A/N: Meep! I bet you guys can guess what'll happen here!

Oh, and sorry about the extreme typos in the last chapter. I'll double check from now on, m'kay?

The Second Disease

A week later, on Friday, Pebbles had the day off from school, her brother still had school, and her parents had work, so the house was deserted, besides the fictional characters and her.

She awoke at 10:00 to nervous murmurings by her desk. Sitting up, she saw that Victor and Holli were talking to each other by Willy's bed, while Erik and Amanda flipped through a book on medical conditions and Cricket rummaged through a first aid kit.

"Huh? What's going on?" Pebbles yawned, rubbing her eyes.

Erik looked up and gestured to Willy. "He's unconscious."

"What?" Pebbles yelled, leaping out of bed and hurrying over to the corner. Willy would have been mistaken to be sleeping if it weren't for a few things.

His face was scarred and bloody, as if he'd just come out of a battle. His breathing was slower than it normally was when someone was sleeping, and his hair was messy. The gloved hands kept moving, and he jolted every once in a while. He was humming a strange tune that seemed familiar, but Pebbles couldn't quite place it.

"I wouldn't say sick, though…" Holli said thoughtfully as she gazed at Willy's face.

"…more like mentally unstable," Cricket finished, not looking up.

"Yeah. That."

Pebbles stomped her foot. "This is crazy! Everyone's getting sick!"

Victor shrugged. "I haven't. And the girls are alright. You're also alright."

"You always look on the bright side, don't you, Victor?" Erik said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Victor grinned.

"Anyway…we're back in night shifts again," Pebbles sighed. "Look, we have the house to ourselves today and we have the weekend, so why don't we just chill today and let Willy sleep?"

Amanda leapt up. "I'm down with that!"

Victor made a weirded-out face. (It looks like this: o.0) "Well, you're really not down, you're up…"

"It's an expression, silly," Holli giggled, thumping Victor on the back.


The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Erik simply read, Victor and Holli played chess together, and Cricket, Amanda, and Pebbles played various card games. The only sounds you heard were the rustling of pages, the crackling of cards, a hard wooden sound as a chess piece was set upon the board, and the following words:

"Your move."

"BS."

"Peanut butter."

"Check."

"Damn."

"How's Willy?"

"Fine. Keep reading your freaky-ass vampire book."

It was the same on the weekend, too. No one said or did much, and Willy seemed okay.

But the cuts didn't heal, they got worse.

The twitching didn't stop, it got worse.

And the song didn't stop, it kept repeating.

Never changing. Never stopping. Never ending.

This went on for two weeks: the night spent in shifts, Willy's deranged humming keeping everyone awake. Pebbles had a Russia project that was to be due in a few weeks, and occasionally she would surf the Internet for extra information or Victor would come and help her.

By the second week, the humming got louder, and Pebbles only got about 5 hours of sleep every night, even on weekends. Willy's temperature didn't rise, as Erik's had done…

It fell.

On Monday, near the end of November, Pebbles had stayed awake all night. Dark shadows were creeping into her dreams, with Willy's humming to serenade them. The strange part was that Willy Wonka wasn't really Willy Wonka anymore, voice wise: it had morphed to become a girl's voice, filled with darkness and bitterness.

School had been canceled due to a snow day, so it didn't matter how long she stayed up.

At 4:30, Pebbles felt a sharp hand being clasped around her wrist. She was yanked down, and she found herself facing Willy, his eyes black as night, his face paler and bloodier than ever.

He gasped, and said, in a raspy voice, "She's coming…"

Pebbles felt a chill of genuine fear snake up and down her back. "W-who?"

"The queen…she's coming…the boy…he's coming…the girl…she's back…"

His coat had been removed to show that his shirt was torn, and through the rips, Pebbles saw his skin turning bluer, his veins turning purple from his freezing body temperature…

"Willy! Snap out of it! Who? Who's coming?"

"HER!"

And Willy fainted, his hand becoming limp and falling from her wrist, his body collapsing onto the floor, where he lied.

His breathing returned, very slowly, to normal. The cuts and blood vanished, his shirt mending. His face regained its normal tone.

Pebbles heard shuffling by the foot of her bed. Looking up, she saw a figure, with messy hair, raise its hand…

…and it was gone.


A/N:
This chapter was really freaky, not only for you guys, but for me! I did a lot of things in this chapter sub-consciously, without really meaning to! See if you can find a few connections here.

And I've felt a chill of fear…its weird…

So, anyway, come out from under your blankies and review!