It was a bright morning as Frosty Little Fellow and Little Weena walked happily
through the Neopian Bazaar. They were walking to the Smoothie Shop to meet their
sisters, Madeline and Annebel Lee, and their mother, Arachnea Femella. They
had just visited the toy shop, and Little Weena happily carried a Usul Balloon
while Frosty happily carried a Blue Chia Plushie. As they approached the Smoothie
Shop, they heard a strange moan. They looked around, trying to identify the
source. The eerie wail sounded again. Who was making that noise? Little Weena
and Frosty looked up to see a form disappear behind the old Chocolate Factory.
They looked curiously at the factory, then continued to the Smoothie Shop.
"Hey there, Frosty! Hi, Little Weena!" Arachnea said happily as she hugged
them both. "Did you guys have fun at the toy shop?"
"Lots of fun!" Little Weena cheered, showing her the balloon.
Frosty looked out the window as Arachnea ordered the two of them Splime-Mega
Smoothies.
"Mum, we heard something outside," Frosty said, "Something by the Chocolate
Factory."
Arachnea looked at him, surprised. "The factory up on the hill?"
"Yeah. It was like somebody was moaning. He sounded very sad," Frosty said.
"I see," Arachnea said, looking thoughtful, "I think you two might have heard
the Jelly Chia."
"Who's that?" Annebel Lee piped in.
"The Jelly Chia was an experiment created by a strange man named Wizzle a long
time ago," Arachnea explained, "He was crazy. He wanted to make a friend who
you could eat when you were done with him. When Wizzle betrayed the Jelly Chia
and tried to eat him after a long period of friendship, he disappeared. Nobody's
heard from Wizzle since. Nobody ever goes up to the old factory anymore. In
fact, I don't think many people have heard from the Jelly Chia either. That
is, until now."
Frosty became very interested. What an intriguing idea... a Chia made of Jelly
was living up by the Chocolate Factory? After they finished in the Smoothie
Shop, Frosty whispered to Little Weena.
"We have to see the Jelly Chia!" he told her.
"Why? Nobody's supposed to go up that hill. Plus, think of what happened to
Wizzle!" she said.
"That's just it. What did happen to him?" Frosty asked.
"I'm not sure. But we don't need to find out..." Little Weena trailed off.
She too was becoming intrigued.
"Let's go up that hill," Frosty said, "tonight."
It had been a peaceful evening at home later that night. The five of them had
eaten their fill of Bacon Belly Busters and Tigersquash Ice Cream, and then
watched their favourite Neopian television program, "The Adventures of Garon
the Lupe". Arachnea helped them get ready for bed, and they shuffled off to
their rooms to go to sleep. That is, except for a sneaky Chia and his Usul sister.
As Annebel Lee and Madeline drifted off to sleep, Little Weena and Frosty carefully
climbed out of bed and sneaked out of their rooms. They met in the hallway,
then silently went down the stairs. The quickly slipped out the front door,
and they were gone into the night. They got their green bikes from beside the
NeoHome, then rode down to the Neopian Bazaar.
As they approached, they clearly saw the old factory silhouetted against a
shining moon. They carefully rode their bikes to the foot of the hill and looked
up. It looked pretty spooky at night.
"Well Frosty, there's only one way to go. Up," Little Weena said as they began
to ascend the hill. They climbed higher and higher, until they were at the top.
The factory did indeed look scary up close. There were broken windows with dusty
glass and old boards, rusty poles with bits of paint still clinging to them,
and ominous pillars at the top of the factory. Frosty gulped hard, but he was
too determined to turn away.
"Come on, we can get in through that window," he said, pointing to a gap in
the wall where the board had rotted off.
Little Weena hesitantly followed behind him. They had just climbed through
when they heard it.
"Oooooh, Ooooooh!" A strange voice moaned.
"That sounded pretty close, Frosty!" Little Weena whispered anxiously.
"Well, we did want to find him," Frosty said, but he didn't sound very sure
of himself.
Little Weena pointed to a stairwell over by a large window, lit up by the
moonlight. They cautiously made their way upstairs. They saw a small square
of light on the floor-light was coming from a slightly ajar door. They inched
forward, and they poked their heads in the crack. What they saw shocked them.
It was like a bedroom. The light came from an old lamp on a small dresser. There
was a disheveled bed right next to it, and across from that, a large toy box.
Several small plushies and keyrings were sprawled over the floor. Quite a few
half-eaten bits of candy were strewn about the room, too. Almost everything
was coated with a thin film of pink jelly. Then they heard it... coming up the
stairs, moaning. They froze. They turned around, terrified, to see a shadow
growing on the wall as a large, sticky form emerged up the stairs.
"Quick!" Frosty said, pulling Little Weena's hand as they concealed themselves
inside an old chocolate packing closet.
The Jelly Chia came into view. He was a large, ill-defined form, like a large
blob. He was pink, and he left a sticky pink trail behind him as he opened the
door to his room and went inside. The two terrified siblings crept back to the
door crack and looked in upon him.
"Ooooh, Ooooh!" Jelly Chia moaned as he lay down on his bed.
As Little Weena and Frosty were moving away from the door, they fell over
a Red Buzz Plushie and toppled heads-first into the room. The Jelly Chia jumped
up at once.
"Who are you two?!? You're... you're Neopets!?! Fluffy... little... NEOPETS!?!
Why are you here?!?" he roared.
"W-w-we..."Frosty stuttered,"we wanted t-t-to see how you w-w-were..."
"See me? See how I was?" His voice had noticeably softened.
"We heard you... you sounded so sad..."Frosty continued.
"Sad? I am sad," he said, sitting back down, "My only friend tricked
me. Tried to take a bite out of me! I am alone now, in this factory."
"Your friend. You mean Wizzle?" Little Weena asked.
Jelly Chia sadly nodded his head.
"What... what happened to Wizzle?" Frosty asked.
Jelly Chia sighed. "Everyone thinks I destroyed him. Sucked him up. No, I'm
not like him... I don't try to destroy living things. He tried to eat me, so
I ran and locked myself up in here. Of course, he knew his idea had failed.
A friend who would consent to being snacked on? It wouldn't work. I was proof."
"Well, what did happen?" Frosty urged.
"He stayed here in the factory for a while. Begging me, pleading me, to come
out. Then he really lost it. I don't know what happened to him after that. He
probably hid out in the Haunted Woods or something... that's where most people
like him end up."
Little Weena and Frosty felt very bad for Jelly Chia. But one thing bothered
Little Weena.
"If you didn't eat Wizzle, and if you aren't so bad, why don't people like
you? Why did you roar when we came in?"
"Normal little Neopets come to see if I really exist all the time. They taunt,
they tease. I want to be left in peace! I don't need them to come here just
to make themselves feel glad they aren't made of jelly like me."
"We're sorry you're so lonely, and that people tease you," Frosty said.
"Yes, well, at least you're different. I'm glad someone cared." Jelly Chia
smiled an odd jelly smile.
"Come on Frosty, we should go before anybody notices we're gone!" Little Weena
said suddenly, looking at a clock on the dresser.
"Goodbye, Jelly Chia. We may see you again sometime," Frosty said.
"I think that would make me less lonely," he said as he handed them two
small packages.
They ran downstairs and out the door. The factory didn't seem so ominous anymore.
They quickly rode back home and crawled back into bed before the others woke
up. The next morning, Little Weena and Frosty remembered the packages. They
opened them at breakfast, away from the others. They had each gotten little
Strawberry Jelly Chias. They smiled happily. Looking out the window, they saw
the hill in the distance. And, as they walked into the bazaar that afternoon,
they didn't hear moaning... they heard laughter instead.
The End |