Snap tried his best to remain calm. It wasn't like Rudy hadn't been late before. The kid sometimes had things going on and couldn't get here in time. Same with Penny. He couldn't really fault them for not having arrived just yet. He remembered the time when they were late to his birthday party. They still made it, albeit late. It was all fine and good.
But this meeting was just...pretty important. They had all agreed to meet him here at this particular time. The invited zoners, including Blocky and Rapsheeba, had arrived early to help with discussing the plan. But Penny and Rudy, whom had promised to be here before anyone else, were just absent. Snap had thought for sure that they were going to try harder to make it in time. It wasn't like they had anything huge to do, last he had been told.
He still wanted to try to be more understanding and patient. He tried to remind himself that they were still his friends and that they wouldn't let him down. He tried to tell himself that he shouldn't get too angry and just to be patient.
And this is exactly what he tried to do. He tried to stifle his frustration by talking with his friends. He asked them how they were, they all talked about different topics, all sorts of pleasant things. Well, mostly pleasant. There were some concerns going around, but they were superficial. They weren't really too important and they didn't need to worry about that.
However everyone did start asking about Rudy and Penny. Snap looked over at the nearby clock and he could see that an hour has passed already. No, he looked at that around. It's actually been two, going on three hours since Rudy and Penny were supposed to be here. And yet they still weren't around and he got no notes from them explaining any sort of delay.
Snap narrowed his eyes at this. As much as he did care about them and trust them, he couldn't really deny that he was really disappointed in their performance lately. He would have thought that they'd be here by now. The fact that he couldn't even contact them made him even more frustrated.
"I'm sure they'll be here any second." One of the zoners said.
"Yeah. They couldn't have forgotten, right?" Blocky inquired, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. "They just...wouldn't... It's not like them."
Snap didn't answer. He couldn't really think of anything to answer with. He simply stared out ahead into the distance. He kept hoping that he would see Rudy and Penny coming over to greet him. A few times, he thought sure sure that he said them and he went to wave his hand...only to realize that they were just mirages. There was no one there. Snap growled in frustration.
"I'm sure they have a good reason for being late, Snap." Rapsheeba said. She was clearly trying to cheer him up with her gentle voice. Normally it would work, but this day, Snap couldn't really feel all that cheered up. "Come on, let's go play a game or something."
Snap growled softly before moving his arm away from Rapsheeba. He could feel her staring at him in confusion. He just motioned his hand to her and said, "You go on. I'll be fine. I'll just stand here and keep waiting for them."
Rapsheeba looked down at him sympathetically. "I'm sure they'll be here soon. You can still play with us. They'll see you."
But still, Snap refused. He shook his head and motioned towards Rapsheeba. "Just go."
Snap did feel a little bad for pushing Rapsheeba away like that. But he just didn't feel like playing right now. He wasn't in the mood for games. He was only interested in waiting for Rudy and Penny to show up. He would feel a little bad if he were to just continue on without them. Sure, he had done that before, but something about today just felt different. He didn't want to...
Snap furrowed his eyes as he stared off into the distance, his mind reeling as he struggled to think of what could be going on with his friends. He couldn't really imagine why they would be so late.
Unless...
His blood immediately turned to ice as he started to think... What if something did happen to them? What if something were really wrong? He tried to control these thoughts. But they refused to go away and he continued to be weighed down with them.
He tried to shrug it off as him being too worried. But what if he was onto something? He looked back over at his friends. He licked his lips slowly and swallowed hard. What would they think?
sss
Was this really fair to do? Was he going too far doing this? Should he have just reeled back and waited before he had...
Well perhaps. It might have been the more professional way to go about this. It wasn't really his business to do something like this. That was reserved for other people. His just was to just make sure that the patients are able to heal. If he had any suspicions, he would just report them, not try to carry on his own inspection.
But there was just something different about this one. He wasn't really sure why he had grown concerned for that little boy. He had seen bleach damage before and Rudy's were, surprisingly, not quite as bad as what he's seen.
Perhaps it was the fact that he was a child that drove him to do this. Maybe it was the fact that the parents were not watching him, based on what he had been told. Maybe he just had some kind of drive to be extra caring towards young boys like Rudy.
Maybe he was just being biased.
The doctor shook his head once as he gathered up the papers, preparing them for organization. He would give the parents sometime to speak with their son. But tomorrow, he would personally ask some questions to the boy. He did realize that telling the parents ahead of time might affect the boy's answers. But he did have something to help with that.
He hoped that the young boy was able to vouch for his parents. Otherwise, things were going to get a lot more...complicated.
sss
Rudy fought against his pain as he cuddled up against his mother. He pressed his head against her shoulder, using only touch to figure out where it was. His dark world was filled with pain, but that paint was being dissipated by the warmth of his mother's embrace. He let his eyes close softly as he released a small sound of contentment.
This was one of the few times that he was able to get some sort of relief from the pain. His mother's hugs, his father's touch. Even though he was still fearful of what kind of punishment they were going to lay out for him, in the meantime, they were his biggest source of comfort. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate Penny or Mrs. Sanchez's efforts. But his parents somehow helped him feel a little better, more so.
He wasn't sure how long his parents were going to be able to stay. They had spent some time away, talking with someone else. They looked pretty shaky when they arrived here and he tried to figure out what was wrong. But they were reluctant to inform him. Were they afraid of making him feel worse? Rudy wished that they would just tell him the truth.
Perhaps they would in due time. When things cleared up more. Maybe after he was released from the hospital? So long as they told him at some point, he was fine with waiting.
Rudy could tell that Mrs. Sanchez and Penny were still here. He could feel them staring at his parents and himself. They had been doing that for a while. Penny, out of concern. And her mother... There was something different about it. Rudy couldn't quite put his finger on it. But there was some sort of...discomfort with the way that Mrs. Sanchez was staring at them.
He recalled the woman's words earlier. She didn't say anything suspicious outright, but it was her tone that got him concerned. She sounded slighlty... The only word that he could think of was slightly accusatory, although he couldn't really figure out exactly why. He just knew that there was something bothering her. Something regarding his parents, but he couldn't really think of just why that would be the case.
Or maybe he was just overreacting. He couldn't really see her face anyway, so he couldn't tell just how genuine these thoughts were. For all he knew, he was just getting worked up over nothing.
Then, as if on cue, as if realizing that he was thinking of her and Penny, Mrs. Sanchez spoke up. "Well, Penny and I need to get going. Inform us if there's any chances, okay?"
"All right. We'll see you later, Mrs. Sanchez." Mr. Tabootie said.
Mrs. Tabootie added, "And thank you for sticking with our son while we were away."
Mrs. Sanchez didn't offer a response. Maybe she was just nodding her head. Hard to tell when one couldn't see. Rudy did notice a slight shift in the aura around his parents. It went away quickly, though. But it was enough to put him on alert to some degree.
Rudy listened as the door opened up and the two Sanchezes walked out. The only thing else he had heard from them is Penny saying goodbye. Rudy would have responded if he could have ignored the massive wave of pain that struck his face. He struggled to push aside the pain, to bear with the current wave, though it took a while before it settled down.
Now it was just him and his parents. Somehow, the room felt emptier. More so than he thought it would. He couldn't figure out why. Maybe it was because he didn't know what his punishment was going to be? Or maybe there was something left unanswered and his mind just couldn't handle the silence for much longer?
Feeling the urge rising up, Rudy found himself asking, "Wh-What's going to happen after this...?"
His mother began to stroke his hair gently. "Oh Rudy, you don't need to worry about that. Shhh..." Mrs. Tabootie leaned in and gave Rudy a quick kiss on the forehead. "You just focus on recovering."
This wasn't good enough for Rudy. He wanted answers. He wanted to know what to expect. He shifted a little in the bed. His hand laying against his mother's arm tightened up more so than he had meant to. "Please just t-t-tell me... What's my punishment...?"
His parents both gasped at this question.
His father was the first one to answer. "What makes you think we're going to punish you?"
Rudy gritted his teeth. He could feel a wave of emotions washing over him. "I didn't wait for you guys. I just went and did my own thing. Then I slipped up and now I'm..." Rudy paused for a moment, struggling not to let any tears come out of his eyes. Not because he was ashamed, but because it would cause him even more pain. "I should have just listened. I should have been patient. I should have just..."
Mrs. Tabootie held Rudy closer against herself. "It wasn't your fault... It was just an accident... Don't blame yourself, dear..."
"That's right, Rudy." Mr. Tabootie chimed in. Rudy could feel his dad ruffling his hair a little. "You're not getting punished for this. We're just glad you're going to be okay."
"We promise... Everything's going to be okay..." Mrs. Tabootie gave her son another peck on the forehead before rubbing her cheek against him in a nuzzle. "You will be okay..."
Rudy wanted to feel better at these words. He wanted to feel comforted as his parents tried to soothe him, both with words and with gentle physical touch. But he just couldn't bring himself to do so. He still had a sense of doubt inside of him. He still couldn't help but feel as though they were just trying to cheer him up before they would 'lay down the law', so to speak. The thought filled him with dread and guilt.
But for their sake, he did try to at least act like their words were having a positive effect on him. He gave them a small smile, although he couldn't see exactly where they were, and he cuddled up against his mother more firmly. He knew that they were right about one thing. He did need to focus on healing first.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed. But he did his best to try to calm himself down as he leaned against his parents, breathing in and out slowly. Each breath seemed to help him settle down further, although he couldn't bring himself to fully relax just yet. It took a little while longer before he could feel his breathing and heart rate returning to normal.
However, he wasn't able to stay like this for long enough to completely get himself back to a more peaceful state. He could hear the door opening up once more and he could feel his head moving in that direction, despite the fact that he could not see. Through the darkness, he could hear footsteps clanging on the ground to get closer, and he could hear the sound of papers rustling. Rudy quickly realized that it was one of the doctors.
"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie? I'm afraid you will have to leave. Visiting hours are almost up." The doctor didn't really sound all that upset about giving the news. "I'll give you a couple more minutes, but then you will need to get out."
Mr. Tabootie sounded a little upset as he replied, "Okay sure, we get it. We'll be out in no time."
"Now Joe..." Mrs. Tabootie said. Rudy guessed that she was holding her husband back. "We will be here tomorrow. It'll be fine."
"I know..." Mr. Tabootie didn't attempt to say anything else after that.
The doctor didn't seem to care how he reacted. The doctor still sounded unamused, uncaring about the whole thing. He had something of a professional air about him. Rudy didn't know why that made him feel slightly uncomfortable. He tried to shrug it off as him overreacting. He had done that before. He tried to settle himself down as much as he could. He instead turned his attention back over to his parents.
A part of him really didn't want them to leave. He didn't want to have to say goodbye to them already. He wasn't sure how well he could handle being on his own. He didn't know if he could stand the loneliness in such a dark and painful time for him...literally. It was mainly with the company of his friends and family that he felt any sense of calmness.
But he also knew that he couldn't just try to keep his parents from leaving. The hospital would kick them out, no matter what any of them said. Rudy didn't want his parents to get into trouble. So he was better off just keeping his mouth shut and letting them leave. Like his mom said, they would be here tomorrow.
His mom reached down and gently stroked his cheek. "We'll see you later, Rudy."
His dad patted him on the head. "Don't worry. It'll be fine. We'll be back before you know it."
Rudy tried his best to smile at them. He found it difficult to try to keep it up. But somehow, he managed. He thought he could feel his parents smiling back at him, if that made any sense. He could then hear them reluctantly leaving, evident by how slow they were moving. They exchanged goodbyes once more before, after trying to prolong things a little more, they were forced out of the door.
Almost immediately, Rudy started to feel quite tense. He already didn't like the idea of being alone. But there was little that he could do about that. Although everything was so dark, he couldn't see anything, and he could feel himself growing more and more tense from the sounds he was hearing in the darkness all around him, he tried his best to at least calm down a little. He was in a hospital. He was safe. He told himself this over and over again. And he constantly reminded himself that he was going to see, metaphorically speaking anyway, his parents tomorrow. It would all be fine and good.
He could hear the doctor coming over beside him. Rudy could feel himself tensing up as he prepared for whatever the doctor was going to say. Was it going to be good news or bad news? He heard the paper flipping earlier. He guessed that there was something that the man wanted to tell him.
"Rudy Tabootie, I see. Damage to the eyes by bleach..." The doctor seemed to mumble slightly to himself. "Don't worry. This shouldn't take too long. I just need to inform you of the procedures that will need to be done as well as update you on the current situation."
Rudy nodded his head slowly. He kept his mouth held shut as he listened to what the doctor said next.
"It would seem that..." The man proceeded to explain the situation to him.
sss
Penny had felt a little antsy on the way home. She never thought that her mom was a slow driver before. But this time around, it was like everything came to a crawl. She tried to keep herself under control and not to tell her to hurry up. It wasn't going to help the situation nor was it going to help her calm her nerves. She would get home when they got there.
She really needed to speak with Snap, though. She felt horrible about not seeing him all day. Now here she was, the sun starting to set, and she still hadn't arrived in ChalkZone to talk to him. She didn't even have any sort of small chalkboard with her to send a message tha way. Snap and the others were going to be so confused as to why she and Rudy never showed up. She wanted to fill them in as soon as possible.
She had a feeling that Snap was going to be upset. And she wouldn't blame him. She and Rudy had promised that they'd be there early. Then this happened and... Although she understood that it wasn't her or Rudy's fault, though she knew that it was an unfortunate accident, she still felt immensely guilty about the whole thing. She wanted to make it up to Snap as soon as possible.
But that wasn't the only thing on her mind. She could tell that her mom wasn't very happy. As they were going home, she could feel something off about her. Something that just didn't feel right to Penny. She couldn't put her finger entirely on it. The only thing that she could think of was that her mom was upset about something. Though she wasn't sure exactly what gave that away. Maybe the word choices and the tone of voice, perhaps?
Either way, Penny didn't attempt to engage her mom on the way back. She felt too tense to try to do something like that. She didn't want to upset her mom more than she already was, if she was upset, that is. Penny sucked in a sharp breath and did her best to remain calm. Whatever was going on with her mom, she was certain that it would all clear up soon enough. It was probably nothing and she was getting upset over something so small.
Penny tried to get those thoughts out of her head in the meantime. She narrowed her eyes as she glared ahead, making her way towards her bedroom. They had recently arrived home, her mother and her, and her mom was going out to check on the animals. She was slightly behind on her schedule and she wanted to get caught up. In the meantime, Penny would take this opportunity to explain things to Snap.
She had to admit, she did feel a little nervous about this. She knew that Snap would understand if she just explained the situation, but a part of her wondered just how understanding he would be. She knew that this was a stupid thing to think; Snap was her friend after all, and if Rudy was hurt, then... But there was still a part of her that worried. Maybe it was needless, but she just couldn't help it.
Penny paused in front of her door. She looked around to make sure that her mom wasn't coming up the steps. Then she turned to glare at the door in front of her. She grabbed onto the handle and she went inside quickly. She shut the door behind her, letting it click in place.
The first thing she did upon coming into her room was look over at the chalkboard. The sight of it made her flinch. It caused her to remember her and Rudy's failure to inform Snap of a delay. Or rather, mostly her fault. She had time before mom took her to the hospital to see Rudy. She could have said something then. But instead, she just... Penny didn't want to think about it.
She picked up the piece of magic chalk sitting nearby. She struggled not to hesitate. She forced herself to lean forward and began to draw a circle on the chalkboard. The line began to glow intensely and there was a flash. She could soon feel herself being bathed in the light of the Day Zone sun. She held still for a few moments before she pushed herself in through the portal, heading inside ChalkZone.
She looked left and right as she tried to think of which way to go before she would locate that area. What was it called? She couldn't think of it on top of her head. The anxiety pushing down upon her shoulders was making it hard to remember. But she did recall that it was a bit further south, wasn't it? Oh well, she could probably run into someone who could tell her otherwise. She began to head in that direction.
As she continued along, despite her best efforts, she could feel her guilt growing immensely. She just couldn't help it. She felt like she let everyone down. This was a huge deal and they hyped it up...but now she just... Penny closed her eyes softly for a moment before she forced herself to reopen them. Enough feeling guilty right now. With her eyes narrowed, she continued on forward, looking for any sign of her friend.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long. She could hear the sound of rustling and feet hitting the ground. She could hear panting off in the distance. She recognized that panting. She hardly needed to move before she could see Snap coming towards her. From his angle, it looked like he was on his way home until he spotted her.
As he got closer, Penny flinched as she could tell that he was really not pleased right now. It made sense. After all, she did just leave him high and dry for a while, not telling him anything of what was going on. She stood there and waited for him to get closer, biting her lip firmly. She could feel her mind spinning about as she tried to think of just how she was going to inform her friend on what happened.
Soon Snap stopped in front of her. With his hands on his hips, he panted havily before he stared intently at her. His eyes seemed to show a mixture of different emotions. It was hard to pinpoint exactly which ones those were, though she thought she could detect...fear...?
After a few more seconds, Snap spoke up. "Buckette... What happened? Where's Rudy?"
Penny opened her mouth to speak, only to shut it almost immediately. She turned her head to the side. She still wasn't sure how she was going to tell her friend about all of this. She wasn't sure how she could begin to inform of...
But she was going to have to tell him sooner or later, right? There was no way that she could stay silent on it. She could feel Snap's eyes piercing through her own. She could practically feel him shaking even from this distance. She could feel his body heat as he got closer, waiting for a response. And when she finally gave one, it was hardly satisfactory.
"It's...complicated..."
This was not good enough for Snap. "We've waited hours for you and Rudy to come here! We've had it all set up! Several zoners were waiting for you to show up! We were ready to start the meeting! Just..." Snap put a gloved hand against his face as he gritted his teeth tightly. "Can you tell me just what had happened...? Why did you..." He looked up at Penny. "I want to believe that this meeting was important to you. But I don't know why you wouldn't have told me that you and Rudy wouldn't make it."
Penny couldn't help but flinch at that statement. She didn't really have anyone but herself to blame there. Snap was right. She should have said something sooner. She lowered her head slightly as she murmured, "Yeah, I know. I'm so sorry about that."
"I kept thinking that something big happened to you guys, but you are, safe and sound." Snap sounded a little betrayed. It was especially apparent in his eyes. "Where were you and Rudy this whole time? How could you have forgotten?"
Penny lowered her gaze. "It's not that we forgot, Snap. Something just...came up." She turned her head to one side. "It's not something that we planned on happening. And trust me, we feel quite bad about this as well."
Snap let out a small sigh. "I do want to believe you."
Penny turned to stare at her friend. "Then believe me. This wasn't intentional."
"Mmhmm..." Snap nodded his head slowly. He looked around Penny once more and he seemed to take notice of something. "Where is Rudy?"
This caused Penny's heart to skip a beat. She knew that Snap was going to bring that up. She was surprised that it took this long. This was the point that she dreaded so much. This was the point where she just... She took in a deep breath to try to steel her way through this. Snap deserved to know, she told herself.
"That's...what I came here to talk to you about." Penny said.
Snap tilted his head to one side. "What do you mean?"
Penny looked down at Snap. She felt hesitant to continue. She constantly had to fight against her mind to move forward with this. Snap was going to find out sooner or later. It was best if she told him now. "There's no easier way to say this. Snap...you were right. Something did happen."
sss
He didn't want to believe it. He wanted to dismiss it as just...some kind of nightmare. He waited for himself to wake up. Surely he would at any moment...but nothing happened. The only thing that did happen was him hearing more and more of these terrible things. It caused his heart to nearly stop beating.
He struggled to cope with what he had been told. All the terrible words and details given to him... Despite the fact that he would much rather pretend that none of this took place, he wasn't naive or stupid. He knew that this was all reality. A harsh, cruel reality that he had to come to terms with. He did honestly think that knowing was better and while that was true...
...that didn't make this any easier to swallow.
It had taken Penny a few minutes to fully explain the situation. Snap was grateful that he sat down before she went into further detail. Otherwise, he probably would have dropped to the ground completely when she got to certain points in the explanation. He felt himself biting his own lip so hard, he was shocked that it didn't break through the skin. He took in a few shaky breaths as he continued listening as Penny wound down the story.
"And that's what happened." Penny said as she finished completely. Her head became downcast, her eyes staring at the ground. She wore probably the biggest look of regret hat Snap's ever seen. He could feel his heart skipping a few beats as it all settled in, and the horror began to take over.
The idea that Rudy had been blinded... Snap tried to shake it off as Penny just exaggerating. But that wouldn't make much sense, would it? Blindness was a serious thing. There was no way that she would ever want to...
But there was still a part of Snap that kind of hoped that this was the case. He wanted to believe that Penny was just stretching out details to make the situation sounds cary. He wanted to think that things would end up not being as bad as that. Yet deep down, he knew that this wasn't the case. Penny wouldn't exaggerate about something like blindness.
Snap could feel his hand moving towards his face. He pressed it against his forehead, moving it down slowly so that he covered his eyes. As he held his hand there, he could feel the back of his head whirling with thoughts. He could feel his mind subjecting to him a series of clips of how exactly that incident would have happened.
Rudy getting bleach in his eyes...
The screaming...
Him falling down and flailing...
Tears worked their way against the back of Snap's eyes. He tried to keep himself under control. He was ultimately not able to stop the tears from flowing down. He looked up at Penny, taking in shaky breath, after shaky breath. He silently pleaded with her to let this all not be true. She could only stare back at him with a sympathetic expression.
"B-Bucko... H-H-He can't be..." Snap said, finally breaking the silence. He took in a shuddering breath as he looked left and right, taking a small step back. "H-He's fine.. He's going to be fine!"
Penny took a step forward. "Snap, you've got to listen to me." Penny reached over and grabbed onto Snap's shoulders. She squeezed them tightly, forcing the zoner to look up at her. "Rudy will be in the hospital for a few days at best. The doctors claim that he should get his eyesight back soon, but it will still take a while. He is alive and he will recover. But right now, he's in a lot of pain and he won't be able to see anything."
Snap stared at Penny for several moments at this. This was better news than she had given him before. She didn't mention just how short of a visit this would be or how easily he could recover from this. Overall, it did help him feel slightly better.
But he still couldn't completely shake off the uncomfortable feeling. He had spent the recent several minutes wallowing in fear and horror as he realized what had happened to his best friend. That was not going to easily go away just because Penny said he will recover. If anything, that kind of made him feel worse. Now he kept thinking that something could go wrong or the recovery wasn't as expected. What if the blindness ended up being permanent?
Snap knew that he was likely overreacting. Rudy might end up being okay and would soon be able to return to ChalkZone. His recovery should take priority in his head. He had already forgotten about the arrangements earlier with the other zoners. He could try to set aside his fear of something unforeseen happening to Rudy.
But such a thing was difficult and he couldn't completely let it go. He shifted his gaze downward, feelings his thoughts shifting around even as he tried to control them. Despite Penny's best efforts, it may take a while before he feels as though he's fully recovered from this.
But he did remind himself that he wasn't the only one who was suffering from this. As he looked back up at Penny, he could see the look of fear and uncertainty in her eyes as well. Biting his lip, he leaned in forward and put his arms around her in a tentative hug. Penny froze up for a brief moment before she moved against him, returning the hug.
"Rudy will be okay. I promise." Penny whispered to him. She gave a small sniffle as she took in a shuddering breath. "It will take some time. But before you know it, he'll be back here and it'll be like nothing ever happened. Y-You'll see..."
A part of Snap was always going to be skeptical. He was always going to be convinced that something was going to happen. But for Penny's sake, he tried to silence that part of him. He simply kept himself cuddled up against her, feeling her body warmth against him. He gave a soft whisper to her, "I know, Buckette. I know..." That's the moment when he went silent, and the two friends turned to just silently comforting each other.
