Stories

Chapter Six Restless Night


              Peter put Scott in his penholder and went to sleep.

              However, he woke up about an hour later by a small voice calling for help.  At first he thought it was a dream, but when he heard the calls even after he woke up, he realized it was probably Scott.

              Peter reluctantly turned on the light and blinked by the brightness.  He looked in the penholder.  Just as he had expected, Scott was not in there.  I better make a cap for this penholder, he thought.

              "Scott?" Peter called.

              "Help.  Help me..."

              Peter could hear his voice, but he didn't have a clue where it was coming from, since it was so small.

              Just then, the dog next door started barking.

"Urn ff ay."  The voice was now barely audible.

              "What?  I can't hear you."

              "E hot.  Urn ff ight."

              Peter tried hard to listen but the only word he could hear and understand was 'hot'.  What is hot in this room?  There were no fires, no microwaves, nothing burning... That was when it hit him: the light!  Peter looked at the ceiling.  He squinted his eyes and sure enough, there was a tiny figure clinging on the light.

              He turned the light off.  "Now, how will I help you with the light off?" He said out loud.

              Thankfully, the dog stopped barking.

              "Use the flashlight," said Scott.

              Peter didn't feel too good about listening to Scott's orders, but he got the flashlight from the hall anyway.

              Careful not to shine the light on Scott too much, Peter finally managed to rescue Scott.

              “How did you get up there?” Peter asked.

              “I used the ruler in your penholder as a ladder and got out of the penholder.  It was crowded in there with all those pencils and erasers.  Once I got out, I felt freedom and got this sudden urge to do something adventurous…”

              Peter rolled his eyes.

              "Don’t you dare cause any more mischief," Peter said sternly.  He put Scott in his film case this time, so he won't escape.

              However, an hour later, he woke up again, by the same small voice calling for help.  His body refused to wake up.  But his mind forced him to get up and help his brother.  Actually, it was probably his conscience that forced him to get up.

              "What?" Peter snapped.

              "I feel sick," Scott whimpered.

              Peter removed the cap of the film case.

              "Finally!  I thought you'd never wake up!  I was suffocating in there you know.  It was careless of you to put me in something sealed up so tightly."

              Peter felt a pang of guilt when he thought of how difficult it must have been to breath in the small film case.  But he couldn't bring myself to say 'I'm sorry' after all Scott put him through and was going to put him through.  Instead, Peter silently searched for something big and sealed up.

              Finally, he found a large cardboard box.  After Scott got in the box, he closed it.  "Are you okay in there?" Peter asked.

              "I'm fine," Scott replied from inside.

              Peter heaved a huge sigh of relief.  Finally, he could go to sleep until the morning!  That was when he glanced out the window.  To his horror, the morning rays of the sun were brightening the sky.

              "Oh man, I don't have any more than an hour to sleep!"

              "Um, Peter?"

              Scott's voice came out of the cardboard box.

              "What is it now?" Peter grumbled.

              "Oh, I just wanted to say I'm sorry.  I'll try to be more careful from now on so I won't exhaust you too much."

              Peter smiled weakly.  Even if Scott was a pain in the neck, he was still Peter’s only brother.  It was Peter’s job to take care of him no matter what.

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