Fan Fiction ❯ 15 Honeydew Lane ❯ An Unwated nightmare, a much needed friend ( Chapter 3 )

[ A - All Readers ]

By: T.W

Chapter 3 - An Unwanted nightmare, a much needed friend

As evening fell on the Fischer's new residence, the family enjoyed a dinner of takeout fried chicken, as the kitchen has yet to be organized. After dinner, Nicolai went back to his room, went his desk, and read from the book his friends had given him; as he read he felt a bit better but still a little sad.

In the bathroom, Nicolai could hear his Mother getting ready for Vinola's bath.

Heather had put in milk and honey scented bubble bath, and turned on the water until it was warm. “Vina, are you ready for your bath? The tub will be full soon.” Heather shouted from the bathroom.

“I'm coming, Mom.” Vinola replied. Vinola went to her closet and found her bath things in a box along with a piece of paper. That piece of paper was a list of things that her Mother made her that tells her the things she'll need for a bath. “Let's see; a bath brush, bar of soap, shampoo, after bath lotion, got it all in here.” Vinola said reading her list.

She soon took the things she needed and rushed into the bathroom where her mother was waiting. “I've got everything Mommy.” Vinola said. “Ok then, hop in” said Heather. Vinola got undressed and carefully got in the tub. With her Mom's help, she scrubbed her

Shoulders, and back with the bath brush.

Just then the phone in the kitchen rang. “I'll get it Mom.” Nicolai said who was walking by the bathroom, hoping it might be one of his friends calling. Heather and Vina continued washing up in the bath.

Halfway through, Nicolai came back from the kitchen. “Mom, Uncle Ken's on the phone, he wanted to know about something important.”

“Oh yes, I was expecting him to call, can you finish Vina's bath?” Heather asked, drying her hands off with a washcloth.

“Ok Mom.” Nicolai said. So while Heather goes downstairs into the kitchen, Nicolai took over where there Mom started.

“But Mom always gives me my bath,” Vinola said.

“I know, but she had to leave because it was an important call from Uncle Ken, I know I'm not Mom but if you'll let me, I can be fun too.”

“Well all right.” Vinola said. So Nicolai quickly dashed into his room and got his old fancy sailboat, and came back to the bathroom.

“With this ship, we can set sail for Scrubadee Island.” Nicolai put the sailboat in the tub and from there Vina took control.

“To Scrubadee Island!” she shouted. As they journey through the sea that was the bathtub, Nicolai took the showerhead nozzle and turned on the hot and cold water to just the right temperature and droplets of water burst out.

“Batten down the hatches Captain Vina, there be a rough storm ahead!” shouted Nicolai. Vinola was laughed and imagined right along with Nicolai, she splashed the waters to make waves and the sailboat behaved like it was in a real thunderstorm.

“This is fun Nicolai, but how do you know all this fun stuff?” Vinola asked

“Mom taught it to me when I was your age, and now I can teach it to you.” Nicolai said.

As they continued the game, Nicolai for that moment forgot about being worried, lonely and sad moving to a new house. In fact, he could already feel this house was like home. When Heather returned to the bathroom after being on the phone she saw her two kids really enjoying the other's company. “Have fun.” she said quietly to herself.

Soon after, Vinola and Nicolai had dressed into their pajamas and went into den where Heather read them a story. Afterwards she tucked them into their beds, kisses and hugs, and turned out the lights.

As he slept, Nicolai dreamt he was in a white room with a door. There was a knock on the door and he went to answer it. It was Katie, his friend from the country. “Katie I can't believe you found me.” Nicolai said.

“I know, I missed you so much when you left.” replied Katie. Just then the door slammed shut with no one touching it. “Katie, what's happening?”

Nicolai was very worried. He tried to open the door again but it was jammed shut. “Katie! Katie, are you all right? Answer me!” Then the floor underneath him disappeared and he now held on to the doorknob for dear life.

“Please someone help me, help Katie!” Nicolai shouted as loud as he could. Finally he could hold on no longer and let go falling into the darkness. Nicolai awoke in shock, so much so he fell out of bed. He wasn't hurt, but he found himself crying anyway.

“Come on Nicolai, get a hold of yourself. It was just a dream, and it's over now so you don't have to cry.” But Nicolai was crying and couldn't help doing so. Edgar asleep on the rug awoke to the sound of Nicolai's crying.

“It was more than a dream it was a nightmare, as much as I try and as much as I love my new house now, I still miss my old friends. What if I never make new friends here?”

Edgar hated to see Nicolai so sad. The German schnauzer mix quickly went to the light switch and flicked it on. “Is that you, Mom?” Nicolai asked. Edgar went right to his master's bedside.

“Please don't cry anymore, what happened?” Not recognizing the voice, Nicolai turned around and saw no one except Edgar in front of him.

“Who's there?” Nicolai asked looking around still with tears on his face.

“I'm right here. Tell me what's wrong and I'll listen.”

Nicolai couldn't believe that Edgar was talking to him, “Am I having another dream?” he thought. “Maybe so, at least it's nicer then my nightmare, so why not?”

“Why are you crying?” Edgar asked.

“…It's just well, I had a terrible nightmare. I was in this white room with a door and someone was knocking.” Nicolai began. “It was Katie, you know my friend from the country. I was so happy to see her, then the door slammed shut by itself somehow and I couldn't open it,”

Edgar listened to his master's words with cared as he continued. “Then the floor from underneath me disappeared and I held onto the doorknob so I wouldn't fall. But soon I couldn't hold on anymore and fell, and then I woke up and fell out of bed.”

Edgar hopped into bed and nuzzled his master's head. “But I'm not hurt,” he replied, “even though I like my new house, I miss my old friends, and I'm afraid I won't make any new friends.” Nicolai held Edgar tight in his arms.

“It'll be all right Nicolai, because I'm your friend.” Edgar said warmly.

They stayed embraced the whole night and Nicolai felt safe and secure with Edgar at his side. The next morning Heather checked in to see Nicolai and Edgar asleep together in bed. “

“Aw how sweet.” She said softly and crept away.

She then went to wake up Vinola who to her surprise was already awake and dressed. “I see someone got up early, ready to help make breakfast?” asked Heather. “For sure Mommy, are we going to wake Dad and Nicolai?” Vinola asked.

“Let's let them sleep a bit longer,” Heather said mindfully. “It's early and they had a hard day.” While Heather and Vinola went to the bathroom to wash up, Nicolai was starting to wake himself up. As he got dressed, he wondered if Edgar had really spoken to him, or if it was another dream after the nightmare he had.

“It would be impossible, but it seemed so real.” Nicolai said to himself. Now fully dressed in a black T-shirt, khaki shorts, and his favorite black and white sneakers he went to the bathroom to wash up.

By this time Heather and Vinola were downstairs, preparing breakfast. As Vinola set the table, Heather mixed the waffle batter.

She then checked to see the waffle iron was ready for waffle making. “The kitchen sure looks neater then it was last night.” Vinola said as she placed the silverware in the right place.

“That's because I got up extra early and got it ready, now the kitchen's ready for all sorts of cooking.” She then scooped the batter with a ladle and carefully put it in one of the molds.

“Why is the batter still so lumpy?” asked Vinola

“It's important that waffle batter has some lumps so they taste right when there waffles. What you like to try?” Vinola nodded. Mom propped her upon the stool, handed her the ladle, and guiding her hand scooped up some batter and carefully placed in the second mold.

Heather closed it and the light on top that was once green is now red. “Now when the light turns green again, they'll be ready to eat.”

“Great, I finished setting the table, now what?” she asked

“Well why not see if Nicolai is up yet?” said Heather

So Vinola hurried up the stairs to see Nicolai in the bathroom drying his face from having just washed it and now was brushing his teeth. “Good morning, Nicolai. I helped Mom make breakfast and set the table all by myself.”

While Nicolai was proud of his sister, he couldn't say anything properly with toothpaste in his mouth. “Nicolai, did you hear me?” Vinola asked. Finally Nicolai finished brushing his teeth and spit into the sink.

“That's great. Good morning, Vina.” Nicolai took his hairbrush and brushed his hair so it was neat and combed it to get out all the tangles. “Breakfast will be ready soon, you coming?”

“Yeah I am.” Nicolai gave himself a final go over in the mirror and found he looked just right.

“Kids, the waffles are ready!” shouted Heather from downstairs.

“Race you downstairs!” Nicolai raced off before Vinola could answer.

“No fair! You got a head start” As Vinola raced after her brother, outside in the backyard Lucy having been awake for most of last night awoke to the sound of chirping birds and a taste for breakfast.

“Ah, the morning, a time some of the best poems were written. Now should I take the pet flap to breakfast, or climb the trellis into Nicolai's room? The trellis it is, besides I like chatting with Edgar at this time.”

So using her feline flexibility, Lucy craftily climbed up the tree to Nicolai's bedroom window. She tapped on the glass hoping someone would hear. Edgar quickly noticed and with his forepaws, pushed the window open.

“Good morning, how was your night Lucy?” Edgar asked as Lucy slipped in.

“Well I've had better,” Lucy said grumpily as Edgar used his forepaws to close the window shut, “I tell you Edgar, the city's ok but it doesn't have the decorum of the country. For example I was prancing around in the lilacs when this strange cat came by and came on so strong to me.”

“What did he do?” asked Edgar

“He was talking that talk, and tried to get me to mess around. That's when I got tough and gave him the `old scratch attack." Edgar chuckled politely.

“Well don't worry, Miss Lucy. If he comes back again I'll scare him off for you.”

“Thanks Edgar, you're a real good listener.” Lucy said, feeling much better. Lucy then saw that Edgar looked a bit lost with himself. “Is something wrong Edgar?” she asked

“Well, it's Nicolai.” He began.

“He's not sick is he? Or injured?”

“No, it's nothing like that. It's just, he was very sad last night. He likes his new house, but misses his old friends terribly.

He told me about an awful nightmare he had.” “Oh the poor dear, I hope he's feeling better.” Edgar was finding hard to tell Lucy about what else happened between him and Nicolai last night.

Partly because she might not believe him, she would get worried, and because he was a bit unsure if it really happened. “Yes he's fine, after I told him it'd be ok.” Edgar said. “WHAT!” Lucy shouted so loud that Leon woke up startled and jumped so high he hit his head on the top of the cage and crashed down. “Ok I'm awake, what's happening?” Leon asked nervously.

“What do you mean you told him it'd be ok?” Lucy said now in shock. How is that even possible?”

“I know it seems strange, and I'm not sure how it happened, I felt his sadness and just wanted to do something, I just started using my words never thinking they'd really be heard.”

“Oh for heaven and parmesan, what are you two nattering about?” Leon asked now very annoyed for having been rudely disturbed. “Well Edgar here thinks that he and Nicolai had a talk the other night.”

“Get out! You talked to the master what about?”

“He had a nightmare about missing his friends and I wanted to lift his spirits. I'm really not sure how it happened, but I know it did.” Edgar said confidently

“Wow, this is so brilliant.” Leon said smiling merrily.

“What about this is brilliant? Haven't you seen the stuff talked about on television? People find out they're pets talk and you get nonstop media coverage, possibly experimented on, or something worse.”

“Oh come on, it can't be as bad as all that.” Leon said in disbelief.

“Well all I know is, if this really happened and he doesn't see it as a dream, who knows what could happen.” Lucy said

Edgar now was feeling agitated, “Who knows what could happen?” he said bitterly, he then looked directly into Lucy's eyes and snarled, “What happened was my boy was upset and needed someone, and that someone happened to be me.” Before the discussion got more heated, Nicolai appeared at the door with a leash in hand.

“Come on boy, let's go for a walk.” Edgar gave Lucy a bitter look and left with his master. It was a bright and sunny morning outside as Nicolai and Edgar set out for their usual morning walk.