Chapter 1
Wilbur sighed. He was bored out of his skull! There was just nothing to do! Usually the restless teen's brain would be overflowing with outrageous and frankly, idiotic schemes that would somehow or another land him in a dilemma, complete with a grilling and the pep talk of the century from his parents.
But today…Wilbur didn't know. He felt drained, ailing…if he could only find Carl, he was sure he could come up with something, anything which would assure him that everything was up to normality in the Robinson household. Well, if you could call it normal.
Wilbur let out another fretful sigh and fell back in a heap on his bed. If he could only close his eyes, he might be able to allow sleep to drown him…
"Wilbur!"
Wilbur's eyes shot open, groaning as the sound of his mother's voice echoed around the room.
"Dinner's ready in 5 minutes, so don't make me come up there and get you!"
Wilbur let our a disheartened whimper; he highly doubted he could even sit up, let alone make his way to the dining room three storeys below and on the other side of the Robinson mansion. What was wrong with him? It was dinner! That meant food! Since when did Wilbur Robinson pass off the chance for food?!
"Not now mom" he whimpered, placing his hands on either side of his head, trying to soothe the sudden spasm of pain that had surged through his skull and hoping against hope for nothing better than a deep sleep to posses him.
Why was the ceiling suddenly spinning round in circles?
That's never happened before, Wilbur observed innocently trying to ignore the pounding in his ears, the squealing in his skull…
Franny frowned.
"That's not like him…" she observed.
The pretty dark haired woman turned to face the stern looking man engrossed in a Science magazine.
"Cornelius, have you seen Wilbur today?"
The man blinked, eyeing Franny over the top of his magazine. "No. Why?"
"I don't know." Franny sighed, "Something's not right…I better go check on him."
Call it a mother's instinct, but Franny knew that something was wrong with her baby boy the moment she laid eyes on him sprawled pitifully on his back, his hands raised to his head.
"Wilbur, sweetie, what's wrong?"
Wilbur merely groaned, shielding his eyes from the intense brightness of his room.
Franny tenderly pushed a stray hair from her baby's face and immediately gasped, whipping her hand backwards.
"Wilbur!" she gasped, spreading a cool hand on his burning forehead. "Sweetie, you're burning up baby! Wilbur, look at me!"
Wilbur reluctantly opened his eyes, the vivid lights almost blinding him; despite the searing pain flooding through his head, he instantly noticed the concern in his mother's eyes. He let out another desperate whimper.
"Wilbur…sshh, it's all right, baby, I'm here," Franny soothed, biting her lower lip fretfully. She spread another cool hand onto the boy's burning forehead whilst reassuring him that he was going to be fine, although deep down, Franny knew she was only trying to reassure herself.
"There, there baby…can you eat anything?"
It took a few seconds for Wilbur to process this information; he couldn't seem to grasp anything other than the fact that his head was pounding and felt like it could burst open at any minute; that his whole body was ablaze.
Despite this, he managed to blink away the vivid beams from his eyes for a few seconds in order to see his mother's face looming over him; worry etched deep into her features.
"No," he managed to croak out, turning wearily onto his side.
Franny nodded and planted a kiss onto his cheek.
"You're going to be okay, it's just a fever. Try and get some sleep, okay?"
For once Wilbur didn't need to be told twice. He was out like a light bulb in less than a minute.