Happy Wednesday! I had so much fun writing this chapter. Like, way too much fun. C:

I'm calling this the "Happy Ending Timeline" because it's a world where everything ended up perfectly and peaceful.

Chapter Five: Delusions

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Laurie jumped slightly at the sudden noise and sat up quickly in her bed, throwing a patchwork quilt off of her body. When had she gotten home? Had she fallen asleep at the museum? Grabbing her head in both hands, the girl inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down. She was tired. That was it. All of the days seemed to be blurring together anyways. After she had gotten home she must have just taken a nap. Glancing down, Laurie noticed she was still dressed in her khaki pants and white, button up shirt. She really had just fallen asleep after work then. "Honey, are you doing alright?" came a voice from the other side of the wooden door. "Can I come in?"

"I'm fine," Laurie replied, finally coming to grips with her surroundings. "What is it, mother?"

The door opened with a slight creak and Misako poked her head around the edge of the door slightly, glasses reflecting the light shining from Laurie's bed side lamp. "I wanted to tell you that dinner is ready if you're up to eating." She noticed the quizzical look on her daughter's face. "Are you sure you're feeling better? You still look a little pale."

What? "I told you, I'm fine, mother," Laurie stated plainly, watching as the grey haired woman hurried over to the bed and placed the back of a hand on her forehead. Without thinking, the red head slapped Misako's hand away forcefully. "What are you doing? I'm fine," she practically shouted the last word through clenched teeth before she realized how unreasonable she was being. "S-Sorry, I just…I'm confused and frustrated." She felt like she was in a dream, trying to make sense of what was happening around her. "Why are you so worried about me?"

"Honey, just lie down and rest," Misako frowned, rubbing her daughter's back softly. "You passed out while at work today. Your boss called an ambulance because you were convulsing." The aging woman watched Laurie's eyes widen indefinitely. "The paramedics who came said you had a really high fever that seemed to come out of nowhere, it caused you to have a seizure." Laurie opened her mouth to say something, but her mother held a hand up to stop her. "Everything has been taken care of, so don't worry about anything. You don't have to go into work tomorrow and you don't feel as warm as you did earlier, so you're getting better."

None of what her mother was saying made any sense. She had not passed out. She had just taken a nap. I would have remembered if I had a seizure, right? "M-Mother, that's not what happened. I was just sleeping because I didn't have any more scheduled tours and…no one was around to tell me I couldn't." With kind eyes, Misako just nodded gently, pulling the quilt back up towards Laurie. The teenager sighed suddenly. Her mother did not believe a word she said. It was obvious on her face. "I'll just stay in here and rest," Laurie settled on, wrapping her arms around herself. "I-I'm not really too hungry anyways."

"Alright then, Laurie. I'll be back to check on you a little later."

The door squeaked shut as Misako exited the room and Laurie flopped back down on her pillow, pulling the quilt up to her chin. She had only been taking a nap, right? Placing the back of her right hand against her forehead, the girl felt for a fever, but she did not feel warm. "You aren't able to check yourself for a fever anyways, stupid," Laurie mumbled to herself, focusing her eyes on the ceiling of her bedroom. It did not seem to make sense though: a sudden seizure and a fever? She had not even felt remotely ill earlier when she was giving the tour to the elementary school class. Something just felt off, but Laurie could not place a finger on it. She closed her eyes briefly, embracing the darkness.

There was the sound of machinery groaning loudly in the background, mixed with the idle chatter of people. She attempted to open her eyes, but decided against it, noticing a blinding blue light filling the area around her. A soft groan played off of her lips as she went to sit up. The voices ceased, yet the machines continued to hum and work in the background. Something else slowly added to the cacophony of noise: the sound of static. Like a television that was unable to pick up a signal, the sound seemed to grow louder, sending an involuntary chill up her spine. Everything seemed really surreal and, even though she could not open her eyes wide enough to see where she was, the atmosphere felt heavy with dread and hopelessness.

A voice broke through the background noise, demanding attention. Her blood felt like it had turned to ice. The voice, she recognized it, but she felt too terrified to speak or even attempt to open her eyes yet again. This was bad. This was worse than bad. It was horrifying. She felt her muscles tremble slightly, eliciting a slight chuckle from the familiar individual. When she thought the situation she was in could not become more frightening, another voice spoke. Yet another voice she recognized. This one seemed to shock her even more, sending a strong pang of fear jabbing into her heart. As suddenly as the environment around her seemed to become clear, it all faded away into oblivion.

"Laurie? Laurie, can you hear me? Wake up!"

A deep breath filled her lungs as her eyes shot open. The beating of her heart was intense and Laurie could hear it in her ears. A person she was not expecting to see loomed over her bedside, their expression a mixture of concern and exhaustion. "Lloyd," the girl gasped practically jumping out of the bed and tackling her brother to the ground. His slight advantage in height and weight helped him keep steady as his sister wrapped her arms around him. "I found you and you're so big now! What happened?"

He narrowed his emerald eyes, gently grabbing his sister's shoulders and guiding her back towards her bed where she sat down reluctantly. "Yeah, you're not making any sense. Mom was right; whatever happened to you earlier really jumbled your thoughts."

I found you? You're so big now? What kind of weird questions were those? She shook her head slightly, trying to collect herself before she spoke again. No need to make other people worry about her. Laurie just felt like there were odd thoughts crossing her mind; thoughts that did not seem to fit. "Sorry, yeah, I'm not making a lot of sense right now." She could feel the aura of anxiety seemingly emanating from her younger brother. "No reason to worry though, because with a little rest I'll be perfectly fine."

"You didn't sound perfectly fine while you were resting," Lloyd commented, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest. He now realized how fast his own heart was beating. It had sounded like his sister was being attacked or something while he was out in the other room, visiting with their parents. "The screams were really loud, Laurie. They immediately caught my attention. I thought someone was trying to kill you or kidnap you or something." He watched his sister grow a little paler with his words and he sighed, moving to sit next to her before he continued. "It just…it sounded like whatever you were dreaming about was terrible."

Had she even fallen asleep? "I-I just closed my eyes for a moment was all," the red head replied, fiddling with the collar on her polo shirt. At the soonest opportunity, she really needed to change into something more comfortable. "I wasn't sleeping at all; I was just trying to gather my thoughts." Yeah, that was all that had happened. Laurie had closed her eyes, trying to figure out why her mother kept insisting that she had had a seizure and then Lloyd had been shouting at her mere seconds later. No sleeping. No nothing. Pulling her knees up to her chest, the teenager gave a soft sigh. "You don't believe me though, do you?"

Lloyd shook his head back and forth, a few strands if blonde hair falling down into his face. He blew them away, but frowned as they just fell back down. "Unless you shout and whimper for no reason while you're 'collecting your thoughts', then you were sleeping. You were dreaming and…it sounded really scary." Lloyd could see how scared his sister looked now, slowly pushing herself backwards to rest her back against the headboard of her bed. "Do you want to know what you were saying?" the Spinjitzu Master tentatively.

Did she really want to know what she had been saying? Laurie glanced around the room nervously, feeling an unprecedented chill ran up along her skin. She really should not ask about it. She had not been sleeping anyways, she was absolutely sure of it. There was something, an urge, in the back of her mind that pushed her, compelled her to want to know. Exhaling loudly, Laurie simply gave her brother a nod and tried to mentally prepare herself for anything that he could possibly say.

"You kept saying that you would rather die."

Her blood ran like sluggish ice water throughout the entirety of her body. "R-Really?" she practically squeaked, the words barely escaping her tight, dry throat. Laurie knew she complained about this new and peaceful world she lived in a lot, but wanting to die? She definitely did not want to do that. Maybe all of her negative thinking about her current life was impacting her subconscious in ways that she could have never imagined. "Did I say anything else?" Honestly, she did want to know the answer, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. I mean, I wasn't even sleeping.

Lloyd leaned back on his hands, avoiding direct eye contact with Laurie. He felt so nervous for his sister. If she was having dreams that sounded so terrible she could not even remember having them, then maybe they were just so intense her mind was blocking them out. "I'm really not so sure," he answered honestly. "Most of it was kind of just incoherent mumbling. You talked about us a lot: all of us. You wanted to protect something that I couldn't really understand and you would just rather die." He took in a deep breath and glanced over at Laurie who had her head buried in a pillow. "It's a lot to take in," Lloyd said gently, placing a reassuring hand on the top of Laurie's head. Her body heaved with a small sob and he retracted his hand quickly. "You know what? I'll go grab you a glass of water from the kitchen and come back. We can talk about what's going on with you then, alright?"

She felt the springs of the mattress bounce up as Lloyd stood and walked across the room, his footsteps slowly retreating. The unmistakable squeaking of her door sounded as he made his exit. A loud sniff ripped through the otherwise silent air. "I'm going crazy," Laurie cried to herself, hugging the pillow to her chest. The sound of her own voice felt oddly comforting in the moment and she wiped her nose indignantly with the back of her hand before continuing. "I fell asleep, but I didn't think I did. Then when I thought I actually had taken a nap, I apparently had a seizure." Reaching up with a shaking hand, she attempted to feel her forehead once more. Cool, clammy skin greeted her and Laurie gave an enraged cry, giving the pillow in her lap a hard punch. "What's wrong with me?"

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"You don't have to knock," the teenager replied tiredly, laying down on her right side, pillow in a firm embrace. "I knew you'd be coming back so there's no reason to knock again." The brass doorknob turned slowly and Misako entered the room slowly, firmly closing the door behind her. "Oh, hi, mother. I'm still not very hungry if that's what you wanted to check on; just waiting on a glass of water right now." From behind her round spectacles, Misako looked down her daughter, eyes filled with urgency and concern. "What's that look for? I'm sorry if I scared you with the screaming or whatever, but everything is under control right now. Just a bad dream I guess."

She stayed silent and fingered the braid that lay draped over her left shoulder before approaching. The bed sank a little lower under her weight as she reached out to touch Laurie's forehead. "You still don't feel very warm," she frowned, removing her hand from her daughter and placing it in her lap. "You said you want a glass of water though? I can go get you one if you want me to."

Laurie waved her mother's comment away and blinked slowly. "No need to. Lloyd already went out to get it and he should be back any second now."

The hand was back, firmly planted against her forehead. "You said you were screaming, honey?" the woman inquired nonchalantly, flipping her hand over to check the girl's temperature. Misako could feel a light sheen of perspiration across her daughter's skin. "Did you have a nightmare or something? Do you want to talk about it?" With glistening eyes, Laurie blinked away stinging tears before shaking her head back and forth. "You know, if you want I can take you to see a doctor tomorrow since you don't have to go into work. Your dad has to teach some classes here at the monastery, but I'm free to take you."

"I don't need to go to a doctor, mother," Laurie huffed, rolling her eyes. All she needed was a night to just sleep everything off peacefully. Tomorrow when she woke up, she would feel better. Her thoughts clearer. Her state of health improved. "I'm just going to get a good night's sleep. I'll go to bed soon too, right after Lloyd gets back and we talk a little bit. He seems really worried, but I don't want him to feel that way." Laurie tucked a few strands of red hair behind her left ear. "He's been through too much in his life to worry about what's wrong with other people. I'll set his mind at ease and then get some proper rest." She gave her mother a forced smile before hiding the gesture behind the pillow. "Promise," the former ninja finished, her voice muffled by the object in front of her.

Misako stood and headed for the door. "Yes, just try and rest for the night, Laurie. I know you said that you don't need to, but I'm taking you to see a doctor tomorrow." Her hand wavered over the knob as she heard her daughter move behind her.

She sat up straight, a plume of anger slowly growing within her. "I don't need to see a doctor, mother. I told you I'm going to be fine. Just wait until I talk everything over with Lloyd and then-"

"You're going to a doctor," Misako stated curtly, her voice raised. She refused to turn around and Laurie only felt her heart drop into her stomach as her mother opened the door. The red head could feel her heart ricocheting wildly in her chest as she mentally pleaded for her mother to stop talking. Laurie did not like where this conversation was headed. "Maybe the seizure affected you more than the paramedics initially thought." Misako sneaked a quick glance back at her oldest child before saying the one sentence that pushed Laurie over the edge.

"Lloyd didn't come home for a visit tonight."

Oh my goodness I loved this. *evil laughter* I loved writing this so much. XD

So I will see you guys with another update next week. Until then...see ya!