Jen tried to ignore the crash; she was more concerned with her current predicament to be concerned with someone else’s problem.
Placing her selection of ears on the cot; she held up a pair of robot mic earmuffs to examine them closer as possible substitutes to her now little girl ears. the curtain started to move and Jen could feel her heart skip a beat as she turned around to see what was there.
To her horror she saw Ashley laying on the ground looking up towards Jen with pleading yet distant eyes.
“oh my gosh, whats wrong Ashley?!” Jen said rushing to her friends side.
Ashley slowly reached for her neck gasping for air, she felt weak right now like she was having a really hard time breathing. Finally when Ashley gasped one more time Jen saw the problem. Her friend had gills. She didn’t notice earlier but Ashley was dressed in a cheap mermaid costume. It had arm fins and a turtle neck shirt with deep blue scales on it, and a pair of leggings with scales aswell. Over the shirt she was wearing a seashell bra.
The issue was at the top of the shirt now fused to Ashley were three lines that turned into gills. She found something but she would need time to get it in working order.
Jen had to act fast she looked into the boxes again trying to find something to help her suffering friend.
“what do I do? What do I do? Jen repeated to herself nervously. She saw a large sink towards the back or the office. Jen figured it was to clean larger injuries. She rushed over and turned on both the hot and cold water all the way. And then found a stopper on the side so she could fill the sink with water.
Jen heard another strained gasp behind her and willed with all her might that the sink would fill faster. She felt something in her horn that was a bit distracting but it went away before she could figure out what it was.
Finally the sink was almost full Jen ran back over to Ashley and helped her up.
“Come on girl I got something that will help… probably” Jen said the last part under her breath.
Her friend looked at her with distant hopeful eyes as she gasped again.
“Sorry for this.” Jen said before she dunked her friend’s head in the sink pushing down until the gills were covered again her friend gasped but this time it wasn’t her gasping for her life it was her gasping to bring life giving water through her gills. That first gasp brought another, and another.
Finally weirdly enough Ashley felt relief wash over her as she could breath again… although under water.
Pulling her head out of the water for a minute she tried to speak and although she would have to go back under water soon she no longer felt like she was dying for air.
“Jen, what is going on? I thought this was only your curse. I had to run out of class because I was practically suffocating. The teacher thought I was choking on some gum.” She said concern oozing into her words.
“I-I thinks it might be contagious. He did say it was a virus I just thought he meant it would feel like a virus with how it effected me.” She said sincerely.
Once again Ashley dunked her head under water to get another breath of air.
“you said you needed time to prepare something? What is it?" Ashley asked Jen
Jen pointed to a few pieces from the costume boxes she found. These may help until we can find a cure for whatever this is.
First was a fake old timely scuba helmet with plastic valves and clear plastic windows. It seemed a bit small for Ashley but she could probably get her head in it.
“what would we do with that?” Ashley said quizzically.
"Well we could fill it with water so your gills will be covered." Jen said feeling unsure
Hesitantly Ashley asked “ are there other options?”
“Um, we could try this bed sheet and make you a ghost… if you are dead you don’t need to worry about breathing.” Jen said not really thinking Ashley would say no to her first option.
Ashley looked at the box and saw a circuit board scarf following a robot theme from the boxes.
She also saw a fox head cowl that covered her neck. Maybe if she added that she could get rid of the gills.