Chapter 9: Panic Attack

Trigger warnings: Hangover, trauma induced panic attack, electrocution

WITH OST [smaller tw on that it's meant to simulate the panic attack so it bight be a bit stressful to listen to idk. I had to take a break while making it so i thought that'd be worth mentioning ji]

Lightbulb awoke to the feeling of pain in her head. She slowly blinked open her eyes to see a white padded ceiling greeting her from above. She was sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the room, staring at the light above. She squinted at how bright it was and rolled onto her side, which she immediately regretted as her head throbbed a bit more. 'Wait, why does that hurt so much?? What happened??' She thought. She felt nauseous and her leg also ached a bit. She looked down at it, which she also immediately regretted, looking back up at the wall in disgust. There was just a huge burn wound on her leg, which had clearly not received any form of treatment. 

'Okay, okay, there was obviously some sort of experiment last night.. What was it...' Lightbulb tried to search for any memory of the night prior. 'My leg's more messed up than it was before, so I probably got electro-'  Her thoughts trailed off as she suddenly remembered something. And then more, and more, until every little detail of last night came flooding into her mind- the remote, the chains, the chair, the ropes, the cups, the bottles, the pain...

The fear.

Lightbulb started crying on the ground, her breath and heartbeat quickening. It felt like she was reliving it all as she remembered everything, and she felt even more sick. She was so upset and confused how something like this could just happen, only for her to just wake up back here in the morning like nothing happened. Like it didn't even matter. Her vision started getting a bit blurry, almost like the room was spinning. She shut her eyes tightly closed as the blood pulsing through her 'ears' got louder at an alarming rate. She heard echoey voices from behind her, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She couldn't understand anything right now. She was just sobbing on the floor. She felt like she was gonna throw up. She felt like she was dying.

She heard shuffling near her and opened her good eye a bit, seeing some vague, red-ish shape scooting in front of her. She closed her eye again, the tears making it sting. She could make out a voice from in front of her, more clear now that it was closer. It was calm and high-pitched, and spoke to her in a somewhat soothing tone. She couldn't really tell what it was saying, but that didn't matter right now. None of that did. What mattered is that she was suffocating and dying in this hellhole and she had no idea why. She tried to gasp for air, to force it down her throat and just survive. 

After several minutes of this, which felt like eternity to Lightbulb, she finally felt like she was able to breathe okay. She was still crying and hyperventilating and trembling on the floor, but she was starting to cool down a little. She could start to hear the voice a bit better and she realized it was Balloon.

"It's okay, you're alright... You're safe now.. No one's gonna hurt you..."

Lightbulb tried to wipe the tears from her eyes and calm herself down quicker, which didn't work. She really wanted to just be okay as soon as possible though, so she tried anything else she could think of in the moment. She tried to focus on her breathing and slow it down more, which was actually pretty difficult. She eventually managed to however, and after a few more minutes, she was pretty much out of... whatever that was. She could breathe again, she wasn't so afraid anymore, she couldn't hear her blood pounding so hard, she could see properly again.

Lightbulb let out a long, shaky breath and just laid there for a moment with her eyes closed, trying to process what just happened and that she was okay right now. She wiped the tears from her eyes, which actually worked now, and she opened her eye again. She saw Balloon sitting in front of her, who was smiling gently at her- albeit a little nervously. 

"...You okay?" He asked.

Lightbulb nodded. She felt exhausted and dehydrated and nauseous and she still had a huge headache, but she wasn't dying anymore. 

She rubbed her fingers against her forehead to try and relieve the pain a bit. "I... I don't even know what that was... I felt like I was dying..."

"It looked like you were having a panic attack."

Lightbulb blinked. "Oh. That... that makes sense, actually."

She managed to sit up, her muscles aching from laying there for so long. Balloon gently rubbed her back, and she smiled at him gratefully. Baseball shifted uncomfortably, looking shaken to his core after witnessing this.

"...How'd you know what to do there?" He asked Balloon, staring off into the distance and clearly not fully there.

"Eh, I've had to dea-" Balloon abruptly cut himself off. "I mean- I just... had a feeling, y'know."

"Mhm.." Baseball didn't even register Balloon's response, too deep in his own train of thought. After several moments of silence, he spoke up again.

"We need to get out of here."

Balloon looked up at him. "Huh?-"

Baseball stood up, looking the most determined he ever had. "We're going to escape. I'm getting out of here tonight and I'm gonna go find someone who can help us, no matter what it takes."

The other two looked taken aback by the sudden mood shift in the room. 

"...How are you gonna do it?" Lightbulb asked.

"..I don't know, but.. I'm gonna find a way. It's still a bit early in the day, I think. If Test Tube needs me for an experiment later, I'll break out." Baseball responded.

Several hours later, the door opened. Test Tube walked in, and the three subjects stared at her expectantly.

"I need all of you for an experiment, Come on." Test Tube turned around and started walking back out the door. The other three gave each other looks of determination, then got up to follow her.

As they walked through the hall, Baseball quickly thought of his plan of escape. He took a deep breath and body-slammed Test Tube into the wall, knocking the air out of her lungs and causing her to fall onto the ground. She yelped in surprise and Baseball immediately booked it down the hall as fast as he could. Test Tube tried to get back up to run after him, but Balloon ran over to her and held her down, Lightbulb hesitantly doing the same. After several moments of struggling, Test Tube knocked Balloon off balance and stood up, pushing Lightbulb off her as well. As Lightbulb fell onto the ground, Test Tube pulled the remote out of her coat pocket and shocked her. Wild fear flashed in Lightbulb's eyes as she was electrocuted again. The large wound on her leg made it even more painful, as well as the huge reminder of last night and the very real sense of danger sending her into a panic again.

Balloon stood up and charged at Test Tube, who held up the remote in a threatening manner. The sound of Lightbulb starting to cry again from behind him made him even more furious at Test Tube, but he didn't want to cause his friend any more pain, so he stopped. Test Tube held the remote in the air still, not breaking eye contact with Balloon as she used her other hand to slowly turn the knob up one by one, until it eventually reached 20. She hovered her thumb over the red button.

"Where is he going." She demanded.

"I- I'm not telling you." Balloon responded. He tried to sound strong but he couldn't hide the wavering fear in his voice.

Test Tube's thumb moved over to hover over the yellow button. "Are you sure about that?"

Balloon's eyes widened in panic. They were all pretty much fucked now, and he suddenly had to choose between further hurting and triggering Lightbulb's trauma, or giving away Baseball's location and ruining their one chance at escape. He let out a shaky breath and spoke quietly and regretfully.

"...He's going up to find someone to help us out of here...:

"Good." Test Tube lowered her hand and smiled at Balloon. She pressed the red button on the remote, which was still set at 20, and put it back in her coat pocket. "That should give us a little more time."

She ushered the two back to the room and locked them inside, running to the exit to go find Baseball. She slammed her fist on a button on the wall and was sucked through the large tube that led outside. She landed on the soft grass by the soda machine, immediately getting up and running off. She was able to find Baseball fairly quickly, he was on his knees by a tree and groaning in pain. She walked up to him and placed her hand on his back, causing him to instantly freeze. He slowly turned around to face his captor. She was smiling down at him, but he could clearly tell she was furious with him, making him more terrified.

"Let's get you back down there." Test Tube said, grabbing a syringe from her coat pocket and injecting Baseball with it before he could object. He fell unconscious within seconds, and Test Tube dragged him back over to the soda machine. She put in the code and threw him into the tube before jumping in after him.

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It is 4:33 am i should not be writing inanimate insanity wattpad fanfiction lmfao

also i feel like i should note that chapters 5-8 happen on the same day if it wasnt clear enough (5&6 on the first half of the day and 7&8 on the second half of the day)