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Lucky, a blue Zafara, thought she was just that. She
wasn't extremely intelligent or very good at the Battledome, but she was optimistic
about herself. She wasn't painted, nor was her species very rare, but she led
a decent life. Her owner, although not particularly wealthy, logged on NeoPets
almost every day to care for her and her older brother, Dantus.
Dantus, a red Grarrl, was a good brother and
friend to Lucky, but he annoyed to her sometimes, the way older brothers do.
Lucky wore an amulet around her neck that, her
owner once said, would bring her luck, and thus called her "Lucky." The charm
seemed to work, and life got along pretty smoothly until it hit a bump.
One morning, Lucky was eating NeoCrunch cereal
in the kitchen when her owner walked in. It was a shining new morning, and light
streamed in from the window and illuminated the blue kitchen.
"Lucky, I've got great news!" Lucky's owner exclaimed.
"What is it?"
Her owner grinned and replied, "I was accepted
into a college!"
"College?" Lucky queried. She'd never heard of
it. "What is it?"
"It's like a Neoschool, only in my world. You
have to go to it for a few years -- it's usually four -- to get a high-paying
job in my world. But you have to study at school for years before you can even
apply for one."
"That sounds neat," she commented, proud that
her owner was happy.
"Yeah, it is." But her owner stopped and looked
at the marble floor. "But, Lucky, this is a huge change. I'll be moving away
from my family -- my family in my world -- and I'm going to be in Neopia less,
if at all, for a long time. Is that okay?"
"Of course," Lucky said, her eyes watery. "As
long as you're happy."
"Thanks. I knew you'd understand!" her owner
said. He hugged her and sat down to eat.
~*~
"You've been crying," Dantus declared, as if Lucky didn't know. He was in Lucky's
room, peering over her with his huge Grarrl head.
"No, I haven't," she insisted.
"Yes, you have!"
"All right, fine. But so what? It doesn't matter."
"You're upset about Owner going away," Dantus
accused.
"No, I'm not."
"Oh, don't start that. You think he's going to
abandon us in the Pound or something. Well, I think so, too."
"No, he won't! He won't!" Lucky ran out of the
room, and out of the NeoHome, screaming. She sat on the back steps and cried
again.
After a few minutes, she heard the door open
and then slam behind her, and Dantus sat down, his huge Grarrl body casting
a shadow against the fading night sky and few sparkling stars. "Look, I'm sorry.
We don't know for sure."
But tears were still streaming down Lucky's face.
They would not stop, so she wouldn't try to make them. She clutched her amulet
-- it felt cold, lifeless. Just like she.
~*~
It was nine long nights later when she finally knew. Her owner was picking
up Dantus and she from a stay at the Neolodge and they rounded a corner onto
a street that didn't lead to their NeoHome. They were heading toward the Pound.
Lucky didn't care anymore. She let the Pound
workers take her -- she didn't want anything to do with this human whom she
had trusted and loved. Betrayed didn't cover the field of what she felt.
Neopets that were about to be abandoned were
given one last chance -- they could look as pitiful and cute as they could and
keep asking questions like "Are you sure you want to leave me?" and wail, "Please,
no!" and, only if their owner refused to change his or her mind, were they finally
dragged into cages. Dantus tried to beg his owner to keep him, but Lucky couldn't
bear to even look at the human she called her owner. She felt numb as a worker
lifted her into a cage and locked it.
She was in an annoyingly white room; white walls,
white ceiling, white floor, white lights, with a few scattered windows, and
rows and rows of cages. She had lost all energy to cry. She sat there in thought,
eventually realizing that her fate was better than some; she would never have
to sit at a NeoHome or in a street, waiting endlessly for her owner. So she
should feel lucky, but she didn't.
The next morning, she saw Dantus taken out from
the curse of the Pound. A kind newbie had adopted him. No such luck for Lucky,
who started refusing food.
After days, weeks, and what seemed like endless
eternity passed, Lucky saw hope. A seasoned Neopian girl was looking for a new
Neopet, she told the kind Uni in charge of adoptions. Lucky lifted up her head
and watched hopefully, and her heart skipped a beat -- the Uni pointed at her
cage.
The Neopian girl ran to Lucky's cage -- and passed
it. She eagerly flung open the cage next to hers, which contained a cute baby
Meerca someone had dumped in the Pound, for some reason Lucky could not surmise.
The girl paid the adoption fee and left, with Lucky feeling anything but her
name.
"Kinda makes ya feel lost, eh?" came a voice.
It was a yellow Grundo, in the cage to the right of Lucky. "If my memory don't
fail me, that Meerca was jus' brought in 'ere an hour ago." He paused. "My owner
lef' me 'ere soon after he decided he didn't like the Grundo makeover. What's
yer story?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Lucky murmured.
The Grundo nodded understandingly.
The next day, someone picked out the Grundo to
adopt, and when the human went to pay the fee to adopt him, Lucky remembered
her amulet.
"Here," she said, thrusting her thin Zafara arm
through the spaces between the bars in her cage and the Grundo's. "You're lucky,
so take this. It's a good-luck charm. It didn't work on me."
"I don't believe in luck," the Grundo said defiantly.
"Well, give it to someone that does!" Lucky pleaded.
The Grundo took it. "Thanks, kid." The Neopian
who adopted him opened the cage, picked him up, and left.
Lucky caught sight of the Grundo waving at her.
The Neopian would be delighted to find that his new friend had an Amulet of
Life equipped to him. She sighed, weak with hunger. Life was short, too short,
but you couldn't think about that before your time; you just had to keep going.
Finally, she knew it was time. No Neopet suffered
in the Pound forever, and Lucky had been there long enough. One simple "delete"
command was all it took. She disappeared from Neopia -- all her feelings and
memories were gone, erased. Although she ceased to exist, she still was as she
always was -- unlucky.
The End
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