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"Shadow in the Kadoatery" by midnightfrost444
Late into the night one moonless autumn evening, long past when most Neopets had gone to bed, Crybaby sat awake. Of course Crybaby was no Neopet, but a Kadoatie, with fur so white it practically shone in the darkness, and large, observant eyes. Around her, the Kadoatery was alive with noise. From a distance, it could be faintly heard as a strange keening wail. If one were to get closer, the sound would separate into dozens of separate screams. Kadoaties were crying, each one trying its hardest to drown out the others in a desperate bid to gain the attention of employees who wouldn't even be here at this hour. They disgusted Crybaby. She had been like them once, admittedly. She had cried long into the night, night after night, week after week, month after month. Year after year... Eventually, she had stopped crying. The name that the Kadoatery workers had given her when they'd found her abandoned on the step one night hadn't really been appropriate after that, but it had stuck. Crybaby couldn't remember who had abandoned her, or why, but she had grown hard and bitter from seeing these other Kadoaties crying each night, even though all of them had happy homes to go back to. Bonbon, the Pink Kadoatie two cages to Crybaby's left was screaming the loudest. She was a regular visitor to...

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