Panic.
Sophia charged around the room, overturning everything in search for something. Anything.
After a fruitless search through the mountain of dirty clothes she couldn't be bothered to wash, Sophia sat down in a heap.
She simply had nothing to use against the creature in closet. Well, there was the pillow but it was brand new, and she didn't want to add it to the wash pile that would never be attended to.
If she couldn't defend herself in this room, then she'd just have to look elsewhere. Forget “playing fair” – Mum most certainly wasn't.
Sophia creeped towards the door, glancing back at the closet as she moved. She opened it slowly and went outside into the hall, before letting her eyes become accustomed to the light as she looked around for a solution.
There were a few options. Sophia crossed off the creaky staircase, as it would wake Mum up, and Mum's room itself. Getting caught by Mum after what had already happened would not be good.
Sophia briefly pondered who she would rather be caught by – Mum or Chrysalis. The answer was not fully clear.
There was another door in her sights; a door that she swore she would never open and venture inside. But these were desperate times and she would still rather face off the changeling than be a coward.
Sophia tiptoed over to her brother's room, cautiously noting that the light was on, and went inside.
Yuck.
Clothes. Clothes everywhere.
Where as Sophia's slightly-used wears had formed a structured pile, these filthy garments were plastered all over the floor. An inch of free space was practically a godsend and the walls were no different.
The pink wallpaper that Tom had thrown a fit about had been hastily covered up with various posters – mostly depicting video games or violence; sometimes both at the same time. Worst of all was the incessant snoring that her brother seemed intent on doing. He also slept with the light on making it difficult for her as she had to tread lightly in case of waking him up.
It was almost as if her big brother's sole purpose in life was to annoy/prohibit her.
Sophia pondered whether to turn back empty-handed; she also considered hiding in this room as it would do well to protect her. However, something had caught her eye; something embedded in a particular pile of clothes and barely visible: a water gun.
Yes.
Sophia held her nose before plunging into the thick of the mess. She soon learnt that keeping your balance, whilst using a hand to pinch your nose, is very, very hard. A few times she toppled and had to use a hand to prevent herself from being completely assimilated by the abyss. She would definitely be washing her hands thoroughly after the night was over.
At last, she reached the pile of clothes in which the gun was buried. Like King Arthur, she tightly gripped the handle with a hand and pulled sharply, extracting the weapon from the debris. She felt the weight shift and heard a small slosh – indicating that there was already water inside.
However, a few things had toppled down as Sophia had removed the gun, causing Big Brother Tom to stir; Sophia froze perfectly still, and looked over at him.
A globule of slobber began to form at the edge of his mouth, gradually growing in size. Sophia didn't wait to see what happened.
As quickly as she could manage, she manoeuvred back through the sea of rubbish and left the room. Tom gave a particularly loud snort as she left, causing her body to shiver in disgust. Sophia dashed down the hall and back into her room, hoping that her time wasn't up.
“Err...Chrysalis? Are you in there?” Sophia asked nervously, pointing the gun unsteadily at the closet door.
Silence.
“Umm...” Sophia said uneasily.
“Sorry about that. Had some unwarranted business to attend to back in the Hive. Just a bit of torture that was overdue. Is your time up?” a voice spoke calmly.
“Umm...” Sophia said, now slightly creeped out.
“Five minutes or not, here I come!” Chrysalis returned to her usual self, cackling sharply.
Sophia looked at the clock. “Umm... it's actually been six minutes.”
“Oh.” She paused. “I guess your torture is overdue too.”
The door suddenly flung open with the familiar green glow emanating from between the cracks. The changeling queen came out in full force and reared her ugly head but Sophia was ready for her.
With the fiercest battle cry she pulled the trigger and let forth the full wrath of Poseidon.
The jet of water struck Chrysalis right in the eye and she cursed in discomfort. She clamped her eyelids tightly shut but Sophia did not let up on the assault, and pumped the gun, increasing the pressure inside.
With her eyes closed, and therefore her vision blinded, Sophia seized the opportunity to move in closer for the kill, and poked the nozzle directly up the nostril of the changeling.
She fired, causing Chrysalis to cough and splutter as as struggled to breathe. Using all she could muster from her energy reserves, the changeling powered up the magic horn. But Sophia saw the green glow coating it and proceeded to dowse it in more water, causing the light to flicker out like a flame being extinguished.
The queen realised that this was another battle lost and retreated back into the closet, still bracing herself as the water did not let up. She would certainly plan ahead for the next skirmish, and she would definitely not lose.
Concocting a truly evil plan in her mind, Chrysalis disappeared back into the bowels of the closet, causing the door to slam shut.
Sophia looked at the damage.
There was water everywhere and the clothes pile was no exception. Sophia knew that she would receive quite a telling off from her mother but it was worth it. She checked the gun and saw with great relief that the water supply had almost been depleted. She was very lucky that Chrysalis had no idea that a water gun's ammo was limited. To think what would have happened if she had stayed a few seconds longer...
But Sophia did not want to dwell on that. She hid the gun away and tried her best to settle down in bed with her damp pyjamas. Guess they would be added to ever-growing clothes pile after all.
This was becoming a bit ridiculous now. That changeling just wouldn't leave her alone and she had lost count of the nights she had been told off by Mum, and that playtime hadn't occurred.
Enough was enough.
If Chrysalis wasn't going to take the hint that nobody likes/wants/needs her, then Sophia was going to show her the hard away.
With a devilish grin, she planned out the things she would need the next day.
But for now, she needed sleep.
And Spike. But that could wait 'til tomorrow.
Barely.