Pipes: Part Two

      “Who are you?” I cried, using my newfound voice. It sounded like an angel, with a deeper voice. Not matching me at all, it was beautiful, yet I was not.

      I turned around, wondering why on Neopia I was running. There was something large, and green, with more claws than my sharp two. Looking back to where I was running, I realized he never explained what was going on.

      “Why, may I ask, are you chasing me? What are you?” I yelped, emphasizing each and every word with the sounds I heard the day before. My head turned, waiting for some kind of response. It kept chasing me. The lights kept passing, and I still wasn’t feeling tired. Then, I realized I wasn’t on a pipe. The place was dark, but looking down, it was flat ground.

      “Nuld!” a voice squealed. “Nuld, my dear!” the voice squealed again. I looked all around, even facing the strange green monster, whom to my dictionary reference, was something called a Skeith.

      “I’m Nuld!” I cried, still trying to find the voice. There was a sigh.

      “How did you learn to speak, Nuld?”

      “Who are you? I learned to speak through the pothole!” Beginning to pant, I kept on sprinting.

      “You shouldn’t have; they, they know who you are now. They heard you, they will find you. More,” the voice went on and on. The lights kept flying past me. The Skeith kept chasing me.

      “Who are you!” I lashed out in the air, tears swelling up in my eyes.

      “Mom.” Everything went dark.

      My claws scraped on a pipe, and my dark-seeing eyes opened up. It was a dream. All back to normal, right? I glanced around, seeing only lines of sewage pipes, lining around. But something was off. Looking up, I saw the main pipe. Had I fallen off during the odd dream? That was the only explanation that I could think of.

      And why, exactly, did that dream come bothering me last night? Was it fate, or just some strange, random coincidence? Then, I began to think a bit more. I was never actually present to watch my mother jump off the pipe; I was off finding acid rain to drink, and sewage to keep me alive. To tell the whole truth, I had no idea whatsoever if my mother had really and truly jumped.

     I shook my head, remembering my mother’s warning not to ever go below the main pipe, on the bottom. She had said that there were dangers. Down there, right at the moment, there was nothing but more cold darkness. So busy wondering what had actually happened, I plopped my tail comfortably on the thin pipe below the safe point. It slid, immensely.

      My whole self began shaking uncontrollably on the pipe. The tail had made me slide around. I didn’t want to fall; I especially didn’t want to disobey more of my mother’s rules. Thinking of my mother, I wondered how she truly left. Did she jump, or was she captured? The thoughts all compiled together, and soon I had one horrendous thought boiling in my head of something that even my mother was smart enough not to do. Me and my continuous thinking; myself was all that I could talk to.

      “Mother,” I cried out, thinking maybe she could hear me from more below the main pipe. A painful silence filled the air. Not even my brain was talking to itself.

      I decided it would be safer if I just climbed back up to the main pipe and try and get out above the pothole. Meeting new animals, some even like me, was something I’d never dreamed of, since I had no recall of anything existing. The light above was very faint.

      Clawing my way quickly up the pipe was the most awkward thing I had done. I wondered why what was below was so dangerous for an xweetok like me. I’d been below the main pipe; there was nothing to be afraid of. Then, I stopped dead cold, only a few feet up from the safe main pipe.

      “Why do you go back up? Leave us all alone, Nuld?” A childish, yet eerie voice came from below. My eyes opened wide, and I was shaking all over from the shock of another voice. I waited about ten seconds, and then I turned around, staring into darkness.

      “Who is down there with you, and who is this?” I stammered. My voice didn’t sound like the angel before. It was hard, and cracked when I spoke the word. Staring into the darkness, waiting for a response felt like forever.

      “It is us, Nuld. Come down, stay, my dear. You can clear your mind.” The voice now was recognized. It was definitely a male’s high-pitched voice.

      “Why do I want to come down, sir?” I mumbled, realizing how much I actually was shaking, clutching onto the thin pipe that was vertically in the air.

      “Oh Nuld, you don’t want to-” Everything went black. The small splotch of light from the pothole was gone, miles up.

      There were no pipes, and I thought maybe not even a ground. The only thing touching me was an itchy fabric, and it was covering my up and down. I bumped up and down in the fabric, not knowing where I was. Maybe I was up above the pipes, where I dreamed of going, for a new life.

     I got so curious, that I clawed at the bag, trying maybe to cut open a hole for my eye. My two claws scratched slowly on the fabric, tearing away a material that seemed to hold it together. It was very hard trying to cut one hole in one spot, while the bag was shaking up and down, side to side.

     After a few minutes, a very sizeable hole was cut, perfect for me to see out of. I was most definitely not above the pipes. It was cold, and dark, except for the few candles and lanterns that lined the path where my sack seemed to be going. Gasping, I recognized the view from my dream which had plopped me below the main pipe. I pretended I could hear Mother’s voice, forewarning me. They heard you. They will find you. More. Almost choking, I realized what dirty deed I had done. I had spoken to the Skeith. He was taking me down, below the pipes, to more.

      I clawed another small hole, this one even smaller than the other. The same time was taken, and I peered out. To my horror, the only thing I saw was green. The green thing that was chasing me in my dream was here, in Neopia. But there was nothing I could do. I didn’t think so at the moment, however.

      “Let me out!” I squealed, voice sounding a little pretty, but still, worried from everything, it cracked with nervousness. My bag was thrown up and down.

      “After all my hard work? And what’d I tell the others?” The Skeith growled. This sound was much different from the taunting one that scared me, leading me to this bag. That meant one thing; there were more.

      “Why would these others be so sad if I wasn’t here?” I asked. He laughed at me.

      “Oh Nuld, we need you down here,” he growled. I was so angry at him. He couldn’t just waltz into my life and confuse me about everything that I knew. What more was even below the pipes? Mother had said it was danger; I believed her now.

      My face scowled, and I just wanted to break out. The bag was very thick around the rim, and I wouldn’t know what to do next, so I did not try. Instead, I put my sharp claw through the hole in the sack closest to the Skeith, and cut him. He drew blood instantly. Of course, it was only a cut, but it showed my anger clearly. The Skeith yelped in a high-pitched voice.

      “Well, those will have to be trimmed, won’t they, my little beastly rodent friend?” he growled, shaking me around in the bag, and he turned the bag so there was no hole facing him. Now I had two different views of my surroundings. Peering through one hole, I saw black, and the occasional candle.

      In the other eye hole I had clawed out, I saw something very different than in the other one. The place I was going gained light. Through the hole, there was huge pool of sewage, and I saw other animals, all of them looking like cats, surfing through it. It was horrendous, and gross, but I kept looking anyway, hypnotized by the strangeness of where I was.

      Suddenly, the Skeith made a sharp turn, and the sewage pool disappeared. In its place, there was a damp, ugly table. Sitting in front was a creature. My bag fell on top of the table, and the string tied around it opened up. Light filled my eyes again.

To be continued...