Ah, there sure seems to be no stop to the lucky openings for fic writing I'm surprised to be seeing in my otherwise tight schedule.
Surprising indeed, don't you think?
Now, as to what this story is about.
One night, when Jim and Sarah are visiting and staying overnight at the Doppler residence, Amelia finds herself in the sort of nightmare that is capable of keeping someone up all night if they have it before morning, though it doesn't always do that, but it certainly can.
Though Jim is a very close friend to her in real life, he is anything but that in the dream she has, and one could easily consider Amelia to be scared to death(almost literally)thanks to what the hell she is dreaming.
How could one as brave, adventurous, tough, confident and optimistic as her possibly feel such trepidation?
You'll see.
Just like you'll see what's to follow her nasty nightmare after it turns her into a fraidy cat(sorry, I couldn't resist)upon waking up.
THINGS TO NOTE:
This story, which takes place four and a half years after the events of "Treasure Planet", was inspired by a fic on this very site titled "Incy Wincy Spider", written by Welsh Gem, in which Jim has a nightmare about Amelia filling up her teacup with him trapped in it, and I'm writing this one with roles swapped in terms of the nightmare(but more than this, it's more serious and scarier as well, the fact that I'm writing it now instead of near Halloween in 2012 like WG did IWS notwithstanding).
Oh, and very good and funny story, Welsh Gem! Thanks for that and the inspiration, even if it was a funny nightmare kind of story, as opposed to this one with more serious scariness in it and a different sort of awful dream for Amelia during her nighttime catnap with Jim as the antagonist instead of the other way around.
I own none of the characters, as they all belong to "Treasure Planet", and, since Welsh Gem wrote "Incy Wincy Spider" and therefore not me, I don't own that story, either.
A Frightened Feline
Amelia was asleep, just like the rest of her family, as well as Jim and Sarah Hawkins(who were paying an overnight visit to the Dopplers)were, but unlike everyone else, Amelia was not having the sort of sleep involving what one would consider "sweet dreams".
In fact, as you will read about below, her dreams were very blatantly the precise opposite.
"Where am I?" Amelia thought to herself, confused as hell upon seeing that she was standing on some kind of metal floor or something similar.
"Wasn't I in bed just a second ago? How did I end up here? And what's with the dark red and black smoke laden sky, anyway?" she wondered in her mind.
As it would turn out, she was on a huge platform connected to a tall pole that was on a ground which had numerous tall, sharp metal spikes at the bottom(think the death trap known as "The Pit" from the "Mortal Kombat" games, but with the pole of the platform even taller and the obviously higher up platform itself being far longer and more rectangular, and much less wide, plus the spikes at the bottom a lot taller and considerably sharper, which is saying something on both counts).
"Spikes?" she asked in her brain. "All the way down there, and all over the place on the ground at the bottom, from this metal rectangle I'm standing on? There has to be an explanation for this."
"Hi, bitch." she suddenly heard a voice that she immediately recognized say. She turned around to see Jim Hawkins right in front of her.
"Jim?" she asked with a gasp. Further proof that something was wrong had now shown itself…Jim NEVER talked to her so disrespectfully, nor had she ever seen him wearing such a sinister smile as he did now.
"Being very observant, I see. This is a special death trap of my own making. Put it together almost effortlessly here in this dark, haunted spot of Montressor. Whoever the hell ends the fuck up here never makes it out alive, as there's no way out and I always make them a victim, anyway. Looks like you get to be the very first kill of this death trap of mine. You should be happy. It's a big honor." Jim told her in a fiendish tone of voice.
"No, Mr. Hawkins. You will help me find a way out of here now and then you shall be arrested while this death trap is undone in full and it's made sure that no one ever visits this spot again." Amelia snarled, but then she felt the platform buck and shake dangerously, causing her to fall on her ass.
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGHH! ROOOOOWWWWRRRR!" she then cried, and Jim asked: "You were saying? I not only created it, but I control this death trap, as well, didn't you know? And everything around it, too, which is part of what allows me to shake things up here. For instance, along with how I just fucking rocked your world…"
He then made lots of lightning come down and strike all around where they were, and indeed all over the place, with it being so that, as Amelia was trying, and starting, to get up, she became so scared that she shrieked and fell back over again, though this time she was lying on her stomach, arms and legs instead of sitting on her ass.
Of course, it should hardly be a surprise that Amelia's reaction was what the hell you just fucking read about.
After all, Amelia WAS astraphobic(afraid of lightning).
"Yeah, as we both know, I know a lot about you…but I bet you didn't think that I knew the one fear you have, too. Astraphobia…the fear of lightning…no surprise there. After all, cats do tend to be frightened of the stuff." Jim said. "But doesn't it shock you that I've got such an electric personality? Maybe you should bolt your way out of the land of the living now as I jolt your heart before making it so that it stops beating."
He brought down more lightning, this time making it so that it struck the platform itself and all around Amelia, just narrowly missing her, and Jim did it deliberately so that she would be frightened longer.
"MAKE IT STOP!" Amelia cried, uncharacteristically terrified for her, but she couldn't help it.
Not when the one thing she was actually frightened of despite how she was otherwise devoid of anything resembling fear was now making itself known to her up close and personal.
"Why the tears, fleabag?" Jim asked as Amelia began to cry from how full of a massive amount of fright her heart and mind were. "You're usually a lot tougher than that when disaster strikes."
Jim blasted a powerful barrage of lightning just above her head, again missing her on purpose, not wanting to spoil the fun of torturing her by generating and manipulating the only thing that scared her at will.
Amelia then realized that she was sweating, as well, and couldn't remember the last time she felt this much fear or felt this helpless.
If there ever was such a time, that is.
But in any event, now was such a time and Jim chuckled: "It's been a blast fucking around with you like this, scaredy cat bitch. But you are now on a losing streak. First, there's your ability to stand up, which was the first thing you lost and that was followed by your courage. Now, as you're on a roll with being on said losing streak…"
He made there be a seismic wave that made Amelia get rolled to the edge of the platform and the almost never afraid cat captain now became more, well, afraid than ever when she just barely managed to grab onto the edge for dear life and only managed to muster the minimum amount of strength and gripping required to maintain a sufficient grip on it that would allow her not to fall.
"…I'm surprised that you've managed to get a grip. So, captain, how's it hanging? Are you feeling on edge just now? I'd think so. But now it's time for me to get sharp with you and point you in the direction of death's door, and I sure will get one hell of a kick out of so doing. In your face, bitch."
He punted her in the chin and watched in sadistic pleasure as she plummeted down to the spikes below, and as they ran her through, Amelia screaming: "AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEE!" during it all, Jim cackled: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOUR LIFE IS OVER, PUSS! AND DOESN'T THAT JUST CUT YOU DEEP? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Amelia screamed as she jolted awake, suddenly seeing Jim right in front of her, and just as the latter asked: "Ma'am?" she lashed out at him and slashed his left cheek, saying: "YOU WILL NOT KILL ME! I AM NOT BEING IMPALED BY THOSE SPIKES! YOU CAN'T BLAST ME WITH LIGHTNING! NO! NO! NO! I'M CUTTING YOUR LIFE SHORT, NOT VICE VERSA!"
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Jim yelled as his left cheek started bleeding from the cuts. "Captain, what the fuck? You cut me! And what the hell are you talking about, me killing you, anyway? Impaled? Blasted with lightning? Cutting your life short? Dammit, what the fuck has gotten into you, anyway?!"
Amelia suddenly paused and realized that, while her robe was a bit wet due to the sweat coming from her fur and her face even more so, especially given how, much to her surprise, there were tears, as well, she was not bleeding, nor was there any kind of piercing in any part of her.
That, and she was in her bed, not on a metal platform above a pit of spikes, and she was seeing her family, as well as Sarah, around her bed, just like Jim had been, then went: "I…I'm not on some metal platform death trap and there aren't any…any spikes below? This isn't a haunted part of Montressor? No dark red and black sky? There's not any lightning, either? You…you didn't kick me down to be fatally impaled on any sort of the aforementioned spikes, Jim?"
She was trembling while getting herself back together while she said these words, and Jim, realizing what this had to mean along with her family and Sarah, who had all obviously heard her scream when she shot awake and rushed into her room, said, coincidentally at the same time as the tachycardia(sped up heart rate)that her dark, nasty dream had given her was regressing back to her normal heart rate: "WOW. Someone sure had a nightmare."
"A…a nightmare…yes…I'm so sorry, Jim…I…I shouldn't have scratched you like that…" Amelia said, able now to tell that it had all been a dream and she was now back in reality.
"Apology accepted, ma'am." Jim told her. "You weren't in your right mind and had just awoken from a scary dream that involved me as your tormentor. I was the last one who should have been in front of you, though that's actually as it turns out, since none of us knew it at the time."
"Come on, Jim. Let's get those cuts treated." Sarah said, and then Amelia said: "Well, I'm sure not falling back asleep after THAT."
"It's okay, mommy." Matey, one of her children, said. "It's morning. We had all decided, given what you usually need to do, that you could use some extra sleep, so we decided to all let you rest a little longer."
"We had no idea that this was one time where that WASN'T a good idea, irony of ironies." Jib put in.
"Here, mommy. You need comfort and such after what you just went through." Tillie told her.
Sunny said as he and the others got up onto her bed and made their way to her chest: "Come on, here. You did this for us when we had nightmares. How could we not do so for you in return?"
She accepted the hugs they gave her and hugged back, starting to purr after a bit and she suddenly felt a kiss on her right cheek.
She looked over to see her husband and said: "Good morning, Delbert! Aren't you just a sight for sore eyes, just like our little darlings here?"
"Indeed. It's okay, sweetie. It's over. It'll wear off." Delbert said as he then hugged what upper region of her weren't being hugged by their offspring, and she kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you, all of you, really. You're too kind." she smiled warmly, and Delbert then informed her: "We were actually getting together a little surprise for you in terms of breakfast, one you were really going to like before, but I believe will now more than ever. It's no rush. In fact, by the time we're fully done making it, you'll most likely be fully back to normal again."
She nodded, and after she and her children were absolutely certain that every last trace of the job her nightmare did on her was gone, the latter four got off of her and she got out of her bed, stretching good and hard while purring as cats frequently do after she was on her feet and went into the bathroom to wash her face clean of that sweat and those tears with nice, cold water, which helped refresh her, anyway.
Once she was down along with everyone else, she was only too delighted and overjoyed to see that the "little surprise" made for her was her favorite kind of tea and breakfast cakes along with very nicely put together eggs and sausages, in her favorite style.
Expressing her gratitude before getting started on that and her coffee, Jim then told her: "Oh, and by the way, ma'am…"
"Yes, Jim?" asked Captain Amelia, pausing from her latest sip of tea and turning to look at him.
Jim then said: "I can assure you of the following…I've added up what you had to have experienced in that dark dream, given what I heard from you before, but my doing any such things to you? That'll happen when pigs fly."
Just then, Delbert said: "Well, would you just look at this? I cooked three more sausages than I meant to! Would anyone…"
Just as he picked up the pan to offer them, he slipped over and, despite managing to keep a hold of said pain, the three sausages went flying across the room and smashed against the wall, much to everyone's alarm, and Jim quickly told Amelia: "Maybe I should rephrase…"
THE END
Was this good for you?
I do hope so.
Wouldn't you have just loved to comfort Amelia and say soothing words to the darling cat?
Of course, I don't think you'd want to have been in Jim's place after she woke up from that nasty dream!
Not with what happened to him when she did!
Anyhow, ratings and reviews, please!