ached worse than anything she recalled feeling before.
"It's okay, Eight. You're safe. And Rina's got some stuff that'll help you feel better." Pearl assured her.
"It's going to feel a little odd, but it should help with the fever for the time being. Then we can figure out what's going on and why the cold medicine isn't working." Marina said. She worried that Eight might have some kind of infection, and that's why regular cold medicine isn't helping much. If that's the case then she and Pearl would need to be careful. But for now all that mattered was helping Eight to not be in pain, and for that, simply dealing with the fever would hopefully be sufficient.
