The shadows and the ghostly apparition loomed over Plotz's bed. He stared up at them in horror as they grinned at him, mouth full of pointy teeth. They crawled on to the bed, stepping on Plotz's weak legs and preventing him from escaping.
"Wh-whatever I did wrong...! I-! I can make up for it! Just give me more time!" The terrified CEO sputtered out, "Please god, don't take me yet!" He burst into tears, wailing at the top of his lungs.
The shadows suddenly stepped into the light. The three grinning faces of the Warners stared back at Plotz, looking infinitely pleased with themselves.
"Peekaboo!" They giggled.
Plotz screamed, but then stopped and narrowed his eyes, "Wh... Warners?!"
"Surprise!" Yakko and Wakko cheered, "It's us! The Warner brothers!"
"And the Warner sister!" Dot added.
Plotz sat up in bed, glaring at them, "You little...! What are you doing in my hospital room?! You almost gave me another heart attack!"
"Oh, wouldn't that be a joy?" Dot sneered sarcastically.
"Guess you could say our performance is real heart stopping, huh?" Yakko snickered.
Wakko's eyes widened at all the wires and cables running from Plotz's body, "Hey Mr. Plotz, are you dying?"
"I am not dying!" Plotz shouted at them, "I...! Well, I almost died! But that's none of your business! Why...?! Why are you wearing Halloween costumes?!"
Yakko looked down at his Frankenstein-esque get-up. Dot awkwardly floated there, raising her eyebrow at Plotz. Wakko chewed on one of the blue fangs ejecting from his lower jaw.
"They're not Halloween costumes," Yakko snarled, "They're our work uniforms. And I expect you to take us seriously!"
Plotz started pushing the help button again, "Nurse! There's a bunch of unruly children in my hospital room! Get them o-!"
He looked down at the cord running to his bed. The cord led straight into Wakko's mouth. where he chewed it in half, causing small sparks to fly. Yakko pat his head in approval.
"Good job, Wakko." He said, flashing an unhinged grin to Plotz, "Now we won't be rudely interrupted!"
Plotz's blood ran cold, but he decided to continue confronting the Warners, "What do you want?! Can't you see I'm trying to recover?!"
"From a heart attack, yes." Yakko finished for him, approaching the foot of the bed, "We know. We heard about it, even though your fellow execs tried to keep it under wraps. What's with you big wig types and needing to hide everything about your private life? The audacity!"
Plotz slammed his fist on the bed, yelling, "Why are you here?!"
Dot gasped in offense, "What?! We can't visit our favorite CEO without ulterior motives?! We just wanted to say hi!"
"You didn't like the flowers we sent?" Wakko asked, a sad puppy-dog look forming on his face.
Yakko shrugged, looking around the room, "It's not like anyone else would come visit you, give you flowers... Even be concerned about you. You never married, did you Plotz? Never had kids. Your parents certainly aren't alive. And you've treated people so poorly, you likely don't have friends..."
"I...!" Plotz paused. He realized no one had come to visit him. Not even his co-workers. He sat back in his bed and started to have an epiphany.
What had he done with his life? Sure, he had become the boss of a multimillion dollar company, but as far as his social and family life went...
A smirk stretched across Yakko's face, "Oh for shame... You didn't live your life to the fullest, did you? And now that this has happened, you're questioning everything in your life, aren't you?"
"How predictable!" Dot chimed in, "What's wrong Plotzy, you gonna cry cause you're lonely?"
"Stop that!" Plotz shot back, "I am perfectly happy! And I'm sure, once I fully recover, I'll be back on my feet-!"
"And back to your stressful job? Lashing out at your coworkers?" Yakko finished for him yet again, "Taking on too much yet again? Face it Plotz, your life is garbage, and you'll just end up hurting yourself again."
Plotz was silent. He just stared back at them helplessly.
"And what if something goes wrong during your recovery?" Yakko asked him, gripping the end of the bed, "What if you take a turn for the worst? You're old, Plotzy. You're nearing the last moments of your life. You just got lucky this time. But when will it run out?"
Plotz opened his mouth to speak, but Yakko put his hand over his mouth.
"That's why we're here." Said the eldest Warner, "We're here to offer you a second chance. You see, my siblings and I have been working on an... Experiment. We've been working to extend the life of humans using toon DNA. And with your little predicament shaking up your life... I'm certain you'll be more inclined to let us test it out on you."
Plotz pushed the toon's hand away, scowling, "I don't know what sort of prank you're trying to pull on me, Warners, but I want nothing to do with it! I simply want peace and quiet!"
"You don't even want a little sample?" Yakko asked. He pulled an oversized syringe filled with blue liquid from his coat.
Plotz screamed, "No no! Absolutely not! Don't you come any closer with that! How-?! How did you even get your grubby little paws on medical tools?! You're kids!"
Yakko shrugged and put the needle back into his coat, "Suit yourself. We're just trying to help you."
"I don't need help from the likes of you!" Plotz snarled, "I'll put my trust in the *human* doctors, not a toon in a Halloween costume!"
The Warners backed away, their stares stoic and a tad annoyed.
"He thinks human doctors know what they're doing?" Dot asked, giggling.
"He's stupid!" Wakko snickered.
Yakko stepped forward again, producing a card from his coat, "Plotzy... Your surgery may have gone well. But we'll just see how that recovery goes. You humans aren't exactly good at that..." He set the card on Plotz's lap and grinned, "But if things start going wrong... Why don't you give us a call?"
"Get out of my room!" Plotz screamed. He reached behind him and threw his pillow at Yakko, who effortlessly dodged it. He let out an unhinged laugh, grabbed his siblings, hopped out the window, and disappeared into the night.
Plotz let out a sigh of relief. He ignored the card and stuffed it into his hospital gown, forgetting it entirely. What were they even talking about? Surely they weren't offering to help with his recovery? They were children. They had no idea how the human body worked. Yet... Yakko's words still echoed in his ears. He had no family, no friends, nothing. The Warners were the only ones who had come to visit him. If he lost his job, then he'd have nothing left in life. He was too old and clearly unhealthy to travel during retirement...
Surely though, as long as he rested and trusted the doctors, he'd be fine.
Wouldn't he?
A few weeks later, Plotz's recovery was going slow, but he was starting to feel better. The doctors and nurses were patient in helping him get back on his feet again. Since he was old, recovery was much slower. He wished he could get back in the office again...
One day, he was speaking to his secretary Ms. Lee on the phone.
"So who's been doing my job while I've been gone?" He asked.
"Well, we brought in an outside executive from one of our sponsor companies." Ms. Lee told him, "A young lady named Ms. Nora Norita. She's been doing fantastic! Sir, I insist if you do decide to come back to the company, you ought to keep her on board."
Plotz gritted his teeth a bit, "What do you mean by that? Of course I'm coming back! I love my job!"
"Oh no sir, I wasn't insisting you can't come back, I'm just saying you ought to consider your health. You had a heart attack and a major surgery. That's nothing you should ignore."
"Well you'll be happy to know, the doctors said they'll be discharging me within the week. So I hope Ms. Norita isn't too attached to her temp position."
"Of course. She's aware that you wish to have your job back."
"That's good, I'll be back in a few days. Goodbye."
He hung up on her, taking a deep breath. It may have been his imagination, but it hurt a bit to breathe so deeply. He brushed it off, chalking it up to his anxious thoughts. When he got out, he was going to start anew. He'd improve his life and his relationships.
A week went by. An unexpected complication kept Plotz longer than he would have liked. He started experiencing more chest pains, which concerned the doctors greatly. They refused to discharge him until they had figured out what was causing them. One night, Plotz sat in his hospital bed, reading a book he was barely focusing on. His chest pains had gotten worse that day, so the doctors and nurses were in and out of his room constantly checking on him.
As he sat in that bed, alone and unattended to, his chest started tightening again. He gripped it in surprise. It couldn't have been... Was he having another heart attack? Had the bypass surgery gone wrong? In a panic, he reached for the button on his bed to call a nurse, but just then, a black rubber gloved hand grabbed his wrist, stopping him cold.
"And just what have these human doctors done?"
Plotz turned and found himself face to face with the Warner siblings. Yakko was gripping his wrist hard enough to turn his hand blue, or was that because he felt like he couldn't breathe properly?
"What are you...?" Plotz spoke in a hoarse voice, "I... I don't want...!"
"Shhh!" Yakko hissed, "I'm talking! And I say, you're not going to get any better if you keep relying on these human doctors. They did what they could do. But we can help you permanently."
Plotz swallowed, his throat dry and his skin slicked with a cold sweat, "I...! I...!"
"Pleeease Mr. Plotz, just try it!" Dot begged him.
"What have you got to lose?" Wakko asked.
"You'll die anyway without the help of a toon." Yakko concluded.
"I...! I am not falling for this!" Plotz managed to croak out, "This is some sick prank! And I want nothing to do with-! Oh...! Ow! Oh my god, my chest!"
His hand went to his chest as the pain became unbearable. He reached out to grab Yakko, but he avoided his hands and stared down coldly at him.
"Please...! Call a doctor...!" Plotz begged, his vision fading.
"I am a doctor." Yakko growled, pulling the blue-filled syringe from his coat yet again, "And I say, you need an anti-death vaccine!"
Yakko drove the cold needle into Plotz's neck. The once powerful CEO gave a weak sound and passed out. Yakko stepped back, putting the empty syringe into his coat pocket. A commotion of doctors and nurses outside of the room got the Warners' attention. They quickly made their getaway out the window, just as doctors and nurses burst into the room.
"He's crashing!" A doctor screamed, "Nurse, grab the defibrillator!"
Other doctors and nurses got him on an oxygen tank, trying to stabilize him as he quickly flatlined. Panic and chaos ensued in the room as the machine let out a finalizing, steady beep. Just as the main doctor got the defibrillator up and running, the heart monitor changed.
Beeeeeeeep... Beep... Beep... Beep...
The staff stopped dead in their tracks. They stared at the heart monitor in disbelief.
"He's got a pulse!" One nurse concluded.
"Did he... Just come out of that himself?" Another doctor asked.
"Uuuugh..." Plotz let out a pained groan, startling them all. He slowly opened his eyes, looking around at all of them. They stared down at him, still in shock.
"Mr. Plotz sir..." The main doctor asked shakily, "How... How are you?"
Plotz took a deep breathe. The tightness was gone. The pain was quickly fading. His old age aches and pains seemed to have disappeared. He hadn't felt this great since... Decades ago.
"I feel... Really good." Plotz said, smiling.
"You were literally just flatlining!" A doctor told him.
"How is that possible?" A nurse exclaimed.
"Well, miracles do happen." The main doctor concluded, "However, I do wish to get some more tests to determine exactly what happened."
As the extra doctors and nurses left, a handful stayed behind to prep Plotz for more medical tests. Plotz sat there in shock, barely believing what happened. As he felt his chest, his hand brushed over a small piece of cardstock stuck in his hospital gown. He pulled it out and read its contents.
"Dr. Warner
Assistant Warner and Warner
Toonification and Human Life Extension Specialists
Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank California
1-800-TOONIFY."
On the back read a simple message, scrawled in messy handwriting:
"You want a second chance? Come to us.
-Yakko, Wakko, and Dot."