Hush, Little Penguin

Father and Son

*It's Wattpad Wednesday again! Who's in?

Peso usually ignored their grownup talk.

There was a lot he couldn't understand. The Octonauts figured he was still young. So Peso never really listened.

They were hanging out in the game pod. Barnacles and Kwazii had gotten wrapped up in a game of ping pong. Peso sat a little ways away, playing with his dolls. He was wearing a cute little sea-green dress, and his cute, fluffy feathers had been pulled back into pigtails, courtesy of Dashi. The other Octonauts were there too, chatting casually amongst themselves. Peso concentrated on his little game paying them no mind...at first.

"It's not normal." At his father's voice, Peso perked up. Barnacles had paused the game, a look of concern on his face. "It's just not normal. Where would such a little thing her something like that?"

"It was just a nightmare." Tweak muttered, although she too looked thoughtful. Peso immediately knew they were talking about him. He'd had a nightmare last night, and it was a bad one.

'Peso stood in the middle of a large room. There was a big desk and chairs and a table covered in papers. He didn't know where he was. He saw police and other adults in uniforms.

He didn't know where he was, but he knew, somehow, that this was Child Services.

He put a flipper to his cheek, feeling oddly calm. But his flipper came back soaking wet. Tears fell down his face in waterfalls. He wasn't surprised.

Suddenly, the door opened, and all the other adults were gone. Standing there was the captain, looking straight at him. Peso started to cry, holding out his little arms. The captain rushed over, scooping him into a hug.

"Have you come to take me home?" Peso sobbed, looking at him. Over his shoulder, he saw another figure. It was his mother, hunched over, and looking grim. "Have you come to take me home, Mama?"

"I'm sorry, baby." The voice was coming from the captain, but it sounded like it came from hi mother as well. "I can't be your real father."

Peso's mother disappeared, just like that. Peso felt instantly alone, like he wasn't still in the captain's arms. Barnacles couldn't be his real father?

"I thought you were different." Peso found himself saying...growling. He had never spoken like that to anyone before.

He sounded like his father.

In rage, he hurled the first thing he could reach at the captain. It was his diary. Barnacles bent down to pick it up, and Peso saw, with horror, that it had fallen open. His writing glared up at him, like the tracks of angry ants.

The pages began to flip. The writing disappeared, and was replaced by pictures of men and women, all with dark hair and green eyes, just like his mother. Peso saw dates and information.

All in his handwriting.

Barnacles looked at him. "Peso," He spoke in that tone that told Peso his patience was running thin. "What did you use to knock me out?"

Peso wanted to deny this. But instead, he sneered. "i threw a boomerang at you," He responded childishly, and at the same time, evilly.

"I thought you were different. But you're the same as all the other mothers and fathers I've had. All the other mothers and fathers are buried in the basement." '

Peso had woken up n cold sweat, but feeling strangely calm. But Barnacles had been leaning over him, a look of pure horror on his face. Peso must have been talking in his sleep.

The grownup conversation continued. "he's been saying stuff like this for weeks now. When he's here but...not here." Barnacles fiddled with his ping pong paddle. "When he's asleep, when he has anxiety attacks...none of it is normal for a child."