Preparing Neopia for the Meepits Circulation: 94,333,932 Issue: 184 | 1st day of Eating, Y7
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A Story of My Life - Part Three


by sarahsuk

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The rest of the day gave me mixed feelings. Sherry gave me toast for breakfast, which I loved. I held Jill the entire time. When I told Maria that Johnny and Sherry had pitched in to get her for me she just sniffed and said, "That's nice."

     Jill was awfully cute and loved getting hugs. I spent the day making her several pieces of clothing from pieces of fabric, including a little T-shirt and a cape. Maria seemed to take a disliking to her. When I showed her Jill's new wardrobe Maria just gave one disgusted look at it and walked away from me.

     She didn't speak to me for an hour. I wondered why she disliked Jill so much. The only thought that came into my head was an ugly one.

     When she did speak to me, I was so glad.

     "Are you ready for our big day tomorrow?" Maria asked me.

     "Yes," I replied, nodding.

     "Just you and me…"

     "And Jill?" I said hopefully.

     Maria frowned. "I'm afraid not, kiddo," she said.

     "Why not?" I asked.

     "She might get lost or something," Maria said.

     And that was that.

     I apologized to Jill and told her that Johnny would take good care of her while I went shopping for my birthday.

     "Next year we can celebrate our birthdays together," I said cheerfully to her. "We'll have a giant cake, strawberry flavoured. That's my favourite flavour. What about you?"

     I went on planning our party. "There can be red balloons and yellow streamers and maybe a birthday tree. A birthday tree is like a Christmas tree except it's dedicated to us."

     I suppose Jill got bored of planning She started to chew on her feet. I had to pry her loose.

     Later I asked Maria if Sherry or Johnny could come. She got upset.

     "Don't you want to spend time with me alone, honey?" she asked me. She started to cry.

     Yes, cry. I couldn't believe it myself. I patted her on the back.

     "That's not what I meant, Maria," I said soothingly. "Don't worry, forget I said anything. Just you and me. We'll have a blast."

     She smiled at me and stroked my head.

     "It's been so long since we did anything together alone," she said.

     "Doing things with Johnny is fun too," I pointed out.

     She gave me a sour look and I said no more.

     I loved Jill so much that I didn't want to take a bath without her there with me. So I gave her a bath too. She was sparkly clean.

     After our bath I made Jill a carrier type thing. I filled it with tissue and cotton to make it soft for her. I also heard that Angelpi were very delicate and being squished even a little can cause their heart to stop. It made me shiver to think of Jill dying.

     I was feeling great until lunch.

     "Tell Johnny to come down and eat," Maria told me.

     So I went upstairs to tell Johnny to come down and eat. I found him in his room, staring out the window.

     "What are you doing, Johnny?" I asked.

     "Nothing," Johnny murmured. He wasn't even looking at me.

     "Well, Maria says you should come downstairs and eat now," I said hesitantly.

     Johnny sighed.

     I frowned.

     "So yeah…" I inched towards the door.

     "Why do you still listen to her?" Johnny asked bitterly.

     I felt shocked. "What do you mean?"

     "Look at what she's done to us," Johnny said angrily, turning to look at me. His eyes were flashing. "And you still cling on to her like a helpless baby."

     "I am not a helpless baby!" I cried, my voice rising.

     "It sure seems like it," Johnny said, laughing cruelly. "You don't seem to mind when she loses all our money. I bet you wouldn't mind if she went and killed Jill."

     I gasped. "Maria wouldn't do that!"

     Johnny snorted. "Wanna bet? You don't know her like I do, Carrie. She's only sweet to you because you weren't adopted. You were created. Me on the other hand-"

     "Shut up!" I yelled. "Just shut up!"

     Johnny looked shocked. Then he started to yell. "You can't make me, Carrie. You aren't the boss of me!"

     "Maria is!" I shouted.

     "She is not the boss of me," Johnny snarled. "I am the boss of myself. You know I protected you for so many years and now you turn on me. You side with Maria. When me, your brother, was the one who protected you for so long."

     "Protected me from what!?" I yelled, throwing my arms up in the air.

     People probably would have thought a yellow Acara and a blue Shoyru were practicing a play or something. We had such anger in our voices, I hardly recognized them.

     "Remember when you jumped in front of a bike?" Johnny asked. "I saved you from getting run over. And what does Maria do? She sends me to my room for telling you to go on to the road. Which I did not do!"

     "Well, I bet you pushed me on to the road then!" I blurted out. I gasped, not believing what I had just said.

     "You really think I would do that?" Johnny sputtered. "Push my younger sister out on to the road?"

     "Johnny…" I stammered.

     "No!" Johnny yelled. "I don't want to hear it. You are exactly like Maria! I don't need you, ok? Just get out of my face, Carrie!"

     "You can't make me get out of your face, Johnny," I shouted. "You aren't the boss of me!"

     "You need a good boss, Carrie," Johnny said. "You can't control yourself so you turn to Maria. She is NOTHING. She can't handle what she does. She will lead you into death, Carrie! Do you want to die?"

     "Maria will keep me safe!" I shrieked. "No matter what! She is my owner and she will not put me in danger."

     Johnny laughed. "She embarrassed me so bad I felt like I wanted to die."

     I glared at him. "Lies."

     Johnny held up his hands. "Call it what you think, but it's true. She made me filthy and sent me into all the stores to tell them what an awful, horrible, menace-"

     "Stop it!" I shrieked. "Maria wouldn't do that! She brought us here to Sherry's house to keep us safe, OK???"

     "Sherry!" Johnny yelled. "That's another point. She's so kind to us and Maria goes and lies to her. We were robbed, she says. Have pity on us, she begs. It's disgusting."

     "Sherry is kind," I said firmly. "She would understand even if Maria didn't lie. So what's the difference?"

     "Don't you see the difference between good and bad, Carrie!?" Johnny yelled. "Sherry is good, Maria is bad!"

     "What makes Maria bad besides that you're insane and you claim that she's out to kill you?" I scoffed.

     Johnny's mouth hung open. He looked like he had been punched in the stomach.

     I regretted what I said.

     "She only likes you because you're her own creation," Johnny mumbled. "She wants her creations to be the best. But now that she's lost all her money, she won't care about you. Just wait and see, Carrie, just wait and see."

     "Maria loves me for who I am!" I shouted. "You're just jealous, aren't you? Aren't you?" I poked him in the arm

     He swatted me away. "Get outta here, Carrie."

     "I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this," I huffed.

     Johnny glared at me. "Why? Why is it a big deal? I'll tell you why-" And then right that moment, Johnny swung his arm and accidentally knocked over the vase on his desk. The vase I had made him for his birthday. The vase that I spent weeks on. Shattered into a million pieces.

     He just stared at the broken pieces. "Carrie…"

     I felt so shocked. To see my work split into nothing more then garbage. I could feel tears well up in my eyes. I wasn't about to let Johnny see me cry, though. I took a deep breath and started counting to three.

     "Look, Carrie, I'm sorry," Johnny said his voice small.

     "Save it," I whispered.

     He shook his head. "We can glue it back together, Carrie. Jill can help."

     I started to cry. Jill. How could such a nice brother turn so wicked in the same day? Or was I the one being stubborn?

     The dark blue pieces of the vase just sat there, so bare and alone. I bent down to pick them up, but I quickly stopped myself. My tears dripped down on one of the pieces. The piece had a large yellow moon on it. My lip started to quiver like it did so many times when I cried.

     "Carrie…"

     I looked up at him. He looked apologetic, but I felt so angry. It was as if he had smashed a part of my heart and walked away, laughing.

     I wiped my tears away and I marched right up to him and stared right into his eyes.

     "You are an adopted freak. You are no brother of mine."

     With those final words, I left the room.

To be continued...

 
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» A Story of My Life: Part One
» A Story of My Life - Part Two



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