*This chapter is going to be a little…weird. But hey, no one ever said I was normal =D
"Whatever happened to Earl?" asked Isabel, after stabbing her fork into her plate of spaghetti.
SpongeBob started to choke on a meatball. He took his napkin and coughed the meatball back into it. He swallowed some juice and looked at Isabel, who was patiently watching him.
"You noticed that he was gone?" asked SpongeBob.
"Um…yeah. Where did he go?"
"He, uh, went on a trip. He won't be back for awhile." Yeah he went to a trip to the gates of- don't think like that Spongey…SpongeBob blinked to clear his thoughts.
"Okay. I thought maybe he left Sandy or something…" Isabel's words drifted off. "I want to go to bed."
"Aren't you hungry?" asked SpongeBob, pointing his fork at her full plate of noodles.
"No, I lost my appetite," said Isabel quietly, her mind going back to the day that Earl had her sit on his lap… She cringed.
"Izzy? What's the matter?" SpongeBob asked with a tone of concern.
"Nothing," she lightly shook her head.
"Are you sure? You can tell me anything. I love-" SpongeBob stopped himself. He didn't want her to feel like she was under too much pressure, but he also didn't know what to expect Isabel to say.
"Don't ever say 'I love you' to me," Isabel narrowed her eyes.
He definitely wasn't expecting her to say that.
"W- What?" SpongeBob never heard something so cold come from a four-year old before.
"I said, don't ever say that to me," Isabel seethed, "there's no such thing as love."
SpongeBob was a little stunned, "Did something happen between you and…what's his face? John?"
Isabel rolled her eyes, "he doesn't want to play with me anymore because he's a big kid, and I'm not."
SpongeBob tried not to giggle, but still managed a smile. Noticing this, Isabel got off her chair and began to drudge up the stairs to her room. SpongeBob called after her:
"Hey! It's always the people that don't believe in love that get hit with it the hardest!"
Isabel stopped for a minute to look at him from the top stair.
"I'll believe that when I see it," she growled.
"You don't see it…you feel it. In here," SpongeBob put a hand on his chest. "I know that whenever I see Sandy I get that warm feeling in my chest…nevermind."
Isabel looked at him quizzically, and then her eyes looked to be a bit watery.
"How do you know what love feels like?" Isabel's voice cracked. "How do you know you even love her?"
"Because…well, every time I get around her, I'm happy. Well, you know that I'm always optimistic, but she gives me a deep happiness that on one else has ever been able to do for me. I mean just to be in the mere presence of her changes me, and she makes me a better person. Sandy makes me feel like I can do anything. That's how I know that I really love her."
Isabel looked at him thoughtfully, and then proceeded to leave to her room.
"Isabel," said SpongeBob, "Wait."
Isabel looked at him again, "What?"
"If anyone ever tells you anything that I just said…about just being in your presence and how you make them feel like they can do anything, make sure they're looking you straight in the eyes. If he is, he really does love you. Can you remember that for me?"
"Yeah…but it's never going to happen to me." Isabel ran into her room and slammed the door.
SpongeBob sighed and looked down at his plate. She is going to be one hell of a teenager, he thought, while he chewed on a meatball.
…………………………………………………….
It was beautiful tonight and no one could possibly disagree. The stars shone brightly, the waters at a warm and cozy temperature, and it seemed like for once the world was at peace.
But Isabel's mind was not being peaceful like the rest of the world that night. She tossed and turned in her bed, trying to catch the sleep bug. But she felt like something was wrong, like something bad was going to happen. She needed to stay awake for something, but she just couldn't figure out what.
Frustrated, Isabel sat up and rubbed her eyes. She pulled her hair behind her ears and looked around her dark room. She was about to get out of bed, but she heard a deep clicking sound coming from outside…
Isabel paused to listen. The clicking had a steady beat, like a heartbeat.
She slowly rose from her bed to walk towards the window. The deep clicking seemed to be coming from that direction…
Isabel stopped in place about three feet from the window.
Then she heard a different sound…almost a purring. But it wasn't a regular purr; it was a weird abnormal purr…
A slimy claw reached into the window.
At first Isabel was stunned and couldn't grasp any words. She stepped back a little.
The claw reached inside more, and stretched out into an arm, and then a face appeared.
If the thing…had a face. It was more of a slimy mass with beady black eyes and a narrow mouth with gleaming sharp teeth. It gave a low hiss. Then it tried to push its whole body into the window, and that's when Isabel screamed.
The creature managed to get half of itself through the window when SpongeBob ran in. He snatched Isabel up on instinct, but when he looked up, he nearly fainted.
The 'alien' stood at a staggering height of seven feet, and had a long tail with a sharp point. It hissed at them while sticking its head forward.
Isabel in his arms, SpongeBob slowly backed away. The alien inched forward.
So SpongeBob turned around and ran. He ran down the stairs and outside, but to his surprise, the creature didn't follow him.
Isabel wasn't making a sound, so SpongeBob figured that she must've passed out. And he was right; the shock was too much for her.
SpongeBob pounded on Squidward's door shouting "Wake up! Get out here!"
Then he ran to Patrick's rock and made loud noises too. SpongeBob heard Squidward's door open in the distance.
"What's the matter with you SpongeBob?!" Squidward shouted. "You woke both of us up!"
Carmen yawned as an emphasis. SpongeBob turned to them. "There- there's a thing in our house!"
Squidward raised an eyebrow. Patrick and Briana came out from under the rock.
"There's a thing in your house?! Oh no!" cried Patrick, "I hate it when things are in my house! They touch me in inappropriate places-"
"That's not the sort of thing I mean! It-it looked like…"
They heard a shrill scream come from SpongeBob's house. They all turned around and witnessed the alien crawl out from Isabel's window and land gracefully on the ground. It looked around, and then went off in the opposite direction of the families. But it was still headed towards town.
"Oh…that kind of a thing," whispered Squidward.
"What are we going to do?" asked a timid Briana.
"We need to find Sandy…now," said SpongeBob, "But we need to get the girls somewhere safe first."
………………………………………………..
Squidward, Patrick, SpongeBob, Carmen, and Briana ran into the local church. Isabel still rested in SpongeBob's arms, and he carefully placed her on the altar of the church.
"Wait we can't leave them at the altar-"
"Ha!" Patrick interrupted.
Squidward growled at him, "We can't leave the girls here by themselves."
"You're right," said SpongeBob, as Isabel started to wake up, "we should lock them in the basement."
"Sweet! I've always wanted to be locked in a basement with creepy alien things surrounding me!" Carmen yipped for joy.
"Put her in the basement first fools." (Once again, we all know who said that)
………………………………………………….
SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick ran in the direction of Sandy's place, which brought them near downtown Bikini Bottom. They stopped when they saw one of the buildings come down. They were actually going up in smoke, SpongeBob observed. Then the trio realized that there were more of those…things. At least 20 of them were occupying the city.
One of them noticed. Noticed… the three fathers staring. It came after them.
SpongeBob and Patrick ran one way, and Squidward the other.
Luckily, it followed Squidward… well, not lucky for him. Lucky for SpongeBob and Patrick.
They made their way into a toy factory that had its walls lined with boxes and boxes of dolls ready to be shipped. It started to rain outside, and the inside of the factory was heavy and muggy.
"SpongeBob what's gonna happen to us?" Patrick panted after the two had slowed down to a walk.
"Nothing bad," said SpongeBob calmly, "I promise-"
Something grabbed them from behind.
"Did you really think that gasoline was going to bring me down?" said a gruff and irritated voice.
They recognized the voice right away.
…………………………………………………….
Isabel looked above at the rusty ceiling. Rain and thunder pounded outside, sending surges of fear through the girls. Briana quivered when she heard a distant screaming.
Everything happened so quickly, so swiftly. Isabel still fathomed whether or not this was really happening. Carmen stood up.
"We need to get out of here," she demanded.
"And go where?" said Isabel, her eyes glowering up at Carmen.
"Somewhere that's not here," said Briana quietly from the corner, "this place is too scary."
"It's a church…of course it's scary," Carmen growled.
"It's a basement! That's what makes it scary," Isabel cried, "And we're stuck helpless in here while everyone out there is being-"
"Don't say it," Carmen put up a hand, "I don't know what's happening to everyone out there…and I don't want to know…"
They heard a crash and a horde of screams outside.
"Our place is here…"said Isabel, her heart tightening into her ribs, "We won't make it out there alive."
Carmen slowly nodded her head, and sat back down, glancing at the lightning out the window.
………………………………………………………
Squidward pounded on the door, his tentacle stinging with pain the harder he knocked.
"Open open open!" he screamed.
Sandy came rushing down the stairs, he nightgown flowing at her ankles. She unlocked the door, letting Squidward in.
"Sandy! There's- there's-there's-" Squidward's word turned into runny alphabet soup.
Sandy slapped him. "What? What's going on?" she demanded.
"There's f-f-fucking weird things running around out there…"
"What kind of things?" Sandy's eyes darted all over Squidward's face.
"Look for yourself," Squidward pointed.
Sandy looked outside the glass. There was nothing there. Just a bare wasteland.
"I don't see anything Squidward," she turned to him.
Squidward looked out as well. "I-I don't get it. Just a ten minutes ago there was…the things…all over the place….things were falling down…I just don't get it…"
"Maybe you're just sleepwalking," Sandy suggested.
"No! We need to find SpongeBob and Pat-"
"Where is he?" asked Sandy, wide-eyed.
…………………………………………..
Squidward and Sandy ran across the altar and down the stairs to the church basement.
There they found the girls huddled together, wide-eyed and shaking.
…………………………………………………………………..
SpongeBob and Patrick never came back.
It still rained horribly outside as Squidward, Isabel, Briana, and Carmen stood in the front yard.
Squidward looked over at them, rain beating on his face.
"We need…to all stick together for now, until we find out what's going on…"
Isabel stared off into the dark. Rain drops slithered down her cheeks and down her neck warmly.
"No…" she protested, "No it won't!"
Isabel turned and ran into the pineapple, Squidward ran after her. The front door closed behind her, then she went to the family room and up the stairs where her bedroom door closed behind Isabel. Squidward was whacked in the face by one of the flailing doors.
Isabel ran into her room, her windows open and shut constantly as she screamed: "Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!!!"
She ran into her closet and the door shut behind her.
There, she lay next to Gary, stroking his shell, hoping that everything that just happened was a nightmare that would be over soon.
*I'm sorry this chapter took me so long. My bf is so distracting! He sits there on the webcam shirtless and plays gay German music on the guitar. That would distract you too wouldn't it?