Michael couldn't sleep that night. Whether it was because something was bugging him, or if he just didn't feel like sleeping, he didn't know. He could only keep sleeping for about two hours. When he awoke, he looked to his side to see if Shelly was there. Nobody. He looked over and under his bed to see her asleep in her own. Looking over to the clock he saw it was around 2 AM.
'I need some fresh air.' Michael decided to go outside for a bit. He carefully climbed down the ladder from his bed to the floor and exited to the living room. Closing the door behind him, he went outside.
The sky was beautiful that night. The four lived a bit of a way's out of Inkopolis, far enough for a bit of the sky to be clear at night. Today must've been a good day, as he could make out a few constellations in the sky.
Being out late at night always calmed Michael in a strange way. He couldn't really put it into words but he always seemed at peace being alone in this environment. He loved being with people, sure, and times like this were as equally rewarding with other people with him. But he savored time by himself.
It gave him time to think. Think about his team.
'I'm going to need to tell them sometime. They deserve to know, as their friend this is something they need to know.'
'Later. I need to tell them, but now's not the time.' Michael thought, putting the idea on the backburner for now.
A tad bit regretfully, he was going to leave the nice scene outside to get back to sleep. He was about to open the door when he heard something. It was off to the side, but it was distinct. He heard it more, something similar to someone or something shuffling around somewhere. He started to get concerned, as he could almost make out what he thought was a voice.
Against his better judgement, he decided to investigate. He slowly crept to the side of the house. Looking past the corner it created he saw something of a similar shape to him looking through the house's outside garbage cans. Michael definitely heard a voice from it this time.
"Come on, there's has to be something in here. Some leftovers or something…" They were talking to themself, in a hushed voice.
They took in a breath, apparently finding something. "…Yes! I knew I'd find something." The person, who Michael could recognize had a distinctly feminine voice, pulled out a jar of honey. There was apparently a small amount left in the jar, as the person pulled off the cap and did their best to scrape up as much honey on their fingers as they could.
Michael decided to find out who it was. "Hey, you!" He called out, loud enough for her to hear.
She took a sharp breath, slowly turning her head to Michael, giving him a clearer outline of her head. Her hair was mostly localized to her head, making her head appear larger than it was. There was something about her figure and hair style that he recognized, but couldn't pin down due to the lighting. She fully turned towards him, Michael couldn't see much of her due to her standing in the shadow the house cast in their direction.
In a snap movement, she chucked the jar of honey his way and ran like she was being chased by some kind of monster. When she stepped out of the house's shadow Michael could see her fully, if only for a moment.
His spine chilled, he knew all too well what she was.
An Octoling.
Sorry for the long wait, guys. School just started and it's been hard to find time to work on this. I won't be updating as frequently due to School, you can usually expect new chapters to be up on the weekends. (I hope.)
Catch y'all later.