Bless You, Shoyru

      Oh, how she loved Fall! The colorful leaves, all falling, along with the cold that did not internally freeze her. There was only one downfall with Fall, one which she did not think about at the moment, at least, not until she reached where she was going.

      She arrived unexpectedly at the school gates, fighting down the urge to run as despair crept its way into her mind. She slowly walked down the path to the school courtyard, which almost looked like the rubbish dump with all the leaves it had collected. Luckily, right now there was no one here but her, she thought to herself as she quickened her pace. She didn’t want to be caught here by herself.

      The blue Shoyru continued her walk, which was now in the school hallway, directing her destination towards her locker. She tried not to think about the place she was in, and what it stood for. She was still trying as she unlocked the lock that was on her locker, courtesy of the school. For a brief moment, as she took her books out, she had a flash of the absolute horror that awaited her. She shook her head, still intent on not thinking about it, and walked to the door of her classroom. The girl took a deep breath, and opened the door.

      “Sarah 5423, you’re late.”

      It was her teacher, Mrs. Derley D.

      “I didn’t mean to be. I left home early, and I just got to school past the time I thought I would.”

      This wasn’t true. She had been hoping, hoping against hope, that she would arrive and school would already be over. Hoping that she would have gotten out of the inevitable pain and misery that came with it. Hoping so much, in fact, that she slowed, slowed on the pretence of enjoying the morning, hiding to herself the real reason of her studies of every leaf that blew, every tree that bore no leaves. And yet, it was as if time had stood still.

      “You dawdled again, didn’t you, Sarah! Won’t you ever learn to walk a bit quicker, to not interrupt the class with your repeated tardiness? This is the first day of school, for goodness’ sake! Now, go sit in your seat, that one over there that’s unoccupied. Honestly!” exclaimed the red Wocky, still muttering to herself as she looked over her papers.

      Sarah 5423 walked over to her desk, suppressing the tears that were threatening to fall as she walked past her previous year’s teacher. It had turned out as she had thought it would, the same teacher year after year after year, even in the second grade. The teachers would change in the second grade, but, according to her, she was way too young to even think about that. Each day was so long, let alone four years to get through! So she was stuck with Mrs. Derley D, and she hadn’t exactly made a good impression on her.

      She sat in her desk, and, once again, hoped against hope that recess would not come.

     *******************

      But, of course, recess did come, after three hours of Math, Language, and Art. As soon as the bell rang, Sarah 5423 was at the front of the stampede of pets eager for recess. Not that she was eager for it, oh, no; she just wanted to be there first. The moment her blue feet touched the playground territory, she looked for a place to hide. She dived behind a rather large bush that, fortunately, was nearby. As she listened to the sounds of pets opening the still-swinging doors, she thought of what would happen if they found her.

      Being the first day of school, Better Than You would go easy on her. The Island Scorchio was rich, and clever. Very clever. So clever, that he never got caught at teasing his victims, as he would do to her if she were found. In all truth, she feared him.

      She watched, through a gap in the branches, as the children came out. Better Than You was there, and with his friends, too. He appeared to be holding something. Straining to see from her place, Sarah 5423 could make out a bottle, with a dim light blue light surrounding it. With a jolt, she realized that it was a Bottled Air Faerie.

      The blue Shoyru, herself, had never held one. She and her owner were too poor to afford such luxuries, as she had been told many times. However, the little girl hated Balthazar with all her might, and just wanted to free the faeries. She could never understand how anyone could be so cruel as to keep them prisoner, when all they wanted was freedom.

      Better Than You and his friends were teasing the poor thing! Jeering and laughing, they tapped the bottle and watched her cry. Sarah 5423 saw what was happening, and her eyes burned with resentment. She wanted to run, yell, scream, anything. And suddenly, she jumped. She jumped over the bush, and landed right in front of Better Than You.

      The island Scorchio looked at her maliciously, yet puzzled. Why would she, of all people, jump right in front of him? He was still thinking this when, unexpectedly, she yelled. And he knew.

      “Stop!”

      “Oh yeah? Come and take it!”

      The island Scorchio flew up, as the blue Shoyru followed. The girl, however, was not quick enough with her wing beats, and Better Than You knew it. He flew up, and stopped. Then he did something unexpected.

      The blue Shoyru could only stare as the bottle, with the faerie, flew up into the sky.

      Sarah 5423 landed, crestfallen, on the ground, just as the bell rang. She was too sad to even acknowledge the fact that she was lucky that the bell had rung, saving her from further teasing.

     *******************

      The human sat on her stairs, the stairs that lead to her door. She had her head in her hands, thinking of money problems. The owner barely had any money at all, just enough to feed her and her pet. Oh, the cruelness of life! She raised her hands above her head in despair. She almost fainted as a bottle fell into her hands.

     *******************

      Sarah 5423 was silent the rest of class. She didn’t raise her hand once, but nobody even noticed. As school ended, she just sullenly walked out, everything about her drooping. She remained this way the whole walk home. She quietly opened the door and stepped in.

      Now, where was her owner? The blue Shoyru knew it was the girl’s day off today. Sarah 5423 walked into the living room, preparing to speak to her owner about the day’s events. She always listened. Sure enough, the blue Shoyru found her sitting there, looking very excited. Sarah 5423 wondered why.

      “Oh, Sarah 5423! You’ll never believe what just happened today! I was just sitting on the steps, you know, the ones outside our door, and guess what! A bottled air faerie flew out of the sky! We can sell it for quite a few neopoints!” her owner said, in one long rush.

      “But Audrey!” Audrey Neopets’ pet said, quickly coming over her happiness and shock, and obviously appalled, “What about the faerie? You could sell her to a bottled faerie collector or something, and then she’ll never get out!”

      Audrey Neopets was crestfallen. “I suppose so... but... really?”

      “Yep,” Sarah 5423 said. “Thanks.”

      “I’ll go get her, then,” her owner stated, still sad. She then left to get the bottled air faerie.

      When she brought it back, the blue Shoyru carefully took it from her. She took the cork out, slowly, so as not to hurt the faerie. The faerie had barely blessed her when she quickly flew away, to tell her friends and family that she was back, that she was free. To have it be made a legend among faeries, to have it pass from ear to ear, until there was one neopet species that was favored by the faeries.

     Bless you, Shoyru...

The End