Prompt 12: Hallucinations

Darkfic... For those who are squeamish, or who just don't like Sandy whump, please skip this prompt response, for there is blood, and a squirrel who hallucinates of death and despair. Also, I don't ship Spandy, but interpret this as you will.

Disclaimer: I only own Professor Sven Turquoise and Ernest currently without a surname. Sandy, SpongeBob and Patrick belong to Hillenburg and Nickelodeon.

...

The scribbling of pencils and pens on paper echoed off metallic walls. A coven of monkeys, led by a Professor Sven Turquoise, watched as a lone female squirrel began to stagger round the padded white room, looking for all the world a cross between a drunk and someone who had just risen out of bed and wasn't fully awake yet.

"May the testing of Project 49...begin!" A monkey announced, and he pressed a button, releasing gas into the padded room via vents...

...

Sandra 'Sandy' Cheeks beamed when she saw her best friends- SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star- ahead of her. They had wide, adorably boyish goofy smiles on their faces and their eyes expressed pure, undiluted joy at seeing her, and her heart soared.

"SpongeBob! Patrick!" She exclaimed happily. "Boy, I sure missed you guys, and Bikini Bottom being back on land!"

"We missed you too, Sandy!" SpongeBob exclaimed happily, spreading his arms out wide for a 'welcome home' hug. Sandy, unable to resist, rushed head on towards her first ocean friend, eager to show how much she missed her companions.

And then...

SpongeBob suddenly clutched at his chest, as though having a heart attack, causing Sandy to ground to a halt and regard her spongy pal with concern.

"SpongeBob- you okay, little square dude? You look paler than a"-

But she never finished her sentence, as SpongeBob flopped forward onto his face, and was suddenly very, very still.

"SpongeBob- what's up with y'all?" She asked nervously, bending down beside her companion to see if she could help him.

"Sponge-AGH!"

His chest was covered in scarlet blood, and it was gushing forth rapidly. Sandy, panicked, reached out for her air suit to rip a bit off to stem the bleeding-

And her fingers came into contact with her bare fur. She felt her mind reel at this revelation. That didn't make sense- her friends weren't wearing water helmets, so she should be wearing her air suit- but she wasn't. A quick inspection revealed that she wasn't

"Patrick, something's wrong- I ain't wearing my air suit, and yet- Patrick?" But the chubby starfish had disappeared completely into thin air. "Patrick, come back, darn it!" Sandy yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she presses her hand against her friend's chest in a vain attempt to stem the bleeding. "SpongeBob's lyin' here dyin' and you doing nothin' to help him! Patrick, please- don't leave me like this! I don't even understand where we are, anymore, and I can't help our friend- and you can't just leave him like this! Please Patrick, come back! I can't make sense of this anymore!"

All the while, she watched, screamed hoarsely and cried out for someone to help her- help them- as SpongeBob's life slowly drained from his body and into the warmth of her hand.

"SpongeBob, please, you can't just die on me, you just can't! As your friend, I forbid it! SpongeBob, please don't die!"

"Sandy..."

"Shh, Sponge, it'll be alright," Sandy said suddenly, trying to reassure the sponge she thought who had already died.

"Sandy...thank you...for...our...friendship...I...appreciate...the fun...we...had together..."

"SpongeBob... thanks for being my first friend...you have no idea how much that means to me..." Sandy said, using her blood free paw to wipe SpongeBob's tears away. "I wanna help ya, but I don't know how..."

"Sandy...will you...sing ...for me...please?"

"...alright, SpongeBob. Y'all deserve the best, for giving the best to me, our friends, and Bikini Bottom."

And with that, Sandy, picked SpongeBob up in her arms, cradled his frail, weakening body to her chest, and began to sing a song about the ocean, and the moonlight, silently relishing her friend snuggling up to her- despite the fact that he was getting colder, and colder, and colder...

...

Professor Turquoise watched grimly as a loud scream was heard, followed by a pounding of fists. He did not know whom their test subject was referring to, nor did he care.

His lips slowly twisted and curled into a smile as he watched it unleash its fury onto the floor.

"Sir, I think Miss Cheeks has suffered enough...we should shut the project down, now." said one monkey, bravely. He didn't like the idea of testing such a dangerous drug on someone- especially when it caused the person to go mad with grief over the loss of a loved one.

"No, no, my dear Ernest...just look at it. Don't you realise how powerful Project 49 could be?" Professor Turquoise objected.

"I know it's powerful, Sven, but what could you accomplish from this...barbarity?"

"Ah, you shall find out, Ernest. You see, my dear man, our test subject just so happened to be a very strong minded squirrel...or so it claimed. It has now been reduced to a blubbering mess over a hallucination- a mere image in its head."

"You mean a hallucination of her dead friend?"

"Precisely...we could use Project 49 to torture prisoners into submission...you know, serial killers, defilers...murderers..." he whispered the last word, knowing what would happen next.

Ernest gasped in shock, and his face went bright red. "You keep my Emily out of this!" He snapped, balling his hand into a fist and raising it to strike his boss, who merely stood there calmly, not in the slightest bit frightened.

"Tut tut...temper, temper, Ernest...Kelsey wouldn't approve if you got the sack for assaulting your boss...besides, I thought you wanted to get revenge for your daughter's murder, just like any loving father would..."

"I'll confess I do want to make her pay for taking away my only child- but to turn her own mind against her using that...that toxic substance! Never! This is going too far!"

"Well, suit yourself, Ernest...you could not only have had revenge on your daughter's murderer, but you could have been rich beyond your wildest dreams...don't you want to support Kelsey, and avenge poor Emily's death?"

Ernest hesitated.

"Remember, Ernest, your wife wouldn't get one penny if her husband...joins the unemployment line." Professor Turquoise began to chuckle darkly.

Ernest spared one last look at the squirrel still sobbing over her unseen loss, and reluctantly shook his boss' hand, signalling his submission

"Good...your first task is to get rid of that pathetic squirrel- we don't need it anymore."