Jack (Part Four)

Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, they vanished. Even though his eyes were closed, however, the newborn could sense he still wasn’t alone. Breathing shakily, he opened one eye to see an odd looking creature mere inches from his face. Squawking again, he jumped backwards. The creature simply jerked its head and let out a low croak from the back of its throat. It had slimy looking skin and a round squat body. The newborn gulped when he noticed a bit of the plant creature’s leaf-ear sticking out from this new creature’s mouth. The most interesting thing about this animal, though, was the color of its skin. Millions of bright colors shimmered in the dim light, and the colors were constantly moving as if they had minds of their own. The newborn looked around, eyes wide, as several others hopped up towards him. Something nudged him from behind, and he looked around to see two coaxing him forward. Warily, he took a couple uneven steps forward. All the rainbow colored animals seemed pleased by this, and a few in front of him hopped in the same direction, the two behind him giving him another gentle push.

The newborn then realized they were trying to lead him somewhere. Maybe these creatures were nice! Maybe he could make a friend, and maybe they could help him find his way home! Pace quickening, the newborn waddled along, the bright creatures hopping on all sides of him. Soon they reached a thick black pool of something. The newborn’s nose wrinkled at the awful smell, and he watched with interest as several of the creatures eagerly hopped in the terrible smelling stuff, easily swimming around. The two behind him gave him a more forceful push, and he skidded to the edge, a bit of his foot falling into the stuff. He stuck his tongue out in disgust, pulling his foot back quickly. The stuff was sticky and extremely thick. How these creatures swam so freely in it made no sense to him.

Without warning, the two bright creatures behind him jumped on top of his head, their weight pushing his face directly into the black liquid. He cried out in protest and tried to flip the creatures off with his wings only to have more of them hop on. Any movement he tried to make to get rid of them only increased the number on top of him. Farther and farther his face was pushed into the liquid. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t even hear. Panic began to rise inside of him, and he wriggled furiously, but to no avail. Just as he thought it was over, the pressure of the creatures left. He yanked his head out of the thick liquid, coughing as air rushed through his body once more. He turned to see why the rainbow animals had left and felt something rush happily through him. He let out an excited chirp towards the thing waddling away.

At the sound of the newborn’s voice, the animal turned with a frown. The newborn let out another thrilled trill. It was the same animal as him! It was the same animal as Mom! This one was a dull gold and seemed much older than Mom, but it was the same animal! The newborn quickly bounded towards it. The large lizard let out of huff of breath and flicked out one of its front legs toward the newborn, kicking him back. The newborn flew backwards and hit the ground, blinking in confusion. Quickly, he got back to his feet and stared as the animal waddled away, soon disappearing into the fog.

This is the point where I would usually say the next part will be posted tomorrow, but, unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that. I am traveling tomorrow and am unsure of what my internet access will be like for the next few days. I will try to continue to update daily, but if not, I will definitely update again on Saturday. Sorry!