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He always struggled when it came to breathing. He knew that since day one of this job. However, lately, it had gotten slightly worse. Despite his confusion, Hangry chose to forgo telling Lucky or Penny. He figured it was just him imagining things or something. It was nothing he couldn’t deal with.
Then there came the chest pain that came from struggling to breath. The first time this happened, for a second, he thought he was experiencing a heart attack. Or something close to it. He was alone when it first happened and the panic that went through his mind was sky high. He missed the opportunity to catch three mortals trying to avoid that happening again before thinking about the constant arguments he and Lucky would get into. He didn’t need another reason to enrage the rabbit. Not right now, at least.
So he continued his job like nothing was wrong. Except he knew something was wrong and had absolutely no idea how to bring this up to the others. For a while, he wondered if it was a virus that was causing this. But if that were the case, wouldn’t Penny or Lucky have caught it by now? Confused, he remained quiet while debating on asking Malak about what’s going on with him.
One night, however, questions finally got answered.
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That red-haired mortal was a pain to catch. Not only did Hangry have to remember to stop and breathe about a hundred times (realistically, it was only three times), but the mortal was taunting him and being a pain in the neck. He’d managed to catch them in a corner and finish them off after his frustration rose too far. Now, he just had a body to deal with and eventually turn into a plate of ribs.
Picking up the body, he heard something fall to the floor. He stopped and turned around, finding a small, plastic inhaler. It must’ve slipped out of the mortal’s pocket. Where else could it have come from? Throwing the body over his shoulder, Hangry grabbed the inhaler and inspected it for a few seconds. He could’ve just thrown it away, but in the back of his mind, something told him to hold onto it. It took only a few seconds of contemplation before deciding on the latter.
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Not even ten minutes went by before he thought about the inhaler again. A different mortal was now in this labyrinth he called his workplace. Thankfully, they weren’t as annoying as the last one, but he was still irritated as he stopped for the second time this round to catch his breath. It hurt to breathe for a minute as he practically coughed up a lung. It didn’t improve the tightness he felt in his chest.
He didn’t know much about mortals other than the different ways they could be cooked. But occasionally he paid attention to them when the mortals thought they were alone, picking up bits and details about who he was hunting down. Sometimes, that knowledge was useless. Other times, which admittedly wasn’t often, he was able to use that information to his advantage.
He remembered the previous mortal stopping once or twice when they thought they were safe and taking something out of their pocket. Their back was always turned to him, so he could never see what it was. He then took out the inhaler again. It was the only thing that fell out of the last mortal’s pocket; a strong contender for what they were using.
Well, he had it now. He might as well.
Making sure he wasn’t seen, he looked at the instructions on the inhaler, closed his eyes, and did what the instructions read.
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……..…Wait a minute. That was the first thought that entered his head. It was swiftly followed by, How the hell am I now feeling better after that? Whatever. He didn’t need to think about that right now. He had a mortal to catch.
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“How is this even possible?” He silently muttered, holding his phone in one hand and the inhaler in the other. The work day ended half an hour ago and he was now in his room in the living quarters. He avoided searching about his symptoms online because he didn’t want to read a thousand results telling him he had a disease that hadn’t existed for decades like smallpox or something. But after using the inhaler a good four times since he had taken it, he couldn’t keep himself from asking questions anymore.
He set the inhaler on the nearby nightstand and continued to stare at the results. If someone had told him just a few days ago his symptoms lined up with those of people living with Asthma, then he would’ve thought they were joking or just trying to get a rise out of him. But clear as day, the results were displayed for him to see. So that’s what he’d been experiencing? It was possible for animatronics to have it?
He shut off his phone and laid down in his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was pretty likely he had Asthma, but unless he got a proper diagnosis, he couldn’t confirm. Only way to do that is to take a sick day and explain to the others. Automatically, Lucky was out. At best, he’d bluntly tell him he didn’t believe him. At worst, he’d laugh at him for coming up with such a dumb idea. If he didn’t know animatronics could have Asthma, then surely Lucky didn’t know.
But Penny? Penny might believe him. She’d have her doubts, but telling her would be easy. It was decided, then. He’d tell Penny on his way out tomorrow about it. Then, he’d go confirm his suspicions.
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He didn’t make it to tomorrow in order to tell Penny. When Hangry eventually left his room and went into the living room, Lucky was irritated and an argument broke out between the two of them. Looking back, Hangry didn’t remember what the argument was about or when Penny showed up to try and stop their fighting from getting worse. What he did remember was slowly losing his breath while shouting, trying to defend himself in the argument. He slowly felt his chest grow tight and he had to stifle a cough or two.
Finally, Lucky just stormed off, going outside to calm down. Hangry immediately took that opportunity to go back to his room, closing the door behind him. He sat down on his bed, trying to breathe. Attempting to breathe in and breathe out wasn’t helping things as much as he’d have liked. His eyes wandered to the inhaler on the nightstand.
Well, it worked before. Why wouldn’t it now?
Grabbing the inhaler, he closed his eyes and followed the instructions. Once he opened them again, he saw his room door open and he saw Penny standing there, a bit confused as to why he had an inhaler. Once he was able to breathe better, he heard Penny ask if he was alright. As she leaned against the doorframe, Hangry ranted to her about the argument before he told her about his symptoms and suspicions.
He was correct on how she didn’t truly buy it at first, but after he fully explained, she told him she’d cover for him until he got back with a diagnosis the next day. All he had to do was pray to Lord Malak that he’d get back to Joy Joy Land before Lucky realized he was gone.
He’d be back in time, right?
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Well, clearly, either Lucky paid more attention to him and Penny than Hangry gave him credit for, or Penny didn’t do a good enough job covering for him. Lucky was texting him and calling him to figure out where he was. He didn’t ask Penny. Hangry could tell easily. He just texted back that he was out and would be back after a while.
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By the time he got back, Penny had told Lucky about what was happening. He took it seriously once he was told Hangry got a proper diagnosis, but he seemed more angry about how Hangry remained silent. The animatronic pig just explained that he felt he could handle it and things were fine.
Lucky’s frustration began to rise as he argued back that, clearly, it wasn’t fine.
Next thing they all knew, a new argument had broken out over the topic as Penny tried to defuse the situation.