~Chapter 10~
(Wendy's POV)
Mabel still lay motionless on the bed, with me still looming over her. I kept talking to her, kept trying to get her to talk back to me. She either wouldn't or couldn't. All she did was lay there babbling on about some kind of ever-changing subject. Who she was talking to...well...that was unknown. But I also had to get her up. She needed to at least drink, if nothing else. If I could just keep her up long enough to get her to drink a full glass of water, she might be feeling better and perhaps even more sane than before. The saline solution I'd given her would help delude the drug, but drinking water was much more effective and unlike a shot, it was natural.
I suddenly noticed that she had fallen silent.
(Mabel's POV)
I had at one point been having a conversation with...um...whoever. But now I was on the floor. How did I wind up on the floor? I was just in bed a second ago... Or was I?
I felt a hand grab my arm and pull me up, but I remained limp. I felt my body being pulled up but I just wasn't moving with it; someone else was moving me...I think...
A hand pushed on my back as I was being shoved outside.
"Come on, get in the car," a voice said.
I looked blankly toward the car. The door was open and the next thing I know, I'm being pushed into the front passenger seat. I had no idea what was happening.
All I knew was that I couldn't balance very well.
Suddenly I was being pushed out of the car and rushed into a large building.
And finally I was in a hospital bed, with my own room and everything. A doctor was right beside me and I absently watched as he stuck an I.V. in me and taped it down with white hospital tape. I looked it over carefully as he left, at first not recognizing what it was that was now in my arm.
I closed my eyes for a second and let my head loll to the side. When did...when did this headache come...? I didn't have it before. I-I never had a headache when I came down... Right? Wasn't...? Wasn't it just...? I...I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't think straight at all and it was so much worse the smack middle of coming down, when my mind was the foggiest. At least then I still knew what happened! Not this time! I couldn't remember anything!
"What happened...?" I groaned. Talking was harder than I thought and... Wh...why did my tongue hurt so bad? It was literal pain; it wasn't soreness. What happened to me?! Why did I only have vague memories of being shoved into a car?!
"What happened?" I mumbled, my tongue struggling to move.
Someone appeared in front of me out of nowhere but I couldn't recognize them. "You had a seizure."
"Oh."
I didn't move or talk for a long time after that. People came in and talked to the people in the room with me but I just... I didn't want to move. I didn't want to move, talk, or even open my eyes. Honestly, I wanted them all to leave. I was exhausted but for some reason I couldn't sleep.
"Ms. Pines?" a voice said.
I didn't pay them any attention and kept my eyes shut, all too easily focusing on the crippling migraine I had right now.
"Ms. Pines? Can you open your eyes?"
I turned my head slightly to the left and felt the back of my jaw press against the pillow. Did they say I had a seizure? Oh well. I didn't really care if I had a seizure or not. It didn't mean much to me. I always assumed something like a seizure would rattle me senseless but...guess not.
I closed my eyes for a second and let my head loll to the side. When did...when did this headache come...? I didn't have it before. I-I never had a headache when I came down... Right? Wasn't...? Wasn't it just...? I...I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't think straight at all and it was so much worse the smack middle of coming down, when my mind was the foggiest. At least then I still knew what happened! Not this time! I couldn't remember anything!
"What happened...?" I groaned. Talking was harder than I thought and... Wh...why did my tongue hurt so bad? It was literal pain; it wasn't soreness. What happened to me?! Why did I only have vague memories of being shoved into a car?!
I cracked open one eye to find Wendy standing over me. When did she get here...? And where was here? Where was I at?
"You had a seizure," she said.
Deja vu... Why did I have a seizure?
Whatever. I honestly didn't care. I didn't even know what a seizure was. It was...some kind of medical thing, I guess...? I just... Wait, what happened?
"What happened?" I asked again, just now noticing how difficult it was to move my tongue.
Okay, what happened, where was I, and why was I here?! Who was the boy sitting in the chair back there?! Why was there a girl leaning over me?!
(Wendy's POV)
"Mabel," I said, "You had a seizure."
She shook her head sluggishly. "Who are you?"
I expected her to be so confused. A seizure was the brain electrocuting itself. It was the result of an electrical misfire of a neuron. This had to be the drug. She may have had an insanely high tolerance to it, but it was clearly a neurotoxin.
"I'm Wendy," I said, deciding it was best to play along. It would be terrible if she got even more confused. "You're at a hospital."
"Nnnnnn...why?"
"Because you had a seizure."
(Dipper's POV)
I watched helplessly as my sister continuously asked what happened and where she was at. Wendy kept telling her every answer but...she was too messed up. I myself wanted to ask what happened to her and where we were at even though I already knew. She, however, did not. And...and it killed me. This wasn't my Mabel anymore; I-I didn't even know who this was. She looked like my sister and sounded like her but she just wasn't Mabel.
Mabel liked glitter...not drugs. She liked to laugh, joke, and pick daisies...not stick needles in herself. She was the human version of the sun, breathing life into sleepy, boring Gravity Falls...not half dead from chemicals.
Where was my Mabel? The one I was looking for for five straight years? The one who bathed in sunshine every day? The one without dark bags under her eyes? The one who snuggled with a pig? And...the one I took for granted. I made a huge mistake by doing that. If only I had paid more attention to her feelings, or maybe if I just talked to her more... If I had been a better brother to her maybe she wouldn't have left me. Maybe she would still be the same person. She would laugh, love, and live her life. The life she lived now wasn't a real life...it was just one big hallucination. Why couldn't she see that? I needed her so much and I just wanted my sister back; why was it so hard for her to see that?
There was a chance to change this though, I realized. She had shown me what she had been doing to herself. She had trusted me. I didn't abuse that trust and never would. There was no doubt in my mind that I had let her down but now would be different. This time I would help her up and this time I would strive to keep her up.
A/N
...Please don't kill me... :'l I'm sorry it took so long but if there's any upside, at least it isn't a note saying I'm discontinuing the story. Besides, how can I turn down so many people STILL reviewing me, begging me to update. Can't guarantee the next update will be quick, but I'll try to finish this story. It'll probably become the second A Rose Without Petals. :P
And speaking of ARWP, any of you who have reviewed/favorited/followed it have helped it to be in the top ten of EVERYTHING: reviews, favorites, and follows. Thanks a million, guys, and because of that, I'll try to make ARWP last longer with more chapters. Oh, and a little side note about ARWP, I already know it's been kind of actionless but TRUST ME when I tell you that the action WILL escalate. ;) I have also officially decided on the ending.