Chapter 34

It wen´t a few weeks and nothing special happened. Well nothing except the usual things that always happened when Kitty and Alex were around each other. Amelia continued to play matchmaker and Kitty become more and more irritated. One time she and Alex ran towards the kitchen to get some breakfast, Kitty stumbled in the floor carpet and lost her balance and grabbed the first thing she got, which ofcourse was Alex waist. Amelia came by then and turned on her heel and shaked her head starting to softly hum the tune to the wedding march. Then Alex had to hold Kitty back by her tail to make her not jump on Amelia. Kitty understood that even if Alex held her back she coud use her voice. ONE MORE WORD AMELIA AND IT´S A 1 MINUTE STAY INNSIDE A CUPBOARD, DO YOU HEAR ME? Amelia just raised her hands innocently. Later on the day everybody sat innside the living room and talked. The next week was to be Amelia and Delbert's wedding day, and Amelia sat upp on Delbert´s lap kissing him soundly everywhere she coud.

Kitty grimaced disgusted every time. I´ll go get something to eat she said and lifted herself upp from the chair she sat in. I can't stand being here any much more. Amelia stopped kissing Delberts mouth and turned towards Kitty. You woud´nt of said that if it had been you and Alex now woud you. That rather saucy comment was the last straw, and Kitty's temper surged. Kitty turned toward Amelia, her normally smiling face a veritbable storm cloud. Amelia just smiled and raised an eyebrow thinking that now Kitty where once again going to yell in her face. But, this time, Kitty chose not to do that. She stalked over, and quick as a snake, caught Amelia by her shirt collar, and dragged her bodily up from where she had been sitting beside Delbert. "Kitty! What is the meaning of---" Amelia squawked, but didn't finish her statement, as she saw where Kitty was forcing her toward...the nearest closet door. Amelia was many things, but she wasn't stupid. She began to struggle, pushing back to halt her progress, but to no avail. Her green eyes went wide in dismay, knowing that Kitty had threthened to do this many a time, but had never actually tried to do it. Her face paled and she continued to fight against Kitty's forceful rush.

"Oh no, you don´t!" Kitty said and Amelia felt her put her shoulder into her back and push her even harder. "You had your chance, I warned you. But did that work? No. So, now I´m afraid you don´t give me much of a choice any longer." Despite Amelia's protests and best attempts, Kitty finally had her pressed firmly against the wall beside the closet door. Kitty smiled grimly once, then yanked open the door and shoved Amelia quickly inside, swinging the door closed with a bang. "Now, enjoy your stay, Amelia...I'll let you out in one minute's time," she yelled through the door before locking it.

Ignoring Delbert's shocked and anxious looks, Kitty went calmly back to her seat, and sat down. Everyone looked over at her...thought their expression varied a great deal. Jim looked rather surprised; Alex looked over at her, shaking his head in disappointment; while Delbert wrung his hands, his eyes flicking back and forth from Kitty to the closet door---which now reverberated with thet thumping of what had to be Amelia's fists. Kitty scowled, taking in all of it...including Sarah's sad, reproachful look.

"Um, Kitty?" Alex stated a bit quietly.

"Don't worry so much. It´s only been like...twenty seconds or so," Kitty told him disarmingly.

The hammering on the door grew in intensity. "Kitty, I believe you've made your point. Now, do be a dear and release her," Delbert protested, getting to his feet.

"Nothing doing, Doc. I warned her again and again, but she chose to not listen to me. So, now I'm not going to listen to her...or any of you either," Kitty declared.

"Kitty!" Sarah exclaimed, with just a hint of panic. "Amelia can die if you keep her in there too long." Delbert had already moved to the door and was using both of his hands to try to wrest the door open...but without any success.

Kitty rolled her eyes at them all, then sighed and shot a look at her watch. "All right, all right...it's been a minute," she said and got to her feet. Delbert still wrestled with the door, his shoulders jerking as he tried his utmost to release his lady love from her prison. Kitty smiled at this, touched, but just grabbed Delbet by his shoulders and bodily moved him out of the way. "Leave it to me, Doc," she told him. She snapped her fingers, unlocking the door, jerked the door open, and saw Amelia on the floor, curled up and panting like the bellows. Kitty shook her head, reached down and hooked Amelia under her arms and pulled her out of the closet.

Amelia opened her panicked eyes, looking up, her forehead a sheen of cold sweat. "Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again," Amelia stammered as she got her breathing back closer to normal, and her jangled nerves began to calm. Delbert was at her side in an instant, his concern obvious in his eyes. He helped Kitty to get Amelia to her feet, and then helped her over to the sofa. Sarah appeared a moment later, and gave Amelia a glass of water, as well as comforting hand on her shoulder.

Kitty knew most---if not everyone---was none too happy with her "lesson", but she set her jaw, and stubbornly continued. "Now, the next time you feel the urge to say something clever about me and Alex as anything more than just friends, just you think about another trip in that closet," she said. "And...just so you know beforehand, next time it'll be for two minutes."

Amelia sipped her water, but nodded her head in mute acceptance. Delbert knelt beside her, his expression worried while he gently ran his hand up and down Amelia's back. Amelia smiled at her husband to be, gaining strength from his comforting presence beside her.

Jim walked over, eyeing the good Captain with concern. "Are you...all right, Captain?" he asked. "I mean, it can't of been too bad now, could it, ma'am?"

Amelia cast an irritated glare his way, but it was so weak that Jim didn't even flinch. "I will excuse your ignorance, Mr. Hawkins...this time. Kitty knows that I suffer from acute claustrophobia. Do you have any idea at all what claustrophobia is, young man?" she asked him.

Jim didn't have a clue, and said as much. "Nope, sorry, Ma'am, I don't," Jim answered. Jim hesitated then, then cleared his throat, and worked up the courage to ask, "Um...why don´t you tell me what's it's like, Captain..."

Amelia sighed, gave Jim a searching sort of look a moment, but finally nodded. "Let's see if I can make you understand, James," Amelia began, thinking to herself. "It's not small room that bothers me...well, for the most part it isn't. I can endure that. However, if you combine that small room, such as that beastly closet, and then shut the door..." Amelia shuddered at the thought, which prompted Delbert to caress her shoulders again. Amelia smiled thankfully up at him, then took a deep breath and continued. "It feels, Mr. Hawkins, as if the very walls grow nearer and nearer, each and every second, until I find it difficult to breathe, the walls squeezing in all around me. It is then that the sense of panic begins...crushing the very breath from my lungs. Even in the darkness, the walls continue to ever close in on me, drawing closer and closer with every single breath. I then begin to sweat, feeling as if I cannot get out soon I shall go mad with despair! I rationally know that there is sufficient space...but, I cannot help the feeling of constriction, the feeling that I am being...well, buried alive somehow..." Amelia could not finish after that...her breathing becoming labored again.

"Sssh, Amelia. There, there, everything is all right," Delbert whispered to Amelia, trying to calm her again, gently rubbing her back.

Jim gulped, and felt---even for a fraction of a minute---the flicker of constriction, the fluttering feeling of fear that Amelia had to endure---and didn't like it at all. "I---I think I understand, Captain," Jim said shakily. Amelia just wearily nodded to the young man.

"A bit much, don't you think?" Alex then whispered quietly to Kitty, who was drinking a glass of water just then. "I mean, she was only teasing us, you know..." Alex was a kind young man, and it pained him to see Amelia put through such an ordeal...especially for something on his---as well as Kitty's---behalf.

Kitty just huffed and continued to drink her water.