A Visit to Aunt Lola's: Part Two

      "Helen?" asked a girl's voice. It was Mia, Helen's owner. Helen supposed she had woken her owner and sister up, since they were all sleeping in the same room. And she was right. Fiona, the rainbow Kyrii, let out a loud yawn.

      "Good morning," she said with a stretch. As she ruffled her multi-colored fur, she smiled at her sister. Helen, who was tired, didn't smile back. She rested her head back on her pillow and tried to fall back asleep.

      Seeing what her Cybunny was doing, Mia began to make Helen's bed. This proved to be quite a sight, as Helen was reluctant to move. As she got tangled up in the sheets and blankets, Mia giggled. "Seems like someone is in a better mood than yesterday," she pointed out.

      As Helen found her way out of the blankets, she scowled. She wished she could hide back under them, since she did not want to go downstairs. She didn't want to remind herself that Aunt Lola and Cousin Phil were probably in the kitchen that very moment.

      "Or not," Helen hissed as she pushed her owner away.

      "Oh, Helen, get into the spirit. It's summer!" persisted Mia. "I'm sure Cousin Phil is waiting to do something fun with you."

      Hearing Cousin Phil mentioned did not cheer Helen up at all. She disliked her Lupe cousin (that is, if he really was her cousin) and she disliked it even more that she was being force to spend a whole week with him and Aunt Lola.

      "Let's go get some breakfast," suggested Fiona, brightly. Helen nodding, figuring it was the best thing she could do. After all, the sooner they ate breakfast, the sooner they could do something, preferably something far away from Aunt Lola and Cousin Phil.

      Helen followed her sister and owner down the stairs (Helen walking directly beside Mia, standing back as Fiona flew down three steps at a time). At the table, as they had expected, were Aunt Lola and Cousin Phil. Aunt Lola, the green Kiko, was smiling as she ate a bowl of Neocrunch.

      "Good Morning, good morning!" She paused a moment as she finished chewing her crunchy cereal. "Grab a chair, and some cereal. There are bowls near the cupboard and I left the milk out for you," Aunt Lola said as she pointed.

      Fiona, Mia, and Helen all took a seat. They each helped themselves to cereal and milk, and soon Fiona was so excited about the 'fun' they were going to have that she was nearly bounding out of her chair.

      "Someone seems excited," Cousin Phil keenly observed as Aunt Lola cleared away his cereal bowl. "I had the best idea for what we could do today," he added eagerly.

      "We could have a snowball fight!" he screamed with delight. Fiona seemed interested, but Helen made a disapproving face.

      "Well," she said, rudely. "Not all of us like playing in the snow and getting ourselves wet." As she said this, she delicately fluffed her fur.

      Cousin Phil snorted and whispered to Fiona. "I think I liked it better when she didn't talk a lot."

     --

      Helen happily skipped back to Aunt Lola's house. While Fiona and Cousin Phil had been having their snowball fight, and Mia and Aunt Lola had been talking over hot chocolate, she had been looking at the cute petpets at the Wintery Petpet Shop.

      The friendly Bruce had even let her play with one little Polarchuck, and so the Cybunny was in a very good mood. She had even begun to think that a week with Aunt Lola and Cousin Phil wouldn't be so bad.

      She was so distracted by her happy thoughts, that she wasn't paying attention, and one of Fiona's snowballs hit her squarely on the nose. More startled than anything, she brushed the cold snow off. Her sister apologetically rushed to her and mumbled a 'sorry'.

      Luckily, this couldn't ruin Helen's good mood. She even threw a snowball back at Fiona for revenge before running back to the petpet store.

      The rest of the day sped by as she played with petpets, bought slushies, and enjoyed Happy Valley. Maybe Mia and Fiona had been right the whole time, the Cybunny thought happily. Maybe visiting Cousin Phil and Aunt Lola really was an adventure. As she fell asleep that night, she slept peacefully, imagining all the fun she could have tomorrow, frolicking with petpets and twirling in the snow.

      Little did Helen know, that she would not be leaving Aunt Lola's Neohome for quite some time…

     --

      The next morning, Helen woke early. With a stretch and a yawn, she quickly got out of bed. Impatiently, she shook Mia, trying to wake her up.

      "Come on Mia, let's go get breakfast," she said, pleased as she saw Mia's eyes opening.

      "What?" Mia said, rolling over and trying to get back to sleep. "I'm too tired. You can get breakfast yourself." Determined to wake her owner and sister up, she shook Mia again. When she didn't have any luck, she moved over to her sister's bed.

      The Kyrii was contentedly sleeping on her back. Carefully, Helen pushed her sister. Fiona, never being a light sleeper, instantly opened her eyes. Seeing her sister, she grumbled. "Oh, it's just you," she said as she yawned loudly.

      "It's just me. Let's get breakfast!"

      Fiona shook her head. "I'm too tired. Later, maybe in a few hours," Fiona mumbled, pulling the covers over her head. Angrily, Helen decided to eat breakfast alone. She sped down the steps and turned towards the kitchen. To her surprise, the lights were on.

      As she entered the kitchen, she saw Aunt Lola. The Kiko was sitting at the kitchen table in her pajamas, and eating cereal as she read a book. Hearing Helen's footsteps, she looked up. She smiled as she saw the Cybunny.

      "What are you doing up so early, Helen?" she asked, scratching her head. "I'm not even usually up at this time of day. Phil and I usually sleep in."

      "I guess I'm finally excited about staying here," Helen explained. Aunt Lola beamed at her, making her feel quite happy. "And I really want to go back into Happy Valley. I think I'm going to try my luck at Snow Wars today." Aunt Lola's smile vanished.

      "I don't think you are going to be able to do that, sweet," Aunt Lola told Helen, shaking her head. Puzzled, the Cybunny look perplexed.

      "And why in the name of Fyora would that be?" she demanded.

      "No one is going anywhere today."

      Helen just stared at her Aunt, hoping she was just the victim of an unusual joke. To her disappointment, Aunt Lola looked serious. "Why?" she asked furiously. "Why can't we go anywhere?"

      "No one in all of Happy Valley can," Aunt Lola began. "We're all snowed in." When Helen just gave the Kiko a strange look, she continued. "It snowed, and snowed, and snowed last night. Harder than it's done all summer, and even some in the winter."

      "So?" Helen asked. "This is Happy Valley, and you get plenty of snow all year round. Surely you can cope with it?"

      "Well, not this time. We're covered in foot after foot of snow. Just look out the window!" Helen did as she was told, and to her astonishment, the window was completely blocked by snow. Hurriedly, she opened the front door. Cold, snow fell into the house, and she shut the door at once.

      "We're trapped," she muttered quietly. "We're trapped here! All five of us. Me, and you, and Cousin Phil, and Fiona, and Mia too. All of us, we can't go anywhere." Sadly, Aunt Lola nodded.

      "So no Snow Wars. And no visiting the petpets. Just the five of us, here, with nothing to do." Again, Aunt Lola nodded. "Just the five of use, with nothing to do," she repeated, uncomfortably.

      "I'm sorry, dear," Aunt Lola said, trying to comfort Helen. "But there really isn't anything we can do about the weather. Don't worry, there is plenty of fun to be had here, just the five of us. I can make some more hot chocolate, and Phil can show you all the things he got for Christmas last year, he did get some pretty interesting things."

      Angrily, Helen looked away. "No," she interrupted. "We can't possibly have any fun in here. There isn't anything fun, nothing at all. No snow wars. No slushies. No cute, cuddly petpets. I hate it here!"

      "Helen!"

      But Helen wasn't listening. She had already run upstairs, as hot tears poured down her cheeks. Vacation was ruined, she thought. You couldn't even call it vacation. It was just a visit. A visit with their stupid relatives. Now, the only thing that had been any fun at all, was gone.

      As she reached her room, she jumped back into her bed and furiously tried to fall back asleep. "I hate Aunt Lola and Cousin Phil," she told herself as she closed her eyes, which were still wet from crying.

To be continued...