Daydream

12. Return to Daydream

Miguel pulled his friends along with him as he began to run. The green and purple lights covered the room. It was difficult to see but better than complete darkness. He rounded one of the chairs and stepped on something small that cut into his foot, a piece from the model probably. It hurt. Rubi's arm swung next to him, but missed. There was no time. Miguel clenched his teeth. He powered through the pain and stepped over the model pieces. Carlos and Karen followed along.

They made it out of the room. Now all they had to do was to go a few meters to the next room and then escape to Daydream. However the flashing lights were somehow even worse in the corridor and Miguel had to cover his eyes.

"Ah! Me eyes!" Shouted Aiko right behind them. "Who installed these farrgin' thin's?"

"You did!" Rubi responded. "Said something about it being great for jazz evenings!" And as if that was a cue, loud jazz music began playing from all of the ship's speakers. A saxophone solo was blaring and everything was shaking. Somehow the flashing lights were not in tune with the music's beat and everything looked like a fever dream.

Miguel wanted to cover his ears with his hands, but if he did that then he would have to let go of his friends. They were this close to escaping. He could deal with it. He had to deal with it!

"Come on!" He shouted to his friends, but his voice was drowned by a new drum beat and a trumpet. Talking was impossible. He kept pulling them through the corridor and as he finally let go of their hands to open the door to the next room Carlos repeatedly tapped him lightly on the shoulder and pointed in the opposite way of the corridor.

Ernest was rushing towards them with Zezilia on his shoulders. Paula was chasing behind them and threw a wrench at them. Both of the women had burnt hair.

"Open the door!" Zezilia shouted as the wrench flew past her ear. She was barely audible over the music. Miguel did as she said and he barely made it inside before Ernest crashed through behind them.

The music and lights were still going on in this room too, but unlike the last one there weren't any small model pieces scattered on the floor. There were no more obstacles before Daydream and this time it was Carlos turn to take Miguel's hand and pull him forward. Carlos ran headfirst with Miguel and Karen. He had a big smile on his face. Just seeing how happy he was to pull them through the connecting tunnel and the zero gravity made Miguel smile too. They made it into Daydream.

"We're here! Close the door!" Carlos shouted just as Ernest and Zezilia passed through. Miguel looked behind him and saw the door close in the pirates' angry faces. He laid down on the floor and began to laugh. They had made it. They had saved Karen. They were safe.

"I can't believe you did that." Karen said after recovering from the sprint.

"What?" Carlos said and put his arm over her shoulder. "Just because I can barely stand you doesn't mean I don't love you. I'll always save you lil' sis." He messed up her hair.

"I'm eight minutes older than you." She said with a hint of irritation, but she didn't push him away from her. "Also I'm taller."

"Give it time." Carlos answered. "Give it time."

"Hey, so, can I ask a question?" Miguel spoke up. "But what was that whole jazz music about? Who did that? And why?"

"Oh, that was me." Zezilia answered nonchalantly while firmly locking the door.

"Of course. Who else?" Miguel rolled his eyes and sat up. "But how did a black out turn into a jazz disco?"

"You were the one who said that we needed to create a blackout and the quickest way would be to blow up a fuse box." She took off her space suit.