Rise and Fall

Vegimals

Here is the second chapter of Angel bonding with the Octonauts! There are four in a row now, including this one.

I'm a little nervous about this chapter. I meant it to be cute and funny, but I'm worried it's just weird.

Chapter 6: Vegimals

“Mum?!” Angel cried helplessly, struggling to stay afloat as the burning room filled with water. “Dad?!”

Flames crackled all around her in the water, which was now up to her waist and rising fast. She couldn’t see or hear her parents or her siblings anymore. All she could hear were the roars of both the fire and the thunder. Everyone else was gone. She was all alone. And she was trapped.

“No!” Angel yelped as she searched in vain for a door or a window or any way out. She pounded on the burning walls, more of them crumbling apart and tumbling into the ocean. “No! NO! HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP!”

“Angel!” a voice called, but she saw nobody. “Angel, wake up!”

The ten-year-old girl gasped as her eyes flew open. Shellington was kneeling next to her bed, shaking her gently and imploring her to wake up. When she did, it startled him as well. He gasped and jumped back.

Another nightmare, Angel realised as she tried to slow her breathing down. She had her ups and downs during the day, but three from three nights she’d been on the Octopod, she’d had horrific nightmares about losing her family, the storm and the fire. This had been the first nightmare she’d had that didn’t involve hungry polar bears on top of all that, so she figured that was something.

“Sorry”, she apologised to Shellington. “Did I wake you?”

She had, but Shellington’s only response was, “Don’t worry about it, Angel. You can’t help having nightmares. It’s understandable after what you’ve been through.”

Angel agreed. After her first night, Shellington had stayed with her in the sickbay virtually nonstop. On the occasions where Angel fell asleep (which she would sometimes do during the day because her nightmares had kept her awake at night), he might run to the bathroom or to the lab to grab another book. Of course, he had to go when the Octo-Alert went off as well. For the most part, however, the sickbay was where he stayed and Angel was grateful for that. She just couldn’t deal with being alone just then. Even when she was just lying there, staring at the wall or the ceiling while he read, just his being there was enough for her.

Three seconds later, the door opened and a frantic-looking Peso hurried in.

“Angel!” he greeted her breathlessly. “Are you all right? Professor Inkling said he heard you screaming again.”

Great. Angel hadn’t met Professor Inkling yet, but had learned that he was an octopus, who lived in the library. The library must have been close to the sickbay because every morning, apparently, he would hear her screaming.

“Just another nightmare”, she explained, praying that Peso wouldn’t ask her any more questions.

“You poor thing!” he sympathised. “You have been having a lot of nightmares, haven’t you.” It was a statement, not a question.

Angel nodded. “Tell the Professor I’m sorry. Again.”

“You don’t have to apologise”, Peso assured her. “The Professor understands. We all do.”

“Didn’t you want to give me a checkup?” Angel asked, purely to change the subject. Although, truthfully, the checkups weren’t that bad. Peso was quick, gentle and efficient. Besides, it provided a distraction from worrying about everything else.