Courier Crisis

     Arnie started his day with his usual walk to the couriers office. Technically the office was down the street from his house but Grey Pets tended to move along a little slower than usual. As Arnie opened his front door the sunlight greeted his sunken eyes. It was a beautiful day and although outwardly he wasn’t quite capable of showing it he felt grateful to be in the warm breeze. Arnie put on a brave face and began his twenty minute saunter over to the couriers. Immediately he could feel the judgmental gaze of his peers. The oppressive stares always made the walk feel longer than usual. He did his best to ignore them, stopping to admire some flowers in a window shop along the way. When Arnie finally arrived at his destination he begrudgingly opened the door, almost regretting ever having left the house to begin with. The chime above the entrance let out a charming melody as Arnie stepped into the dimly lit office.

     “Benny?” Arnie called out to the seemingly empty building. His voice echoed around the usually busy chamber. The counter was left unattended and piles of mail were lying scattered about.

     “Huh? What?” A familiar voice responded. Arnie approached the counter and was greeted by a mountain of discarded packages. The packages suddenly began to shuffle and Arnie jumped back startled.

     “What in the…Benny?” Arnie asked incredulously. He walked around to the other side of the counter and began clearing the pile. It wasn’t long before a Pteri’s beak came poking out. Benny shook himself free of the rest of the pile and stared blankly at Arnie.

     “Oh, hey. Thanks…I guess. That feels a bit better,” Benny said drearily. Arnie’s eyes widened at the sight of his friend.

     “No, Benny, not you too,” Arnie bemoaned. Benny was usually an energetic Pteri with a gorgeous array of rainbow feathers. The Pteri that stood before him now looked Grey and depressed. The complete opposite of his usual chipper self. Arnie was heart broken. He couldn’t believe the curse had found its way to one of the only friends he had left.

      “Me too? Oh, this? Yeah, whatever,” Benny said.

      “How did this happen?” Arnie asked.

      “If you must know,” Benny began with a sigh, “I was getting ready to deliver the mail and dealing with customers when some mysterious Yurble with a paint brush came waltzing in like he owned the place. Before I knew it everybody was scrambling and I woke up under a pile of boxes. It was kind of comfortable and moving them felt like a lot of work.”

      “I don’t know anything about a mysterious Yurble but you could have been seriously hurt!” Arnie cried out. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

      “Oh, yeah,” Benny said, disinterested.

      Arnie went in and wrapped his arms around his friend. He knew there wasn’t anything he could do but at least giving him a hug felt like doing something. As he let go, Arnie’s eyes couldn’t help but wander over to the piles of mail waiting to reach their destinations. That’s when he had a brilliant idea.

           “I could deliver the mail today!” Arnie said. This felt like the perfect opportunity to make everyone see how useful he could be.

      “Do whatever you want with it,” Benny said. “They also make great planes.” Benny picked a letter up off the floor and began folding when Arnie snatched it from his hands.

      “Not now, Benny!” Arnie sighed.

      Arnie looked at the imposing amount of mail in front of him and took a deep breath. It was now or never. He walked over to a nearby wall where some spare courier bags were hanging and paired one with some shoulder straps used to carry packages that were tucked away on a desk next to him. Arnie got to work sorting what he could. He immediately recognized some of the addresses as he put the letters away. In fact, he could recognize nearly all of them. Arnie knew the streets of Altador like the back of his hand and the longer he sorted the more confident he became.

           It was around noon before Arnie was done organizing all the mail and strapping the parcels together. Benny was of no help but Arnie couldn’t blame him. It was that curse’s fault! As Arnie stuffed the remainder of the mail into his bag and hoisted the parcels on his back he began to wonder if things would ever return to normal. He shook his head and refocused on his task.

           “Benny, I’ll be back. Just stay here,” Arnie said.

           “Sure, won’t move a muscle,” Benny said half-heartedly.

          Arnie tried to force a semblance of a smile for his friend and walked out the door of the courier's office and into the streets. The bustle of everybody milling about their day was almost overwhelming with such a huge responsibility literally weighing on his shoulders but Arnie was positive he could make this work. Arnie knew he had a very long day ahead of him. Grey Neopets were not sluggish by choice and his inherent nature very quickly began working against him as he made his way from home to home. Something like this wasn’t going to stop him and Arnie pushed onward while bracing against the hostility of the town he so deeply cared for.

     As Arnie did his best to push onward he began to notice something. His naturally slow pace afforded him a luxury that most Neopets didn’t have. Arnie picked up on the small things. The tiny things that most Neopets didn’t notice and that most people took for granted. Because of this he began to see things he hadn’t before. Things he was ignoring because he was scared. The gossip and snickering he once believed to be about him were turning into laughter and private jokes shared among friends. The stares were not at him but simply people enamored with the beauty of Altador as he was. People were not afraid of him, they were afraid of the same things he was. Arnie began to realize that the negativity he had been picking up on wasn’t coming from the outside world at all. He began to feel a sense of validation. One that couldn’t come from anybody else but himself.

     Arnie’s confidence continued to increase as the day turned to evening and the evening turned to night. He almost couldn’t believe he had spent so long cooped up in his house avoiding the world. With all of his parcels delivered Arnie was down to his last piece of mail. He approached the house with a porch Lightmite still buzzing and opened the mailbox with a creak. This sound must have alerted the owner of the house as a yellow Skeith now stood in the doorway in her bathrobe.

     “About time,” the Skeith tapped her foot impatiently.

     “Yes, Miss,” Arnie started, “Sorry Miss.” He handed the letter over and relief washed over him, his duty now complete.

     “What’s going on down there anyway?” asked the Skeith.

     “It’s Benny,” Arnie started. The Skeith looked like she would be annoyed by any explanation he tried to give her. He realized she was frustrated and took a deep breath in preparation of explaining everything to her but she stopped him before he could start.

     “Well whatever it is, King Altador will be there soon enough to take care of it. Benny better stay sharp,” the Skeith said sternly.

     “K-King Altador?” Arnie stammered.

     “Yeah,” the Skeith said, clearly irritated at this point. “When an entire nation’s mail doesn’t go out on time people notice. It’s been all the gossip today.”

     Arnie no longer had time for any sort of explanations whatsoever and turned around to make his way back to the couriers office as quickly as he could.

     “Don’t let this happen again!” the Skeith called after him. “I could have missed something important!”

     Arnie ignored the unhappy customer’s cries as he raced back to the office. This was probably the fastest he had ever moved in his life. He had to make sure Benny was okay and explain what happened to the King. Arnie opened the door to the couriers office out of breath and panting. He certainly wasn’t used to moving so quickly.

     “Benny!” Arnie cried out as he dropped his bag and straps on the ground next to him. “Benny, I got it all done! Please tell me you’re still here!”

     It was then Arnie heard the door shut behind him as a shadow loomed. Arnie turned to face the noise and was met with the great King Altador. His stature was as impressive as people had said and Arnie almost had to tilt his head to meet the King’s eyes.

     “Arnie, I hear we have you to thank for today’s mail service!” King Altador proclaimed.

     Arnie was almost too stunned to speak. In his rush to get back he had almost forgotten what it would be like to meet the King let alone have him know his name.

     “Yes, Sir,” Arnie replied.

     “Your friend, it’s the curse. I recognized the symptoms the moment I saw him sitting there when I arrived,” King Altador said sternly.

     “I’m so glad you knew,” Arnie began to explain, “I rushed here to tell you and-”

     “It’s okay. Relax. We are doing everything we can to take care of him,” King Altador interrupted compassionately. “Benny’s life isn’t in any danger but as you know we have yet to find a cure. It will take some time.”

     “Yes,” Arnie said sadly.

     “Trust us,” King Altador said, putting a reassuring hand on Arnie’s shoulder. “We will find a way. In the meantime, it looks as though we need a new courier.”

     King Altador’s gaze collided with Arnie’s as an understanding came over him.

     “You mean me?” Arnie asked, shocked. “There’s no way! I’m too new and I’m too slow and I can’t spend all day everyday delivering mail!”

     “What do you mean?” King Altador asked. “Just take the company Alabriss. It knows the route better than anyone. With that beauty by your side you’ll be done in no time!”

     Arnie sighed one last long sigh for the night. You couldn’t see it on his face but he was starting to feel hopeful again. There was lots of work to do and Benny still needed a cure but this was something he could do for everybody. This was something he could do for himself.

     The End.