11. Suspicious Shadows
The four penguins took an eternity before they finally made it back into their hut. Private fell down the ladder, with which they were able to climb the tree, even two times. His condition was very bad and Skipper had to carry him, but the brave leader was totally wasted and could barely keep his eyes open.
Finally arrived, the penguins fell exhausted into bed. Not two minutes later Skipper could hear the loud snoring of Kowalski and Rico. The leader himself was a little sick and his head hurt, but Private felt a lot worse. The leader tried to sleep and rolled around in his bed. Suddenly he heard a faint moan.
"Skipper, everything is revolving around me and I so nauseated" wailed Private unclear. Skipper turned around and saw Private pressing his flippers on his beak. The leader sighed. "Lie down again, Private. It will get better. You have to lie down easily and you must try to focus on one spot on the ceiling, then the dizzyness will stop again." muttered Skipper, who was almost asleep, but his stomach and the moaning Private kept him awake.
This was followed by a few minutes of silence and Skipper hoped that the little penguin was asleep now. Tired he snuggled into his bed and closed his eyes. But Private couldn´t sleep at all. "Skipper, it doesn´t work. I think I gotta ..." he muttered suddenly, and ran quickly towards the toilet.
The leader sighed and got up to check on Private. When he got to the bathroom he heard a loud retching followed by other sounds of vomiting. Skippers stomach started to revolve too as he heard Private throwing up. "Private, are you okay?" Skipper asked, holding his stomach, which was rumbling painful.
After a few minutes Private could finally stop to vomit and opened the door with tears in his eyes. He looked up to Skipper, who also fought against his nausea. "Skipper, are you sick too?" asked the little penguin, but before the leader could say a word, he quickly ran passed Private into the bathroom and started throwing up as well.
"Skipper, are you allright?." asked the little penguin when he heard Skipper choking. But the leader couldn´t answer him for sheer vomiting. Skipper gasped, but after a few minutes everything was finally over. Trembling, but relieved the leader opened the bathroom door and looked exhausted at Private. "I think we need to get some fresh air." Skipper muttered tired and went ahead.
He quietly opened the wooden door, which creaked softly, but Kowalski and Rico were so passed out that they didn´t noticed anything at all. Skipper and Private entered the balcony and looked into the deep black night. The leader sat on the floor exhausted, and leaned against the railing and moaned softly.
"Do you feel better, Private. You have to be careful how much you drink. I hope you learned your lesson." Skipper muttered, rubbing his eyes. Private nodded tired and sat down next to his leader. "Do you think we ever come back home?" asked the little penguin and sounded very sad. He thought of the zoo and all their friends there. But now they were far away from home.
"I don´t know, Private. But we will certainly find a way back to New York." Skipper replied, looking into the black night sky. Suddenly he heard a faint snore. Private leaned on him and was asleep. Skipper smiled and closed his eyes for a moment enjoy the silence of the night. But he suddenly heard a strange noise out of nothing. It was like a silent, insidious giggle. The leader got up to look up where the giggling came frome. But in the darkness he could hardly see anything.
He leaned over the balcony railing and tried to see something on the floor and suddenly a shadow passed over the forest floor. He was too big for a lemur and didn´t move as fast. Skipper saw only two other shadows before the giggling stopped. They had, strangely, an uncanny resemblance to a lobster. The leader felt his heart beating loudly from excitement.
It was all so strange, thought Skipper and shook his head. Perhaps he had even imagined that just because he was still very drunk and totally exhausted. Brooding, he went back to Private, who was still sleeping soundly. Carefully he lifted the little penguin from the ground and carried him back to his bed. He covered him with his blanket and stroked him gently on the back.
Then he put himself in his bed, hoping he could finally sleep. But this strange shadows just didn´t disappear from his mind. He pondered for what or who could have been down there. In addition, the nasty giggles echoed still in his head. Somehow it seemed familiar, but the leader had no idea where he knew it.
Skipper felt a shudder and an unpleasant feeling that had nothing to do with his nausea, going up to his stomach. The leader felt danger. But he couldn´t explain where it came from. Maybe it was all in his mind because he was so tired. He closed his eyes and turned on his side. Skipper was now trying to focus on falling asleep, after all, he was dead tired.
The leader snuggled into his pillow and pulled his blanket up to his neck. At least the dizziness had subsided, so his nausea decreased as well. But despite his efforts, he just fell asleep in the early morning hours. When he was awakened by the sun, it was already noon.
The others still slept soundly and the lemurs were unusually quiet. Skipper still felt incredibly tired and exhausted, as if he had not slept at all. He closed his eyes and dozed off, but he suddenly had a severe headache. That had to be bad after-effects of the party, thought the leader and massaged his temples.
In the other beds his team woke up gradually. They all looked totally wasted. Kowalski was nauseated and Rico had no ambition to get out of bed from sheer fatigue. Even as Private finally awoke, he was just in a bad state.