Rise and Fall

Kwazii

Chapter 8: Kwazii

Angel couldn’t sleep.

Several factors led to this. For one thing, she wasn’t allowed to sleep on her side with her injuries and she couldn’t sleep on her back. For another, the bed was on the crowded side. Angel knew that she’d be sharing a bed with Shellington in the lab. Considering how attached to him she was, that hadn’t really been a problem. However, neither one of them had counted on the Vegimals joining them, but they did.

Most of all, though, every time she closed her eyes, she could see blazing fires and lightning bolts. She could hear the roars of both thunder and fire, the occasional loud bangs the fire had made, horrified screams and shrieking smoke alarms. She could smell the smoke, feel it suffocating her. She could feel the violent waves rocking her, knocking her over, dragging her under.

Much as Angel wanted to sleep, she needed to sleep, she was afraid to sleep. She knew she would end up having horrific nightmares again. The storm and the fire had been a month ago now, but she remembered it so vividly, it was like it was really happening before her very eyes. And when she fell asleep, it did.

Instead, she lay there, staring at the ceiling, listening to the quiet snores coming from the Vegimals. She could feel her blanket in one hand and Shellington’s paw in the other. He’d been holding her hand as he slept. Sea otter style, he’d called it, explaining that his species held hands and held onto kelp as they slept, so they didn’t float away.

Angel had smiled too when he took her hand and told her this. It felt much nicer than the feeling of drowning. The snores were actually quite comforting. After the thunder, the alarms and the screaming, she wasn’t alone. The ceiling wasn’t much to look at, but Angel would take that over horrendous fires and deadly bolts of lightning any day. She sniffed. A faint smell of chemicals and salt water hung in the air; nothing that would choke her like that hot and heavy smoke. Why would she risk it all by closing her eyes?

Although, as she half sat up and glanced at the other sleeping occupants of the bed, she couldn’t help envying all those sleepers.

Then she heard a noise. It sounded like she wasn’t the only one awake. They may have been soft, obviously careful not to wake anybody up, but those were definitely footsteps she could hear. Angel wasn’t worried, though. Shellington and- yep- all eight Vegimals were right beside her, but there were six others on the Octopod it could have been. Maybe someone was just going to the bathroom or something.

That thought made Angel realise she needed to go too. She kind of wanted Shellington to go with her. She didn’t like going anywhere on the ship alone, in fear of running into the Captain. However, she didn’t want to wake him up. As it was, he was starting to sleep during the day a little because her nightmares were keeping him up at night as well.

Like it or not, Angel was just going to have to be brave. Either that or hold it until morning, but she didn’t feel like that was an option. So, slowly, she slipped her hand out of Shellington’s and slid out of the bed, reaching for her crutches, all while trying not to make too much noise or kick one of the Vegimals accidentally. She cursed her buttery fingers as she dropped one of her crutches and it rattled on the floor. Anxiously, she turned around so fast, it was a miracle she didn’t get whiplash. Shellington and a couple of the Vegimals stirred, but fortunately, none of them woke up.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Angel hobbled to the door as quickly and quietly as she could. She had a couple of minor accidents: she almost fell more than once and she whacked her crutch against the side of the workbench, but Shellington and all eight Vegimals were still fast asleep when she left the room.