"Trick or treat!" Lightbulb exclaimed, holding up a pillowcase, to which Nickel responded with a door slam. Lightbulb had agreed to wear a "safe" costume to appease Test Tube, which wasn't really a costume, it was just her being lit up. Test Tube had assured her there was some deeper meaning about it representing her personality as a beam of light and sunshine, but Lightbulb thought her idea of going as the sun was just kinda stupid. Her original idea was to dress up as a crab, but Test Tube had started hyperventilating at the thought.

"Darn, not a single piece of candy", Lightbulb said as she looked into her pillowcase. "Not a single person has talked to us, either."

"At least then nobody can poison us..." Test Tube said, shuddering. After a while of convincing, she had agreed to also dress up, and gone into the lab for a few minutes only to come back with a lab coat and goggles.

"Hey! Think brightly", Lightbulb joked as she pointed to herself. A few doors away, they heard a knee slap.

They headed to the next door and knocked until they heard a groan followed by stomping. Fan opened the door, frowned, took a picture of them and then slammed the door shut. Lightbulb was left dumbfounded yet again. "Why does everyone keep ignoring us?"

"Hey, Test Tube."

Paintbrush strolled past them, only slowing down to say hello. They wore a disgusted expression and their bristles sparked with anger as they stared at Test Tube. She narrowed her eyes at them, presumably fed up with everyone's bitter responses, but then softened her gaze as she remembered the butterfly effect and her brain started to spiral.

"OJ wants to see you." They stared at Test Tube for a moment, before ending the conversation with a "Bye." Test Tube grabbed onto Lightbulb's hand and stared into her eyes as Paintbrush walked away.

Just then did Lightbulb finally, really understand how ruined Test Tube had become.

She was shaking, both from the coffee and adrenaline, desperately clinging onto one of her only friends, fully convinced that everyone she knew and loved would die any moment, ready to defend them with her life. Her eyes darted around the hallway, making sure Fan, Lightbulb and Paintbrush were okay, all while processing the potential risks of every action they could take.

This definitely wasn't the right time to go trick-or-treating.

"And promise you'll stay beside me? You won't run away or touch anything?" Test Tube anxiously asked outside OJ's office. "You'll be right there?"

"For the third time, yeah, Testy. It's not like I'm gonna get a heart attack or something", Lightbulb sighed. She tried to seem nonchalant, calm and optimistic, like her usual self, but she couldn't help returning the expression that Test Tube so fiercely wore.

I didn't even consider heart attacks to be a possibility, Test Tube thought as she made a mental note to herself. She would need to recalculate everything once she got back to the lab, but it would all be worth it if it meant Lightbulb and the rest of her friends would be safe.

She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, gave Lightbulb a quick hug as if saying goodbye, and slowly opened the door. Inside stood Cheesy, Pickle, Yin-Yang, Trophy, Knife, and of course, OJ himself.

"Test Tube, we need to have a chat", OJ said, his voice lacking a strange amount of emotion. "Yin, explain what you saw."

"Me and Yang were going to eat breakfast, but when we went into the kitchen, we saw a camera! We decided to look for them, and they're everywhere! In our rooms, outside, hidden in our cabinets and mirrors!" Yin exclaimed, anxiously looking around. "I would be fine with it if Test Tube showed me the footage, but she wouldn't even talk to me!" Yang interrupted, stomping his foot.

"The rest of us were hanging out and saw a few cameras, too", Trophy said, his arms crossed as he stared into Test Tube's eyes. She couldn't tell if the hint of emotion he showed was disgust, anger, disappointment or fear. Knowing Trophy, it was probably one of the first three. He leaned down - not so far that they were on the same level, but far enough to be intimidatingly close to her face. "We wanna know why you're spying on us."

"I-It's for your best!" Test Tube exclaimed, anxiously gripping Lightbulb's hand. "If I monitor your every move, I can stop bad things from happening, or help right away if they do!" The corners of her lips curled into an excited smile. She was helping! She was contributing significantly to keeping them safe! And she felt great about it.

OJ, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He had been resting his face in his hands, listening curiously to everyone's complaints and Test Tube's defence, but suddenly smashed his hands into the table out of pure shock. His face twisted into one of disgust, and he remained quiet for what felt like hours, replaying the scene over and over in his head before finally giving one dumbfounded word as a response.

"What?"

"I'm helping", Test Tube repeated, trying to understand why he'd be so shocked. "I'm saving your lives. Protecting you from danger? Helping?"

"You're... spying." OJ stared at her, completely baffled. "You are invading our privacy. How did you- how did you even get into my room? Into any of our rooms?"

"Helping!" she repeated, pulling Lightbulb closer. What if they're going to hurt her to punish me?

"Test Tube, listen to me." OJ looked at her sternly, his voice mimicking his gaze. "You are going to remove those cameras."

Before she knew it, their chat was over, and they had forced her and Lightbulb out of the office. She heard worried murmurs coming from inside the room. She anxiously clutched Lightbulb's hand but let go once she realized she was hurting her. The last thing I would want to do is hurt Lightbulb!

"Testy, you okay?" Lightbulb asked. She tried to seem like her usual self, but Test Tube could hear the concern in her voice.

"I want to keep you safe", she responded, "but I can't. Nobody understands what I'm doing. Why does nobody understand?!" Lightbulb pulled her into a hug and sighed.

"I know that you wanna keep us safe, Tube, I know... hey, let's hang out in a bit. Baxter misses you." Lightbulb gingerly took Test Tube's hands in hers. She looked into her eyes and smiled before walking down the hallway to her room.

As Test Tube watched Lightbulb leave, she realized her heart was racing and her face was warming up.

But she couldn't blame that on the coffee.

[word count: 1106]