Chapter 6: Cat Scratch Fever

Tohru awakened to… nothing. It was just silence, pure silence. Except for Mrs. Johnson muttering to herself next door. Tohru got out of bed and fumbled with her doorknob, in an attempt to leave her room and discover why everything was so quiet. But it was locked… locked… Tohru's mind was all of a sudden flooded with memories of the night before. Mrs. Johnson being awake, the door being unlocked… finding Uo on the ground in the kitchen… how on earth did she manage to get to sleep? On the other hand, she did feel very tired- she probably didn't get to sleep until two or three in the morning.

She sat back down on her bed, and turned on the news. There was nothing very interesting. There was still a minor story about how they were tracking the man who burned down the arcade, but that was in a very insignificant part of the program. People were already starting to disregard it. But, if what Tohru suspected was true… than they should be taking this very seriously.

She heard a knocking on the wall.

"Tohru?" came the raspy voice of an older woman.

"Yes, Mrs. Johnson?" she said. It was strange that Mrs. Johnston would attempt to talk to her. Mrs. Johnson hardly ever spoke to anybody, for the most part.

"Do you know what's going on?" she said, "it's late, and they still haven't let us out of our rooms…" Tohru looked at the clock in her room, and indeed it was late- 10:45am. The doctors usually woke the patients at around 9:00.

"I heard that there's a lot of people sick, and that half the Institution's in the hospital…" This was news to Tohru. But how would Mrs. Johnson know anything like that? There weren't any windows in her room… were there? Tohru admitted that she had never seen the inside of Mrs. Johnson's room. Mrs. Johnson kept babbling, like she was upset or something, when Tohru said,

"Okay, okay, Mrs. Johnson-"

"Please call me Penelope," she interrupted. Tohru was beginning to get a little annoyed with her…

"Okay, Penelope…"

"Please don't say "okay", dear; I don't mean to be offensive, but it really doesn't aid in how intelligent you sound-"

"Alright, alright… if you'd just let me finish-"

"There you go again, you young people, think you're hot stuff, don't you? But you will never, ever listen to an old bird like me, nope, nada, never. You don't care if I have anything important to say; in all my years, I've never met anyone your age that will even listen to one word I have to say, not one word. You'd think there'd at least be one, but no, because no one ever listens to me. It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people are, only listening to their young, foolish selves, and never to anyone who actually knows about the damn world, you know? No, you don't know because you're not listening, nope, you never listen… see? You're proving my point right now! …

Tohru sighed. Mrs. Johnson definitely had issues… but the old lady's monologue was interrupted by a voice on the loud speaker:

"Attention! May I have everyone's attention please?" The voice was Dr. Sherman's, and it seemed like she was nervous, but was trying to cover it up with her happy, perky personality. "All patients should come to the dining hall, please! Your doors have been unlocked. All patients to the dining hall! Thank you."

What could this be about? Somehow, Tohru felt very uneasy. This just… wasn't normal. Something didn't feel right- this had to be something very important. Tohru left her room and made her way to the dining hall. She noticed that over the kitchen doors there was caution tape, and that there were very few people in the halls. Had many of them not heard the announcement? Or were they really sick, like Mrs. Johnson had said?

Tohru entered the dining hall. She didn't know why they called it a dining hall, actually. It was more of a dirty cafeteria. Dining hall simply sounded more elegant, she thought. She looked around. There weren't very many people. There were over two hundred people at the Institution, but right now, there were only about 65.

After the "close observation" group of about 10, entered the room, escorted by two doctors, and the doors were closed, Dr. Sherman, standing on a small stage, began to speak:

"Ladies and gentleman, I regret to inform you that we have a very… unfortunate announcement today…" there were a few whispers, but other than that, the "audience" grew very quiet.

"There is… an epidemic circulating around Green Oaks," she continued, "we are not sure what it could be yet, but signs point to food poisoning." Her voice began to break, but she still managed to keep together her "all under control" tone. "Three people…" she said, her voice wavering dangerously, "three people… have already died." the crowd began to talk all at once, mostly whispers, but even some yells and screams.

"If you would all be quiet, please!" Now, this time, Dr. Sherman's voice definitely did not sound sweet. In spite of herself, Tohru almost laughed. So she wasn't happy and together all the time…

"We are doing all that we can… but we are still in the dark about how to treat this illness," she was back to her regular charade. "Although, it's very probable that this is just extremely toxic food poisoning, we are not entirely sure, so we advise you to avoid contact with anyone other than yourself, wash your hands frequently, and by all means, if you feel dizzy, lightheaded, or nauseous, please notify a doctor immediately. Thank you. You are all excused." Dr. Sherman immediately buried her head in her hands. Her two volunteers rushed up to comfort her. A miniature riot was started. People were throwing whatever they could get their hands on, and there was an overpowering roar of people yelling. It was starting to hurt Tohru's head. The voices just got louder, and louder… until Tohru just snapped.

"BE QUIET, ALL OF YOU!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. There was a hush. They were all staring at her, and she stood there dumbly, not knowing what she should say or do.

"Just go back to you rooms… everything will be fine, everything will be fine…" Tohru unexpectedly began to cry. The doors were opened, and the patients flooded out of the dining hall. Tohru trailed behind. She was the most confused that she had ever been in her entire life. Even more confused than when she was inside… the room. Her head began to throb again with the sound of the music. It was the loudest and the worst that it had ever been before. After all that had happened, she just couldn't take it. She dropped to her knees, clutching her ears with shaking hands. Just when she thought that she was going to scream, she felt a hand on her shoulder. The music faded a bit, and she turned around to see Dr. Sherman.

"Miss Honda," she said sternly, "I have to speak with you. Please gather your things and come to my office." Tohru nodded and started towards her room. This certainly didn't make matters any less complicated…

"I need to speak to Tohru Honda," "I'm sorry, but Green Oaks isn't allowing the patients any phone calls right now-"

"I need to speak with her. Now."

"I'm sorry, sir, but we're having a bit of a problem here, if you would kindly give me a call back number, I'll inform you when you may speak to her-"

"Fine, if you want to do it the hard way…"

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