Breaking Barriers

Out Of Our Control

Squirt Octus:

Darn it. It turns out, being in that basement so long was enough to make Uncle Inkling and Mrs. Talia sick, and with so many people in a space as small as this one, everything was bound to fall apart.

Within a day, there were already 6 people lining up at the bathroom door to vomit and in another day, that number more than tripled.

By now, no one bothered going to bed, so we all slept in the closest bedroom we could find, the living room, Kwazii even slept on the kitchen counter. I wandered into the kitchen one morning, fatigued and with my head buzzing in pain. Before I could even open my mouth to speak, the Captain had descended upon me and had his paw upon my forehead.

"Squirt, lad," he began, sighing heavily, and I could see the sagging bags under his eyes and the way he was dragging himself towards me.

"You're sick too." I protested.

"Nonsense, I'm not too sick, but you-" He didn't even get to finish his sentence before I shrieked the one word that would definitely get him the rest he so desperately needed so loudly my already irritated throat began to throb, and the fellow infected around me winced and tried to hide in their bedcovers.

"PESO!" Peso came running. Remarkably, he wasn't the tiniest bit sick. Maybe being in such a large family and taking care of sick creatures so often had given him immunization to frivolous diseases such as this one.

"Squirt- Captain," Peso put his flippers on his hips, "What did I tell you about rest?"

"That it's a crucial part of recovering from illness, and I won't be doing anyone any favors if I work myself into an even worse condition." The Captain sighed, looking exhausted, and leaned against the wall for support.

"Time to get you into bed, sir." Peso gently took the Captain's arms and began leading him upstairs to his room. After a while, Peso had come back to me. I was currently sitting on the floor of the sitting room, feeling too tired and generally sick to move. As he came back, he first got down beside his mother and brother.

"How are you feeling, Mami, Pogo?"

"No tan malo." Pogo replied, his voice sounding raspy.

"Mijo, you'll get sick. We'll be alright on our own for a while." His mother fretted, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her flipper reach up and softly caress his cheek.

"No mami, I'm a medic. Taking care of people is my job. And you've taken care of me for so long, let me take care of you now."

"Peso, we don't need take care of, mi niño." His mother said.

"Yeah," Pogo added, "That Ranger Marsh's coughing so hard I think bits of his lungs are coming out."

"Pogo!" Their mother admonished, but Peso only sighed.

"He's sleeping now. The cough seemed to
get a bit better after I gave him some cough syrup Min brought.

"Ah, that woman is an angel." Pogo said fondly.

"That she is, hope both of you get better soon, te quiero." Peso murmured softly and gave both of them kisses on the forehead before coming to me.

"Squirt, you're sick as well." His sweet voice soothed my aching head for a while as he softly began dragging me in the direction of the stairs as well. When we got to our room, Peso softly lifted me up just high enough so I could climb into bed and took my glasses off.

"Do you need me to get you anything like something to eat or a hot water bottle?" He asked tenderly as he tucked me in. I only shook my head snuggled deeper into the covers.

"Rest now, sweet boy." He whispered, stroking my head, "You'll get better soon."

"Peso, I'm sorry, but I can't sleep." Peso only smiled and brushed his beak against my forehead.

"No need to be sorry, chiquito." He whispered soothingly and the hint of a smile appeared on his face, "I have a simple remedy for that." He shifted himself so I lay in his arms with no way of escape.

I grinned knowingly, "Did you do this to Pinto before?"

"Yes I did, príncipe." He chuckled, "You're far less wiggly than he ever was." I laughed too. That was no surprise; typical Pinto.

He began to rub my tentacles and sing a lullaby while rocking me in his arms after a while, and soon, the waves of sleep had carried me off, and as I dozed off, the last thing I remembered was Peso's soft kiss on my head and a quiet little, "I love you."
—————————————————————

It room about a week for the sickness to completely go away, and once it did, the whole place seemed to feel rejuvenated. In no time, we were all sitting in the kitchen, laughing with each other over all of our embarrassing baby stories like old times. It was nice to be reminded of why we live again. This. Ranger Marsh beginning a story on something Tweak had done as a little bunny and Tweak immediately attempting to shush him as Kwazii roared with laughter. Uncle Inkling joining in with one of my own as I protested, begging my friends not to encourage him, which they did anyways.

Little moments with our family that had us laughing until our stomachs hurt was one of the most releasing escapes from occupation there were. Whenever I was with my family, it felt like I had soared like a bird miles away, out of this world, into a new universe where nothing could ever get to us.