The scratching is fierce. The noise drills into my brain. In the darkness of the kitchen, the slit of yellow from the hallway light running up the far end of the wall my only companion, I sit afraid.
I close my eyes. I pull my tentacles into my foot.
Before I disappear inside my shell, something dark pushes up against the outside of my tank.
The black blob is back. My tank moves. I shrink. Head down, I dig into the peat. Something is coming. I’m falling. Ouch! Slime comes to my rescue. I am flung against the plastic wall of my tank – SPLAT! I cling on. Somehow …