Chapter 10: The Quake

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by Mel_Ami

by Mel_Ami

I awoke to something pounding me in the stomach.

I gasped for air, groggy and startled.

"Wake up Mommy! It's late!" Willie was leaping up and down on me, each impact like a hammer slamming down on me.

"William!" I gasped. "Get off of me! You're not a little baby anymore."

After one last painful thud, Will slid off me and dragged me out of bed.

Reluctantly, I got up and rubbed my eyes.

It had been a few days since we arrived on Pluto and William had finally opened up to us and was his same old lovable self.

I could see Colin was gone already, probably to help fix breakfast. I let Willie grab my hands and lead me out of our hole and through the wide passageways to the kitchen.

The days passed quicker than my first night back on Pluto. It seemed like it had been years since we had moved, but it had only been a few months.

William fit in beautifully with the Plutonian children at the school, although he was asked often why he looked different from the rest of the kids. I told him to politely tell them he was only half Plutonian. If they asked what the other half was he was to say, "None of your business, jerk!" No, I'm joking. He's to tell the truth about how he's part Neptunian. He lost a few friends because of that, but I told him telling the truth is more important than having lots of friends who don't love you for who you are.

Things went smoothly from then on. On Bill's eighth birthday, we were sitting in our hole giving him gifts when my parents arrived. They presented him with a human watch from Earth, which excited him greatly as he ran outside to show his mates.

After we came back, my mom and dad were much more loving.

"Thank you so much, Mom and Dad," I said as we sat around the rock-lamp.

"It means a lot to him to have something from a planet he knows so little about but is so important to him."

We all knew how much he loved my parents' stories and little trinkets from Earth.

Suddenly, a rumbling shook the dirt beneath and above us. Everything in the room slid from side to side.

This section was written by Melina and Amity