Silhouette of a Wilted Flower

A Temporary Fix

The world rumbled again.

Wait a sec....Humphrey rumbled.

"I'm...still...so...hungry." The words pierced his ears. Omori winced.

"We already fed you, Humphrey!" Kel cried. "Let us out!"

"You did...but such a small amount...such an appetizer only ever makes me more hungry." The walls, floor, and ceiling trembled with the sentence.

Omori heard Aubrey stomp a foot. Kel kept yelling. "You never told us that! That isn't fair!"

"All's fair in food and war! Nyak...nyak...nyak!"

"Humphrey...please..." Now came Basil's voice, low and pleading. "We can get more clams if you just let us leave..."

"But why....when I can just eat you right now..."

"You can't eat us, Humphrey! Don't you remember what happened all the other times? We escaped! We'll just do that again!" Kel said, a waver in his voice.

Omori's headache tightened. They shouldn't...couldn't remember...

"Nyak, nyak, nyak! You remember that? King Omori must be slipping!"

He gritted his teeth. He had to get up. He had to focus. He couldn't fall here. He couldn't let himself get mocked like this.

Omori opened his eyes, staring at a pink tile. His knees hurt from digging into the hard floor, but the discomfort disappeared as things shook again, the floor turning squishy...fleshy...tongue-like.

"Whale...then you should remember the times I did eat you. And yum, yum, how dee-licious you were!"

"Shut up," Omori growled, so weak, with such little strength, that no one heard him. His head ached. Everything ached. He was so tired.

"N-No, you didn't!" Aubrey protested weakly. "We're still here, aren't we?!"

"Not for long! Nyak, nyak! Dinner is being served...and you're on the menu!"

The floor shifted beneath him. His friends yelled in fright, and Omori finally lifted his head to see a Humphrey bud's face, mouth wide open.

Omori braced himself as Humphrey tossed them all into it.

He fell on his back, ground–tongue squishing disgustingly beneath him. Teeth snapped shut, and it was darkness.

Silence as his friends huffed, shuffled, and regained their footing.

Omori didn't bother standing. He shifted into a sitting position, bringing his legs to his chest. Resting his hot forehead on the cold skin of his knees. His head hurt. It hurt—sharp pangs with every breath, every shift that sent blood running through his body.

"W-What do we do?" Aubrey whispered. "I don't know where Mari went..and Hero isn't here, either."

"Omori...Omori will know!" He heard Kel's wet, plodding steps stopping in front of him. "What's the plan, Omori? You...you have a plan, right? We're gonna fight outta here, right?"

Another sharp pang through his head. He clutched his hair in clumps, digging his face further into sharp knees. "Just...shut up."

"W-What?" He could hear the flinch in Kel's voice. Guilt, uninvited, snapped at Omori's head. He buried it and rephrased.

"I...I need a moment to think. Just...go over there and give me a moment."

"Oh...yeah...yeah, of course!" Plodding footsteps sprinted away. "Omori's thinking up of something right now! We're all going to be fine."