Chapter 9 Not Helpful

"Oh, hello Master Morton!" said the Koopa troopa nurse, Kayley, when he entered the infirmary. Once she got a good look at him, her brow furrowed. "Man, your face looks like it could use some attention."

Morton smirked. "You don't say." Without needing to be told what to do, Morton laid himself right on the exam table.

Once he was situated, Kayley jumped right into action. She ran to the freezer in the corner of the room and returned with an ice pack. Morton took it from her and gently applied it to his face. Even still, he couldn't help but wince. The ice only only seemed to accentuate the pain.

Kayley sucked some air through her teeth. "Yeesh. Looks like we're gonna need more than ice to help you out. Would you like me to get Master Kamek?"

Morton dropped the ice pack. He placed his hands on Kayley's shoulders. "YES! YES PLEASE!"

Kayley cringed. "Uh...okay then." She brushed Morton's hands away. "I'll go get him."

With that, she left. Once she was gone, Morton breathed a sigh of relief. Kamek would surely know what was going. He would be able to tell him if he was completely crazy, or if, perhaps, some magic was at play here.

Time drudged forward. Morton stared at the clock, that stupid clock that wouldn't let him enter the next day. He thought back to the scene at the breakfast table. His siblings, for whatever reason, didn't seem to be under the same curse that he was under. He wondered why. Maybe he really was crazy?

Finally, Kayley came back into the room with Kamek by her side. Morton breathed a sigh of relief once he saw the magikoopa royal advisor. He didn't even bother to feel annoyed by the fact that he was wearing reindeer antlers.

"Oh, Kamek. Thank goodness you're here! I really need your help!".

"Yes, it would appear that way," Kamek said. He stared at Morton's face with a raised eyebrow. "You look like a pug who had his face smashed into a wall!"

Morton nodded. "Soooo….like most pugs then."

Kamek snorted. "Well, yes, I suppose." He brandished his wand and pointed it directly at Morton. "Injurus Heeringu."

As soon as those words exited Kamek's mouth, Morton felt the pain in his face recede. The swollen lumps shrank back down until they were no longer inflamed. Morton placed his hand to his face, and sighed in relief when he found that it felt normal.

"Thanks, Kamek," he said.

"You're welcome." The magikoopa giggled. "Although, I wasn't able to do anything about your ugliness; I'm afraid that's permanent."

Morton cast him a glare. "Ha ha ha. You're so funny."

Kamek grinned a cheeky grin. "I really am, aren't I?" He turned toward the door. "Well, I best be off. I have some gifts I need to buy."

With that, Kamek started making his way toward the door. Before he could exit, however, Morton called out to him.

"Wait!" Kamek turned around, and Morton cleared his throat. "Kamek, do you think you can examine my head?"

Kamek raised an eyebrow. "Examine your head? Why would you want me to do that?"

Morton hesitated. "Well…" he fiddled with his fingers. "I seem to be having a very unique problem."

Kamek smirked. "Ah. You're getting brain farts, eh? Well, don't worry; those are normal."

"No no, it's not that." Morton took in a deep breath. "I...I think I'm stuck in a time loop."

A moment of silence befell the room. Kamek stared at Morton, his lips wrinkling up. Then, he burst into laughter.

"HAHAHAHA…..a time loop?" Kamek wiped a tear from his eye. "That's...that's….you can't be serious!"

"I am," Morton responded. "It's weird, but everyone seemed to be on repeat in the dining hall."

Kamek snickered. "You're right; that is quite a unique problem. Unfortunately…" he cleared his throat to stop the laughter…. "I do not believe that I can help you. There are no spells that are available to us magikoopas that can help someone enter or exit a time loop."

Morton's heart sank. "There's not?"

"Nope! Sorry!" Kamek chortled. "It seems to me that you are in quite a predicament, aren't you, Morton Jr?"

Morton nodded. "Yeah. I am."

Kamek continued chortling. "Well, I wish you the best of luck." He turned toward the door. "Now, I really do need to buy those gifts; see you later."

Morton rolled his eyes as he looked at Kayley. "Some help he was."

"Mmhm," Kayley said with a nod. She stared at Morron with the slightest glimmer of fear in her eyes, like he was a lunatic for even mentioning his problem in her presence.

Morton's heart sank. "Well...uh, I best be off."

With that, he got straight up and left. He cringed once he heard the door slam immediately after he exited the room. Morton shook his head; he thought that nurses were supposed to be sympathetic.

Whatever. As he walked down the hallway, he wondered what could have caused this problem. Perhaps he did something in a past life or something along those lines? Sure, he didn't believe in reincarnation before. But, then again, he hadn't believed in time loops either, so he supposed anything was possible.

Or, maybe, he did something horrible in this life? After all, in most of the (fictional) stories that he had read, people only entered a time loop after they either wished that one day could last forever, or they did something heinous during a specific day and the universe wanted to make them pay.

Well, Morton certainly hadn't wished for this day to last forever, seeing how he hated Koopsmas with every fiber of his being. Maybe he did something heinous? But what could it be?

He stopped. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wasn't sure. He ran through the scenario from the day prior. Everything he did yesterday, with the exception of the monster attack, was completely normal. Or, at the very least, it was normal for him. How in the Mushroom World did he get into the time loop?

Well, whatever the reason, he couldn't dwell on it for much longer. He had some Koopsmas shopping with his family that he needed to do. Morton sighed upon realizing this fact.

"This day is going to be the death of me."