Drip. Drip. Drip.
She stared lethargically up at the ceiling, trying to see where the dripping water fell from. There were cracks all over it. It was still too blurry to make out where there were water droplets forming.
She looked down at the pool, where it dripped into. There were tiny ripples running across it from the very slight disturbance to the surface of the water. At least she assumed so; it was like that the last time she looked closely at it.
She looked around where she laid. At some point she had gotten the courage to move a few feet over. It was still incredibly painful to move around, but it was worth it to get out of the reeking puddle of filth she had been squirming around in for hours.
She looked down at her scales. When she had first examined her new form, they looked shiny and smooth. Whatever that water had done, they were no longer; they were now matte and dry. It would be a long time before they gleamed with a healthy shine again. She had figured that whatever had happened to her, it had done damage to her lungs and — wait... 'Lungs'? 'Gills'? She wasn't even sure of what they were called, but that and her skin had been burned.
She looked at the cat. He was lying beside the dishes he had brought, grooming himself. She was thankful that he had done that for her, but couldn't bring herself to express it. She was in a really bad state. Crawling over and petting him? Out of the question. Cooing? Her throat still hurt.
A tear rolled down her cheek. There wasn't enough love in the world.
She shuffled a bit. Her skin got irritated, chafing against the concrete. She looked over at the pool room doorway and sighed. She needed to leave at some point. She just couldn't bring herself to face the pain of sliding across the hard floor underneath her to get there.
⇣
...Fins forward. Snout forward. Tail curled up.
Lift torso. Push forward and drop.
Lift tail, pull in. Lift fins and snout.
Fins forward. Snout forward. Tail curled up...
⇣
Cala dashed out of the bathroom. She was gasping for breath, rolling around and twitching spasmodically. Her head was wet, a sheen of moisture dripping off of her, while the rest of her body remained bone dry. She looked down at the plug she held in her muzzle.
Totally worth it.
She dropped that and shuffled across the damp — but no longer flooded — floor and went over to the refrigerator. Facing one's fear is tiring work and she was feeling decidedly... thirsty. She shuddered at the word. She reached in and pulled out a pitcher. She popped off the lid and looked in at the purple fluid. She gulped, took a breath, and plunged her muzzle in. It was elongated so it could submerge into the juice, and she sucked it up greedily; making sure that she was drinking it, not breathing it in! She pulled out and breathed heavily, looking down cross-eyed at her purple stained snout.
Yup, totally worth it.
A beat. She broke out into a terrible coughing fit, spilling the pitcher all over the ground and roiling under the terrible pain in her lungs. It kept happening. She always felt horrible when it did, and hoped that that agony would go away in time. After a minute she stopped, and looked back up at the fridge to consider if she wanted anything else.
The filly leaped up onto the counter to dig around in the cupboards for a can of tuna. She knew they had some, somewhere...
↷
A red bed was occupied by an exhausted Cala, facing the wall. The sheets were slimy, but she no longer found that to bother her. It soothed her sore skin. The orange tabby was curled up on the bed next to her. She smiled and curled her tail around it, pulling it up to her belly.
She closed her eyes and thought for a while. She thought about Brooke, she thought about school. Thinking of more recent things made her frown, and she thought a bit about what had happened throughout the day. She hadn't seen anybody else. Nobody was there. Maybe tomorrow she would go looking for... her mom, and sister. She had never gone out into the city on her own before.
She looked out the window. Lightning flashed. She could see the droplets of horrible water on her window from where they ran down in terrible rivulets.
No, she thought, I could probably stay inside for another day. And so, there in the apartment...
Thunder boomed.
That was where she stayed.
⇥
End of Part 1