October 17th, 2013

October 17th was horrible. 

I woke up at five - way too early -, and reached for Pascal - whom usually slept under my blanket on my lap or beside me.  But my chameleon friend wasn't there. 
I gasped, throwing the blanket off of my legs.  It landed directly on Anna's sleeping head, and she screamed, kicking frantically. 
"Sorry!"  I called. 
EVERYONE was up now. 
Zelia gave me a disgusted stare. 
"What the heck?"  She asked me. 
"U-um...Pascal...he's..is he over by any of you?" I asked everyone. 
They all slowly stood and looked around - even Zelia....and except for Punzie. 
Various head-shakes and answers of 'no' came from everyone. 
"Oh my gosh...oh no..." Fear filled my heart; twisted my stomach into knots, and my hands shook as I scrambled to my feet. 
Anna tried to grab my arm, but I pulled away from her, dashing down to the deck.  Maybe Eugene had seen him!

Still in my nightie, my hair a mess, I tumbled off of the alarm clock and dashed into his shelf without knocking.  I felt a twinge of guilt as I realized I'd probably wake him up. 
"Eugene!  Ha-have you seen Pascal?!"  I exclaimed.  I almost slammed right into him, and he was blinking groggily, but he woke up quickly enough.
"Hey, slow down..take it easy.  What's wrong?  No, I haven't seen Pascal," he said, glancing around his shelf. 
"He's gone!  I woke up at five and I realized he wasn't on my shelf and so I thought maybe you'd seen him and...oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh...." I cried, backing up and passing a hand frantically through my hair. Or, trying to.  My hand got caught in my messy hair.  Big-time. 
"Wait up a sec," he told me, snagging my arm and making me stand still long enough to help me untangle my hand.  "There." 
"Thanks."  I glanced around, my heart thundering.  "I-I...what do I do?!  He's so little, and this room's so big to us...good grief, he's only the size of my hand!"  I held my hand up to underline my point, and continued fretting nonsensically. 
Finally, he put his hands on my shoulders. "Hey.  Sweet girl, panicking is not going to help anything.  Was he hiding under something on your shelf, maybe?" 
"No...we picked all the blankets up!"  I cried, fighting back tears.  I was so scared. 
He noticed.  
"C'mere.  It'll be fine."  He pulled me into a hug. 
"No!  Don't...if you do, I'll be a bawling mess-" I broke off, sobbing. 
He held me a bit tighter.  "It'll be fine...calm down.  We'll go search for him, okay?" 
I sniffed, pulling away and coming to my senses.  Somewhat.  "No, go back to sleep.  Sorry for waking you up." 
I started to turn away, but he put a hand on my cheek.  "That's fine.  And no way am I going to sleep.  I couldn't sleep, anyway, knowing you're this upset and Pascal's missing."  He ducked to give me a gentle peck on the cheek.  "Don't worry.  We'll find him.  Okay?" 
Nodding, I took a deep breath, hoping to calm myself down.  "Th-thanks...but what if-"
"No if's!  We'll find him - let's go," he told me, taking my hand and leading me out to the deck. 


We searched all day long. 
Anna and Elsa came to help us at around ten...but nobody had any luck searching Tangled Fan's  bedroom. 
I started slowly losing hope. 
What if I never found him?  He could easily be lost in Tangled Fan's room.  He was so small...what if he got crushed by something?  Broken? 

Anna and Elsa stayed out with us until around four, but then they left. 
Eugene and I, knowing it was gonna start getting dark soon, resorted to searching through some of the drawers in the dresser below our shelving units.
By the time it was seven and completely dark, I had given up completely. 
"C'mon, Eugene.  Let's go - it's too dark to look anywhere else."  I sighed, defeated. 
He turned towards me and I could just see his face, with the light from the alarm clock.
"Aw, don't give me that look." He came over and put a hand on my side.  "We'll find him, okay?"
"What if we don't, though?"  I asked. 
"We will."  He put an arm around me and led me over to Tangled Fan's chair.  "Bright and early in the morning, we'll go look for him again.  Sound good?" 
I shrugged, too tired and upset to even really care.  "Doesn't matter.  You're probably sick of me b-by now.." A new wave of sadness passed over me as I realized that I wouldn't have my buddy tonight, and I took a deep, shaky breath; hoping the lump in my throat would pass. 
"Never.  Bright and early tomorrow, we'll resume the search."  He tightened the arm around me, and I finally broke down. 
"W-wh-what if he's broken?  Crushed?  Lost somewhere we can't get into?  What'll I do?  He's been my only friend for three years!"  My shoulders started heaving uncontrollably.  The fear that had ached in my stomach and heart finally broke loose in the form of tears. "And I f-f-feel so stupid for crying, a-and..."
"Sweet girl, you deserve a good cry.  It'll be okay, though...don't worry your pretty little mind."
I sobbed again, and he promptly held me as close as he could.  I buried my face into his shoulder and cried my little heart out. 
The next thing I remember, I was waking up.  I was slouched up against Eugene, and he still held me close.  I could feel his chin resting on my head. 
I sighed and pulled away from him.  "D-did I fall asleep?" 
"Mhm..." he gave me a gentle look. 
"Sorry," I mumbled, embarrassed but too tired to be too horrified. 
"It's fine - it's been a long day, sweetie." 
I leaned into him again.  I just needed to know that at least he was still here for me.  "Thanks for being here for me today." 
"Of course, m'lady," he told me.  "Now...it's ten, so why don't we get back to our shelves, so we can get an early start tomorrow?  If you want, of course."
I nodded.  "I don't want to, because I know I won't be able to sleep, but you need to get to bed yourself." 
He gave me a sympathetic gaze.  "I'll stay here as long as you want me to." 
I shook my head.  "I'm just being silly.  C'mon," I said, standing up and offering a hand out to him.  He took it, and we made our way back to our shelves.