[this is where stuff starts to get freaky, read the warnings if you haven't already. most chapters will contain that content, so if you're sensitive to that, i suggest you leave now]

Test Tube woke up in her lab, a smile on her face as she remembered all of the things she had planned to do with Lightbulb that day. She made herself some coffee and checked through the few cameras she had left (the common area, the kitchen, and a few outside) before leaving the lab. She smiled again as she felt the warmth of the sun wash over her, just like Lightbulb's positive attitude.

As she entered Hotel OJ to meet with her friends and have breakfast, everyone suddenly looked at her. Most of them looked like they had been crying their eyes out all night long and were sitting in groups, almost like they were trying to comfort each other. OJ stood in the middle of the room, alone for whatever reason.

Jeez, I wonder what I did this time, Test Tube thought as she approached Soap and Microphone. Judging by the past few days, it was only natural to assume it had something to do with her.

"Good morning, guys!" Test Tube cheerfully said. Now that she looked around the room, about half of the hotel residents were gone. "Hey, uh... Why's everyone so down? And where's Fan?"

"Oh, you didn't hear", Microphone said. She stared off into the distance, looking like she was doing everything to keep herself from breaking down and crying.

"Golly, I'm starting to worry. Can't you just tell me?"

A trillion years of preparation couldn't prepare her for the world-shattering words that were about to leave Microphone's mouth.

"Fan's dead."

Fan stared down at his phone. It was very obvious he was trying to avoid Test Tube. He quickly tried to make conversation with any passing object, and when he wasn't doing that, he was furiously tapping on his phone. For the past hour, Test Tube had been coming up with something to say in her head, and then feeling the guilt wash over her once she tried to say it to Fan and saw his tragic expression.

They almost never fought, but this time they had, and she had really, truly wronged him. Over the past few weeks, she had gotten clingier and more protective, always following Fan around like a lost puppy, so this was especially heartbreaking.

Okay, this was it. She was going to apologize, and it would be okay, and the few seconds of pure pain, awkwardness and sorrow would be completely worth it. "Fan-"

"Don't talk to me, Test Tube", he interrupted, finally looking up from his phone and meeting her gaze. "Don't... not right now."

And then he got up and left.

Test Tube didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.

And the world came crashing down.

She was right. Her paranoia had been right.

And just like that fight with her best friend that had triggered her to become that paranoid, Test Tube didn't even get a chance to apologize to Fan, or even say goodbye.

"P-Paintbrush and Lightbulb, too. It... it was a fatal car accident..."

A tsunami of guilt washed over the little town inside her head, distracting her from the mumble of news that she just heard. She blamed herself, over and over, wishing it had been her instead of them, wishing she could've saved them or stopped them, not even giving herself time to process the tragedy.

And that's when an idea hit her.

Before she joined Inanimate Insanity, she was sure that recovery centers and all other forms of bringing back the dead were completely false: just myths for dramatic effect. After all, if they existed, why had she never seen one in real life? But once she herself shattered for the first time, only to be brought back within moments, she realized that it was all real.

There were a few times when Test Tube had the chance to look at the technology of MePhones and such, and from what she had learned then, she could piece together the rest and find a way to perfectly replicate their former host's recovery feature.

Before she knew it, she was back in her lab, surrounded by six hours worth of planning scribbled down in her notebooks. Microphone must've thought she had relapsed back into her old thoughts of paranoia, and decided to hide away in her lab for the rest of eternity. Anytime she entered her lab, Lightbulb and the others always assumed the worst and always checked up on her constantly.

Speaking of Lightbulb, she needed to-

She heard steps behind her, and turned around to see OJ.

Desperately trying to hold himself together, he carried three black boxes, neatly tied together with a few ribbons - one brown, one yellow, and one red. He cautiously looked around the lab before setting them down on the table full of her notes. Silently, he sat down in a chair across from her, and breathed out a sigh, clutching his head in his hands.

"Since... you were so close with the victims", OJ started, his voice shaky and weak. "We decided that it's up to you to choose what to do with the remains."

Another idea. She grabbed the closest thing - a pen - and began to frantically write it down in her notebook. She looked up and gingerly took the box with the yellow ribbon.

With teary eyes, she carefully unwrapped the casket of her friend.

Inside were a few shards of glass and a chunk of metal. Her heart sank as she finally got the chance to process the news of her friends' death.

Not even Fan was left to comfort her.

Test Tube didn't want to mourn. She didn't want to accept that they were dead, not with her genius idea laying right in front of her, and especially not considering how they died. It was so abrupt - when she fell asleep they were there, but once she woke up, they were gone. Just like that. So easily ripped from the world of the living.

She didn't feel like they were dead either, despite everything and everyone she knew saying the opposite.

Nonsense, nonsense! All it would take was a few days of work and planning, and then they'd be there.

But... the amount of shards laying in the box weren't enough.

She needed to resort to plan B.

She let herself put on the facade of being completely ruined by their deaths, and began to silently cry.

"OJ", she started. "It... it must've been so hard for you to do this. I appreciate it a lot. I'll get you some water... then you can go back to the hotel."

OJ silently nodded and Test Tube stood up, heading to the nearest tap, which just so happened to be beside a cabinet full of vials.

She grabbed a cup and filled it with water, then opened the cabinet and took a vial full of clear liquid. She poured just a few drops into the cup of water, then slowly walked back to OJ, handed it to him and sat down.

"It must be equally, if not harder on you, Test Tube. You were really close with the victims, and this was probably the worst possible time for something like this to-"

His speech slowed, and OJ went limp, slamming his glass against the table and spilling some juice on Test Tube's notes.

She silently walked into another room and grabbed some duct tape, initiating step two of her plan.

An eye for an eye.

[word count: 1244]