Author's Note: The original version of this chapter was so dark, I knew I had to make it more...jolly, to fit in with the rest of Christmas. Seriously, the original version is like something out of The Thing. Anyhow, if you have any constructive criticism at ALL, please tell me. ENOJOY TEH CHAPTER! (Only if you want to.)

Chapter Twenty One - An Old Friend

Sqaishey awakes.

As the sun begins its decent outside.

In a stormless sky.

With Barnaby howling at her side.

Her ears are still ringing as she remembers the horrifying experiences from before her blackout. Although she knows it actually happened, it felt like a terrible, terrible dream. To be fair, snow-swimming monsters that make the sound of foghorns seem much more like the stuff of nightmares than real life. The only word that crosses her mind when she thinks of the creature is 'dinosaur'. But how, in all of sanity, could there possibly be living, breathing dinosaurs in this day and age?

She decides to clear her mind and begins to pet the traumatized Barnaby. Then she scans the room and, with her mind clear, she can see that something is missing. Three things, actually. Squid, Veeva Dash, and the ravenous dinosaur are all nowhere to be found. Sqaishey's blood goes cold. She stands and walks to Stampy's balcony, stepping through the open glass, and stares out at the snowy world and spots, crouched behind a pile of snow, the dinosaur. Except this one is different from the other, she notes, with green feathers - instead of blue - on its head and tail. It's a new one. Its eyes are narrowed as it stares out at some unseen prey, and Sqaishey follows its gaze. It is watching a small blue shape, likely a smaller animal, darting through a snowy ditch which leads to the balcony that Sqaishey is currently standing on. It features a single red horn-like spike on its head.

It's like watching a dinosaur documentary, thinks Sqaishey. I hate dinosaur documentaries.

Hearing the foghorn roar again, she starts, terrified that the dinosaur has snuck up on her, but she soon realizes that the roar has come from beyond the small blue animal, and she searches for the source. Nothing. Then, in an action flick-worthy moment, the original dinosaur, the one that attacked her earlier, bursts from the snow some way behind the little blue creature, which glances over its shoulder. With the prey distracted, the other dinosaur uses the opportunity to burst from its hiding spot and dash, keeping low to the ground, towards the small prey animal with the red horn atop its head. These things are hunting, strategically. The smaller dinosaur, the one with the green feathers, enters the scene and emits a deep bellowing sound, frightening the prey to the point where it collapses on its back, yelping.

Sqaishey looks away, not wanting to see the finishing blow, when she realizes she recognizes the yelp.

Oh, no, no, no, NO, Sqaishey thinks, panicking. She turns back. Yes, it is indeed Squid, lying on his back, the dinosaur standing over him, roaring. Then it lunges its head down, grabbing Squid's leg, lifting him into the air. Sqaishey shrieks, and both dinosaurs turn their heads to stare at her.

Oops...

Squid takes the opportunity, however, to shake out of the dinosaur's grip and fall to the ground. He dashes away, through the snow, and both dinosaurs look from Sqaishey to Squid, confused. Squid has been given plenty of time to flee before the two dinosaurs can decide who to hunt first. The larger one barks and throws its head in the direction Squid ran, and immediately the smaller dinosaur turns and runs expertly through the snow towards Sqaishey, whereas the other chases after Squid.

It takes Sqaishey a moment to realize that, if she doesn't flee now, she will die. She turns and runs back into Stampy's room, through the door, and is bolting down the hallway faster than ever before. Then she encounters the massive gaping hole in the hallway and her mind just goes blank. She remembers when the tower had collapsed and nearly crushed her just yesterday. But now, the problem is, she's stuck. She looks over her shoulder and whimpers. Around the corner comes the dinosaur, jerking its head this way and that with bird-like movements. When it spots Sqaishey, cornered, it yelps like an excited dog and bolts, terrifyingly quickly, down the hall towards her. She stares helplessly as her doom comes zooming up to meet her, jaws wide and roaring.

But, just as it's about to close its jaws on her, the roof shudders and disappears above her head in a bright blue explosion and she goes flying, suddenly and terrifyingly, into the air. Then she's outside the house, zooming upward and upward into the sky, as if her gravity has switched. Then comes a blinding green light, and she passes out.

Sqaishey awakes once again.

Sitting, with her hands bound to the wall behind her.

She scans her surroundings.

Green lights. Everywhere.

And yet, the room is dimly lit somehow.

So this is what the inside of an alien spaceship looks like, she thinks. Pretty dank.

Somebody clears their throat next to her, and she jumps.

"Who's there?" she asks cautiously, peering into the darkness. Somewhere near, two blue eyes glow. They are staring directly at her. The figure says nothing, and Sqaishey wonders if it's an alien. It would make sense, considering the circumstances. "Do you speak English?" she asks.

The figure hesitates. Then Sqaishey sees what must be a shrug.

She tries again. "Do you speak at all?"

This time, the figure shakes its head.

"So, you can understand me, but you can't speak?" queries Sqaishey.

The figure nods.

"Why?"

Then Sqaishey awakes with a jolt.

She awakes from her nightmare.

She finds herself in her bed in Stampy's guest room. Her heart is beating. She sits up and yawns.

What a dream, she thinks with a sigh of relief. I'm glad none of that actually happened. Imagine if Stampy actually died! It's stupid to think that something like that would seriously happen. I mean, dinosaurs? Really?

She stands and heads for the door. Opening it, she steps into the main room. Sunlight shines through the windows and she's filled with joy.

It's Christmas!

She heads excitedly for Stampy's room, hearing noise from within. It would appear Stampy is awake. Sqaishey is incredibly glad that her cat-friend never died, and is glad that her incredibly vivid dream never really happened. She reaches for the door, when suddenly the floor opens up from under her and she falls, or rather the floor flies up above her, and she is left in darkness.

She gets sucked back into reality.

Back into the real life nightmare.

And is just about as confused as the reader is right now.

She opens her eyes and finds herself, once again, inside of the dark and dimly-lit room. Her eyes are clouded with tears, strangely enough. Something is hanging on the wall next to her, keeping her still and removing something from atop her head. It makes a gurgling noise and, in the dim light, Sqaishey can very barely see what looks like scorpion pincers hanging in front of her face. She cannot move her head. Sqaishey's blood goes cold at the thought that something, some nonhuman creature, some alien, is tampering with her. She sees, in the grip of the scorpion pincers, a small chip-like device. The alien limb is moving about her, as if trying to find somewhere to place the chip. Sqaishey screams, startling the creature. It leaps from her, onto the floor, and she can once again move her head freely. But after getting a look at the creature, she wishes she hadn't spooked it in the first place. It has massive, drooling jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth and multiple spider-like limbs. She screams again as it leaps towards her, but something knocks it away, leaving it spinning across the floor, screeching with rage.

Sqaishey sees the outline of her saviour. The only visible part of the figure is its two blue eyes, which glow in the darkness. The same blue eyes from before her very vivid dream. It would appear her cellmate has broken free. The figure kicks the terrifying monster into the wall, knocking it out.

"Thank you!" gasps Sqaishey.

The figure doesn't speak but reaches forward and removes a dome-like helmet from her head, covered with wires. The figure shows her the device, as if trying to tell her something.

"Was that what gave me that weird dream?" she guesses after a moment.

The figure nods enthusiastically, glad that its message got through. Then he rushes forward and begins untying Sqaishey's handcuffs. Soon she is free, and the two head for what must be the exit from the room they are in.

"Who are you?" asks Sqaishey as her mysterious saviour begins working at the door in attempts to open it.

The door swings open, revealing a long, dark hallway and, in reply to Sqaishey's question, the figure stands in the light of one of the green lamps on the wall, revealing the very familiar face of a certain friend who has been gone for an unbearable amount of time.

Sqaishey gapes.

It's Lee Bear.

"Lee!" exclaims Sqaishey. The two friends embrace. Sqaishey has a million questions to ask, like how Lee ended up in here and where 'here' is, along with where they are going, but she knows that Lee will be able to answer none of them due to being mute. Instead, she just asks, "Where to now?"

Lee gestures for her to follow him down the dark hallway, and Sqaishey knows it's her best bet, so she does. However, she has no clue of the dangers they are yet to face.