(666) Bubble and Droplet Preview #2.1

         Joel had just finished a particularly stressful day at work and needed to relax. He decided to take a bubble bath to refresh his body. As he hummed to himself, happy and content, suddenly his hair stood straight up and he felt a tingling sensation around his body. Then, a lightning strike lit up the tub, and Joel was knocked unconscious. When he woke, somehow not hurt, he noticed everything had drained from the tub except one tiny bubble and one drop of water. The droplet seemed to revolve to face the bubble and said, “Let’s get out of here!” Astonished, he watched the bubble and the droplet grow arms and legs, then hop down the drain.
 
         Once out of sight of the human, the drop of water introduced itself to the bubble. “Hi, my name’s Droplet. What’s yours?” The bubble replied, “My name’s Bubble, what’d you expect?” Droplet laughed at Bubble’s response and explained that the lightning had struck them and made them self-aware. Their goal now was to traverse the sewers and escape to the outside.
 
         As they walked through the sewer tunnels, they came across a drop-off that seemed impossible to cross. “How are we going to get across this?” asked Droplet. “Well, I’m a bubble, so I should be able to float across, right?” Bubble commented. “And you can hop on my back to get across with me.” So Droplet held onto Bubble, being careful not to pop them, and Bubble jumped off the ledge, drifting slowly in the slight breeze over to the other side. Once there, the pair set off again, redoubling their attempts to find a way out.
 
         After trudging along the sewers for hours, Droplet felt like he couldn’t take another step. He fell down exhausted, and Bubble sat down next to him. The pair decided to rest and talk for a bit. “Hey Droplet, what do you think the outside world is like?” Bubble asked. “I don’t know,” Droplet replied, “But if I were to guess, I would say that it is full of animals beyond what we could ever imagine. There might be more water droplet creatures out there, but we have no way to tell.” Droplet gazed meaningfully at Bubble, “Maybe the lightning strike wasn’t an accident, what if that’s just how our kind are born...”
 
         Meanwhile, Joel had been telling everyone about his strange experience that morning, but nobody would believe him! Heading to work the next day, Joel was getting exasperated. “No one’s listening to me!” he yelled. “I saw what I saw, and nobody can convince me otherwise!” Lost in thought about the situation, Joel couldn’t focus on anything. His boss noticed this and called him into the office. “I’ve noticed that lately you’ve been acting distant and not getting that much work done,” his boss said, “and I regret having to tell you this, but you’re getting a demotion. Over the past few weeks, your performance has been decreasing and this is the last straw for me.” Joel’s face lit up with anger and he thought to himself, “Those stupid...things...whatever they are... are RUINING my life!”
 
         Back in the sewers, Bubble and Droplet had no idea how much trouble they were causing Joel. They had just finished resting and were going to set off again. Droplet stood up and asked, “Ready to go?” Bubble replied, “I sure am!” They walked for a while in comfortable silence, enjoying one another’s company, until they noticed something was a little off. Their unease slowly grew and suddenly a rat appeared out of the shadows. It looked at them, then spoke, “Aren’t you two a little... unique. I’ve never seen either of you before...”
 
         “Ww-who are you?” Bubble inquired, their voice barely a whisper. The rat’s lips curved into a crooked smile. “You needn’t be scared; I don’t plan on hurting you. As for who I am, that’s neither here nor there.” The rat hissed as they spoke, leaving both Bubble and Droplet on edge.          To be continued...