A/N: Sorry I haven't been able to update as recently…I've been swamped with homework. –throws rabid muffins at teachers- So, GUESS WHAT! I've finally been able to update! Yayz!
The First Disease
Pebbles awoke at 5:30 am on Saturday to insane coughing and hacking. Rolling to her side, her eyelids drooping, she began to reprimand the person the sound was coming from.
"Erik…its 5 am. Have a coughing fit later!"
The coughing continued, but Pebbles heard a strangled voice mutter, "Help…I can't…"
Her brows furrowing, she reached for the lamp next to her bed and flicked the switch.
Her eyes flew completely open and she had to restrain a scream.
Erik was tangled in the blankets of his bed, in an uncomfortable position. His arms hung at an odd angle, and the visible side of his face was completely, perfectly white. Bloodshot eyes gazed helplessly at Pebbles. His face was oddly hollow, as if the Phantom had not eaten in months. Erik's breath came in short gasps, and he winced terribly with each breath in and out.
The most startling part of it all was that his outfit, part of his mask, and the makeshift bed was stained with blood.
"Oh my God! We need to get help!"
Without hesitating, she rolled quickly over to the other side of the bed, jumped off, and screamed into Amanda's ear, "WAKE UP!"
Amanda's eyes flew open and she whipped her body upright. "Geez, do you need to scream?" she asked peevishly, rubbing her eyes.
"Get up, girl! Erik is dying or something!"
Amanda hurried over to the side of the bed, and gasped. "Holy shiz! Wake everyone up!"
But Pebbles was already doing that. She pounced on each person, screaming that Erik needed help and if they didn't get their butts out of bed she would skin them alive.
In a few seconds everyone was crowded around Erik, some examining him, others turned away.
"That looks serious!" Holli exclaimed, feeling his forehead. "He's burning up, by the way."
"Get a thermometer!" Willy ordered. Pebbles rushed downstairs.
In a minute she was back up. "Here," she said, making a gesture for the group to back up.
She stuck the thermometer in Erik's mouth. At the beep, she whipped it out.
"102.3!" she exclaimed, showing it to them.
"We struck lucky," Amanda said. "If he were 103 degrees we'd need to get him to a hospital."
"And that wouldn't be good."
Victor made a face as he peered at Erik's bloody arms and face. "We need to get that mask off," he said finally.
Amanda and Pebbles exclaimed, "NO!"
"Why not?"
"Put it this way," said Amanda with a smile, putting her arm around Victor. "You two can both reside happily in the heart attack ward."
"That makes no sense."
Amanda's frown faded. "In other words: you take that mask off, you'll have a heart attack and faint because of what's behind, and Erik will have one too because of the extreme anger he'll feel."
Victor gazed nervously at the mask. "Never mind."
Cricket, who had been silently contemplating the entire time, jumped in the air. "I've got it! Why don't we take the mask off while no one's looking, then put a wet washcloth over it! That way, it'll take away some of the pain and no one will see."
Amanda and Pebbles exchanged glances. "I'll get one," Pebbles sighed.
When she returned, the group allowed her to pass without comment. She bent over Erik, and put her hand gently on the mask.
"Look, dude," she whispered to Erik, "The mask is causing you unnecessary pain. We need to take it off, but we'll cover that section of your face with a washcloth so you still have your privacy. The washcloth is wet with warm water, so it'll sooth the pain away. Got it?"
Erik didn't move for a moment, then, with a pained expression, nodded.
Pebbles smiled out of the corner of her mouth.
"Into the closet with everyone except Amanda!"
Everyone obeyed, cramming into the closet and shutting the door completely.
Taking one last look at Erik, she handed Amanda the washcloth. "You do it," she said, walking to the closet and going with the rest of the group.
Everyone was murmuring nervously. Victor bent down from his space behind Pebbles and asked her, "Will Erik be all right?"
"Let's hope so, Victor. Let's hope so."
For a week Erik was terribly sick, and he wasn't getting any better, although most of the blood had been cleaned up. The fictional characters spent the night in shifts, with one person watching over Erik for an hour or two, then that person going to bed and another person waking up to watch him.
By Wednesday Erik was saying terrible things in a voice that wasn't his, wild prophecies that made Pebbles wake up many mornings to find Victor or Willy curled up next to her, shivering uncontrollably.
Sunday was the darkest day of all.
Pebbles came to her room to find the group in a huddled clump around Erik's bed.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Don't ask me!"
"His temperature's rising!"
Running over, she cleared a pathway through the group to find Erik muttering, his eyes fully open and perfectly white.
He was muttering strange things, such as, "The door has opened," "Wide darkness spreads," and "No hope for humanity." He was also twitching in a violent way that mental patients in special care couldn't master, and his teeth were grinding loudly in between sayings.
Holli was holding a thermometer to his forehead, her expression worried to death. "His temperature's rising a degree a minute," she told Pebbles nervously.
"And he's freaking me out!" Willy whined, hiding behind the tall, thin Cricket.
"Look!" Amanda squeaked, pointing to the thermometer.
The screen turned red, and Pebbles noticed that his temperature was at 110 degrees-and climbing fast-1 degree a second, to be exact.
"OH MY GOD!"
"HE'S GONNA DIE!"
"CALL SOMEONE!"
Victor, Cricket, and Holli were crying now. Willy was hyperventilating. Amanda and Pebbles held each other, shaking terribly. Erik's mutterings were getting faster and louder.
"…no hope…get the key…THE KEY! GET THE-"
Suddenly, at 130 degrees, the thermometer stopped. Erik was silent. His eyes returned to normal, his breathing became normal, everything became normal.
Holli, tears still falling, pulled off the thermometer, reset it, and took his temperature again.
Everyone held their breath.
At the beep, she slowly raised the thermometer to her eyes.
"98.6. He's normal."
Everyone let their breath out again.
"How do you feel?" Amanda asked worriedly, putting her hand on his.
A smile crept across his face, and he sat up, holding the washcloth to his face.
"I feel great! I feel the best I've ever felt!"
Victor and Cricket hugged each other, relief etched across their faces. Willy and Holli started talking hysterically about how he had nearly died and how scary it had been. Amanda hugged Erik, tears of relief falling down her cheeks.
And Pebbles- she just watched the scene with relieved happiness.
A/N: Did I getcha? xD
Anyway, I know 110 degrees in itself is impossible to reach without dying first, but this is an unrealistic fic, so bear with me!
So…review, I guess!
