Sorry if it has formatting issues. I found out one comp has word 7 and this one has 2010 (didn't even know they changed) anyway I didin't get to look like.
Chapter Ten Domino suspected his father would be asleep still when he awoke early the next morning. All was dark and the moon was still high in the sky. It was time to rescue Snakey. As silent as he could, he pushed open his door and crept out. The snow cast odd, moving shadows—reflections of the moonlight—on the walls around him. Then the floor creaked. He paused, but heard nothing more.
Each silent step brought him closer to the kitchen. He’d almost made it passed all the obstacles of the hall when the sharp pain hit.
“Ow!” He paused to cover the transmitter.
A thump down the hall alerted him of someone getting out of bed. The lights flicked on shortly after. Domino’s helmet fins drooped as he turned to look over his shoulder. It was his father. Splotch grumbled something under his breath as he made his way down the hall.
“Domino!” It was a rather loud whisper, “So help me, I—people r’ sleepin’ ya know!”
“S-sorry, dad, my—ow!” Domino frowned.
Splotch sighed and shook his head. He grabbed Domino by his arm and fumbled through the living room into the kitchen. It took him a moment to find the light switch hidden behind a clutter of pots. Domino blinked as the light flooded the crowded kitchen in a dim orange.
Still muttering, Splotch ventured off into the laundry room. Domino waited, listening to his father shuffle through drawers. After a few moments he returned and bent down so that he could inspect Domino’s transmitter. He ran his hand along its length a time or two before stopping at a hairline split.
“It’s jus’ a fracture.” Splotch pulled a strip of silvery tape off the roll he had returned with and wrapped it around the transmitter several times, “It’ll be fine.”
“Ow! Dad, it—ow!”
“Stop y’er whinin’.” Splotch slapped the back of Domino’s head, “You’ll be fine. Get back in bed.”
Domino sighed, rubbing the wrapped transmitter cautiously, “Yes, sir.”
Why didn’t anyone listen? Or to be fair, why didn’t his father ever listen? He rubbed his transmitter again. He didn’t want it wrapped up. He wanted the pain to come out.
The next morning his father was already gone. Domino toppled out of bed and back to the kitchen. Snakey was nowhere to be found. His spotted helmet fins drooped down as he sauntered out to the living room and plopped down. Nothing seemed to be going his way.
“Domino!” An excited voice called as the door burst open.
It was Speckle, covered from helmet fin tip to foot in snow. Smudge bundled through after her, giggling excitedly.
“Come on! Come on!” Speckle tugged at his arm, “There’s lots of snow!”
Domino’s helmet fins perked up as he hurried out after them. Snow was everywhere! He hadn’t missed his chance for the snowball fight after all. Smudge hurried back to her snowman in progress while Speckle dropped down and started rolling, sending up a fluff of snow behind her.
Domino grinned and pounced on his rolling sister. She squeaked in surprise before pushing him away. He got back on his feet quickly and ignored the mild pain it caused one side of his head. He then grabbed an armful of snow and dropped it on Speckle’s head.
“Hey!” She leapt up and shook her head.
Domino ran, leaving her with no choice but to follow. Up the hill he charged before pausing to see if his sister was still following. After a moment, he spotted her. He retreated behind a clump of trees and set about accumulating snowballs. He began stacking them in a pile while he waited for her to reach the top.
Speckle was following the obvious footprints in the snow—oops, he had forgotten about those.
“Surprise!” Domino shouted before hurling a snowball at her. It made contact with the side of her head, “Score!”
“Cheater!” Speckle cried as she grabbed a handful of snow to toss back at him. It powdered long before it reached him.
Domino laughed before tossing several more at her. Some hit, others missed. Eventually Speckle battled her way over and tackled him to the ground. She grabbed some of the snowballs from the pile and splattered them over her brother’s head before he managed to shake her off.
Domino tumbled down the other side of the hill, laughing until his head disappeared in a mound of snow. He pulled it out and shook the remaining frozen layer off. Speckle followed likewise, bumping Domino as soon as he’d gotten up and causing him to tumble back over.
His head disappeared into a deep pocket of snow. It took him a moment to pry free again as he gazed out. They were by the main road now, although it was covered in snow since snowplows rarely came through here. Population wasn’t high enough.
“Hey, look!”
Speckle hopped over beside him, helmet fins twitching, “What’s so great about the road?”
“Not the road.” Domino bounded ahead of her, “Come on, I’ll show ya!”
He ran along the side, avoiding pinecones and fallen branches strewn about from the previous storm. He was pretty sure this was the way.
Speckle sighed as she followed, “Domino, don’t get us lost!”
“I won’t.”
“Hmph. You better not!” She hopped over a snow covered branch, “Or else…”
“Or else what?” Domino stopped and grinned.
Speckle didn’t reply until she had reached his side. Then she pushed one finger against the center V of his helmet fins, “Or else something! Just don’t get us lost. I want some of mom’s cookies.”
“Dun worry. It shouldn’t be far!”
Small flakes of white were fluttering down from the sky. Domino glanced up and smiled, not minding the cold snow flattening underfoot.
“It sure is pretty huh?” Speckle mused as she caught up to him.
Domino nodded.
As time moved on, their armor became layered in white. Snow was falling at a steady pace. Finally they stopped beside a towering pine tree just off of the main road. Domino grabbed onto its lowest branch and swung himself up on it, sending a shower of snow on his unsuspecting sister. She shot him a glare, but he didn’t notice.
“We came to see a tree?”
“No!” Domino frowned as he pulled himself up to a higher branch, “Just gotta check which way ta go.”
He returned after few moments and started running along the road again.
Speckle frowned as she glanced back. The sky was already dark, so it was hard to tell what time it was. Domino, oblivious to time being a factor, plummeted down a large dip of the road. Speckle followed after him again, racing through the snow until they’d reached a fork.
Domino detoured from the main road across a narrow, one lane bridge. The remainder of the road was bumpy, and no doubt, composed of primarily dirt. Right now it was a mucky brown snow that sloshed underfoot. Down another slope they ran and finally across a stretch of flat road. Domino paused in front of the twisty path he remembered. The only way he could tell it was the right one was by the trees lining the sides. They carried along down this new road until they saw a small house, no bigger than an average sized room. Christmas lights dazzled from around the edges of the roof and one of the trees outside was decorated likewise.
Domino hurried to the front door and knocked. No response. He frowned and knocked again. Still, no one came to the door. He glanced back at Speckle. She was huddled up, rubbing her hands together. He had been so focused on finding this place that he hadn’t even noticed how cold it was. He shivered and tried to keep his teeth from clattering as he rubbed his arms. They had come all this way for nothing? He had never suspected that the zetraloid wouldn’t be home. His helmet fins drooped down.
Just then Speckle cried in terror before leaping up the two small steps beside her brother.
Coming towards them was a slender, brown zetraloid—upper half of his body hidden behind a stack of wood. He dropped it almost instantly when he heard the scream—right on his foot. His expression twisted into somewhat of a frown as he pulled his foot out, balancing on the other and shaking the injured one.
“Domino?”
“Snakebite!” Domino cheered happily as he jumped off the stairs to greet him.
“What are you doing here?” Snakebite asked with a smile as he reached down to pick up the wood.
“We came to see you!”
“We did?” Speckle asked as she dared to take a step forward.
Domino was already bouncing around him, rambling on about how he had led them all the way here by himself.
“I’m cold.” Speckle interrupted, “Can we go inside?”
Snakebite was about to ask who she was when Domino chimed in, “That’s my sister! We had a snowball fight!”
“Does your mother know you’re out?” Snakebite asked as he carried some of the wood onto the small porch and set it off to the side in a dry corner.
He opened the door to let the two young zetraloids in.
Speckle wasted no time on polite mannerisms and hurried inside. It was a bland little house, but at least it was warm. Domino followed next, preceded by Snakebite who took a piece of wood to the wood burning stove and tossed it inside. The house had nothing on the floor at all. There was a reclining chair and a small couch. No TV though. What did the zetra do all day then?
“Sorry, nothing too fancy here.” Snakebite stated as he offered a blanket to Speckle. He tossed another to Domino, “You know you probably shouldn’t be out in this kind of weather after your last adventure.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” Domino reassured him, “Dad fixed it, see?”
Snakebite glanced at what Domino spoke of and nodded although clearly not convinced.
Domino yawned. The orange glow flickering off of the wood floor from the stove was making him drowsy. He pulled the blanket closer and sat down. It felt good to be inside a nice warm house again.
“Why’d you come all the way down here?” Snakebite asked curiously.
Speckle had scurried over to the couch, now snuggled up in her blanket while Domino remained on the floor beside her. His mind was hardly on Snakebite, rather trailing the floor as he attempted to capture a small spider.
“Look.” Domino held it out to show Snakebite.
The zetraloid seemed to have figured out that he wouldn’t get an adequate explanation and shrugged, “Mhm, there’s a lot of spiders around here.” He smiled. “Hey wait there, I’ll be right back.”
Considering how small the house was, Snakebite didn’t go far. Domino waited with a smile. This was a nice place. Snakebite was nice too. Just then the zetraloid returned holding two cups.
“Hot chocolate anyone?”
“Ooh! I want some!” Domino jumped up and his sister was there in a flash too.
Snakebite chuckled before handing it to them. The two happily sat down side by side to drink their new treats.
“Wow! You
always have this? If I had this I’d have it for breakfast, lunch and uh…breakfast!”
“Breakfast twice?” Snakebite inquired.
“Breakfast two billion times!”
“That’d be an awful lot, don’t you think?”
“Nope!” Domino gulped down the rest of his and licked around his mouth, “How come you don’t have a T.V.?”
Snakebite shrugged, “I have a radio.”
“Does it have Christmas music?” Domino asked, attention now focused on the snake zetraloid.
“Most likely.” Snakebite walked over to a small silver device and flipped the switch on. He had to adjust a small knob until the music came through properly.
Domino nodded contently, before humming to the tune and turning the cup in circles. It wasn’t long before he was singing along with it. His sister smiled and took another sip of her chocolate.
“Domino likes singing.” Speckle brushed a stray tangle of hair out of her face, “He’s really good.”
Snakebite smiled and sat in his chair. His tail flopped to one side to make doing so easier, it dangled beside his leg. He rested one split toed foot against his other knee and tapped it to the beat.
After a few songs, he got up and stretched, “Well you two, we better get you home before you get your mother in a panic.”
“Aww…do we hafta’?”
“’Fraid so.” Snakebite still smiled.
“We could just call her—I bet she’d let us stay.”
“Yeah, then we wouldn’t have to go into the freezing cold ‘n stuff.”
“Then we could stay up late and drink hot chocolate!”
“Maybe another time.” Snakebite was still just as pleasant, “It’s nearly Christmas, you should be with your family.”
Admin
Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:59 pm
Yeah yeah Splotch no error on your part right? Of course. Dotti you can't win this. =U I suspect they are faaaaaar away from a hospital which is why Domino is not getting prime care?