Distant Dreams 9

                                                                       By: Olivia

                                                                    Narrator: Estril

                                                            Nuttypeanutbuddy@aol.com

 

 

   I sat on Mother's arm, slowly sipping the blood, thinking. Hey, I can't hear anything I thought as I walked along the tall blonde hairs. I got an impulse to demorph and blow Mother and Father's cover. I needed to demorph, my time slowly slipping by five minutes left. < Mother, I need to demorph. Walk into the female bathroom and- Ahh! > A strong gust of wind blew by me, then darkness. < Mother! > I tried to get her attention, but all I felt was her heart beating quickly, a weird smell flooding across her body. I must be on her neck, I thought as I cried out to her again. < Mother! I am going to be a nothlit if you do not get to the female bathrooms! > I heard her talk groggily, excusing herself to go to the bathroom. She got up, the wind picking up, then swaying to the right, then left. < Mother, did you drink something?! > I heard her yell a loud yes, and then she hiccupped loudly as she ran into the red counter. I heard males yelling, then a pair of arms wrapping around Mother's body protectively. < Estril, demorph and help me! > Father! I quickly started to demorph, growing bigger and bigger. " Whoa! What the-! " Many males cried out, glass breaking and screams were heard. I finished my morph and stood in front of my family, the whole bar staring at me as if I was, well, an alien. The room was scattered with broken bottles and bottle caps. The males all had everything they could inflict pain on my parents, everything from lighters to shards of glass. I smiled at them even though they did not know it and cocked my tail high in the air. I wished I could have had a mouthful of fangs at that moment, knowing that most humans found the sharp canine teeth very intimidating. They screamed and ran for the door. I swerved my eyestalks to Mother and Father. Father was holding his beloved Zizih in his arms. A black eye scarred him, his face cut up by the glass from the bottles, a long gash in his arm that was bleeding badly as he tried to capture Mother’s attention with gentle words. Mother was either whimpering or giggling, a sharp piece of glass dug deeply into her right shoulder, the only vulnerable spot on her that was not covered by my father. 

 

 

   < Demorph, Father. They are gone. > Father looked up from Mother to me, his eyes tired and sad, even though he was smiling at me. " Yes. Thank you. " Mother started to demorph after seeing Father transform. After they finished, we walked out onto the sidewalk, Father keeping my drunken Mother on the sidewalk instead of the street. It was funny to watch, Father coaxing Mother back onto the sidewalk like a parent coaxing a child to come to him with candy. Mother listened and stood beside Father, rubbing on him and telling him she loved him. He would smile, and agree that he had feelings for her to, never using the word love. Father motioned me to stand beside him. I started to slow down. < AX! The gang needs help! Hurry to the clothing mall! > We heard Tobias's call and we hurried to the clothing store's glass doors. The gore was everywhere as the others fought hard, panting, but still going at it. I quickly got in the fight, cutting every monster in sight that my blade could touch. Visser was nowhere in sight, but I was slightly glad. If my true father was here, he would have to answer to my wicked blade. The fight was small, but it seemed like years before I killed the Hork-Bajir one by one. The clothing store had attire everywhere, but the most popular color right now was the vibrant color of Hork-Bajir blood and other bodily objects strewn along the floor. The monsters poured out of stores like Hollister and Hot Topic. Three on my right! I saw the blade before I felt the blade swerve down my back in a crooked line. I gave a snort and bucked, the Hork-Bajir flung into Hot Topic. The next two were somehow much stronger, more masculine. They dodged my attacks like experts, but the one on my right made a big mistake. He grabbed my tail, just at the base where my blade began. I felt the electricity crackle in my tail and let the monster drop to its knees; it’s heart no longer beating. I took care of the last Hork-Bajir by swiping his bladed head off. Soon, the fight was over, and the clothing mall was left untidy and completely coated in many kinds of blood.

 

 

   The long night seemed to drag on. We needed a break, a very long break from fighting. Father insisted on food, so we all ran to the main mall we always go to, got some food, and walked to the beach. Rachel started a conversation, flipping a lock of hair behind her shoulder before she spoke. " Well, this feels weird. " Marco stepped beside her and smiled, his elbow resting on her shoulder and his chin in his palm as he spoke. " What? The fact that I wasn't by your side? " Rachel pushed him into the street playfully, Marco laughing and walked back beside Jake. " No, that we usually fly instead of walk. I'm not used to walking so much, you know? " We all nodded. I sighed, tired from the fight, ready to get home and sleep. " What's wrong, Estril? " I glanced at Cassie, who was staring at me with worry on her face. Her paunch was bloated from Jake’s first child, making it almost hard for her to continue her father’s work. I was slightly amazed that their relationship had gone this far, but I guess it was more surprising to the others that had known her longer than I had been alive. She stood beside me, smiling. " Um, nothing. Why? " Cassie looked at Mother, worry crossing her face again. " Just worried about your mother. Emotionally, I mean. She seems to like Ax a lot, so I was just wondering if she would take out her sadness on him. " I laughed, glancing up at my mother. " No, that is the drink talking, not her. " Cassie looked at me in surprise and worry. " What!? Zizih's drunk?! " I nodded with a stupid look on my face as Cassie quickly ran beside my swaying mother, talking to her while Mother hiccupped and smiled foolishly. Father watched and listened, a solemn look on his face while his arm wrapped around Mother's thin waist. Soon the conversation ended as Mother stopped swaying and Cassie left their sides to go to Jake. I saw Father glance over his shoulder and slightly glared at me, but then smiled down at Mother on his chest. 

 

 

   The beach was quiet and still, nobody around for miles. The waves washed in, dampening my feet as I munched on yellow sticks called fries. Then a horrible thought came to my mind. The same thought that has plagued my life ever since. What ever happened to Raph? I remembered my to-be husband as if I had only seen him yesterday. His face was like a hole in my brain… and my hearts. After all this time, I still asked myself. Do you love him as Father loves Mother? The heart-wrenching answer was yes; I missed his country accent and his beautiful hair. I sighed and shoved another fry in my mouth after I noticed a crab was crawling on me. Just eat it before the crustacean… or my parents get to them I thought with a chuckle. I heard soft plops beside me, and a hand reached for a fry and took it away. I glanced over; Mother and Father smiling beside me, Father chewing the fry he stole. I laughed and glared amusingly at Father. “ I had a feeling you were going to do that. “ Father cocked his eyebrow and smiled. “ Ah. Better prove your feelings are true than false. “ He stole another fry and popped it into his mouth with a chuckle. I ignored the thief and looked to Mother who was eyeing my morsels with great interest. " Mother? Are you feeling better? " She looked at me with a tired look on her face, and with a sigh she grabbed on of the fries on my plate. She waited and spoke before she stuffed it in her mouth. " Yes, just tried and sore. " I frowned and laid my hand on her knee. " What did Cassie say? " Mother's face fell in sadness, swallowing the fry with great effort. " She just wanted me to be looked over, making sure it is okay for me to have this drink. But I am so sore! I want to go home and sleep " She rubbed her back and sighed, her eyelids getting heavy. " I want to go home, but I cannot. Cassie wants me to stay all night. " Father gripped her close, a pitiful smile on his face. He looked at my plate, and stole another fry and popped it in his mouth. I laughed and scooted closer to him, making him wrap an arm around me. Then rain began to patter on our heads. Father glared up and the sky with a grunt and stood up, giving Mother soft hug and his green coat, then leading me to our home. That night rain pounded hard on the scoop's roof. The T.V was down, and the radio was too wet. The darkness frightened me, cuddling close to Father now that Mother was gone. I was shaking hard, Father holding me close and watching the rain. < Estril, do not focus on the thunder. Focus on the rain, the peaceful rain. > I tried to focus on the rain, the tiny droplets that stuck to the leaves of the trees and blades of grass. It was peaceful, I told myself. It was- BOOM! < Ah! > The thunder came unexpectedly, making me jump and look away from the sky. I pushed my face into Father's fur and whimpered. He laughed and wrapped his arms around my upper chest. < Oh, hush. It will all be over before you know it, and your mother will be back tomorrow. Just sleep and it will go away. > I felt protected in his fur, my head only to where his upper body connects to his lower body. He was right, I needed to sleep, and then Mother would be home. I let myself slip into a restless sleep.

 

 

   The doors opened, bright yellow walls of the unfamiliar kitchen blinding my human eyes. Mother looked at me, a small smile played across her face in human morph. " What? Where am I, Mother? " She looked at me like I was crazy, but then smiled again. " Why, honey, you’re at home! You know that!” I stared at her, amazed. " I ... We live in a scoop! " Mother slightly glared. “ Is something wrong with you today? “ I sat down at the polished wooden table. " What's never been wrong with her? " I jumped and looked at my father across the table, peering over a newspaper, smiling and laughing at his cruel joke in human morph. " And, and you do not have any humor! What is wrong with you? " Father glared at me. " I have humor and your mother has brains. It looks like you don’t have either. " Mother glared and sighed. " God, I need some aspirin. Samantha, you mind watching your dog? " I gawked at her as she walked out of the room. " M-m-my dog? " Father looked up from his paper. " Yeah, you forgot that to? Your beloved terrier Rascal that we had to get because we needed just a hint of class thanks to your mother. Yeah right, the only thing that dog gives us is- " I ignored his words and walked over to the glass doors and looked out over the long backyard, more than eighty acres of land. A small animal sniffed around, its brown and white fur making it noticeable against the bright green grass. " Is that my dog? " I pointed out the window as Father walked over and looked out the window. He gasped and screamed. I tensed up and looked out to the yard. He stopped and laughed, slapping his hand on his knee. " Yeah, that's our mutt. " The dog, Rascal, looked at me through the glass doors and stood on his hind legs like a human and walked over to us. He knocked on the door with his front paw and smiled as Father opened the door. “Good mutt and blah blah blah.” He walked back over to the table and plopped down in a chair, snapping the paper open as he mumbled another joke to himself. The dog stood in front of me, smiling evilly. < Yes Estril, scream. > I yelped and ran behind Father. He looked surprised, and then he laughed. " Stop, really. That's my joke. " Mother walked in the door, a hand on her head. " Yes, please, stop screaming! I didn't take that aspirin for nothing. " I screamed again as the dog walked over to me, a large Andalite tail shot out of the back of his spine and cut my head from my shoulders. I saw Father stand over my body. And he laughed along with Mother.

 

 

   I awoke with a start, Father still gripping me while he slept beside me. I looked around the scoop. Mother was not home, which made me slightly edgy as I shifted my weight. I removed Father's arm from my waist and walked out. Father never stirred as I left, his face calm as I stepped out into the cool air. Both of his eyestalks were closed, I guess wanting to sleep deeply for once. The sun was getting ready to set, a mix of red and pink, and the storm moving away from our town. I ran to the barn, absorbing the grass as I ran. The barn doors were ajar, brightened by lights in the roof. The loud calls of the animals were heard as I got closer to the red barn I pushed the door open, seeing Cassie sitting on a hay bale, sighing, her elbows on her knees, and her head in her hands. Her head bounced as she talked. " Hi." I walked over to her and patted her back. < Um, Cassie? Where's my mother? > She looked me in the face and smiled, a weak smile." She's inside enjoying my father's chili. She's had three bowls so far. " I laughed and asked her how she was. She came up with a smart remark. " I feel fat. Miserable and fat. " It was true, her belly swollen from Jake’s nine month old child. She laughed, got up from the hay bale and let me inside. Mother sat at the table, red chili covering her face, a wild look in her eyes. I noted that the green bowl in front of her was licked clean, a peppershaker tipped over beside the dish. Cassie laughed. " Yeah, it's her favorite food so far. But you have to have pepper or she won’t even touch it. " Mother looked up and smiled. She got up from the table and opened the refrigerator. Cassie's eyes grew wide. " Zizih, how many bowls have you had?! " Mother smiled, a soft cackle escaping her red lips as she drew them back to grin. Her blue eyes glowed under her red chili mask, her dainty nose gently poking out along with her cute chin. " All of them! Awl, aoul! " She pulled out the big pot and pulled the aluminum foil back, showing nothing inside but the red sides. Cassie groaned and took the pot from her, tossing it in the sink. " At lease Jake doesn't have to throw it out in the sea now. "

 

 

   Mother dug at a gallon of ice cream while Cassie and I talked. She promised only to eat half of the gallon, but the promise was clearly broken as she snorted like a pig and dug the spoon lower and lower into the strawberry dairy product. Her hair was coated in pink along with her face. I sat beside Cassie on the other side of the table, watching the disturbing sight of my own mother destroy the whole gallon in less than ten minutes and more than a quarter of it on the table and her body. Cassie broke from staring at Mother who was licking the plastic tub clean and told me about what she found out, taking some papers from her pocket and spreading them across the table away from Mother’s pink mess. " I took tests, of course, and there is no major disease. However, one thing caught my eye that I wanted your father to look at. The readings in- " Mother groaned and belched loudly. Cassie laughed, and then stopped at Mother's sickly face that was tinted with green and white. " Um, Zizih? You don't look so good. " Mother nodded and burped again, covering her mouth with her hand. " I think I have eaten too much. " Cassie nodded and stood up, took Mother by the shoulders, and walked her to the bathroom. My feelings dampened, thinking about Mother, when I saw the paper sitting on the table. I grabbed it and glanced down the paper. I had no clue what most of it meant, but I knew Father would. I clutched the paper and demorphed outside, then ran home to my father. The sun was letting a light orange color the sky, but I did not know how long the hot star would last as I stepped into the woods that concealed the existence of an Andalite family of three.

 

 

   < Hmmm. > Father glanced over the paper in his dainty hand. < Nothing here that is deadly in Andalite standards. > I smiled, happy to know that Mother was okay. He gave the paper to me, telling me to give it back to Cassie. I had no choice to run to Cassie's home and deliver the paper. The night was warm, the sky now only having a tint of pink before the earth’s sun finally set. I could hear bats flying above me, crickets in the grass, and my own soft clomping as I sped over the earth. I saw Cassie’s barn in the horizon, the annoying howls of wolfs and birds slowly flowing to my ears. The main barn door was ajar, so I let myself in, hoping that Cassie would not care if I came in on my own. I opened the back door connecting to the barn and walked in human. " Cassie? " The house was empty, not even a note. What happened to them, and should I be worried? I sighed and laid the paper on the table, then noticed another paper on the floor when she was helping Mother to the bathroom. Why would Cassie leave this on the floor? I wondered if they were still in the confines of the bathroom, then decided not to check for retching noises made my stomach churn. I stepped beside the paper and tried to read it on the floor. I picked it up, reading over the fine print as if I would find something to do with Cassie and Mother’s disappearance. I huffed, as I could not even read the printed words. However, one thing was circled in red ink, one word that I could not even try to pronounce. I desperately sighed and shook my head, wishing Father could teach me how to read this gibberish. I hurried home, the night much darker and the bats flashed in the sky faster than before along with the crickets that became more boisterous. The paper was almost too wet to read as I got into the woods, but the leaves gave me some shelter from the falling rain. I walked into the scoop, finding Father with a book in the palm of his hand. I chuckled as he glanced up, his eyes casually droopy. < I can imagine you with a pair of glasses on your nose. > He laughed and placed his hand on my cheek in a greeting kiss. < You look like you have drowned in the sea. What did Cassie say? > I shrugged and quickly gave the second paper to him. < Cassie was not home when I found this. Should we go and find them, Father? > He scanned over the paper with his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, a weird thing for a grown male Andalite to do. His eyes suddenly widened, his face paling as he gripped the paper until his knuckles were white. < No, no. No! Impossible! > He crumbled the paper and threw it against the side of the scoop, the paper bouncing back and laying at his hooves. < Impossible, impossible! Nothing like this could happen! > I picked the paper up and scanned it again, myself finding nothing wrong with the writing. < Father, tell me! What is wrong?! > He was quite busy at the moment as he babbled to himself, plucking at his head. I finally grabbed his wrist and pulled his face close to mine. < Father, you are going to be bald if you do not tell me! > He glared, his tail ready and cocked for battle as he took the paper from my hand. < Cassie is lying! This-this is some kind of joke! No, impossible! No, no. > His eyestalks wilted as he sighed and let his tail sit on the grass. I hated the look on his face, the horrible sullen expression almost made me want to cry. < Father, please, it will ease your mind. > He turned to me, his green eyes suddenly dull as began to explain the mysterious paper. The words he told me were completely shocking as I gasped and leaned back as if I had been slapped. He grasped my hand and made me promise that he did not tell Mother, for he would. I merely nodded and let his hand go as Mother entered the scoop.

 

 

   Mother sighed and leaned against the doorway of the scoop, her face icy pale. " Let me just say Cassie's child is a male, and I have what humans call food poisoning. " I had to hold back a huff. Did mistake food poison with her true illness? She staggered inside and leaned on Father, letting her head dig deeply into his fur. Father glanced down at her, his stalk eyes focused on the book he had picked up and seemed he could not put down. < How are you? > She told him again the illness she had. He patted her back absent-mindedly, letting her demorph and cuddle with him. He glanced at me and softly glared, a warning not to tell her anything until he had told her the dreadful news. Mother glanced at me and smiled, Father instantly looking down to her but kept his eyestalks on me. I weakly smiled back, feeling Father’s eyes on me. Mother's face turned confused, her chocolaty brown eyes swerving to Father. < What is wrong? I can tell the difference of my own family. > Father sighed, his chest giving a soft shudder as he told her what we found on the paper. Mother's eyes grew wide, searching Father’s face for any signs that told her he was kidding. But soon she found nothing, and she closed her eyes, leaning on my father as her face turned chalk white. < Impossible. It-it cannot be true. Please, no. > I stepped up to her and patted her arm, heaving a sigh. < That is what Father said. > She let her shoulders sag down, an absent look on her face as her tail sank to the grass. Father had shown the same look, making me blink twice and try not to show my sadness. Mother spoke, her voice wavering as she dipped her head to Father’s chest. < I... I did not know. I am sorry. I ... I did not know. I would have never done it, Aximili, if I had known. >. Father let her lay; gently running his fingers though the fur on her head. < It is alright. It was the drink. We did not know the effects of the drink until you demorphed, and.... This happened. > Mother choked back a sob, not wanting to face facts. Father explained the problem, trying to figure it out as he babbled to himself again. < I took a drink before you, then you drank a lot, then you demorphed. It is not your fault, Zizih. Do not blame yourself. > I sighed as Mother nodded and snuggled closer to Father’s chest with a sniffle. Another child. From Father.

 

 

                                                       The End