Wanted by Everybody, Loved by Nobody

***

"Ugly, get your big, fat, ungrateful self over here!" a teenage girl with short, black, wavy hair called me. This girl was my owner. More like my slave-driver, for I was like her slave. But, despite that, she insisted that I call her 'mom'.

      Our family consisted of her, Pretty_Perfecto_One, me, the eldest pet, a clumsy, green Elephante, and my younger brother. My brother was a baby Gelert. But, like many baby pets, he's not actually a baby. He's just painted that way. Too bad Perfecto treated him like has was a baby. I'm actually only a month older then him.

      What did Little_Sweety_one do this time? I wondered. I was always to blame. Sweety would break something, and it would be my fault.

      I trudged over to Perfecto from the kitchen. I had just finished my breakfast of rotten omlette. Our house had two floors and seven rooms. Four rooms downstairs and three upstairs.

      The upstairs was the bedrooms. I had a cardboard room. The only furnishing was a beat-up old mattress on the floor-this is what I slept on. Sweety's room was made out of cloud. Actually, Sweety's room was many rooms, but Perfecto claimed it was only one. I play along that I don't know how many rooms Sweety's "one room" is. Perfecto's room was made out of gold.

      The downstairs is made out of brick. It has a brick living room, a brick kitchen, a brick bathroom, and a brick foyer.

      "Yes, mom?" I asked timidly.

      Perfecto looked mad. "What do you mean 'yes mom'? How could you bring up the nerve to say something that simple after what you've done!"

      I braced myself. She was screaming really loudly into my ear. I felt like plugging my ears and shouting, 'I didn't do it! Everything you blame me for was Sweety's fault! I never did anything!"

      But that would've made everything worse. Perfecto was now practically spitting into my ear.

      "Ugly, you rotten beast! I always knew that you were no good! I feed you a whole omlette every single day! (She didn't mention that she feeds me a rotten omlette each day) I house you! You have a place to sleep! Ugly, you're going to pay big time for breaking my Faerie Queen Doll!" I cringed. She had saved up for months for that doll, and it was her prized treasure! Sweety had played with it and broken it, but lied that it was my fault.

      "I don't know why I even keep you!" continued Perfecto.

      But I know why she keeps me, and I know that she knows, too. She created me for the avatar, but she told her friends she adopted me out of kindness. Ha! That's a laugh! Later, she was too embarrassed to abandon me after what she had told her friends.

      I listened to Perfecto rant a bit longer. "Go to you room, NOW! You will NOT get any food for a... month! Stay in your room for a week; after that I'll give you a real punishment."

      No food? For a month? I'd starve! I turned around, not to my room, but to the front door. I opened the door, and ran through the garden into the street.

      It was as if my whole world was falling apart before my eyes. I didn't know anybody; I didn't know where I was. I was homeless, ownerless, and friendless. I was a lost pet out in Neopia with nowhere to go. Neopia seemed such a cold place!

      I had been wandering around for approximately five days, when I stumbled into a pretty blue Bruce. She took one look at me and mumbled, "Oh dear!" I looked at her through dim eyes, growing dimmer from fatigue. "Missy, Missy! Another one!" cried the Bruce. I couldn't stand up any longer; I couldn't see. I closed my eyes and fell to my knees. Blacking out, I fell to my side.

      I woke up to the smell of faerie pancakes. It smelled heavenly. Probably for Sweety-wait. I ran away. Sweety wasn't here… "Where am I?" I cried out loud as I bolted to a sitting position, as I had been lying down.

      "Ah, I see you're awake, not to mention, alive. I'm Happy_Go_Lucky_B, Happy for short. This is my owner, _Missy_Meep_." It was the Bruce talking.

      _Missy_Meep_ smiled, "Just call me Missy. How about some pancakes?"

      I nodded happily. I never did question how I got to their house, or what they were doing in that alley I had been in when I had fainted. Perhaps it is better that I hadn't.

      After I began to trust Missy and Happy, thinking that I had a home, thinking that maybe, just maybe I might be feeling love, Missy called me over to her side. "How about going for a walk, E?"

      I nodded eagerly. "Where's Happy? Isn't she coming?"

      Missy shook her head, "Happy's not feeling that well today, it'll just be us."

      I should have known what was coming. But I was too busy thinking that I had found a home. Thinking that had blinded me.

      We walked for a while, but then Missy stopped in front of the pound. I didn't think much of it, even though I should have. "Are we going to adopt another pet, Missy?"

      When Missy just ushered me into the pound, I was beginning to get scared.

      "Missy? Missy?!?" I cried out when she spoke a few words to Dr_Death.

      Dr_Death grabbed me and dragged me through the pound. I craned my neck and just saw Missy. She was leaving, and there wasn't any trace of sadness, anguish or regret on her face.

      My eyes filled with tears-she hadn't loved me. I still hadn't felt love. Of course she hadn't loved me. She had never told me she loved me, as she did to Happy. She had never hugged me, like she did with Happy.

      I was left, groping in the dark, feeling for the light, the light of love.

      That bag of peanuts she had treated me to wasn't meant for my enjoyment. It had been for hers, for she had given me that "Special treat" for the same reason Perfecto had. Oh, how I hate Avatars! I still hate them!

      Dr_Death placed me in a cage-not unkindly, though. I lifted my tear-filled eyes to Dr_Death's face; his expression was still gruff. Yet, underneath that, there was a trace of pity, maybe even kindness. Our eyes met for a second, then the Techo abruptly turned away and headed back to the front of the pound.

***

There it is, the story of my life. Well, not completely. After that day, I was adopted several times-but just for that avatar. That cursed avatar. A person would glance my way, my hope would rise. I would feel a surge of joy when Rose opened my cage. But when I stepped out of the pound, the owner would stuff a bag of peanuts down my throat, and WHAM! I was back in my cage in thirty seconds flat. Yes, that's my life-- this is my life. I'm forced to live for that avatar. I can't live my own life. I must live for that avatar... Maybe, one day, I might find a home. A home where I can feel loved. Where I can tell my owner 'I love you'. Where my owner will pat my head and say 'good job' when I achieve a goal. One day, one day I will find my home.

The End

A/N: Thanks, Fantasy_Scifi, for looking this story over and for the encouragement! It really helped a lot! I would also like to mention Stoneman3x, for his "encouragement" earlier on, when I was still kind of new to Neopets. Even if he doesn't know it, what he said really encouraged me. A lot.