Turning tides

Chapter 1

The ocean, beautiful, deep, mysterious, and glorious in so many ways. Most people would kill to live by it like I do. I sigh as I sit on my porch and watch the sun set over the ocean. I'm a marine biologist here, and I am currently housing a couple of endangered seahorses, a turtle that's recovering from being choked by some plastic, an orphaned baby otter, and a retired seal that was at a now closed aquarium. They live in the lower half of my home, which is like an aquarium of its own, I chuckle at the thought. My rabbit, thunder, nudges my leg, and I give him some head scratches. I head in for the night, recently I've had the feeling of being watched... I shudder at the thought and brush it off as paranoia and head inside.

    I do my nightly chores, giving Pepper her bottle for the night, she squeaked and chirps in a way that just makes my heart melt for her little sassy self even more. Thunder hopes over to the glass, Pepper, being the curious otter she is, swims over and try's to sniff him through the glass. I chuckle and go to Lionel's enclosure, he's chilling on the heated rock I have for him like the grumpy old man he is. I give him his softened fish, and move to Mikey's enclosure, I chuckle as the young turtle swims up to greet me, I give him a salad of lettuce, kelp, and some tomatoes, his favorite. He eats them happily and I smile at him, thunder comes over and begs for some, I chuckle "cheeky little bunny. No more treats, I gave you plenty earlier." I say teasingly, he seems to get the memo and thumps his frustrations. I smirk a little and walk back up the stairs, checking on Lady and Tramp, the seahorse couple, and smile when I see them resting together. I head upstairs and take a bath, brush my teeth and go to bed, Thunder hops up and cuddles close to me as I fall asleep, I chuckle and smile, falling asleep slowly and peacefully.

~time skip~

  I slowly open my eyes, groaning as I sit up in bed. The clock reads 8:35, it's almost time to feed the animals, so begrudgingly I leave the warm comfort of my bed, shivering as the morning air wraps it's icy fingers around any skin that isn't covered in pajamas. I walk down the stairs, and get Pepper's bottle of milk out of the fridge, I walk over to her enclosure, she chirps happily at the sight of me, or more specifically the bottle. I let her drink while I wrap her in a blanket to keep her warm, after she's finished I move to Lionel, who barks his displeasure of his late breakfast. Next I give Mikey his morning salad, then the seahorse couple their mix of invertebrates, and give Thunder his pellets.

   As I sit down, eating a bowl of cereal I turn on the news, and flip to the weather forecast. "A large storm front is expected to be hitting our southern coast, we suggest tying down any loose items or bringing them inside, and preparing a to-go bag just in case there is a need for evacuation."  I sigh and turn off the news. Great, another storm. I stand and go outside, sure enough I can see a dark line on the horizon. I take my kayaks, life vests, and oars, putting them in my shed next to my bike. I grab my outdoor plants and put them in the shed as well. Afterwards I go inside and make sure all the enclosures are secured. Next I go upstairs and lock all the windows, putting cardboard behind them to reinforce them in case of high winds. I can hear the thunder cracking in the distance as what once was beautiful sunshine gets darker with the incoming storm.

  Finally I lock the door and barricade it just to make sure. The sky is a sickening dark grey, you can almost see the clouds swirling as rain starts to fall. Lightly at first, then heavier, then pouring. It sounds as if a train is chugging right outside my windows. A large crack of thunder shakes the house, I hear Pepper yelping, I go over to her enclosure, picking her up and holding her close, Thunder at my heel, he usually is fine with storms, but this one seems to have put him on edge. Pepper burrows her little head into my chest, whimpering softly. "Shh..shh... it's alright little lamb..." I murmured to her softly, the wind howls outside as if trying to tune out my voice. I glare at the windows where the noise is coming from, like that would stop it. I chuckle at the thought, and Pepper slowly falls asleep, exhausted from her little crying spout. I sigh and sit down on the couch, slowly falling asleep with Thunder curled up by me.