Chapter 16: The Waiting Game
The trip back to Octo Corp seemed to pass far more quickly than getting to the North Wind base. With the data we needed in hand at last, an old vial of Dave's Medusa Serum, as well as Dave's original ray gun (confiscated from the penguins at some point, according to Classified) taken along with us from the bases physical archive rooms, we were finally at the home stretch.
At least that's what it felt like.
I was elated and riding that high like you wouldn't believe. Seeing my family for Christmas and being normal again was becoming clearer now; the type of clarity you got when you were so close to completing something. It reminded me of the last few months of the final semester of college before graduation. All that fighting, all the struggle, finally would be paying off.
Only problem was, having the information we needed and the original Medusa Serum at hand was actually more like step one.
Dave peered at the computer screen, his glasses reflecting the monitor as many of his henchmen looked over his shoulder. The vast array of oranges, peaches, pinks and greens of the henchmen were a pleasant sight to see among the Octo Corp building, relieving if anything, from the unknown sights of our recent expedition. Classified and I stood off to the side, watching Dave tap away.
"So how long do you think this is going to take?" Classified said, shifting his stance with his arms tightening around himself as he attempted to look aloof.
Dave peered at the stream of information on the computer. "A few weeks, it looks like."
All the clarity I mentioned before? It shattered like glass.
"A few weeks!?" I gasped.
"Yes, at minimum. It takes some time for the formulations to balance. I see a possible sequence for a reverse serum, but…" he chuckled, as if mocking himself, "You know I was never in the business of making a serum to help make creatures cuter."
Classified put a paw to his forehead, taking in a deep breath as if to calm himself. "If it's going to take a few weeks, we should get started on the sequence you discovered. If you need help, I can lend you assistance."
"It's not your serum, it's mine," Dave said, smirking. "I have every capability of streamlining this process myself." He looked to the many henchmen behind him and called out, "Stan, Lee, start up the serum mixture with the coordinates on screen, and make sure the needed supply is on standby!"
"What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" I whined, anxiously standing there as I attempted to bundle my hands into fists, although my large claws prevented me from doing this completely.
"Make yourself at home!" Dave said. "Catch up on some rest and take time for yourself. I can handle this."
Rest. Hilarious. As if that was something I could do in my current state.
But what choice did I have but to stand around and wait?
. . . . . . . .
Trying to fall asleep was met with one sudden awakening after another. The sensation was like falling backward, like the sofa bed in my room was trying to open a portal into an abyss the second I started to drift off, trying to pull me in.
I lost how many times I did this, but at one point I woke up, and I was no longer in the Octo Corp building, but in my bed in my parents' new house. A warm light gleamed from the window, a golden glow of an evening after a summer storm, its thunder rumbling in the distance as the sun peered through what clouds remained.
Confusion set in as I stood up and walked towards the door, although I paused as I saw the mirror. I was human again, myself. No trace of green on my skin, no horns on my head. Just good old regular me.
"Kailey?" I heard my mom's voice cry from downstairs. "Dinner is ready!" The smell of pot roast filled my nostrils.
I looked away from the mirror and rushed out of my room, through the hall, down the stairs, meeting my beautiful mother in the kitchen. At the table was my father, anxiously watching as my mom brought over the pot roast, setting it on the table. Hot steam escaped the platter as she set it down.
"Come have a seat with us, Kailey." Mom smiled as she looked at me, her silhouette shining, the sun setting behind her, the light escaping inside through the large doors' windows beside the sink.
I walked towards her, my footsteps butter smooth as I joined them at the table. She cut the roast and placed it on our plates before she served herself and took a seat. However, Dad was already digging into the food.
"Darren, you should say a prayer first before you eat," Mom said, scolding him.
"I'm not a pot roast guy, but this is delicious," he said. He looked up at me, chewing his food before he stopped, asking with a muffled mouth, "What's wrong with you?"
"Huh?" I said, raising a brow. "What do you mean?"
"You need to stop that, right now," he said, raising his voice.
"I'm not doing anything, though?"
"Darren, you don't have to yell," Mom hissed.
"I'm not yelling!" Darren clearly yelled.
I stared at him, disturbed.. Dad had a tendency to lose his temper, but the situation was odd. I looked away from him in an attempt to ignore the situation, and down to the food on my plate. However, the delicious plate of pot roast was a stinky mush, its brown color melting into the white plate, and soon it changed into a gross puddle.
"Kailey! What are you doing!?" Dad yelled.
Seeing the food change into waste made me sick, and Dad's constant yelling made my face hot.
"I'm not doing anything, you asshole!" I yelled. I stood up from my seat. "Why am I even here?"
"Why are you even here? It's always me that has to do everything around here. You've contributed nothing!"
"What the hell are you talking about!?" I snarled. "I've given everything to this family!"
"The money for this house, you mean? That's not even yours. Besides, I could piss away the money that went into this house."
I flipped the table. The sudden force of my strength was so quick that I hardly could see the plates, now filled with mush, putrid brown liquid, shatter on top of the new kitchen floor and melt into the house.
My mother, eyes wide with fear, turned around and away from us, and faded into the sunlight through the window. My dad, on the other hand, grew bigger, his eyes red, as his body darkened and his form merged with the putrid brown goo that was overtaking the house.
And just as suddenly as this all happened, the kitchen once surrounding me was now in a mirror before me. In it was my reflection, behind me the house, lit by sunlight, and poisoned by filth. The real me, the one outside the mirror, was standing in an abyssal darkness. There was nothing here, truly, but the reflection in front of me.
As I stared at myself through the mirror, the warm light surrounding my image much like my mothers, the putridness around her growing by the second, I felt a sense of fear.
The reflected me had no fear on her face like I did. She was just standing there, waiting, before pain burned throughout my face, and the image changed to a green monster with the face of a boar.
I woke up in my room at Octo Corp, the room dark. My heart was racing from the dream and I felt sick to my stomach again, confused. I lifted my hands to touch my face, feeling through my messy hair to realize my horns were still on my head. I rubbed my legs to feel the feathers still covering my skin.
"Hurry, Dave…" I grumbled, tears falling from my eyes. "You're my only hope."