Warning: this will be a tear-jerker. So grab your hankies, folks. Jk. Well, not about the tear-jerker bit.
…
It was a perfect summer's day. Despite the heat, Perry was sitting inside on his computer, typing up some report or another. The only upside to being indoors on such a lovely day was that it was air-conditioned.
"Knock-knock," said a familiar voice.
Smiling, Perry spun his chair to see his lilac-coloured mate, holding a little teal-coloured bundle of fur.
"Hey, Edith."
He kissed his mate on the beak, to a "yuck!" from his son.
Perry laughed and ruffled Jimmy's head. "How's my favourite son?"
The one-year-old platypus gave him a look. "I'm your only son."
"That's my boy," chuckled Perry.
"It's such a nice day, I thought we could go outside," Edith said, smiling.
"Well, I have this report to type up…"
Perry trailed off as he saw Edith's irritated look. "How can I say no to that look?"
"This is my annoyed look, Perry."
"I know."
Grinning, Perry saved his document and hibernated the computer. He followed his mate out into the sunshine. He squinted. "Where is everyone?"
"Mostly inside with work to do," Edith grinned. "Let's just sit down for a minute."
They sat down together on the grass. Jimmy got to his feet and took off across the grass in hot pursuit of a butterfly. Edith smiled. "He's going to be chasing bad guys like that one day."
"I hope so." Perry put on a mock-serious look. "No son of the great Perry the Platypus can be anything less than OWCA's next top agent!"
"That sounds like a reality TV show," laughed Edith. "Like America's Next Top Model."
"OWCA's Next Top Agent," said Perry, dramatically spreading his arms, making Edith laugh again.
He loved her laugh.
"You know I love you, right?" he said.
Edith grinned. "I know."
Perry kissed her beak again.
"Yuck!"
"Jimmy, if you don't like it when your father and I kiss, then you don't need to watch," said Edith amusedly.
Perry stretched out on the grass and sighed happily. "It really is a perfect day," he said aloud.
"Yes, yes it is."
They stayed out there for ten more minutes, before Perry got up. "I really should finish my report," he said regretfully.
"We'll come with you," Edith said, standing up as well. "Then we can go for a picnic. Okay?"
"Sounds delicious."
They went back inside and Perry went into his office. No sooner had he switched the computer on than Edith poked her head round the door. "By the way, everyone's gathering for an announcement out here."
Sighing, Perry got up from his chair and went into the main part of the office floor, which was an open space. Almost all OWCA's agents were standing out there, looking at the intercom, which made the familiar bell noise that meant someone was about to speak.
Major Monogram's voice came out of it: "This is Major Monogram. Would all agents kindly report to the-." The intercom suddenly crackled out and was replaced by static. Everyone looked up at it, confused.
All of a sudden, the floor began to shake.
"Earthquake!" screamed a cat agent. "We won't make it out in time!"
Everyone ran around in a panic while the floor shook under their feet. Perry tried to get the agents to listen to him but they wouldn't. He tried to get them to calm down but they wouldn't. Parts of the ceiling were about to crumble and Perry knew that the building was not going to last much longer.
"EVERYONE!" yelled Edith.
Everyone including Perry turned to look at her, though several people squeaked or flinched when they heard crashes.
"There's a way out through the emergency chute!"
Pulling Perry along with her, Edith began pushing the crowd of agents towards the emergency chute. It was a hole in the wall that looked like the start of a garbage chute but was covered by a door and big enough for even an elephant agent to get through. Perry and Edith began forming the agents into an orderly queue, though naturally there was quite a lot of shoving as the impatient agents tried to get out of the crumbling building.
When they were the last ones left, Edith quickly scooped up Jimmy and took Perry's hand. They jumped down the chute together and ended up outside HQ. Everyone was assembled outside, and Major Monogram was splitting agents into groups so he could count them. However, Perry was fairly confident that everyone was here.
He turned to smile at Edith but he found that his mate had a terrified look on her face. Her arms were empty.
"Where's Jimmy?" she gasped.
"You brought him in the chute, right?"
"Of course!"
They searched round for a minute. When Perry turned back to his mate, he found Edith running towards the collapsing OWCA building.
"Edith!" he yelled.
"I saw him going in here!" she shouted back. "I have to get him!"
"Edith, no! It's not safe!"
But Edith had already disappeared inside. Just as Perry made a move to go help her, the supports holding the OWCA building up snapped, and the building began to fall faster.
"Edith!"
Perry took off running towards the building but before he even got within fifty metres of it, the entire building collapsed in a cloud of smoke and spread rubble everywhere. Two pairs of hands grabbed Perry's arms and pulled him backwards as the rubble nearly covered him. Perry didn't even notice that it was Pinky and Natasha.
When the dust cleared, Perry stared at the collapsed building in horror. His hand flew to cover his mouth and he began hyperventilating. Apart from a pile of rubble, there was nothing left of the building. Nothing could have survived.
Perry ran up to the edge of the building and began desperately pulling rubble out of the pile. "Edith!" he yelled. "Edith!"
He didn't notice Pinky and Natasha coming to help him.
After five minutes of searching, Perry found a limp lilac-coloured paw.
"No!"
After two more minutes of digging, he had recovered Edith's body. "Edith!"
He desperately looked over at Pinky and Natasha, but his friends were presumably searching for Jimmy. His hyperventilating getting worse, he desperately shook Edith's body. "Come on, please!"
He felt for a pulse and was nearly sick when he found none.
His Edith was dead.
She was never coming back.
"NO! EDITH!"
…
What did I tell ya? Anyone else crying?