Reply To: PTSD
Later at the Feeding Grounds, Topsy was unusually quiet; and he usually likes to gather as many sweet bubbles that he can before Kosh could get to them. Instead, he just kept to himself to prevent drawing attention from the other herd members. He didn’t want to appear weak, and he wasn’t gonna show weakness if he could help it.
“Huh; those guys need to mind their own business,” Topsy muttered.
After he had gotten his share of sweet bubbles and treestars, he decided to go shower under the flowing water at the Thundering Falls. The other herd members watched him walking away with worried expressions on their faces. However, if they confronted him again on the issue, he would more likely resort to physical violence due to his short temper.
“I don’t know about you guys; but, someone needs to keep an eye on him,” Kosh replied.
“Maybe; but, I think it would be best to leave him alone right now,” Ariel said.
Kosh couldn’t help but agree with the adult swimmer.
Meanwhile at the Thundering Falls, Topsy got out from under the water and shook himself dry. He felt a bit better after having a nice, refreshing shower. However, the recurring flashbacks and nightmares of the day of the forest fire still weighed heavily on his mind.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Topsy muttered.
Luckily for him, no one was around to hear what he said. Soon enough, his headache returned; the pain was a bit worse than it was the last time. He sat down and squeezed his eyes shut and placed his right forepaw on his forehead. Soon enough, he felt a bit lightheaded due to the tremendous pain in his head and the back of his neck. His breathing patterns were a bit off as well; however, he wold still do what he could to avoid looking weak considering his upbringing.
It took several minutes before the headache had gone away, and his vision was clear; however, no matter how bad he felt, he was taught that emotions were for the weak.
“Man that gets annoying,” Topsy said to himself.
Since he was still very tired, he decided to take a nap underneath a large tree.
Meanwhile, some of the elders gathered at their meeting place to discuss what to do about Topsy. However, Grandpa wasn’t so sure if he wanted to talk about it in front of everybody since he’s usually a very private dinosaur and didn’t trust many others.
“I am just as worried about him as you are; but, pestering him about it would only cause him to get very defensive; I’ve seen him lose his temper before; it’s not a pretty sight,” Grandpa told Kosh.
The clubtail nodded.
“Besides, I think this issue is too personal for him to talk about in front of everybody; and considering how his father raised him, I’m not surprised that he’d be self-conscious about expressing his emotions in front of an audience,” Grandpa added.
“So, what you’re saying is, go about our day as usual as if nothing’s wrong,” Kosh said.
“Exactly; just think of how you would feel if you were dealing with an internal conflict and someone kept pestering you to open up about it,” Grandpa stated, firmly.
Kosh nodded, knowing that the elderly longneck was right.
“Can’t argue with you there,” Kosh stated.
Grandpa nodded.
Back over where Topsy is, he once again woke up panting. He looked around and sighed with relief. Not only were his nightmares happening at night, he gets them during the day when he has a nap. He hasn’t been getting a good night sleep for the last few days; and it wasn’t doing good for his mental health, or his physical health. However, he managed to keep his emotions under control; although, some of the elders, including Grandpa were getting suspicious.
Meanwhile with the kids, they were having fun swimming in the watering hole while under the watchful eye of some of the grown ups. Ducky was seeing how long she could hold her breath under the water while the others were splashing around.
“Ducky has been under the water for quite a while,” Cera commented.
“Yeah; I guess she’s trying to beat her record for longest time underneath the water,” Littlefoot said.
All of a sudden, Ducky swam back to the surface.
“I beat my record by two minutes; yep, yep, yep,” Ducky exclaimed.
“Me no know how you do it,” Petrie stated.
Cera smirked at the flyer.
“What’s there to try and figure out? All you do is hold your breath under the water-”
“Me know how you hold breath underwater,” Petrie snapped.
“I believe what Petrie meant to ask is how you were able to hold your breath for so long, even for a swimmer,” Littlefoot told Ducky.
“Oh, it takes a lot of practice; I am sure I would be able to hold my breath underwater much longer when I am fully grown,” Ducky explained.
Spike muttered in agreement.
“Hey, Petrie, I feel kinda bad about what I said to you before,” Cera admitted.
“Oh, that okay; me just wish me knew better way to ask Ducky how she able to hold her breath under the water for a long time,” Petrie told her.
Cera smiled knowing that her smartass comment didn’t hurt Petrie’s feelings too much and she had forgiven him for snapping at her.
Later that day, Topsy was wandering aimlessly and accidentally bumped into Mr. Thicknose.
“Watch where you’re going!” Topsy snarled.
“Me? You need to be more aware of your surroundings,” Mr. Thicknose retorted.
Soon enough, Topsy felt another flashback coming on; however, he managed to shake it off.
“Are you all right?” Mr. Thicknose asked.
“Sure I am; has anyone said anything to you? If they did; they should mind their own damn business,” Topsy growled.
“You’re not quite yourself today,” Mr. Thicknose commented.
“I told you, I’m fine!” Topsy snapped now with his tail between his hind legs.
“Okay, okay; I’ll leave you alone now,” Mr. Thicknose stated.
Topsy let out a puff of air through his nostrils in triumph. However, once he was alone, he sighed. He didn’t mean to lash out at the elder; Mr. Thicknose was just concerned for him.
“Damn you, Father! Damn you to hell!” Topsy yelled out while stomping his right forepaw.
