Hush, Little Penguin

School In Wonderland

Peso was going.

Barnacles promised Peso that they would visit as often as they could and call and write whenever he wanted, and the Octopod would always be parked close by so he would feel closer to home. Lilypad Meadow Mental Hospital was settled in a calm, remote location in the forest, not to far away from town but just far enough to give patients a comfortable, quiet place to heal, far enough from the hustle and bustle of noisy townsfolk that they could feel private and comfortable. It was painted blue and pink and was clearly meant mostly for children. There was a white fence surrounding the place that didn't fool Peso. White paint and flower chains didn't hide the fact that the wrought iron fence was there to trap them.

Ever since Pogo had gone off to college, Peso had been a nervous wreck, and visiting some friends in Antarctica hadn't helped. Peso had only three people he could call friends over the course of his childhood, but when he went to visit them last week, he found that they had grown up, moved on and left him behind. Two of the were fighting and hated each other. One had a girlfriend. Another had become a different person altogether and they had all drifted apart. Peso felt horribly lonely and outcasted, despite trying to bring them back together, only met with scorn when one told him;

"It's your own fault you're such a baby, anyway. Grown up some, and maybe we could stay friends. I'm sick of hauling around some helpless kid."

He remembered when they all entered class together, feelin better and safer as a group. Now his friends were lost and he was heading into a brand new school, all alone. It felt like high school, but worse.

He had been ecstatic to leave stupid high school and go to college for a breath of fresh air. But his awful baby face had made things hard for him there too.

No way was he about to go back into an awful place full of people who would discriminate him for looking different.

"I thought this was just to look." Peso grumbled, angry at the captain already. Barnacles sighed. "It's okay peso. We won't be that far away. And we did look. A few days ago, remember? They have your room all set up."

"I'm not going." Peso actually growled at him. Barnacles sighed. "Peso, I'm sorry."

"No you're not!" He snipped. Barnacles knelt down to give him a hug, but Peso moved away. "Come on Peso, it's only going to be a few weeks at most."

"I. Am. Not. Going! What part of that eludes you?"

Barnacles frowned and scooped him up. "Hey!" Peso cried out, kicking and squirming to get down. "Ouch!"

Barnacles released Peso, who scampered a few yards away from the entrance of the gate, not daring to cross the line of no return, even though he was promised he would come back. No one ever kept their promises.

Barnacles glanced at the beak mark in his paw. "You bit me."

He looked at Peso's scared, betrayed eyes. "You really don't want to go anywhere, do you?"

Peso stuck out his tongue, and Barnacles sighed, lowering his shoulders. Peso had been getting worse. it seemed his anxiety of change was making him fear the future, and now he was trying t detach from them, trying to protect himself from further hurt by not getting to close.

He needed to go.

Peso backed away slowly. "You're just trying to brainwash me, aren't you? You're trying to send me somewhere that will make me trust you and want to go back to you so I won't get away from you, and you can hurt me when you leave."

"no--"

"You're going to make me go there and learn to trust you again! You don't want me to be careful, you want me to get hurt!"