Going Bankrupt

      "I'll take it to her," he said, holding out his paw.

      "No, I'll take it!" Kougra said, pushing in front of him.

      "I will!"

      "I will!"

      They both were soon in a tumbling heap. They did that almost every day for notes, toys, the remote, even the last piece of blueberry jelly.

      "Yo, Mom!" I screamed again, slamming open the door. My mom was leaning out the window, with three weewoos in front of her. "Shoo, don't exist!" she yelped when she saw me, waving her hand. She tried to nonchalantly lean on the desk. She slipped and fell, then got back up, grinning. "What's up?"

      "Sky. What were those weewoos?"

      "Huh? What weewoos?" she asked, looking around.

      I rolled my eyes. "Mom, here's a note I got."

      "From the mailbox?"

      "No, the fire department, Mom," I said, sarcastically.

      "Don't sass me!" she yelled, grabbing the envelope. "You could've gotten it from some stranger on the street or..."

      "Mom! The note."

      She shooed me out and closed the door. I saw my brothers tumble by like a tumbleweed.

      "I want the cake!"

      "No!"

      Minutes later, a crash and a scream were heard from my mom's room.

      Prince, my other brother, came over. We all carefully opened the door, then poked our heads out the door, one by one, like in those cool spy movies.

      Mom was over a vase with a bat. When she saw us, she threw the vase out the window... along with the bat, ending with a Meowclops yowl. She shut the window and grinned, leaning on the desk again. "What's up?"

      "Mom, what was that episode about?"

      Mom bit her lip and held up the envelope. "I guess you gotta learn sometime. We're bankrupt."

      ~*~*~*~

      I have to admit, having such a crazy family can be hard work. My mom's only twelve and she leaves us starving sometimes. She's childish too, because of how once she pushed a bunch of kids off the swings just to swing herself.

      Prince is my Kyrii brother. He's usually more involved in himself. He's also the youngest of our gang. He has friends too, but I'm pretty sure they run away from him later.

      Nicky is my baby Kougra brother. He's actually not the youngest, surprisingly. More on how he came to be later.

      Kougra is my Christmas Kougra brother. The annoying, pranking, little monster that likes annoying me. On Halloween, he usually eggs people's houses.

      Then there's me. I'm Tiger, a cloud Kougra. But from what's coming up, I won't be my dream color anytime soon.

      After Mom announced we were bankrupt, Kougra screamed. Nicky screamed, then Prince, then I finally followed along. My mom screamed at us screaming and we all screamed in unison.

      "What are we gonna do!?" Kougra yelped, falling to his knees.

      "We gotta find a way to get money!" I said, glaring.

      "What about a garage sale?" Prince asked. My mom nodded. "That's not a bad idea! Tiger, go get any items you don't want! Everyone, go!" She rushed into her room, and I heard drilling and hammering. She kicked the door open and quickly stated, "Don't question the hammer," and walked down the hall with a giant box of items.

      "Who would wanna sell a perfectly good garage?" Nicky asked.

      "Okay, everyone, get your things," I ordered, turning on my heel and walking briskly to my room. I looked at my closet. I pulled out a striped shirt, shrugged and threw it behind me. A pair of pants, some pajamas, and a Neocola can followed.

      I think I was in there for about ten minutes. When I got out, I had a trash bag of the items behind me. I peeked into Nicky's room.

      "No," he said, throwing his plushie behind him. "No." He threw back his pillow. He got up and grabbed his crib. "Tiger, help me move my crib! I don't wanna be bankrupt! That means no food!"

      "We always starve anyway."

      "Touché."

      I lugged the box down the hallway to our garage which didn't hold anything. Mom was busy setting things out. She sure can work fast.

      "Where're are your brother's items?"

      "Mom, we're neopets. Not rockets."

      I lugged the box to her and she quickly set them up.

      Lemme tell you, Nicky doesn't understand the concept of a garage sale. Once everything was ready, people arrived. A noob came up, with a shirt that said, "I heart noobs."

      "What's up, newbie?" I asked, nodding my head.

      "Er... do you have bananas?"

      "Um... no."

      "Mangos?"

      "No."

      "Kiwi?"

      "Dude, the grocery store's THAT way." I said, pointing.

      "Oh... pineapple?"

      Prince trotted up and sprayed his pepper spray.

      "AHHH!" The newbie screamed and ran off.

      "I guess it was A-SALT. EH? EH?" I said, nudging Prince in the ribs. He sniffed and sprayed me too. "AHH! SPICY EYES!" I yelped, falling to the floor. Mom went over and picked me up. "Tiger, quit your acting."

      "Prince sprayed me with pepper spray," I whined.

      "Tattletale," Prince growled.

      After that, the place filled with people. "I'm a star!" Kougra said, handing out autographs with a toy guitar around his neck. "I'll be here all week." A kid ran over, snatched the guitar, and ran away.

      "YO MAN, THAT'S MINE!" Kougra yelped, chasing him.

      Nicky was walking around with a pan. "I don't know why these people are here looking at my stuff, but I like it!" he yelled aloud.

      A boy went up to him. "How much does this cost?" he inquired, holding up a plushie.

      "Nothing, kid. It's mine," Nicky said, grabbing the toy even though the boy was a head taller. Nicky walked off, the boy looking confused at being duped by a baby.

      Meanwhile, I was selling some items.

      "I'll give you two hundred," the Ogrin in front of me said, pointing to the painting I wanted to sell. It was actually a portrait of Kougra. He had paid some famous artist, which cost a lot and got Mom really mad. But she insisted on selling it.

      "It's worth ten thousand, ma'am," I mumbled, putting my paw on it. "Made by a very famous artist. And it's a Kougra."

      "I have a Kougra brother who looks like that and it'd be a great present. How about one thousand?"

      "Ten thousand. Take it or leave it."

      While the Ogrin was musing, Kougra came up with a fake mustache. "I'll give you twelve thousand," he said, holding up a dirty bag. I could see it was filled with rocks and it had NP written on it with a marker.

      "No," I said, ripping the mustache off. Kougra yelped and looked at the Ogrin. He winked. "How are YOU doing?"

      "Ten thousand," the Ogrin replied, quickly to me.

      "Good choice," I murmured, handing over the painting and collecting the money.

      "Hey! We can talk this out!" Kougra called, running after her.

      An hour later, we were fresh out of our unwanted stuff.

      "We're still short. I gotta pay the electric bill and water bill and neomail bill... I'm too young for this!" Mom yelled, falling to the floor. She crawled outside and screamed "NNNOOOO!!!!" dramatically up in the air as rain fell. "OW! MY EYES!"

      "Where'd the rain come from?" Nicky asked.

      At that moment, the lights went out.

      "Guys.... I guess the pound's the only option. I can't keep you guys." Mom sniffed.

      "Mom, come on! We can work this out!"

      "No, the letter said it all. Pack up."

      We looked at each other, sadly.

      "How about... a lemonade stand?"

      "A bake sale?"

      "Petpet sitting!"

      Mom just shook her head and steered us to our rooms.

      We all looked mournfully at our suitcases. The lights went out, at that moment.

      "Electric bill?" Nicky whimpered.

      "Most likely," I answered, putting my clothes and plushies in the suitcase. Where would we be later on from now? I felt scared and alone in my part. I shut my suitcase, helped Nicky with his (he was trying to sit on it) and we walked down the hall in the dark.

      My mom ushered us in the living room. "Listen, I'm just too young for these choices." She sighed.

      "But you're pretty big."

      "Are you kidding me? There's more meat on a Gelert bone!" she yelled, gesturing to herself.

      Prince only shrugged. "You ain't small, you're funsize!"

      "Yeah, that helps a lot!" Mom said, sarcastically.

      "I know, right?"

      My mom sighed. "Listen, guys. We just gotta say good-bye. I hope you pull through. I'll have to spend my last just to ABANDON you. After that, I'm quitting neopets."

      "Games?"

      "You KNOW I ain't good at those. And they're all the way at Roo Island. So... no. I guess this is good-bye."

      We all did a gigantic group hug... and me choking.

      Suddenly, the doorbell rang. We all grew quiet.

      A Chia policeman was there. Probably to take everything away. Nicky broke out in sobs.

      "Are you guys okay? The blackout was pretty intense."

      We all looked at each other. "Blackout?" I coughed.

      "Yeah."

      "We thought it was the electric bill," Prince said, coming from the hall. Nicky looked shocked at how fast Prince was from being next to him, then coming just from the hall.

      "Electric bill?" The policeman grabbed it and scanned it. "This isn't yours. It's the neighbor's."

      We were all quiet. And very shocked. So no pound. So no bills. My mom finally said something to break the silence.

      "So THAT'S why it started with 'Dear Mrs. Tony!' "

The End