Emerging Compassions

Chapter 19: The Chemical Accident

(Sheen's POV)

Over the next couple weeks, we carried out our daily lives, even though that meant living in a souped-up cave with a tiger to guard us. Personally, though, I was beginning to highly enjoy our new wardrobe, and as can be imagined, it gave me more temptations than when I'm wearing my usual outfit. And I almost gave into one of them once, even though Libby was already with child. On that same day, when Jimmy seemed to be half done with fixing his rocket, an uneasiness fell upon us, as if we were being watched, again.

But it wasn't like that when the day began.

I was fast asleep, unaware that it was late in the morning, when I felt something wet being poured on me. I woke up immediately, sat up, and demanded, "Okay, who's the moron who just splashed me?"

All hands pointed to Cindy, who had an annoyed expression on her face and an empty bucket in one hand. Then she protested, "I only did that because I was told to! It's 11:30 in the morning, Ultra-Freak!"

"Okay, FINE! Jeez!" I remarked sharply, getting out of bed, then muttered to myself, "Sheesh, SOMEbody sure has issues..."

"I heard that!" she snapped.

Then Libby tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "Sheen, do us all a favor an' slip yo' cover-ups back on!"

"Okay," I muttered, following her orders, just slightly disappointed.

"Besides," Jimmy added helpfully, "You can't just go wandering around in the buff like that. Someone might see you!"

"I see your point, Jimmy," I told him while glaring at Cindy.

She just glared back at me, saying, "What?"

"I think he just gave you that look, Cindy, for splashing him and waking him up," Carl interjected additionally.

"Oh," she said.

Then I thought to myself, Boy, am I gonna get her back for doin' that! Won't THAT be a sight!

"So, what's the plan for today, Neutron?" Libby wanted to know.

"I'll need to work some more on my rocket today. So far, I have the engine repaired, so now I just have to work on the rest of it," he informed us.

"Sounds good to me!" she replied.

"But what are the REST of us supposed to do?" I protested.

He was already heading towards his rocket by then. "I don't know. Do whatever you want!" he quickly told us, only half-listening to what I'd asked of him and starting to work on his rocket some more.

"Well, you heard him! Let's have some fun here!" I exclaimed, running farther into the cave to explore some more.

Before long, I'd found some interesting stuff back there. "Wow! Look at all these sparkly drinks!" I hollered to my friends closer to the cave's entrance, "I'll bet there's Purple Flurp around here somewhere! Let me see if I can find it..." So I searched through all those weird liquids, but didn't find my tasty drink. Then, an idea hit me! "I know! I'll make some!" I announced to no one in particular, grabbing a couple and mixing them in a bigger container. Nothing happened, so I grabbed some clear, fizzy-water-lookin' stuff and poured it in. That's when the mixture exploded, gushing all over me and the table in front of me like a surging ocean wave, which made me scream out of fright and sheer shock.

Everyone else apparently heard my cries because they all came running towards me, concerned as to whether I was hurt or not. The fumes from the part of the concoction that was splashed on me made me real dizzy, then I fainted because of them.

When I came to, I found myself laying on my bed with everyone standing around me, talking at once.

"Are you okay, SHEEN?" Carl almost yelled, making me cringe a little bit.

"He feels sorta warm...," Libby noted, feeling my forehead.

"Pffft, serves him right for what he did!" Cindy muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Sheen, how did this happen?" Jimmy worriedly asked me.

"Never mind that! He shouldn't have been messing with your stuff in the first place, Jimmy," she snapped, looking suspiciously at him.

"So that's how it happened!" he mused, "He was messing around with my hazardous chemicals! How many times have I told you not to mess with them, Sheen?"

"A lot?" I guessed.

"Yes, it has been! Hopefully, this consequence of your stupid actions will teach you not to tamper with my chemicals!" Jimmy scolded me firmly.

"Well, I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I feel kinda funny, almost as if I'm not feeling good," I informed them uneasily.

"Oh, no! This is definitely not good!" Libby exclaimed, "I had a feelin' somethin' was wrong with him when I felt his forehead an' he felt kinda warm!"

"You might be right, Libby!" he replied, then turned to me and added, "Sheen, you're going to have to come with me so I can run some tests on you. I'm gonna have to take a blood sample from you and study it."

I immediately got up and exclaimed, "Jimmy, you know I don't do good with needles!"

"I know," Jimmy calmly responded, "That's why I'm going to strap you down and give you an anesthetic first."

Okay, at that point in time, I was officially clueless as to what he meant. What the heck was an "anesthetic"?