Rise and Fall

The Shell

Chapter 10: The Shell

The sun’s only just come up, but I’ve been awake for hours. Shellington and the Vegimals are still asleep, so I thought I’d write in my journal to pass the time.

I had another nightmare last night. It was pretty much the same as all the others. I got trapped in my room while it was on fire and there was a huge storm. This time, I escaped the fire, but I had to swim past a bunch of hungry polar bears.

I really wish these nightmares would stop. I’ve been here two months and I've had them every single night I’ve been here. Every time I close my eyes, I see the flames. I hear thunder and people screaming. I smell smoke and I feel like I’m drowning. It’s terrifying. So, I don’t want to sleep anymore, but it’s hard to stay awake all the time. Either I end up falling asleep anyway and having a nightmare or they make me sleep, which

Angel had to stop her journal entry there. The words were looking blurry on the page. It was getting harder to see them. She could barely keep her eyes open, but she had to. If she closed her eyes, even for a few minutes, she would relive the trauma all over again.

She let out a loud yawn and her eyes watered. A moment later, she heard another yawn. Shellington was just waking up.

“Angel! How long have you been awake?” he wondered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Next to him, the Vegimals stirred too.

“You know. I had another nightmare.” Her screams had woken him and the Vegimals up and they had comforted her. Of course, they had all managed to go back to sleep, but Angel hadn’t.

“Angel, that was at quarter to three”, the otter pointed out. “Have you really been awake this whole time?”

Angel nodded guiltily.

“Maybe you should stay here and get some sleep”, Shellington suggested.

“No! Please!” Angel begged. “I want to come with you! I don’t want to sleep! And I won’t be able to if you’re not here! Please, please, please!”

Shellington was still convinced Angel needed sleep, but she had a point: He knew she wouldn’t sleep, especially not if he weren’t there. And he knew he didn’t exactly have a perfect sleep schedule; it seemed a little hypocritical to worry about Angel’s. It was hard not to, though. She was already having a hard enough time and her nightmares made everything worse. Her screams made everyone’s hearts break and, even when she did sleep without screaming, she looked very tense and unsettled.

Besides, Peso promised that today, he would make some medicine to help the girl sleep. He just needed to collect a special ingredient. Once he had that, maybe she would get some sleep.

So, Shellington gave in.

“Yay!” Angel cheered. “I’ll get dressed!” At the same time she’d received her new T-shirt and overalls, she also got some new pyjamas. They were pale blue flannelette with clouds, stars and rainbows on them.

Within minutes, Angel was dressed. She fastened up her overalls and grinned up at Shellington. “Ready!”

Shellington smiled too and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go!”

They headed down to the launch bay together. By the way, Angel was right. Now that her broken leg had healed, she loved using the Octochutes.

When she came out, she bounced to her feet, grinning at Shellington. “That was fun!”

“Yep”, a new voice piped up, making Angel jump. “I never get tired of using the Octochutes either.”

The ten-year-old gave a shy smile. “Hi, Tweak.” She hadn’t spent much time around the rabbit and as such, wasn’t sure whether she liked her or not.