Nightmare
Fires burned bright and loud as they consumed the burning wreckage, the sails having been set ablaze removing all traces of where it had come. Crew members lay strewn about the ground, some impaled on rocks others just smoldering heaps of ash.
The wreck burned in the midnight air as a small child climbed out from the wreckage carrying a cage containing a small octopus in his arms, like it was the only thing that mattered to him in the world. He was covered in blood, some of his own but most of it was from the mangled corpses inside the ship.
One of his eyes could not even function, a shard of debris having lodged itself inside it and preventing it from working properly.
The boy took shelter underneath where the sails had fallen and hadn’t caught fire. Breaking open the cage, he released the blue creature who was now his only friend.
Starving and delirious from dehydration and his head wound, he heard a small voice calling out to him in the night. Looking for the source of the voice, his eyes finally cast on his little companion staring directly at him.
“Now you hear me? Took you long enough," it said as it crept along the ground towards the child. The boy was currently hiding behind a barrel, cowering in fear.
"I’m your friend, child. You've had me for a while, but now you can hear me," it said quietly, trying to calm the shaken child’s nerves.
“You need to eat something," the small octopus whispered, scuttling up a box to look the child in the eye. The boy couldn't say a word, probably due to the traumatic injury that had been suffered. The octopus wandered over to a charred copse of a crew member.
“Go on, take a bite. It’s either this or we starve to death," it said, taking a small bite off the arm and swallowing it. “It’s not going to kill you. Eat, my friend."
The boy followed the octopus like he was listening to a song, compelled to move as the hunger for food set in. It felt like it had been days since he had eaten real food. He couldn’t remember anything at all, just the guidance of the small creature on his shoulder.
The days blurred together; he couldn’t remember how long he had been there, the wreckage still belching black smoke into to the air like a cancerous spot on the sky. He had grown feral, hiding from the scavenger and screaming at the buzzard feasting on the remains. More days had passed, thirst for a drink was overpowering. He was growing weak and sicker as the meat spoiled weeks earlier.
The boy heard his friend squeak as a packrat-like animal had wandered to the crash with the smell of something to scavenge in the air. All he heard was the words, "Run, run," being yelled. He tried to shamble toward the hull using a pipe to walk. Three of them had spotted the child and ran to get the boy, smelling like death. Almost upon him, he swung the pipe, hitting the first one in its head. With a sickening crack, it dropped like a sack of rocks, lifeless, though the blow had made him lose his balance and fall on the ground. His companion knocked loose from his perch on his shoulder to the ground.
One of the rat-like animals saw the opportunity and tried to pounce on the small creature. The child tried with all his dwindling might to throw his body over his friend in a last ditch effort to not be alone. He covered the little animal as the rats scratched and tried to bite his limbs.
A shot rang out as one clamped down on the screaming child's leg. He blacked out, slowly bleeding to death as he covered the octopus in his arms.
Alexander awoke with a scream with cold sweat drenching his body, reaching for his gun again. His breaths were rapid but were slowly calming down as he began to realize where he was. He heard from Franklin in the corner with a squeak, "You're in your room, Alexander, not where you were. You're safe-ish, now.
"That was the most realistic one I’ve had yet," Alexander said, hand trembling from the intense dream as he reached for his bottle of whisky. He brought it to his lips.
"What was it this time?" Franklin inquisitively asked as he moved from his perch with haste.
Alexander, slowly beginning to regain his composure, said, "It was that ship after it crashed. We were surviving out there… I think I ate dead people and drank blood so we didn’t die, but it’s still fuzzy in my mind right now." He struggled to recall the events of his dream. “Though, I think I know where this scar came from on my leg. A giant rat took a bite out of it," he said, rubbing the wound. He thought it was pulsing from the recent memory.
Alexander picked the bottle back up and took a big swig, trying to drink enough so he could fall asleep without revisiting that dream again. Hopefully sleep would come easy for him.
Before drifting off, he saw Franklin scuttle over to his forehead, giving him a kiss and scuttling off. Maybe he imagined that as exhaustion finally claimed him.
Scattered Memories
He awoke, his body screaming in agony as the pain came back to his consciousness, consuming all of his senses. He tried to move but his body wouldn't respond to his command. He was restrained, trying to scream, but words wouldn't come. His throat was drier than the desert itself, his breath starting to come in short gasps as panic started to creep in. He tried thrashing against his bonds, but to no avail. He gave up, lying there defeated, trying to breathe as he had panicked himself to exhaustion.
"We’re safe for now, I think, my friend," a tiny voice squeaked from his right side.
The boy strained his head to see where the voice came from and noticed a small blue blur sitting on the table just outside his view. He tried to speak but words still weren't coming. He was exhausted, slowly starting to fall asleep as the door to the room gently opened, a voice speaking quietly. Hours later he started to stir. Realizing where he was, he tried thrashing again, but it was still hopeless. He tried looking for his friend but he wasn't there. The door started to slowly open, the sound of something scuttling over the hardwood floor boards came closer and closer, and then up scuttled the little octopus, sitting on his chest. It stared at him for a minute before the boy tried breaking free again, just tiring himself out more.
"You'll be okay, just rest a while," a female voice said, slowly approaching the boy as not to startle him.
"The restraints are for your safety. We had to patch up a lot of your wounds." She reached for his forehead to try and calm him. He tried to move away, too scared to think, instinct telling him to run.
"It’s alright, she gave me a fish. She’s a nice lady," the land octopus squeaked as it kept staring.
He tried to calm down , his breath slow dissipating from short gasps to steady breaths.
"How is he doing? Has he woken up yet?" a voice said from one of the two men entering the room.
The lady turned around and walked over to one of the guys. She kissed the man on the cheek. "Yes, he did regain consciousness for now. He still seems shaken," she replied.
"Well, after what he went thru and experienced, I wouldn't be supervised," the guy said, walking over to the child.
"Just take it easy, I'm Thomas Nolan, the lady is my wife, Veronica, and that man over there is my brother, Oliver. We saved you and we're only trying to help you. Just stay calm as I untie your bonds," he said slowly, reaching for the buckles that held the boy down on the table. As the straps slowly unfastened, the child sat up and looked around. His hand reached up to his eye. It was wrapped in bandages. He looked around, trying to move, but all he felt was agony. Every muscle fiber was on fire. He reached for his chest and could feel more bandages wrapped around his torso, and his leg looked bandaged as well.
"Are you hungry, do you want food?" Thomas said, reaching his hand out. The child looked lost, trying to think of how to respond. It was too much information to take in one sitting. The octopus climbed up on his shoulder, letting out some squeaks, "You need to eat and drink water to keep going."
The boy looked at the octopus and tried speaking, but nothing came out. Instead, he nodded in response to the octopus’s squeaks. "Food, get food," he continued to squeak.
The child made a frown and looked over at his friend and just nodded, trying to move, but his body still didn’t want to move. His legs were wobbly as he fell forward, but Thomas caught him.
"Easy does it. You haven't used your legs in a while and one was badly damaged," Thomas said, helping him up. "We'll help you get to the galley for some food," he added as he helped the child walk.
The child sat at the table and grabbed at some bread with ravenous hunger, and the glass of water was the most refreshing thing he had ever tasted, but it was the only thing he could remember drinking. Water was amazing. The adults watched him, trying to figure out this mysterious child they found in the desert.
"Do you have a name?" Veronica asked inquisitively.
The child looked up like it was an odd question and shook his head from side to side for a no, then continued to eat his food.
Oliver decided to speak."So, what are we going to do with him?"
Thomas sat, contemplating the quandary. "I don’t know. We can turn him into an orphanage when we are near one."
"Or we can keep him," Veronica said. Oliver and Thomas both looked at her funny.
"What? I mean, I can’t have children and I know you would be a great father, so why not raise him as our own?" she said with puppy dog eyes.
"That is a good point, dear. For now, we'll keep him with us, but I think we'll have to head to Kuu to get his eye looked at and these massive scars looked at," he said to his wife.
She smiled, knowing she had won this discussion. "So, what do we call him from now on?" she asked.
"How about Jeramiah?" Oliver said.
"What about Jonas?" Thomas asked.
Veronica sat as they fired off names. "How about Alexander?" she said. At last, Thomas smiled. "I like how that sounds. Alexander Nolan," he said, looking at the child who was observing the conversation, not knowing what was going on.
"We're going to give you a name from now on. We'll call you Alexander," he said in a proud voice.
"What do we do about that creature?" Oliver asked, reaching for the octopus. The child, reacting, put his hands up to protect his friend and reached for a fork on the table with an anger emanating from his eye. Oliver backed off with his hand in the air. Later, they brought the child to a spare cabin and put him on the bed so he could sleep after they gave him a tour of the Nightingale. Thomas read him a story while he drifted off to sleep.
Alexander awoke in a strange bed. He wasn't on the Gazelle and his head was screaming at him from a massive hangover.
"How much did I fucking have to drink last night? And where the hell am I?" he said as his eye was trying to focus.
"You nearly drank all the whiskey in the bar last night. I've never seen you that stupid drunk before, and you're in my bed," a familiar female voice said beside him.
He slowly turned his head to his right to see Ruby lying under the sheet, smiling at him.
"Okay, what happened last night? And did we...." he asked, his voice trailing off.
Ruby enjoyed the confused look on his face as he was trying to piece together the events of the night. "You were too drunk to walk and all the rooms were taken up by my girls and clients, so I brought you in here. And no, we didn’t sleep together. We just shared the bed."
"If we didn’t sleep together, where are my pants?" Alexander asked with a puzzled look on his face. Ruby laughed. "They’re over on the chair. They looked uncomfortable to sleep in, so I removed them. And ask Franklin if we fooled around or not."
Alexander heard the squeaks of his traveling best friend and asked him if anything happened. "She so took advantage of you," he squeaked.
Alexander asked, "Really?"
"No, I was messing with you. She just slept next to you. I think she misses you." he squeaked.
Alexander laid back down on the bed, his head throbbing from the hang over. "Well, the only way to get rid of this hangover is another drink. I figure you’d wanna have one with me," he said, looking over at her.
"Sure, it is my bar. What’s another drink gonna do? Just let me get more sleep first," she said, turning away from him on the bed. Alexander slowly started to fall asleep again.
“Hopefully Rilain hasn’t destroyed my ship or wrecked my cabin, and if anything happened last night, I’ll deal with all those things later," he thought to himself as he succumbed to sleep again.