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Five hours after Spyke originally went missing, we finally
found him. Mum had gone looking for him over the hills, and finally returned with
him, both of them looking rather bedraggled, particularly Spyke. The lounge was
very messy, as Mum would usually be cleaning up, but Murgle being ill had put
all normal thoughts straight out of our heads.
"I'm sorry," Spyke mumbled to Ellie, who nodded
and smiled. He went straight over to baby Murgle and gasped. "So it's true then!"
he declared. "Baby Murgle is poorly! What are we going to do?"
"I don't know," Mum sighed. "But you, Spyke,
had better go get a wash and go straight to bed. And if you ever run away like
that again, there'll be serious trouble." She tiredly began picking up spare
toys that had been left lying around, and putting them in the toy box. But I
stopped her.
"Mum, go to bed," I ordered. "Ellie and I will
pick all these toys up. I mean it, go. There's been enough stress for you today."
Mum smiled, and reluctantly left the room, taking a fast asleep Murgle with
her. As soon as Mum was out of earshot, Ellie turned to me gravely.
"I am worried about Murgle," she confessed quietly.
"I like him, and your poor mother had to go and find silly Spyke."
"I know," I frowned. "Spyke is an idiot sometimes,
but he wouldn't have done it if he had known about Murgle being sick. He loves
Murgle a lot. Still, it doesn't excuse him." She nodded seriously, and we both
slowly began cleaning the room.
The next day was hustle and bustle. Mum was
up all night looking after a very, very ill Murgle, so she needed rest. This
meant that Ellie and I had to do most of the work before we left school that
morning, cleaning and cooking breakfast and making beds. Lazy Spyke just sat
on the couch and ate food, before throwing his Bouncy Ball at one of the windows
and smashing it.
"SPYKE!" I yelled. "PACK IT IN NOW!"
"Sorry," he winked, not seeming to care about
the window.
The whole school day trudged by. The minutes
seemed like hours, and the hours seemed like days, because all I could think
about was poor Murgle. What if we ran out of money and we all starved? What
if we couldn't afford Murgle's medicine, and he got even worse? I tried not
to think about it, but I couldn't help but worry. After school though, Ellie
said she was going somewhere.
"What?" I cried, in surprise.
"I'm off out for a walk," she repeated. "I promise
I'll be at your home soon. See you later." And with that she turned and began
running in the opposite direction.
"Weird," Spyke muttered. "Well, she said she'd
be back soon, but we'd better hurry home hadn't we?"
*****
"I'm home!" Ellie shouted, running into the Lounge excitedly. She was flushed
with happiness, and seemed to be very pleased about something. None of us had
ever seen her like this, so we just gawped with shock.
"I have Murgle's medicine!" she cried, leaping
over to Murgle and brandishing some tablets she had taken out of her school
bag.
"That's wonderful!" Mum beamed, taking the tablets
and examining them carefully. "Yep- these are definitely Hoochie Coochie Tablets!
I can't thank you enough, Ellie! But how did you get them?"
"I went to play Cheat! after school," she said
breathlessly, sitting on the couch. "And I'm not too bad at it, so I won some
Neopoints. Then I managed to buy these tablets. They'll make Murgle better,
won't they?"
"They sure will," I laughed, sitting Murgle
up in his cot. He had grown steadily worse ever since we had come home from
school, and Mum had seemed extremely anxious about him. But now Ellie had got
these tablets, and everything would be OK!
Mum carefully fed Murgle the tablets, who choked
a little at first, but soon swallowed them. Straight away the spots started
disappearing, and within ten minutes he was completely back to normal! All of
us danced around with happiness, especially Murgle, who giggled and clung to
Ellie affectionately. Ellie had forgotten her shyness that night, and seemed
very happy, for the first time. I couldn't help but wonder if Ellie was beginning
to like it here…
Even Spyke forgot his quarrels and temper tantrums
that night. Everyone seemed to get on wondrously, and when Mum suggested playing
some old family tunes on the ancient piano, everyone seemed happy.
"Why don't we sing Kacheek In Love?"
Mum suggested, and soon everyone was loudly singing the words, even Murgle,
who just hummed along. Everyone- except Ellie.
"Don't you want to sing Ellie?" I asked, once
Mum had finished playing.
"N- no- I don't know the words," Ellie answered
cautiously. Mum grinned.
"It doesn't matter Ellie," she said easily.
"What songs do you know?"
"Sometimes -- at my old home -- we used to sing
Over The Neopian Hills," she mumbled. Spyke let out a whoop.
"Oh Mum, please play that," he declared. "I
love that song."
So Mum played, and at first Ellie just sang
quietly, but soon she was singing her little heart out. All of us stopped singing
and listened in shock, while Mum carried on playing the piano. When the song
ended, Mum turned and looked Ellie in her eyes.
"You sang beautifully," Mum said softly. "You
have real talent, Ellie." Ellie smiled, and began singing again, and soon all
of us joined in once more. And I knew it was just like we were all a family.
The next day, Spyke seemed to be very surly.
I thought that perhaps he thought Ellie was getting too close, which made me
angry. To me, Ellie was already like a sister. We all walked to school as usual,
and took our seats, but Mr Trunkles seemed very cheerful today.
"Now class," he boomed in his loud, happy voice.
"We are going to be doing a play soon, called The Mystery On Mystery Island.
As you know, we've already been studying this island for quite some time now,
and I think we're ready to start auditions for parts after school tomorrow.
Everyone is welcome. There's going to be singing, acting and dancing involved,
so it will be hard work, but very fun. In three weeks, we'll be inviting owners
and parents to come and watch the play, so it's going to be really good. Any
questions?"
The whole class was buzzing. It seemed as if
everyone wanted to know about this play, and everyone wanted a part. There was
going to be two main characters, a girl and a boy, as well as other small parts;
also there were jobs behind the scenes, which I thought that I would perhaps
go for. I would love to paint the scenery and help with props. Then I thought
of Ellie.
"Ellie, you have to go for this!" I told her,
as we walked home from school. All everyone had talked about that day had been
the play, and the air was buzzing with excitement and apprehension. "You are
a brilliant singer, and stand a really good chance for that main part!"
"I am not good enough," Ellie said sadly. "And
besides, I would not dare go on stage."
"Are you kidding?" I demanded. "You're a fantastic
singer! And you must have confidence, you're so amazing." Spyke snorted. Thankfully,
Ellie didn't hear him.
"Well…." She said, still unsure. "I'll think
about it, but I dunno Tiff."
We walked up into my NeoHome and were greeted
by a chortling Murgle, who was crawling on all fours and laughing excitedly.
"Mummy got books, Mummy got books," he giggled,
as Ellie picked him up and hugged him affectionately.
"Yes, Mummy has books," beamed Mum, stepping
out from the doorway, her arms laden with books. "You all have three each, and
Murgle has a Baby Book. I won 10,000 NP on The Wheel Of Excitement today! Isn't
it brilliant?" she hugged us all, including Ellie, and handed us our presents.
"Wow, thanks Mum!" I cried, examining my three.
I had some really good ones that I would definitely read that night.
"Thank you Dion," Ellie said, her eyes curiously
moist. "Nobody has ever bought me books before…" she smiled and walked into
the Lounge wiping her eyes.
"What's she crying for now?" Spyke muttered,
but thankfully not loud enough for Ellie to hear.
That night, in my bedroom, Ellie and I sat comparing
books.
"I've started reading this one," I told her,
showing her Poetry For Peophins. "It's really good so far."
"This book, Healing Koi, is really fascinating,"
Ellie said, who had been reading it all night. "Want to borrow it when I've
finished?"
"Sure," I answered. I looked at Ellie closely,
and saw that she was smiling, but she had a sort of sad look in her eyes. It
was the same one I had seen when I saw her for the first time, singing her heart
out. I had a feeling she did this when she was thinking about her past.
"Ellie," I said determinedly. "Since you've
came here, you've never told any of us what happened to you. I know it must
be hard for you."
"Yes," she said quietly. "And I guess you want
to know?" I nodded, and she looked at me sadly.
"For you to understand, I must tell you all
of it," she said. "I don't know how long it will take for me to tell you… and
besides it is very painful."
"I know," I said sympathetically. "Take your
time."
"Okay," she said taking a deep breath, as if
to calm herself. "I will tell you everything…"
To be continued…
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