The Lost Duckling

Chapter 21. Stitch

A/n: Hello lovelies! This is a short chapter to fill in time between the next main one. Now, nothing too graphic is depicted in this chapter, but anyone with claustrophobia or a fear of drowning  might want to proceed with caution, but sad as though it is, I promise that it's brief. Alrighty then, I hope you enjoy and I'll see you again  soon.

He was losing his mind. He had been confined in the same box for longer than he could count. There was nearly no light, but that didn't stop his superior vision from fixating on the claw marks left on the walls from creatures much smaller and larger than him. He hadn't added his own marks to the mix. He hoped he wouldn't have to.
It was getting her for him to breathe, however. His lungs were made to withstand a loss of air atmospherically, of course, but even they were begining to have trouble  filtering out carbon dioxide from his limited oxygen supply.
For the millionth time that hour he envisioned what Lilo was doing. If the tentacle thing had gotten to her as well. He both hoped and dreaded the idea that she was coming after him. Obviously he wanted to get out, but not at her expense. As strong as she was, Stitch was afraid she wouldn't last very long in whatever altered dimension he found himself in. Of course, he knew she was trying to find him. Knew that the distance between the two of them was probably driving her as crazy as it was him, only he knew she would manage.
He, on the other hand, was a little unsure of how well he was going to dare in the same circumstances. He couldn't remember a time when he had felt so . . . Caged. Feelinghopelessly trapped was beginning to bring out the worst in him, the uncivilized. His extra limbs twitched within his ribcage where he had stowed them in order to give himself more space to move around, treading in circles that began to feel less like pacing and more like prowling, biding his time.
He had already tried squeezing himself out of the seams of the box, but those seemed to be reinforced somehow, like he was in a box within a box. If not for his trapped status, Stitch would have been impressed at the amount of detail put into such a containment device. Something strong  enough to keep even him out was rather noteworthy.
The darkness started to press in on him then, strangling when coupled with the declining oxygen. His head raced, and it was so he could do from keeping himself from panicking. Stitch began, in that thick, stifling absence of light and oxygen, to remember a time when he had indeed felt that trapped.
It was on a beach. They had been running around all day, jobhunting for Nani. He hadn't realized at the time how much he messed each of those opportunities up. How he had wrecked them. Nani had taken them to the beach, to surf. Stitch had always distusted water; he wasn't built to survive in it. But, they had convinced him to join them. And, when He had finally gotten the courage to join in, letting go of his grip on Mani, finally embracing the feeling of gliding freely through the waves, the air was knocked from his lungs as he was plunged into cold, unfeeling darkness. He felt the burning in lungs that gasped for breath, the pressure in his ears as invisible hands tore at his useless, jelly like limbs as they tried desperately for a brief moment to fight their way back up, where the light of the setting sun quickly faded away into agonizing nothingness.
Then he had woken up, feral. Scared. Growling at unseen assailants,, trying to defend himself from unknown enemies. Lilo stares at him like he was an animal. In a way, he was.
And that was how it ended, at the sunset. Lilo and Nani walked away.
David had looked at him, with sad, tired eyes. "You know, I really think they had a chance. Then you came along."
Stitch never forgot what those words had done to him. They had taken his near death, his traumatic awakening, and made them seem like nothing compared to what he had done to that family, nor what was about to happen.
It had started on that beach, dancing in the surf, careless. It had ended in a few words and a darkening sky, as the chill left on his fur from the saltwater sank into his very core while the breeze swayed the tall palm trees that watched the scene play out in silence.
Stitch sat in the corner, one set of  limbs hugging his body tightly. Again, he felt his extra set itching to break free. His tired, frightened black eyes looked back on the scratches lining the walls, and he wondered how long it would be before his were added to the mix.