GASP!
She sat up with a start, everything was happening at once. Her chest was heaving. Her hearts were all pounding. She was in a cold sweat, and it took a good few moments to realize she was in the safety of her own room.
Another nightmare.
Callie closed her golden eyes, and clenched her blanket tightly and took a deep breath as she always did whenever this happened. She opened her eyes, feeling a bit calmer now yet still a bit rattled. Well, time for the next step. She hopped out of her bed, not caring about still being in her pajamas or that her tentacles were in disarray. She leaned out into the hallway and called out "YO MARIE!" Nothing. She was greeted by the silence of the cold corridor and the faint sound of raindrops hitting the roof and windows. Callie frowned, displeased that her cousin had the gall to ignore her. She went back into her room and looked at the clock next to her bed. It was only around 8 AM, still early. Perhaps Marie was still sleeping.
With that in mind, any reasonable Inkling would let her sleep in. But Callie wasn't having that. She burst into Marie's room and yelled again, not caring if fellow apartment denizens heard her: "MARIE! WAKEY WAKEY!"
She tore the lime green comforter off of the mattress, but nope. The other cephalopod was still nowhere to be found. Maybe she was in the kitchen making breakfast!
Callie stomped in there, but once again greeted by silence, and even worse the lack of a smell of cooking food. "Mariiiiie, this ain't funny-" Oh. Something caught her attention. It was a folded piece of paper on the kitchen counter, with Callie's name on it. She hastily grabbed it, and opened it. It read:
Yo, Callie. Sorry I'm gone, I'm just off to get groceries because a certain someone can't stay out of the fridge at midnight. Should be back around 9 or 10. If you need anything, just give me a call, K?
-Marie
Oh, lovely. That certain someone mentioned in the letter was obviously Callie. Like, it wasn't HER fault she woke up hungry in the middle of the night! She went back to her room and whipped out her phone, eager to dial up Marie and tell her about the bad dream. Her fingers were mere millimeters away from the touch screen when she thought about something.
Food WAS pretty important, and she'd done this to Marie countless times before. Maybe she ought to sit this one out. She reluctantly put her phone down, unsure of what to do. She sat down on her bed and sighed. It had been at least a year. A year since the Great Zapfish was saved once more, a year since the newest recruit of the NSS had taken down the Octarian DJ. A year since Callie was saved, and also… forgiven. In fact, that was the theme of her nightmare as it always was.
Callie looked down at the floor, the room seeming to get colder by the second as she reminisced about all of it again. The rain continued to fall, every now and again accompanied by a low clap of thunder which only intensified the grim atmosphere. She looked at her room's window, the raindrops coursing down the glass in streams as the storm continued to pour down on the city.
"Good thing Marie has an umbrella," the Inkling thought to herself.
Well, it was no use just sitting there and doing nothing. It was time to eat.
Callie sat on the living room's couch, bowl of cereal in one hand and the tv remote in another. She switched it on and the plasma screen came to life, displaying whatever channel it was on. A movie. Boring. She switched to the next channel. A documentary. Double boring. Next channel. Oh! Inkopolis News!
It would be a lie to say she didn't miss co-hosting it with her cousin. Nowadays after stepping down they both just pursued other careers: Marie with her radio broadcast, Callie with her… acting. Ugh. At first it was fun, then it became grating. She kept landing role after role with so little time to herself, but that wasn't the worst part: it was the unwanted attention. Now she had no issue with fans and interviews, but when the paparazzis were constantly after her and obsessive fan after obsessive fan wanted her autograph, one could understand why it would eventually take a toll on her.
In fact, on a particularly bad day the media people had followed her home and she ran inside, clearly in no state to give them the time of day. Marie had wasted no time in rushing out there and giving the nosy intruders a piece of her mind. Callie smiled a bit at the memory. While it was true they had talked a lot of smack on the news, they always had each other's back. This was especially true after Callie's rescue from the clutches of the Octarians, and forgiven. You see, she wasn't simply squidnapped. She had willingly let Octavio out of his snowglobe to hear him out, and had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then boom. Brainwashed and working for the enemy. To be honest her memories of the time she spent as such were very vague, fleeting even. She had tried and tried to remember but never had any luck.
And yet, she was forgiven without hesitation. It was all her fault. Her fault Octavio escaped and stole the Great Zapfish and put Inkopolis in jeopardy. All because she was too soft and naive. And it wasn't just Marie- their grandpa, and even the other agents seemed willing to let it slide. She didn't understand. She couldn't understand.
All these thoughts were getting to the former pop idol, and she ignored her cereal which was likely starting to become soggy. She ignored the chatter of Pearl and Marina on the tv. In fact, she was tuning out her surroundings as a whole as her mind became full of all these unpleasant things.
She wasn't sure when the nightmares began. Perhaps a month after it all went down, maybe sooner. She would dream of drowning in the magenta ink, Octavio's laughter taunting her as she sank. Or of her being brainwashed and hurting the ones she loved.
This one was no different. It was awful, flush with nasty feelings and all sorts of yuck as Callie would put it. It really did bother her that Marie was gone and thus unable to comfort her this time. Callie pouted, her ears beginning to droop a bit.
A loud noise rang out, and it was coming from next to her. It was her phone, abuzz with a call from Marie. Callie immediately answered. "Yo Callie. I'm on my way home. Everything okay? Is the apartment still intact?"
"I'm fine." Callie's voice came out as a hoarse croak against her will.
"Whoa whoa whoa! You ain't fine! I'm gonna hurry back! What happened?!"
"It's nothing."
"You can't fool me! I'm gonna rush back and make sure you're okay!"
"Alright…"
"Do you need me to stay on the line?"
"Naw it's okay. Take your time."
"Callie-"
Click. She hung up.
She felt bad, but she'd feel worse if she continued to burden her cousin and the others with her problems.
Several long, painful minutes passed until finally the door opened and Marie rushed inside. She dropped her bags of groceries, shut the door, and sprinted over to her forlorn cousin. "Callie! What happened?!"
Callie just made a little groaning noise, and looked away.
"You had another one, didn't you?" Marie said tenderly as she sat on the couch next to Callie.
Callie just nodded her head without saying a word. "Hey", Marie began, "it's okay. I'm here. I should have asked before leaving you alone like that. I'm sorry."
"It's fine…"
"No it certainly isn't! You're not okay, and I wasn't there for you."
Marie was no stranger to the fact that Callie had been deeply affected by what went down at Octo Canyon. After Callie was rescued and the DJ was imprisoned once again, oh she was furious. She had to resist the urge to splat him beyond return. But alas, Gramps would have been livid. All those nights of Callie waking up screaming and/or crying only made her anger towards the Octarian leader worse. But it was no use thinking about that. What mattered was the present, and comforting her cousin.
She gently put a hand on Callie's shoulder. "Hey. It'll be okay."
"You always say that…"
"Because it's true! The Callie I know is tough, and an agent for Cod's sake! Whatever you face, you do it with a smile and kindness."
"But I let Octavio out-"
"Because you saw good in him. It shows how kind of a person you are. You were only trying to do the right thing."
Callie turned to face Marie, her eyes wet with tears. She threw herself at her cousin, enveloping her in a tight hug as she began to let out the sobs.
Marie cried as well, it really was hard to see the normally peppy and sugary sweet Callie like this. She offered kind words and genuine encouragement as Callie cried out.
Callie cried for what felt like hours, Marie being by her side the whole time. "Hey Callie. Once the rain stops, how about I take us to the Crust Bucket? Sound good?"
"Mm-hm."
"Alright then, it's a deal!"
Callie smiled weakly. "Thanks Marie."
"No prob."
The cousins hugged once more, and Callie was feeling much better.
"Thanks Marie."
"You got it."
"Now what?"
"I dunno. Uh… Wanna prank call Gramps again?"
"Heh. Okay."
The pair of Inklings giggled childishly and Marie whipped out her own phone and began to dial. As for Callie, she smiled and wiped away her tears, now ready to face the day and whatever it had to throw at her.