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Untitled Document
I, Kayla the Usul, trudged through the heavy snow quickly,
as my breath floated in front of me. It was a very sunny day in the late Month
of Awakening, but although the sun was shining, the weather was still below
freezing.
I shivered, as I pulled down my woolly Jubjub
hat closer to my head. My scarf dangled from my neck, although it was not completely
necessary because Usuls have a puffy collar.
My ears lopped from side to side, along with
my earphones, as I walked through the streets of my neighbourhood. A cold feeling
rushed to me, making me shiver again and pulling all my winter clothes closer,
making me feel warm and comfortable.
I could finally see a hint of my NeoHome around
the corner of the block. I made a sigh of relief and hurried along the brilliantly
snow-covered path. Just then, I saw a glint of black race through across my
yard and behind a stone.
Curious, I walked over to the stone. It was located
in front of the side of my NeoHome, and somehow, the creature squeezed through
the little gap. When I first saw it, I knew what the creature was right away.
It was my favourite Petpet in the world - a Snowbunny!
I was guessing it was a he, but anyway, he had
a dark coat, although unseen, it was clearly dirty from being outside. It looked
as though it was once domestic, but either became lost or ran away from home.
How I longed to bring that little Snowbunny home.
The only problem was, my owner did not like petpets very much. Small creatures
scared her, and she would never take a small creature from outside.
On the other hand, I absolutely loved petpets.
My owner knew that, and she didn't disapprove at all. She sometimes teased me,
though, but I never minded her. I loved doing research on them, and perhaps
someday, I could be a petpetologist! I had no idea what it was called, or if
it even existed, but it would still be fun!
I knew almost everything about petpets; which
colours they could each be painted, their common habits, the Neopets they would
most like to be matched up with, where they would be found if they were wild,
and much more.
I rushed inside and saw my owner sitting down,
with a nice bowl of hot minestrone soup. Before I sat down, I told her what
I had seen. She smiled sweetly and when I asked her if I could leave food out
for it, she agreed. It would be the best times of my life, I was sure! A little
black Snowbunny and an Usul, me and the Snowbunny.
After I finished the soup, I went into my room
and planned. I could tell all my friends about him, and maybe he could stay
for a while. It would be great if he could!
It didn't take me very long to choose a name,
for Blackjack was what I chose. It was the name of my old babysitter's petpet
(but more specifically my owner's friend's Neopet's petpet). I used to admire
her, and used to think she was my sister. She was a Usul just like me, after
all. She said that her brother's Snowbunny (their Blackjack) ran away, after
they carelessly left the door of their NeoHome open. But she also had another
Snowbunny named Marshmallow, who was as white as the fluffy food itself. I used
to play with it all the time with my babysitter, although she passed on for
some reason later on.
It was lunchtime, so I just came back from my
Neoschool to eat lunch at home. Soon I had to say farewell to my owner, and
to the stone where Blackjack lived.
After school, I walked home again, but this time
with my friend, Lilac. I hadn't told her about the Snowbunny just yet, but I
was planning to tell everybody, or at least my closer friends, soon.
"Hey look, Kayla!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.
"There's a Snowbunny!"
Glad that it was still there, I saw it run back
behind the stone. After it did, I replied, "I saw him at lunchtime. Isn't he
cute?"
My friend nodded, just as I realized my neighbour
had just come home too. Apparently, she wasn't there long enough to examine
him, so all she saw was a black blur. I wasn't sure what she was positively
certain what she thought he was, but she asked, "Are you sure it's a Snowbunny?"
"I'm sure it is," I replied drastically, as though
it were some kind of a movie.
Soon after, my friend dropped my off, and walked
to her own house. We waved to each other, and I was sure she was glad to witness
the little Petpet running around my yard.
I went inside the house. Before I raced into
my room, I took a carrot and placed it on the kitchen counter. "When the others
get home," I informed my owner (the others as in my brothers, or my owner's
other Neopets). "I'm going to race outside and give Blackjack some organic carrots!"
My owner smiled at me, as I ran upstairs and
mostly daydreamed. I also did my homework, and considering I was a good student,
I checked over my work, and nothing seemed to be wrong. My daydreaming and homework
worked well together and the two activities could cooperate very well.
When I finished, I hopped onto my bed and hugged
my Pretty Pink Pillows tightly. I had a sudden regretting feeling, that the
Snowbunny may actually leave me. When I heard the sound of the door opening
below me, all my worries seemed to be rushed away with a gust of excitement.
I raced down the stairs happily, and said a quick
"hello" to the others. I grabbed the organic carrot and ran through the hall
to the entrance door, and swung it open. Oh, but it was the Month of Awakening!
- It was snowing.
Later that night, the flurry of snow stopped,
and the glistening snow lay on the street of Rainbow Lane. The air was as cold
as the morning, but I asked my owner if we could take a peek at the Snowbunny
behind the stone.
My owner agreed, and we trudged a little way
off our porch and into our yard, and she removed the stone out of its original
position. Nothing; Blackjack was not there. I did not feel a sinking feeling,
but I felt overjoyed still. Perhaps my owner was no longer scared of petpets,
and we could finally own one!
The entire time of the next day at school was
telling basically all my best friends about the Snowbunny. Lilac was the most
interested, and she said how lucky I was. Not many of my friends owned petpets,
because their owners weren't rich enough.
Every day, I fed the Snowbunny by leaving food
on top of the stone, and I was happy to see that it disappeared every day. I
found that Blackjack had a nice taste for neo crackers, didn't like organic
apples, and saved up every time he received an organic carrot.
The next day, I was happy to see Blackjack again.
He was sitting on the stone, then stood on his hind legs. I was careful not
to frighten him, so I edged closer every so slowly. I drew nearer and nearer,
as the Snowbunny sniffed the air and prickled his long, darn ears. The moment
felt long and wonderful; he stayed there as long as I did, and left when I left.
When I left for Neoschool again, I told my friends
about it. At this time, Lilac was so excited and listened to my every word.
None of them were too envious of me, but I could hardly believe it myself.
That night, the others came home. Joe, the oldest
of us three Neopets, came home late. I had told Reggie, my Buzz brother, about
Blackjack beforehand, but Joe was always busy doing work, and mostly came home
after all of us.
As the door opened, I heard Joe say, "Hey, there's
a little Snowbunny running outside!"
"Yeah," I replied, smiling. Then I told Joe about
how I met him, my adventures of the past few days, and ended it with, "Isn't
he cute?"
For the next few days, I borrowed books from
my Neoschool's library, and from Lenny Library also. I gathered information
about Snowbunnies, even though I had already known much, and learned how to
capture a stray. There was an extremely fascinating book about it.
After I got all my information, I told Joe whenever
he was free. I told him about luring and the food the Snowbunny liked. He said
I could help it by luring it into our backyard and let it live there. I knew
my owner would not like that at all, since she took so much time last spring
to plant all the flowers in there. I knew the Snowbunny was much more important
than that, but my owner most likely wouldn't have agreed.
I updated my friends in all the adventure, and
five days after I told Lilac about Blackjack going on his hind legs, I told
her the idea of having the hutch (a home of a Snowbunny, which for Blackjack,
was a stone).
At lunchtime, I saw the Snowbunny again. He was
on my yard, and just when I had enough time to notice he was there, he zapped
back into his hutch in a blink.
On the second week of meeting the Snowbunny,
on the first Tuesday of The Month of Running to be more exact, I decided not
to feed him. If he grew too dependent on me for his food, what would happen
to him when I had gone? Blackjack wouldn't even be able to survive! But that
day, I couldn't help thinking that he might leave me. What if he notices there
is no food there, and thinks that I don't care for him anymore? That would be
wrong.
Later that week, I didn't see him. I left food
out often, but they became soggy in the rainy weather of The Month of Running.
Even in terrible weather, Blackjack usually came out to eat his food. The disappointment
took hold of me, and I had a sinking feeling in my heart.
Months later, I grew happier that he visited
me in the first place, and how happy I was when I approached him. I still remembered
the day he went on his hind legs, how much he loved neo crackers, and all the
other events. But I knew it would end this way since the beginning, so why couldn't
I deal with it?
It was clear to me that the Snowbunny would not
come back. The last time I ever saw him was the time he disappeared into its
hutch. The last time I ever saw him was the day I told Lilac my plans. The last
day I ever saw him was the day before I decided not to feed it that much. The
last day I ever saw it was unforgettable.
The End
Author's Note: This story is based on a true story. Blackjack left on the
first Tuesday of March in the year 2002. He will be forever remembered, and
forever hoped to come back.
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