Arnold the Not So Big or Terrible

Arnold had big teeth, thin and long like needles, and large purple eyes. He lived in a pond by a willow tree and spat pond water at anything passing by. He happily inconvenienced everyone, pricking ankles with his sharp teeth, spitting, pranking, and terrifying small forest creatures until one day an echoing splash rattled the whole forest. It shook Arnold’s willow tree and emptied the shallow pond with its great force. Arnold squeaked and mumbled. His home was now dry. With a big sigh he fell into a tumble, his octopus legs jumbled into messy knots until he unfolded each leg and sunk into the mud. There he sat in the middle of his hole, once filled with murky slimy water but now empty. At least he still had his willow tree, although the rumble from the echo took out most of its leaves. A single leaf, still falling down, landed on Arnold’s eye, but quickly fell off from a second echoey shake. A giant wave was consuming the forest. It ate up every tree, every bird, every bush- Arnold saw it was headed for him next. 

A moment later Arnold realized he was no longer in the forest with his willow tree. There seemed to be nothing but water for miles and miles. Arnold had never been out of his little pond but was overjoyed by his spacious new home. He spread his octopus legs as far as they could reach and swam circles celebrating his new found freedom. He was the biggest meanest sea monster he knew; he felt this new pond size to be much more fitting for him than the old one. This was a very, very large pond, he came to realize. This pond was a much bigger responsibility for Arnold, but he wouldn’t shy away from the challenge. He puffed up his chest and went fearlessly on an exploration of his newly acquired much improved pond.

Not long after, he swam into something green, and soft, and very very big. The green collapsed down and up in thin layers revealing something massive and dark- an eye that looked right at Arnold. Arnold slowly backed away but he bounced right back off of a slimy, large…  Arnold flipped around to see that it was another giant eye! He was surrounded by four monsters and four eyes and they were all on him.

“Why are you in my pond?” asked Arnold as sternly as he could in his breaking squeaky voice.

The much bigger, much more intimidating sea monsters turned away and left Arnold without as much as a response. Arnold was deeply irritated by this. Part of him knew that they were much scarier sea monsters than he. He decided he had to join their scary sea monster group if he ever hoped to be even half as terrifying as them. Arnold hurriedly caught up with the quick traveling sea monster gang. They were too big to notice Arnold was tagging along. Compared to their massive size, Arnold was no bigger than a fingernail.

They swam for miles terrorizing boats and ships and people who were on them. Arnold watched them and learned their scary sea monster terrorizing techniques. The green one, the one who Arnold had named Moe, took on ships much much larger than Arnold was. Arnold watched as Moe revealed the tip of his long octopus leg to the oblivious sailors. He waited just until he was noticed to pull his octopus tentacles right back under the water stirring fear and confusion in the ship’s captain and crew. Once everyone on the ship had brushed off the weird occurrence, Moe abruptly would rise every leg completely out of the water, towering over the tiny people, leaving waterfalls of ocean rushing down his slimy green monstrous limbs. He would neatly wrap and squeeze around the boat ready to pull it under and pluck tiny terrified ship occupants off with his other limbs. Arnold took note of each monster’s signature terror move. Moe would leave one occupant on the ship right before pulling it under water and rise the rest of his massive body above the surface. He would reveal his single eye to the horrified sailor as his last act of terror. Arnold wondered how he himself could ever be such a spectacular monster, as he was smaller than the ships and all of their sailors. 

Arnold continued to tag along in search of their excellent secret that made each monster so big and terrible. He seemed to go completely unnoticed by Moe and his three friends. Arnold imagined himself as the fifth member of the group. But until he learned how to become so big and bad like them, he would have to discreetly tag along and learn as an outsider. 

Suddenly a small quick silver fish darted around Arnold and spun him in a circle. He swatted at it with all of his many legs but it was too quick for him. Arnold wondered how he could ever catch a ship with many people on board if he couldn’t even snatch up this tiny fish. Tauntingly, the fish hovered right in front of Arnold’s face before shimmying straight up and then swimming quickly away forever. Arnold watched it go and saw a glimpse of the sun through the thin rippling layer of water separating him from the surface. He floated up and peaked up at the sky. The sun felt so good on his face. Right then, he thought of his willow tree. He remembered how it smelled and how it cast interesting shadows on his pond when the sunlight leaked through its leaves. He thought of how scared the little creatures he terrorized were when he gnashed his horrid teeth at them and blinked his purple eyes.  It warmed his little monster heart. When his face was warmed as well by the intense beating sun, he decided to go back to his new soon to be friends. But suddenly his new soon to be friends were nowhere to be found. Arnold looked around and found no one for miles and miles in any direction- only deep blue endless water everywhere. He realized that he had no idea where he was. His new home was much too large and it didn’t even feel like his. Arnold set off swimming as quickly as he could with no idea where he was going. He had to learn from his new monster friends if he ever wanted any control over his new giant estate. Arnold swam until he couldn’t feel the tips of his legs, then his whole limbs, then his face….

Still lost in a manic state, hopelessly searching for Moe and the others, Arnold’s eyelids began to feel very heavy. Just as they touched and his eyes were ever so delicately closed, he crashed full speed into something tall and sharp. Snapping out of his crazed state, he backed up realizing he was facing a very familiar silhouette. His willow tree, now with no leaves, stood before him completely underwater. His eyelids felt heavy again. Exhausted and worn down, Arnold let himself sink down into a familiar indent in the ground. Curled up perfectly snug in his hole, Arnold fell asleep.