Freaky Factory

     It had been an old model of another freaky factory that was abandoned because of its dirty state, so he claimed it as his own factory and cleaned it up. At least it looked half decent now. Of course, some Neopians came to the factory and worked, not even asking for a job or an interview. Oh, the nerve of it all! Telio liked to be alone when he worked, but that was near impossible. All kinds of Neopets came into the factory when it was not even open and started to work. Telio was forced to pay them neopoints after their working sprees were over. He especially hated it when they asked for double pay. No, he wasn't the one that employed them, but by the order of neopoints, he was forced to pay them extra.

     Today, he was headed to the factory, with a swarm of Neopets inside shooting off the blobs of paint with slingshots into cans labeled blue, yellow, and red. This time, when Telio opened the doors to the factory and stepped inside, he lost his temper. "OUT!" he shouted over the noise of chittering and chattering and splashes of paint. "I want you all out! I haven't employed you, and you have no right to intrude my factory! What are you waiting for? Get OUT!"

     The scared Neopians scurried out of the factory, avoiding Telio while they did. Telio sat on the floor, taking out his own golden slingshot. "I wasn't employed here either," he muttered. "I just found this abandoned place and started working here. Oh, I feel terrible..." And he shot off a huge blue blob of paint with his trusty slingshot into the can that said 'blue'.

     When the time neared 12:00, he walked to Neopia Central to eat lunch, his long tail sliding on the ground. He walked inside a cafe and ordered a double decker burger. His Usul waitress wrote down his order on a notepad and hurried off to fill in his order. He sat in his seat and thought. Thought about the old model of the freaky factory that was abandoned. Thought about the other freaky factory that everyone probably liked better now. He finally looked up and saw two Chias talking with each other. He strained his ears to hear their conversation.

     "See that Techo over there?" the pear Chia asked the yellow Chia. "Today he scared off all the helping Neopians in his factory. I think he's having a bad day. Neopians two miles away could hear him screaming his head off at all the Neopets."

     "What a jerk," the yellow Chia said, loud enough for the whole cafe to hear. "All they did was help. And they only asked for little pay, sometimes double pay. Actually, double pay isn't really that much neopoints in his factory. And they weren't even employed and they were working their arms off."

     That made Telio feel worse, and when his food came, he only ate two bites and left, slapping a hundred neopoints on the table for his payment. He slumped out of the small and decent restaurant and headed back to the factory, his slingshot in his right hand and his left hand empty.

     Telio sighed as he arrived in front of his factory. He put his left hand on the knob and rested it there for a while. It felt cold and rusty. 'Just like my old heart,' thought the Techo with great sadness. He finally turned the knob and opened the door. It creaked loudly and slowly and Telio hated the sound, but today he ignored it and entered the dim factory. It felt strange not hearing noise from the usual Neopians here. But there was one sound. It sounded like... something unexplainable. Telio, curious as ever, walked toward the sound which came from the bench he put the finished figurines he finished on.

     There sat a very small blue Acara with pink bows in her hair. And she was drawing smiles on the figurine's faces with permanent marker! The nerve of the small Neopet! Telio hated smiles, so he left the place where there should be a bright happy smile blank on the figurines he made. Some other Neopians drew faces on their figurines when they were here, but Telio always disposed of them. But now, this dull little Acara was drawing smiles on his masterpieces. He couldn't control himself this time like earlier this morning.

     "What are you doing?" he screamed himself hoarse. "How dare you draw smiles on my masterpieces! How dare you! This is my property! Get out, you worthless lump! OUT!"

     The Acara looked surprised and scared. Tears swam in her sea-blue eyes and she scurried toward the exit. She put her hand on the knob but didn't turn it. Telio, still enraged, threw a rainbow Chomby figurine with a stupid little smile on it at the Acara and she finally turned the knob and flew out, disgust on her face for the Techo.

     Telio looked upset at himself and silently worked at the factory until midnight. When the clock in his factory sounded twelve times, he gathered up his things and left, his head down the whole way home.

     The next day, Telio walked slowly to his factory, surprised that it was still empty. Soundlessly, he turned the knob to the creaky door and stepped inside. Today, he didn't feel like working on figurines. He just sat on the floor and picked up a rainbow Chomby figurine that was on the floor. He sighed as he saw the big smile on its face. For the rest of the day, he stared at the Chomby. At the end of the day, in the first time in a long week, Telio actually smiled as he walked out of the freaky factory, his golden slingshot in his red hands.

     The next day, as he entered the factory of figurines, he worked hard on making Neopet figures. This time, he drew a big smile on a blue Scorchio. The Scorchio seemed to look better than before and Telio smiled a bigger smile and started drawing smiles on a pea Chia, a spotted Zafara, and a blue Cybunny. After a week of figurine making, his personality became much brighter and his reputation much improved all because of the Acara. Telio still regretted screaming at her and knew he'd never see her again and would never know her precious name. His poor heart ached when he thought of that.

     When he woke up next week, he expected no Neopets to be in his factory, but to his surprise, there were hundreds of Neopians there and when they saw the old Techo, some of them smiled and waved. Telio smiled one of the biggest smiles in history and waved back at the Neopians. "This is going to be a long day," he said happily with a big content grin on his face and something that especially looked like a rainbow Chomby figurine in his hands.

The End