Close Enough: Part Two by potatorewkiki |  |
As we sat quietly on metal chairs in the basement of my
sitter's Neohome, Kottske and I just stared at the floor. Every few minutes, we
would share glances, but that was pretty much the only movement down there in
the cold, creepy underground. We hadn't much to say. It had been two days since
I met London Dusk and Ellia McArma, and neither of us had seen anything of the
two of them since. It worried me -- the look on London's face, Ellia's stuttered
words, and the spooky atmosphere of the dark bedroom -- and I wonder what Ellia
was so horrified of.
And then, all of a sudden, the doorbell rang.
It was a much-needed silence breaker. I hopped up, as did Kottske, and we rushed
up the plain, white-painted wooden stairway to the maroon-colored front door.
I swung it open, only to see the troubled faces of - what do you know -- London
and Ellia.
"Blue, Kottske… You two really must, um, well,
never mind. If you don't mind, Blue, we need to have a camp out tonight, and
it would do best behind your house. London has a tent with him, and the both
of us have packed. We need to talk to you. It's… important. If not, you might
never see London again," the cloud Usul asked us, fighting back her tears. London
bit his lip as she said the final sentence of her little explanation.
"Well, coincidentally, Blue and I were going
to have a camp out in her back yard tonight, so I have all of my stuff, too!
As long as her sitter doesn't mind," Kottske voluntarily announced, before rushing
into my house to get his bag. I growled at the brown Uni, then turned up to
London and his friend, prepared to do anything I could for them. It was so nice
to know that there were there, three teenagers cared for me as I cared for them,
and that, after a few years of trying, people older than I could understand
me. They treated me like friend, but I couldn't help but to think that I already
was to them, like they had been to me.
"Great! Potato won't mind, come on in back!"
I called to them, dashing to the backyard, and motioning for them to come with
me. The towering red Jetsam followed behind me, but the unsure Ellia wouldn't
budge.
"Are you SURE that Miss Rewkiki isn't gonna mind?"
she questioned to me. I smirked.
"Miss Rewkiki? You gotta be kidding me! Just
call her Potato, Ellia. And, naw, she won't mind at all," I encouraged her,
though I wasn't sure myself if she would allow my friends to come over that
night.
By the time I convinced Ellia to come into the
backyard, Kottske had finished gathering his belongings and London had set up
the tent. Ellia pranced over to the opening and crawled in, followed by a little
shadow Gelert that I'd like to label 'me'. I shoved aside a strand of black
hair that had gotten in the way of my eyes and spread my sleeping bag out upon
the floor, making myself at home. It was already getting dark outside -- I could
see Kreludor and and numerous shining stars up there, through the small circular
opening at the top of the tent. Kottske soon joined me as we looked up at the
stars of the nighttime sky, laying a blanket underneath and another on top of
him, as did London, who sat beside Ellia on his sleeping bag.
"Hey, you guys, you two really need to get to
know Blue, and she needs to get to know you. Why don't you, you know, share
a bit about yourselves?" the brown Uni suggested. "Blue, you start."
"Um, okay… All right, my full name is Blue Twistoritoway,
a shadow Gelert as you can so plainly see, and I'm almost thirteen years old.
I have a mindless fourteen year old red Eyrie for my brother, Floryn, and a
bratty ten year old red Shoyru for a sister, Angel. I have never gotten a grade
lower than an A in school. I never see my mom, Gymlia, too much because she
studies petpets and their habitats, which is a job that always takes her away
from home. So I'm usually stuck here with Potato Rewkiki, and her pets Myra,
Madavan, Hyminu, and Khelo. I adore Batterflies, and pretending that the vegetable
type of potatoes are the human and destroying them. Yup, simple life," I said
to them, with a broad grin spread out upon my face. Kottske then smiled back
at me and nodded to Ellia.
"Oh yes! I am Ellia McArma, a cloud Usul who
turned fifteen two weeks ago. I am an only child, and my mom's name is Chloe.
She's really nice, and lets me do pretty much whatever I want, knowing that
I am dependable and will never get into trouble. I love shopping and hanging
out with my friends. I am a bit sympathetic, and I despise the Alien Aisha Vending
Machine and the Battledome," she finished, beaming with pride. I turned to London,
who should have known of the time of his turn to speak. Instead of doing so,
he sat with a face showing his despair and worry.
"London! What is up with you lately?" Kottske
shouted, a solemn expression plastered onto his face. He nudged the Jetsam with
a hoof, trying to get him to pay attention. Soon enough, London looked up at
me.
"Blue, let me tell you about my life. Think of
a three year old male red Jetsam. I didn't know my parents well enough to describe
them now, but I do know that they cared about me a lot. Now, think of a three
year old female Faerie Flotsam. She had already experienced time in the Battledome,
and man, was she terrific, especially for a girl of her age, color, and species.
Her parents cared for her, too. Our parents didn't know each other then, and
never did. They just both sent us off across the sea to try out for a water
show duet thing - because the show worker wanted a Flotsam and a Jetsam."
"We made it, and never saw our old parents again.
We had new owners then. Our TRUE owner we never saw in the seven years we lived
with him. He just put his two pets, Corvus Coraxia the shadow Pteri and Tauntum
the Tyrannian Kougra, in charge of us. Man, were those two rough. They picked
on us all of the time. But they kept in mind that we were stars - our performance
had become a widely known success - although they didn't use that knowledge
for much good."
"You see, the Flotsam, named Clapera, and I became
the best of friends. We were actually like family, she was the closest person
to me ever! In our show, though, she did much more stunts and tricks than I,
so everyone favored her over me. Even though I was okay with that, Clapera tried
to convince others that I'm just as good and awesome is she is, but her attempt
failed."
"Our show gradually became less and less popular,
and in the middle of the year that Clapera and I turned seven, we discontinued
the performances. Nonetheless, we were still owned by that mystery person, and
watched by the cruel Corvus Coraxia and Tauntum, so we spent those years wishing
that we never had such fame. One day, Clapera came up to me and said, 'London,
listen… I actually am so happy that I was put in this show. If I wasn't, I would
have never had a friend like you.' That was so sweet, it sincerely brought tears
to my eyes."
"And, just a week later, Tauntum approached me
and told me that since the performance was over, they only wanted to keep Clapera.
She explained that once Clapera would be paid so much Neopoints for long after
our show was over with, they would sell her off to a greedy fan so that they
could show her off to their fans. I was so upset and angry at that point that
I couldn't take it. I didn't care that they were dumping me in the pound - they
were separating me from my best friend and treating her so badly that I couldn't
believe it! But I was adopted by a boy named Ongi as an only pet, and I've tried
to put my horrid past aside, yet, no matter how hard I try, I can't forget Clapera."
"Remember what Ellia was so freaked out about
a few days ago? She saw Tauntum and Corvus Coraxia. I think that they're after
me, and they know about my friends Kottske and Ellia, but not you, Blue. That's
why I wanted to sleep here, plus, this house is on the total other side of the
neighborhood."
I just stared at him tears dripping from my
eyes in a rapid speed. I couldn't help it -- how could a girl not cry after
hearing that story? I had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach… It's
like I regret ever saying that my life stinks, and, suddenly, I'm so much more
happy about having Kottske here and Angel, Potato, and Floryn behind him… I
didn't know if I would ever complain again. Kottske had the same look on his
face, but I could tell that he withstood that raging urge to sob in him. And
the sympathetic Ellia was trying to smile, obviously not crying only because
she had heard that story before.
"London! I can't take this… Your poor friend,
poor you yourself! It's not fair! People shouldn't be taken from those that
they are so close to!" I yelled, furious at the sound of Tauntum and Corvus
Coraxia. Kottske nodded with agreement.
"I don't know if I've ever felt this bad for
someone in my whole entire life. I don't know how I'd manage if torn from my
mom and Blue," he stated. London sighed.
"Don't you feel bad for me, Kottske. It's weird…
At school, others see me as the big tough kid who always gets away with trouble.
But I'm different than what they think of me in almost every way!" the Jetsam
related. I suddenly felt so happy; glad to know that someone out there feels
like me.
"London, I don't know about you, but to me Clapera
sounds an awful lot like the girl sitting behind you. You were really close
to her, weren't you?" Kottske inquired, but the troubled red pet had fallen
asleep in his tears.
"You know what, London's snoozing already, we
should sleep now, too. After all, I think we are pretty much speechless after
that poignant tale," the Uni proposed. Ellia, who was curled up in her sleeping
bag by then, muttered, "yup" just seconds before I said the same thing.
As I settled in, I pondered the fact that two
malicious pets were searching for London in this very neighborhood. The thought
itself sent a chill up my spine, but I finally made the effort to think of a
different, a much happier, subject. And before I knew it, I was dancing away
in my dreams, forgetting about the dangerous world around me at one of the times
that I had needed to stay up just a little more.
To be continued...
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