| "Blue!!!" called a trembling voice from afar. Head hanging
low, the shadow Gelert didn’t WANT to listen to him. She never wanted to. Never,
ever again. Who said friendship lasts forever? Because Blue was determined to
prove that person wrong.
~~~~~~
A young blue Gelert sat at a small oak writing desk. A red pencil was curled
beneath her left paw as her right arm’s elbow sat next to her paper with it’s
hand resting against her forehead. Blue knew that sitting in front of the desk
wasn’t going to help her write a poem. Sure, it was an excellent place to write
one, but she couldn’t necessarily think there.
Also, Blue knew that she could write it. She
had the perfect idea... A beautiful flow of rhyming thoughts about her friend
had danced in her mind earlier on that day when she received quite a courteous
gift from him.
Kottske was your average Neopian. He was a strong
brown Uni who’s eyes were only a bit lighter than Blue’s dark shade of cerulean.
He was energetic, athletic, and a little out-there, but that’s just what made
them such close friends. Best of all, he cared for his friends. Kottske would
never let a pal down. Or, at least, he tried not to.
The Gelert glanced back at her bed. Atop it lay
a dazzling Shadow Paint Brush. It glimmered as the sun’s beams shined through
the window and hit its grey-black coat. Blue blinked back her tears. She’d always
wanted to be a shadowed Gelert, and Kottske knew it very well. But did he have
to buy her the paint brush? It made her want to cry just staring at it. Whoa,
could friends be kind or what!?
Blue gave a deep sigh. She wanted to do it. Kottske
wanted her to. And he paid all of those Neopoints for the brush. Blue was to
become a shadow Gelert.
But the other side of her said no. Shadow just
wouldn’t fit her personality. Blue was normally quiet and kind. She loved to
help, being quite a clever pet. A shadow pet would be too dark for Blue. Or
would it...?
She slowly stood up, stretching out her long,
slender arms. There was no doubt that she was tired. The Gelert stumbled over
to her bed and pushed the shadow Paint Brush under her pillow. She’d just have
to sleep on it. Literally.
~~~~~~
Blue awoke early the next morning, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Unlike
her older brother, she was a morning person. The young Gelert sat up and peeked
curiously under her pillow. It was still there.
She carefully inched the shadow paint brush from
beneath her pale, almost colorless pillow. Happily sighing, she held it closer
to her. The item felt so special, not due of its value or appearance, but because
it was given by a friend.
The Gelert had obviously slept on it. In addition,
she had made her final decision. She would become shadowed. But she wouldn’t
change just her appearance. She would also change her whole self, mind and heart
along with it. She grinned evilly to the thought. A darker version of her. How
fun!
Trampling down the pale, carpeted stairs, the
blue Gelert swung around the end of the stairway to the kitchen, where her brother,
a red Eyrie, sat, reading an issue of the Neopian Times.
"Anything good this week, Floryn?" Blue asked
him, curiously. The tall, elegant Eyrie looked to her, smiling his normal welcoming
smile.
"Ah, good morning, Blue! Nice to see you up so
early!" he said to her, nodding for her to sit down next to him. He kicked the
chair next to him to push it slightly out so Blue could sit down on it with
ease.
"It certainly matters what you’re interested
in. There’s plenty of helpful information, fun stories, and just plain hilarious
comics. Humor seems to be what you look for each week, so..." he explained,
and he thumbed through the pages in search for the comics section.
"No, no, no! Actually, I am looking for an article.
Anything..." she informed him, but pausing a moment to recollect her idea, "Anything
EVIL." Floryn blinked, surprised at the Gelert’s reaction. His sister didn’t
like evil. At least, the sister he knew. Maybe he had been thinking of their
pesky ten-year-old sister, Angel, the red Shoyru. Maybe he wasn’t.
"As you please," he gave in. But he wasn’t checking
through the paper this time. He was simply staring at the front, with widened
orange eyes.
"FLORYN! Hallo? Aren’t you gonna find me something
about evil?" Blue demanded, impatiently tapping her feet.
"Blue..." he began, slowly, "I think I’ve found
you your article." And the red Eyrie handed the paper to his sister.
"‘Sarcasm: Isn’t THAT Evil?’" the blue Gelert
read, "Sarcasm is stupid. It’s not evil. Find me something else."
"Hey, it’s the closest I can find this week.
How about you just read that article until I find you another ‘evil’ one? I
can look in last week’s issue, too." Floryn bit his lip. He hadn’t the slightest
idea why he was encouraging his sister to read about that weird subject. Also,
he hated sarcasm himself, so he was hoping that this was just for fun or something
of the sort.
Blue groaned. She didn’t want to give in to him,
but what other choice did she have? She headed back up to her room, muttering
a single word under her breath.
"Whatever..."
Hastily, Blue rushed up the stairs back into
her room. The newspaper was thrown onto her bed as the Gelert scanned the front
page for the word ‘sarcasm’. There, third heading from the top, the title came
to sight. With a deep sigh, she began to read the article, and caused Floryn
to forever regret his advice for her.
~~~~~~
Two hours later, Blue still sat in her room. She still sat in her bed. She
still sat in front of the latest Neopian Times issue. And she was still reading
it. Now she had her red pencil and notebook sitting at her left. Her eyes were
fixed on the paper and she seemed as if she had been hypnotized to read it.
"BLUE! For the last time, come down here! I’ve
made lunch!" Potato called to her. Worried, the girl looked right at Floryn,
who was squatting down next to Maggie the Magaral, pouring food into her small
grey dish. Potato’s shoulder length brown hair was in its normal wacky state
and her olive green eyes glowed with frustration.
"What is she doing?" she asked him. Floryn smirked.
"Honestly... You really don’t want to know,"
Floryn cautioned.
"Go on, I’m listening," Potato said, frowning.
Floryn gave a small moan as he stood up.
"This morning, she came up to me saying she wanted
a Neopian Times article on ‘evil’. So I pointed out an article called ‘Sarcasm:
Isn’t THAT Evil?’ to her and she took it and went straight to her room. I think
she went crazy," Floryn reluctantly explained. Potato gave a laugh, and set
Blue’s lunch down on the table.
"Oh well. Nothing bad could have possibly happen--"
"I’ll be at the Rainbow Pool!" called Blue,
cackling, and she opened the front door and left. Floryn and Potato immediately
glanced at each other, panic-stricken.
"RAINBOW POOL? Why is she going there?" Floryn
asked. The two ran to the window next to the widened doorway. As Blue trotted
off merrily, they spotted a shadow paint brush in her hands.
Potato twirled around, not knowing what to necessarily
do.
"Sure. Nothing bad could have POSSIBLY happened,"
Floryn groaned.
"Excuse me, Floryn? Am I the one who encouraged
her to read about being evil?" Potato shouted at him.
"Am I the one who forgot to get Angel from Meriball
practice?" the red Eyrie pointed out.
"ANGEL!" Potato exclaimed, realizing her mistake.
"I’ll be off to get her. You just keep your watch out for Blue, okay?" The girl
quickly slipped on a dark green jacket and ran outside.
"All righty, then," Floryn murmured, rolling
his eyes. He walked over to a the closest couch and sat down. What could Potato
expect out of a fourteen year old? Nothing much, really.
After a few minutes of quiet, someone knocked
on the door. Floryn’s ears pricked up in alert and he pushed himself off of
the sofa and walked over to the door. It creaked as the red Eyrie pulled it
open, but to his relief it was neither Blue nor Potato. It was Kottske.
"Kottske!" Floryn exclaimed, quite happy to
have company.
"Flor, nice to see ya, man!" Kottske responded,
grinning. "How’ve ya been?"
"Quite well, quite well... And you?"
"Awesome, as always. Is Blue here?"
“Nope. She just went off to the Rain--”
Right then and there, Blue walked through the
wooden door. A fresh breeze entered the house as the Gelert stepped in. Notice
that I didn’t say ‘blue’ Gelert. She had already painted herself.
Floryn and Kottske stared at her. Blue was shadowed,
all right. Her bright blue eyes stayed the same, but some things never change.
“Whoa… Blue! You look FANTASTIC!” commented Kottske.
“Thanks, but shouldn’t you be doing something
else with your time? Like supporting world peace or spending some quality time
with your family?” Blue asked, cackling. Kottske frowned, seemingly insulted.
Blue, on the other hand, ran straight up to her room.
“Weird…” remarked Floryn.
“You can say that again,” Kottske agreed.
“Weird…” repeated Floryn.
“Um, Flor? I was kidding,” the Uni pointed out.
“You WERE?” the Eyrie asked, unaware.
“Oh brother…”
~~~~~~
“Blue,” Kottske managed to say between breaths, as soon as he got to her side
at the small wooden table, “No offense, but the shadow paint brush wasn’t supposed
to change you.” His face was solemn, though you could tell that the brown Uni
was a bit worried about his friend. Blue glanced up at him from her drawing.
“Oh SURE…” she muttered, “Haha… a paint brush…
not supposed to change me…” Blue rolled her eyes and resumed to drawing her
picture.
“I MEAN, you weren’t supposed to change your
personality! The Neopet sitting in front of me is most certainly not my best
friend,” Kottske explained, trying not to lose his temper. Blue, once again,
ignored him.
“Should I make fun of Floryn by having his little
white Dogle--” she began to ask. And, by then, Kottske couldn’t take it anymore.
“YA SEE WHAT I MEAN, NOW, BLUE? What made you
so ignorant? At least MY best friend listens to me! But, wait, I don’t believe
I have one any more,” Kottske shouted. Pets and people in the library around
them simply stared.
“Good for you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate
if you would either shut your little mouth or be more of a friend, yourself!”
And she slapped her drawing book closed and stomped away, leaving Kottske there,
with flaring nostrils and a pitiless scowl on his face.
~~~~~~
Dear Blue,
You know very well that I hate Neomail and would always use it as a last
resort. But for the last few days, ever since our argument at the library, you’ve
ignored me. Fact is, I exist. And for some reason unknown to me, it seems you
don’t want to believe it. Listen… You just cannot deny my existence forever.
You just cannot ignore me for eternity.
The worst part about it is I do not know what you are so mad or perhaps
upset about. And how could I be a better friend? I’ve given you an item that
you have always wanted: A shadow paint brush. Then you paint yourself with it
and begin to pretend that nothing I do or say matters at all? What’s going on,
Blue?
Worried and confused,
Kottske
Blue stared at the paper, her face left emotionless.
Again, she wanted to forbid herself from answering him. But she couldn’t. A
theory haunted her mind as she read the note: Neither of them really knew what
had happened to her, nor did either of them know who she was. She folded the
note back up and stuffed it into her pocket. She had to talk to Kottske. And
fast.
The Gelert plunged through the doorway and scurried
down the deserted lane she lived on. And before she knew it, she stood behind
Kottske’s door steps. Her body shook as she was quite nervous and her heart
pounded rapid beats. Blue slowly lifted up a trembling paw and knocked on the
door.
After hearing a clatter of footsteps, the brown
Uni pulled open his dark red door.
“Kottske, I can’t believe you,” she muttered.
“In other words, the two of us really need to talk.” Without a word, Kottske
invited her in with a small nod of his head towards their living room.
Blue stepped into the warm, welcoming Neohome.
Unlike hers, it was completely silent. Lucky Kottske, he was an only pet. She
gazed at its walls, covered in pictures of various things, from Abominable Snowballs
to marrows to juggling Zafaras.
“Why do you hate me?” Kottske demanded she answer
as soon as the two of them sat down.
“Hold your Poogles! I really need to bring some
understanding into here. In your letter, you said you were a good friend because
you gave me a shadow paint brush.”
“Yeah… so?” Kottske said, not quite getting the
point.
“Kottske… to me, you are a hero! You’re a star!
And you are my friend just because of who you are. A mindless newbie could give
me fifteen Darigan paint brushes and I wouldn’t care a single bit. But you are
my friend, and I don’t call you that because of some stupid paint brush.”
“Oh, so the paint brush was stupid? I spent my
life’s savings of hard worked-for Neopoints for something that I thought would
alter your look? But, nooo, it goes ahead and changes your personality, too!”
“Oh… you’re mad about that. Erm, the paint brush
had nothing to do with my new personality! I changed that. I wanted to, and
I DID. Nothing can change me completely. Looking from the inside, I’ll always
be me. If you want to be my friend, you’ll just have to accept the choices I
make. I ensure you, Kottske, I’m still here. Everybody changes. It was my turn."
She paused for a minute, beginning to realize what Kottske had meant.
"I know, I know, I’ve been a little cruel to
you, and I promise I won’t be like that in the future. I really don’t want to
hurt the feelings of any other friends of mine.” Kottske bit his lip, as two
tears dribbled down his cheeks.
“All these changes… I can’t believe I didn’t
realize it was just you. I’m so glad we’re still friends,” Kottske said to her,
smiling happily.
“Totally uber-groovy, man!” Blue responded, laughing.
“Whatever you say, partner!” Kottske said, joyfully.
Blue narrowed her eyes.
“Oh, be quiet.”
The End | 
