The Final Day

Lollipop yawned as she stretched out her arms. She woke up about when the doors opened, so she had a good schedule. Standing on the second floor she could look down and watch the first-floor people go on their way. Xavier, as he did every day, put the plastic stairs against the second floor to let them down. She walked quickly to her room and picked up her book to read. Sat in the corner near the pond, she started reading. But it only took a minute for someone to approach her.

"Hey...Lollipop....?" Taco asked, unsure. She slowly closed her book.

"Yes Taco?" She was slightly annoyed, but it wasn't Tacos fault.

"Um....nothing! Just wanted to say hi!" She sputtered out nervously. Lollipop sighed, more annoyed by this interaction. But before she could make a remark, Taco ran off to their other roommates. Lollipop got back to her book happy to not be distracted, but of course, that was short-lived.

"Lollipop?" Lollipop heard Gate say. She ignored it. She didn't care for those people.

"Um....hello?" She focused on her book, tuning Gate out. Gate sighed and walked away. Lollipop began reading again, happy she was left alone.

"LOLLIPOP!" She slammed her book closed.

"Can I be left alone for FIVE MINUTES?" She yelled at Book, who was clearly angry.

"I can't believe you Lollipop! I knew it! I knew there was something up!" Book stammered out.

"What?" Lollipop asked.

"You're ignoring all the defectives! How could you! Those are your friends!" Lollipop did not change expression.

"Book aren't they going to die? Why get so attached?" Book stomped her foot down.

"That means you don't abandon them! What is wrong with you?!"

"Nothings wrong with me. All the more reason to not interact with the defectives." Book breathed, trying to calm herself.

"You know what Lollipop I don't think I want to be your friend. You don't deserve friends. I hope you become a defective too. You deserve to die." She spat hastily, quickly walking away. Lollipop watched her walk away, going back to her book. She could care less she had no friends. She didn't need anybody. She was effective, and that's all that matters.

Eraser woke up with a jump. Was yesterday the day? Are they okay? He nervously waited for the door to open and ran out when it did. He could see Leaf and Golfball. Defectives. It hasn't happened. His team was...very prepared. Every night they'd all say goodbye as calmly as they could. But it was hard for them. He could tell. He walked to his room and waited for everyone to enter. And eventually, everyone was there. Fries sat in his usual spot with Puffball, Yellow Face and Marker talked loudly about their favorite things, Stapler calmly watched Origami color, and Bell was getting a book Eraser picked for her. She'd learned fast. The book was only 150 pages and had some pictures but he was pretty proud of her. But she looked...upset.

"Is something wrong?" A silly question. She was gonna die soon, of course somethings wrong.

"I'm really liking this book so now I'm upset." She said, already reading.

"Well if you like it what's wrong?"

"I don't think I'll be able to read fast enough to finish." Eraser stared at her silently. He never thought that to be a concern to her.

"Hey, I'm sure you will! You're great at reading! Just keep going!" He reassured her. She nodded quietly, going back to reading. She didn't believe me. But when she finishes that book she'll be glad she did, he knew so. Leaving her to focus, he walked over to Fries, who was cradling Puffball in his arms.

"Is she sleeping?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, I don't think she gets much sleep, poor girl." It was clear he didn't either. And thinking of it now, most of them looked horribly tired. And Eraser didn't blame them, they have many reasons to lose sleep. Eraser stared at her. Is that what being dead would look like? No moving, closed eyes. He pushed away the thought. He didn't want to think about Puffball's dead body. He pushed his hand to Puffball, she was warm and soft, ignoring the patches that lacked fur. He smiled gleefully.

"I know, it's soft isn't it?" Fries said, noticing Erasers expression. Fries soft smile faded.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do when she's gone." He sighed. Eraser agreed.

"What's even gonna happen to us after all this?" Eraser thought out loud. Fries stared at him.

"I don't know. It must be something. The nerve they'd have to have to kill our friends then make us live like normal without them." They, he was referring to Foster and Xavier. And he was right. Xavier was part of this. Xavier was going to kill them. Eraser didn't remember his entire youth, but he remembered Xavier. But Xavier taught him to walk, and read, and write, he raised him. And he raised the defectives too. How could someone kill the ones they raised? The ones they cheered on while they learned. Of course Xavier was one of the bad guys, he shouldn't have trusted either of them.

Snowball sat in his usual corner, thinking. It took a couple of days but he finally figured out why everyone seemed so upset. The defectives were going to die. Of course no one told him that, he had to eavesdrop on the nervous conversations of people around him. Not that he cared about himself, or any defective in his room, or anyone at all.

Except for Ice Cube. She was going to die too. He needed to apologize, to her face. He just needed to talk to her one more time. He wanted to see her. Maybe if he was effective he could've sacrificed himself for her. She deserved to live much more than him. He didn't deserve anything. He knew that. He's made himself defective. Ice Cube was born that way. She didn't deserve this.

"Man I wish we at least got a set date, this is really dragging out." Lightning complained.

"You want to die that bad?" Fan asked sourly.

"Of course not, but if I'm going to die I'd like to know when, I don't want to be scared. I want to cherish my time!" Fan scoffed.

"Cherish your time? There's nothing to cherish, we've been purposely disadvantaged our whole lives. We can't read, or write, what is there to cherish?" She rambled. She was never very happy, but she was upset about all this.

"Well, you and Bubble are my friends. I cherish you guys." Fan was silent as she stared at Lightning. She looked down with a small smile.

"I guess. Whatever." She was happy. It made Snowball ball his fists. Even the defectives had each other. He had to speak to Ice Cube.

- - -

I stood nervously in the lab. Dr.Foster said they'd meet me in the lab in a couple of minutes. I wouldn't be concerned if it weren't for the three needles on the metal table, all filled with liquid.

"Okay good, you're here." He said as he walked in. Where else would I be?

"So about those," I asked, pointing at the needles. They stood tall. Please don't say it'll kill them.

"It's a strong sedative, they'll be out till tomorrow afternoon, so a couple of hours after the effectives will be up." I sighed in relief, but I knew there was a twist.

"Why do they need sedatives?" I knew the answer.

"Tomorrow you will kill them. I have decided we've done all we can do to either filter out the faulty ones or make them better. I have a list of the effective and defective for you just in case they try to hide from this shot." So even he knew they were going to be afraid. Cruel as always.

"What happened to using sleeping gas on all of them?"

"Oh, from your packet. I decided through my efforts that that takes too long. And I need the effectives awake by morning. So you'll just be using this." He walked out of the lab as he finished talking. I bit my lip and read the paper.

Defectives:-8-Ball -Basketball -Bell -Bottle -Bubble-Building Block -Cake -Clock -Cloud -Donut -Egg -Fan -Flame-Flower-Gate -Gelatin -Golfball -Grass -Ice Cube -Leaf -Lightning -Nail -Nickel -Origami -Paper Bag -Paper Cutout -Puffball -Rock-Snowball -Sponge -Stapler -Teardrop-Tennis Ball -Wood

34? That many? I felt like vomiting. I couldn't hurt one of them, how could I even give them all this drug? But I had to. It'd save them but I guessI have to do this first. I calmly walked back into my office and leaned towards the small mic.

- - -

"Can all the defectives come to the lab please?" A tired voice asked from a speaker. Everyone in Eraser's room froze. Eraser and Fries looked at each other. They weren't ready for this. Fries softly shook Puffball awake. She groaned.

"What's going on? Did I fall asleep?" Fries looked down at her.

"I think it's happening." She immediately shot out of his arms.

"What!? And I was asleep the whole time! I'm so sorry Fries I've wasted our time..." she said as she cried. He reached up and pulled her down to him.

"Hey, I was with you the whole day it's okay." Eraser watched Puffball sob into Fries chest as he held her.

"Well, there goes that I guess," Bell said to herself.

"Huh? Did you not finished the book?" Eraser asked looking down at her book. It still had a dozen pages left.

"Of course I didn't." She said, dejected.

"Well, hey! You got pretty far right? That's good!"

"But now I'm not gonna know how it ends. All this time was for nothing..." Eraser tried to keep a calm composure.

"You worked hard though, that's all that matters. You didn't even know how to read before now!" Bell stared a the door.

"Yeah....thank you for that. I should...probably get going now." Stapler and Origami were waiting by the door.

"Oh um... yeah I guess so..." She quickly turned away and joined the others near the door. Fries let go of Puffball after one more hug and they all left. There were three of them now. Eraser, Fries, and Marker. Fries dropped to knees, sobbing. The cries were amplified by the now mostly empty room. Eraser didn't know what to do. He looked to Marker, who shrugged. Eraser sighed and sat down, listening to Fries tears.

"Well, I guess I don't know what I expected." Flame said, having just listened to the announcement.

"Aren't you nervous?" Pin asked.

"Of course, but it's not like I wasn't expecting this." He said gathering up the papers he was drawing on.

"I thought they were doing this at night, like when you guys were asleep!"

"Me too. I was hoping for that but I guess it isn't my choice right?" Pin stayed quiet after his response.

"You guys coming with me or on your own?" Flame asked, addressing Cake, Egg, and Clock.

"Oh um... I-I don't- I don't know..." Egg still hadn't properly processed this whole situation. Flame shrugged and left the room. Egg cries quietly, knees drawn to her chest.

"I know this isn't very good, but we have to go do we not?" Clock reasoned. She sighed.

"Yeah. Ready Cake?" She asked turning her attention to him. He held back tears as best he could. Shaking knees, he stood, paper in mouth. Without a word, Cake walked over to Cube.

"What's this?" Cube asked, taking the paper from Cakes mouth.

"Wow! This is a good drawing Cake! I'm...sorry I couldn't make you one too." Cake was too starstruck to respond.

"Well...Thank you!" Cube said, nice as he could. Cake ran off without another word.

"...what was that about?" Egg asked a blushing Cake.

"He's so cool! It's like I really want to be his friend, but like different. And I know I'm dying so I had to at least talk to him right?" At the mention of death, they all stiffened. Still scary.

"Should we not go with the others? I don't want us in trouble." Clock said.

"Ah he's right, we should go then," Egg responded. And with that, they all left to join the group.

Snowball looked through the small crowd anxiously. Just a minute ago he was ready to get this over with but now he knew what he had to do. Ice Cube was short, he knew that. But there weren't many people so she was easy to stop.

"Ice Cube!" He yelled, finding her and turning her to face him. She kept her stare away from his.

"Snowball please-"

"No no! I know this is weird! B-But I just wanted to apologize! For lying. I'm really sorry!"

"Snowball please don't-"

"No! I know you're mad at me! That's why I had to say that! I just really needed to get that off my chest- oh I missed you-"

"SNOWBALL!" She yelled. He just realized how many people were staring.

"I don't have time for this." She sounded upset.

"I-Hey I know. I just thought maybe we could go together! Y'know, hand out one last time! Now that we got the chance." She kept her eyes staring at the ground.

"Snowball I cant." His joyful smile faded.

"You...can't? Why?"

"I already have people I need to be there for. I'm going with them. I'm sure you have people too don't you?" As she spoke their eyes finally met. Snowball felt too many emotions to express. She walked away, taking the attention that everyone had with her.

"I don't. I really don't." He murmured, too quiet for anyone to hear. And with that, he had nothing to live for.

They all entered the lab and waited for Xavier to explain. Everyone was quiet with fear, except Paper Bag, who loudly sobbed.

"So you'll be getting this shot right here, simple and easy. Then you'll fall asleep! Easy process! Any volunteers?" Xavier explained nervously to the small crowd. One hand went up as someone stepped forward.

"I'll go first." Snowball muttered weakly.

"What? Really? Um- okay." Everyone watched as Snowball was placed on the table, Xavier readied the needle in his hand.

"Hey- Are you doing okay buddy?" Xavier whispered to him.

"Just get it over with please." He said before sticking his tongue out. Xavier hesitated, but then swiftly gave him the shot and took him off the table. Everyone stood silent, waiting for what they think is inevitable. But for now, Snowball was awake.

One by one, everyone had to get the shot. Some cried, some tried to run, some bit, but they all got the shot.

"W-Whats happened to him?" Gate asked loud enough to catch other's attention. Sitting against a wall, Snowball sat motionless. Everyone was silent. Ice Cube stepped forward and stared at him.

"...Ice Cube?" Gate asked, noticing her sudden shaking. She crumpled to the ground, silent tears hitting the cold floor.

"I don't know why I feel so bad now. I- maybe I should've..."

"Ice Cube you were confused it's okay. Nothing you could've done really. " Gate said, trying her best to comfort her. Ice Cube stared at him. Even though she was bawling, she couldn't decide if she should've been with him.

"Geez...I'm so sleepy..." Basketball whispered. Block sat next to her against a wall, Grass on his head. Block had noticed it already, 8-Ball was the first gone. So she was next. And then him, leaving Grass alone.

"Hey buddy, you've got to hang with someone else why while we nap alright? We're really tired." He said as he took the boy off his head.

"Oh okay. When will you be done?" Block kept a strong smile.

"Soon. Now you should go to...Tennis Ball. Tell him we're napping." He said pointing across the room, where Tennis ball and Golfball sat together.

"Okay!! I'll see you guys later!" Grass ran off without a second thought. Block watched him somberly as he felt Basketball lean against him.

"I'm sorry we fought. What a waste of time." She murmured almost too quiet to hear. Her breathing was slow as she talked.

"Hey- it's not your fault, I was a jerk. Don't feel guilty."

"But it's still...it was too much don't you think?"

"...yeah. But it's done. No need to end it off with dumb grudges." She let out a weak laugh.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem. I'm glad it's done." He was whispering now, caught up in his feelings.

"....Basketball?" Silence. Block didn't dare move her. He just closed his eyes and waited.

- - -

I feel horrible. I left the lab after giving them all shots. Paper Bag sobbed and bit me. She thinks I'm a liar. When I took the effectives to their rooms it was clear some of them were crying. And the obvious fear the defectives had made my heart break. I knew I wasn't killing them. But if I told them Foster might notice their weird behavior. I couldn't have him ruin this last minute. When I finally finished I got to leave and I had my phone ready.

"Hey! I took a break so this better be important!" Teressa sternly said as I began driving.

"Yeah, it is! I'm taking them home tomorrow!" I could hear her excited gasp.

"I'll start driving there the second I'm off work! It'll be a few hours so you better stay up!"

"First of all, it's not that late. Second of all, They'll be here tomorrow, no need to come today!" They scoffed loudly.

"Any excuse to be out of work! And also maybe you'll need to prepare the house for them! I'm coming over!" I kept my eyes focused on the road.

"Fine fine. I'll set up the guest room, and I'll see you later." We said goodbye and I hung up. I was honestly excited to see her, but I had bigger things to focus on. I was going to save them tomorrow. I will help them.

A little over 3000 words yeesh

It's a lot

It's also a lot less dramatic when you know they're not dying

But they think they're dying so it's sad I guess 😻

Anyways maybe I won't take a month next time

Let's hope ❤️

:•)