Where I Belong

by Tdyans

I was so excited that day, as I headed to the Tyrannian Concert Hall with my owner Tanya, who had actually gotten us tickets to see my favourite band, Sticks N Stones! Little did I know, it would be a day that would change my life forever. "This is going to be so great Tanya," I said as we approached the concert hall. "Thank you so much for taking me."

Tanya smiled at my excitement. "Oh Kaleeri, you deserve it. And I bet that Sticks N Stones will even put you up on stage, because I just know you'll be the prettiest Zafara-- no, the prettiest NeoPet of any species-- there!" I blushed and looked down at the beautiful new star paint job that Tanya had given me the week before. She was such a wonderful owner, always buying me nice, new things with her Neopoints, but she always told me that I deserved it for being such a good pet.

The concert began, and it was as great as I had expected. And, to my surprise, Tanya's prediction came true! Sticks N Stones had a tradition of always inviting one of their fans on-stage to sing one song with them at each concert, and when the time came, the lead singer pointed straight at me! The crowd lifted me up and carried me to the stage, and there I was given a mic and I sang my heart out as the band played my favourite song, "The Beast is Angry." It was like being in the middle of a dream.

But as I opened my eyes at the finish of the song, I could not remember where Tanya had been sitting and I couldn't see her anywhere. I jumped down from the stage and tried to make my way toward the general area where I thought our seats had been, but the concert had finished, and people and pets were all hustling to get out of the stadium, and they pushed me along with them. Soon, I was standing in the empty parking lot, wondering what to do. Surely Tanya was looking for me and worried out of her mind, but how would we find each other? I'd never been to Tyrannia before, so I didn't know how to find my way back home alone. I tried to quell the tears that I felt welling up in my eyes and decided that the best thing I could do was stay where I was and wait for Tanya to find me. So, I sat down on the ground, put my head in my paws, and despite my distress, I found myself gradually falling asleep.

I snapped awake as suddenly, a net fell over me and scooped me up. I found myself face to face with a rather scary-looking yellow Techo in a lab coat. "Hey, what's going on? Who are you?" I cried.

"I'm Dr_Death," he said, "And you're going where all disowned pets go."

I gasped. I knew what he was talking about-- he was taking me to the pound. As he threw me in the back of a truck with a few other pets, I protested, "But I'm not disowned! I have an owner. I'm just lost, but I'm sure she's looking for me right now."

"Well, it doesn't matter," he replied, "She should have kept a better eye on you, because if you're not with her, then she doesn't have any claim on you any more according to Neopian Law."

We rode through the darkness back to Neopia Central, and I found myself losing the struggle to hold back my tears. "Don't worry dearie," said a kind, old Gelert as she patted me on the shoulder. "Anyone can see you're different from the rest of us. You've got a nice owner out there somewhere searching for you, and I'm sure she'll find you at the pound and take you back home, and then you won't even remember all of this."

I hoped she was right as we arrived at the pound and Dr_Death placed me in a pen. I kept staring at the door, expecting Tanya to walk through any minute, but instead a boy opened the door and began walking amongst the cages. The second he spotted me, he opened my cage and grabbed me up, placing me inside a cardboard box. He carried me up to the front desk and set me before the Uni who was working there. "I'll take this one," he said. "What a find!"

"But--but, I already have an owner!" I cried fearfully, imploring the Uni to keep this boy from buying me.

She looked at me with sympathy for a second, but then resumed her professional manner. "I'm sorry," she said, taking the Neopoints from the boy and stamping the forms, "But legally, he's your owner now." The boy picked the box back up and began to carry me out as I sobbed.

Just as we were about to leave, the door flew open and there was Tanya! "Tan--" I tried to call out to her, but the boy quickly closed the lid of the box and she didn't see me. I watched miserably through a small hole as Tanya approached the Uni and slumped her shoulders in disappointment as the Uni shook her head. Then the boy carried me outside and the door swung closed behind us, severing my last connection with her.

"My name is Victor," the boy said as he carried me into a strange house, "And I'm your owner now, and that's your new brother, Briskel." He pointed to a huge yellow Lupe that was sleeping by the fireplace. "Hey Briskel," he called out, awakening the Lupe, "Come here and see what I got!" The big Lupe stretched and then approached us slowly, staring at me suspiciously. I tried to smile timidly at him, but he bared his teeth at me in a snarl. "This is your new sister, Kaleeri," Victor told him. "Kind of a stupid name, but look at how high her stats are, and she's painted stars!" Briskel looked at the proud expression on Victor's face and then turned back to staring venomously at me.

Victor bought me a fancy jeweled collar and a leash, because he didn't trust me not to run away, and every day he would take me out to Neopia, leaving Briskel at home. We'd go to the Battledome, and he'd make me fight match after match until I was sore and exhausted and had used up or broken the nice weapons that Tanya had equipped me with. Then he'd parade me around Neopia Central, showing me off and bragging about me to anyone who would listen. He even entered me in the Beauty Contest, even though I didn't really want to be in it. He bought me things all the time, but I felt like it was more so that he could show off than to reward me. I was well enough taken care of, and I knew that Victor was very proud of his stars Zafara, but I was unhappy. I felt more like a trophy than a pet.

At the end of the day, we'd go back to Victors NeoHome. Briskel, who had been left cooped up inside all day, was always in a bad mood. I'd known from the beginning that Briskel didn't like me, although I didn't know why. I just assumed that he was naturally mean. Victor always seemed to make matters worse between us. He gave me the best food and fed the scraps to Briskel, and then he would take Briskel's favourite toys and give them to me. When Briskel growled or barked at me, Victor would always snap at him which just made me feel worse and made Briskel even more bitter. He was so big and scary, I was constantly afraid when I was around him. One thing that made me feel safer made me feel safer, but also trapped and hopeless, was that after dinner each night Victor would lock me up in a cage before he went to bed, to keep me from trying to escape.

For the first few weeks, despite everyone's admonishments that I belonged to Victor now, I just couldn't forget Tanya, and I kept hoping that she was out there somewhere looking for me still and would find some way to get me back. But as day after day went by, I began to lose that faith and resign myself to my fate. I had seen neither hide nor hair of Tanya since that night at the pound, and I was beginning to think that maybe I had just imagined that too. Tanya had lost me and she hadn't gotten me back. Maybe she'd just given up and moved on without me, or maybe she really just hadn't cared in the first place. I decided that needed to face my new life and make the best of it that I could. Neopian Law said that Victor was my owner now and I just had to accept that and forget about Tanya.

Just as I had come to this conviction, however, one evening there was a knock on Victor's door after we had finished dinner and were just settling down for the night. I looked up from my pillow as Victor opened the door and there was Tanya! She had tears in her eyes as she spoke to Victor. "Hello, my name is Tanya. A while ago I lost my stars Zafara Kaleeri, and I've been looking all over for her, asking everyone I could find if they had seen her. Today somebody said that you had her, and I was wondering--"

"Yeah, I've got her," Victor interrupted. "What do you want?"

"Well, I know that legally, she belongs to you now, so I can't make you do anything, but I just want you to please consider what I'm asking," Tanya pleaded. "I raised her up and painted her, and I love her so much. I just want you to look into your heart and give it some thought, because I miss her and I'd really like to have her back."

For a moment, I thought I saw compassion cross Victor's face and I clung to the hope that he would say yes, but then he steeled himself and replied, "Well, too bad! You lost her and she's mine now, so just leave us alone!"

A single tear slipped from Tanya's eye as she tried one more time to convince him. "Please, just think of how you would feel if you were in my place. What if you lost your Lupe and somebody else adopted him?"

"What do I care?" Victor shot back. "I've got a stars Zafara now." I looked over to see Briskel's ears droop in sadness before he turned to me and glared angrily. Tanya tried bravely to hold in her tears as she waved good-bye to me, but I could hear her begin to sob as she turned and walked away before Victor slammed the door.

That night I found myself sobbing too, after Victor and Briskel had both gone to sleep. All my effort to convince myself to be happy in my new home was for nothing. I couldn't forget the look on Tanya's face and her heartfelt pleas. She hadn't meant to lose me, she did care about me, and she had done everything she could to try to find me and save me. Seeing her brought back to me how much I had missed her, how much I loved her still. I didn't care what the law said; I knew that I belonged with Tanya, but there was nothing that I could do about it.

"What are you crying for?" a whispered voice interrupted my misery, and I looked up to see Briskel's figure looming over me.

"I, uh--" I stumbled over my words as I tried quickly to wipe the tears from my eyes. I wasn't sure what I should say to him. I didn't want him to laugh or make fun of me or tell Victor. But as he continued to look at me, waiting for an answer, I saw something in his face that I hadn't seen before, and it made me decide to be honest. "I miss my owner, Tanya." He didn't laugh. He didn't even say anything in fact. He just sat down and continued to look at me intently, allowing me to talk while he listened. I found myself telling Briskel about Tanya, about all of the things that we had done together, about how much I loved her and missed her, about what a good owner she had been and how hopeless I felt now knowing that I would never be able to get that back.

When I looked up after I had finished speaking, I was shocked to see trails of tears running down Briskel's furry face. Without saying anything, he suddenly reached over and lifted the latch that held my cage closed and then opened the door for me. "What are you doing?" I asked, still not moving from within the cage.

"You should go-- go to Tanya," he said, gesturing toward the door of the house. "That's where you belong."

I stepped cautiously out of the cage. "But--but what about the law?"

"This is more important than the law," he said with conviction, then added with a small smile, "Besides, once you go outside this house, then Victor's lost you and you don't belong to him any more."

I smiled and dashed toward the front door, calling out a quiet "Thank you!" to Briskel. I opened the door, but then I turned back to him before leaving. "You should come with me," I said. He shook his head no. "But every pet deserves a loving owner Briskel."

He smiled back at me. "Oh, Victors not so bad. He raised me up from a tiny egg and taught me so many things. He used to take me out into Neopia every day, and play with me, and buy me things, and tell me what a good pet I was. He was even saving up his Neopoints to buy me a paint brush." He paused, and his smile faded. "But then, when he found you, it was like he just forgot about me. Maybe, with you gone, he'll remember how much he used to care about me, as much as I still care about him."

"I hope he does Briskel," I said, smiling at him one more time. "Good-bye, and thank you again." And with that I ran out of the house and toward my old life with Tanya.

It was months later, and although I knew I would never fully forget my time with Victor, it didn't cross my mind as often as it once had as I found renewed joy with Tanya. It was a beautiful day, so like many other owners and pets, we'd come out to the park to have a picnic and play among the grass and trees.

We had been playing fetch with one of my bouncy balls when it had rolled into the bushes, and I was searching for it when I spotted it resting up against another ball. I ran up to my ball just as a big Lupe bounded up to his and we found ourselves nose to nose. He seemed familiar somehow. I was surprised when he said, "Kaleeri?"

I studied him for a moment before crying out, "Briskel?!" I was amazed that I had recognised him at all; he seemed so different from the Briskel that I had known, in more ways that one. He was painted fire now and looked quite dashing. He was even bigger than he had been, stronger and better groomed. The biggest difference was...he was smiling. He looked so happy and content for the first time since I had known him all those months ago, and I realized that I had recognised him only by his voice, by the gentleness in it that I had heard only in those last few moments before I had escaped.

"Well," I said, unsure of what to say first, having not expected to ever see him again. "I love your new coat Briskel. It suits you."

He puffed out his chest proudly, smiling even wider. "Thank you. Victor let me pick out the paint brush," he said, then paused, scrutinising me as I had him. "You look different....happy."

Before I could respond, we heard Victor calling him from the other side of the park. "Briskel, come on boy! I wouldn't want you to get lost."

I smiled at Briskel and said, "Well, I'm back where I belong."

He nodded, still smiling, as he turned to head back toward Victor, and then he threw back over his shoulder, "So am I."

The End