The Journal

Day One:

I came home today, after playing games, and there she was. I had gotten a thousand on Trouble at the National Neopian, too. I had wanted Sabby to myself. Sabrina, that is. When I was born, she was the first person I saw. But she tells me not to call her “Mom” – “I’m not that old,” she says. And she’s not. Really. But back to the intruder. She was a Blue Xweetok. Just like me, except I’m Green. But what was she doing in my Neohome?! In my Red Bean Bag Chair, no less! Sabby walked into the room. I guess I was gaping at the stranger.

      “What?” Sabby asked. “She’s your sister. Remember? I told you that you would have a sibling soon!”

      And she beamed at me, as if she thought I should be happy. WHAT!!! A sister?! I don’t want her. I want Sabby to myself. Maybe it’s a bit selfish. But Sabby’s mine. Maybe I can convince Sabby to abandon her. She just adopted her today. It probably won’t be that hard. After all, Sabby always listens to me. Always.

***

Day Two:

      I’m going to leave it a couple days before asking – telling Sabby to abandon Katie_Cool_Puppy. That way I’ll look responsible – like I’m spending some time thinking about it. Even though I already know that Katie_Cool_Puppy has to go. I need all of Sabby to myself. I can’t share her.

      She’s already trying to “equally divide” her time between me and Katie_Cool_Puppy. “Equally divide”! I should get more of the time. I’m the oldest, after all. The first. The best. The favorite. In fact, I should get all the time. Not just “most of it”.

      After all, Katie_Cool_Puppy should be gone in no time. Right? So I can just wait a bit. Just a bit.

      Anyways, why am I writing about Katie_Cool_Puppy? I don’t even care about her! I should write about something else. Like my score in Trouble at the National Neopian. I scored one thousand six points today. That beats the record I set yesterday! Wow! Two records in as many days! Soon I’ll be on the hi-score table. Soon I’ll be famous. Everyone in Neopia will talk about me. I’ll be interviewed by all sorts of reporters for the Neopian Times, and people will line up for miles to see me play the game. And then we’ll get the lab map, and then Sabby will start earning my Paint Brush. So I’ll be Pirate. Like I always wanted to be. It’ll rock! And I’ll be famous, and pretty, and all sorts of other stuff. And Sabby will forget all about stupid Katie_Cool_Puppy. Stupid, stupid Katie_Cool_Puppy.

***

Day Three:

      I hate Sabby! I hate Katie_Cool_Puppy! I hate both of them! Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate!

***

Day Four:

      I still hate them. I’m just not throwing stuff. Like this journal, which I threw under my bed. Or any of my other stuff.

      I’m mad because Sabby won’t give up on Katie_Cool_Puppy. When I told her to abandon Katie_Cool_Puppy yesterday (in the Kitchen – I didn’t want Katie_Cool_Puppy hearing because it might hurt her feelings (not that I care or anything)), Sabby looked like she was shocked.

      “Abu!” she exclaimed. “What did you just say?!”

      “I said,” I repeated, “can we go and abandon Katie_Cool_Puppy, now?”

      Her mouth dropped open, and she looked angry. “Abu, go up to your room. Your sister is here to stay! Don’t come back down until you’re ready to accept that!”

      I stormed off to my room. If she was going to be that way, fine! She’d learn the error of her ways!

      At first, I was mad. Like, extremely, extremely mad. I hated Sabby! And Katie_Cool_Puppy – her especially! If she hadn’t existed, none of this would have happened!

      I threw stuff around for a while, and then sat down, seething with rage. After a while, I cried.

      Why was Sabby doing this to me? Why?! This was me, Abu, Abu the Loyal, Abu the Best, Abu the First. Her favorite. Her only pet. Why was she looking at this stupid Xweetok as if she were the best thing ever?

      About twenty minutes later, I stopped crying. Finally I decided I won’t come out. At least, not ’till Sabby comes and apologized and begs me to come back and agrees to give up Katie_Cool_Puppy.

***

Day Five:

      Sabby’s been sending up food and stuff. She puts it outside my door. Sometimes with notes. They say things like, “We miss you, Abu!” and “We love you!” and “We wish you would come back!”, and others. We. She and that... that... that intruder. I’m tearing them up, and sticking them outside with the remains of my food. Just to show defiance, and all that.

***

Day Six:

      Yesterday, after I finished writing in my journal, I put out my tray of food and the note. Except I didn’t tear up the note.

      Instead, I wrote, “How could you?!” on it.

      I heard Sabby come up and get the tray. She went downstairs. I waited for a bit.

      Then Sabby came up. She sat with me for a while, in the chair in my room, holding me. I cried again.

      “Oh, Abu,” she said quietly. “Oh, Abu.”

      After I finished crying I turned to face her. She looked at me for a second, almost said something, and then stopped. She let me start. I said nothing. We sat there, for a few minutes, saying nothing. Finally, Sabby talked to me.

      “Abu, I’m sorry. I should have told you more about adopting Kat.” I nodded. She should have. “You see, I had joined a guild about adopting Xweetoks and healing them up, painting them, giving them petpets, and then returning them to the pound, to be adopted much more quickly because they were, er... rarer.” I listened to her voice, so calm and soothing. “So I went to the pound, two days ago. And there I found Kat.”

      That was it. “Kat” again. So she was nicknaming the sibling. That wasn’t a good sign. But at least there was that guild: she would paint her and send her back: there was still hope...

      “So you’re going to paint her and then abandon her?” I asked.

      I crossed my fingers. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. It would mean putting off getting the Lab Map or a Pirate Paint Brush for me, but at least Katie_Cool_Puppy would be gone.

      “Oh, Abu,” she said again, dragging me back to reality. “When I got to know Kat, I realized I couldn’t send her back. To the Pound, I mean. It would be like sending you off, Abu. She told me about the Pound. I can’t send her back. I just can’t. She’s staying with us. She’s family, Abu.”

      I turned away from Sabby. She compared me to the other Xweetok! I was more important.

      I deserved to be more important! To be more special. I was the first. I was supposed to be the only...

      Sabby left the room.

      Today, I left my room, too. Katie_Cool_Puppy and Sabby pretended nothing had happened, that I had been with them for the two days I was up in my room, not sulking or angry.

      I’m still not talking to her, though. She may be my sister, but I don’t have to like her.

***

Day Seven:

      Nothing has changed about Katie_Cool_Puppy. I still wish Sabby would abandon her.

      On other news, I scored a goal playing Yooyuball today. My team is really happy about that. We won, one to nothing. My goal was the winning one. And I’m not even a forward – I’m a defender! My team was pretty impressed that I managed to score. It was a pretty cool one: I ran all the way down the field, and then headed it in when the other team’s defense tried to pop it up over my head. My head hurt a bit (I messed up the header), but at least it was a plain Yooyu, so my face didn’t catch on fire or get spikes in it or anything. Boy would Sabby have been mad if she had received a message from my coach telling her that I was currently in the Neopian Hospital! Still, the goal was awesome.

      This year, my team rocks (not like last year). It’s like magic: you can pass the Yooyu without looking and somehow it will find someone on your team. Maybe the Yooyus like us, and so they’re influencing the game in our favor? I hope not. That would be cheating. If we’re going to win, it’s going to be fair and square. No team will be able to use, “the Yooyus like them” as an excuse for losing!

      We have some of the best players in Mystery Island on our team. Pretty soon, we might be upgraded a league to the senior league, where coaches who coach World Teams come to watch – and recruit new players for their teams! Maybe, instead of being famous for my skills at Trouble at the National Neopian, I’ll be the best center defense the Neopia has ever seen. And maybe I’ll be in the Altador Cup. Who knows? It could happen.

***

Day Eight:

      Today, nothing really happened. Except that Kat has been enrolled in my Neoschool (which doesn’t start for a couple of months). But I suppose that’s OK. I can just stay near my friends and ignore her.

***

Day Nine:

      Earlier, I was sitting on my Red Beanbag Chair and reading when Kat walked into the room. I don’t think she’s read much – in fact, I thought she was rather stupid – so she surprised me by pulling out a book of her own and reading.

      When I looked down, I saw that her book was much bigger than mine – so she definitely could read. And was probably pretty smart.

      I couldn’t see the words – she was sitting in another chair pretty close to me, but not too close – so I asked her.

      “What’re you reading?”

      Probably my first voluntary words to her.

      She looked up. She walked over to me, and showed me the title.

      She doesn’t talk much. Maybe she’s still upset from the pound. In fact, though it may have been a little rude, I asked her about the pound on an impulse.

      “What was the pound like?”

      She looked at me for a second, and shuddered. Then she began to talk.

      Kat’s Story:

      I was pounded a long time ago. A long, long, long time ago. I’m a regular – a pounder who comes and goes, but always ended up back in the pound.

      For a while, also, I got Lost. You’ve heard of Lost pets? No? Most people haven’t, though Sabby – your owner – does now. They can’t be found in regular Pound searches. We get Lost, in cages at the back of the Pound.

      You want to know about cages? I’ll tell you about them later.

      Anyways, luckily, some people run information centers where they keep track of Lost pets. No, don’t ask me how they do it. I don’t know.

      But someone found me, through one of them. Her name? It was Christine, I think. Or something like that. Anyways, I was out!

      I stayed with her for several months. I thought I would never go back to the Pound. During my days with Christine, I woke up happy, and went to sleep happy.

      But then, the Gnorbu was released. And Christine fell in love with them. She had to have as many of them as she could.

      So I was gently but firmly placed back in the Pound. When she left, she didn’t even look at me. She was laughing, and talking to one of her Gnorbus. I felt betrayed. It was worse than any time before.

      Usually, it was just a matter of days: I’d be adopted by a Newbie for their first week. Then the Newbie would forget to feed any of their pets (which he or she usually had four of), couldn’t figure out how to play any games, and basically did nothing. At the end of the first week, the Newbie’s well-meaning friend would tell him or her to abandon all of their pets, to get “better” ones, and he or she would.

      So I wasn’t used to getting attached to someone.

      Mostly, I just sat back and waited to be abandoned. I didn’t really care – the Pound was OK. Well, sort of.

      In the Pound, we each had our own cages. Cages! Small, too.

      And then, every day, groups of people would come around and look at everyone. A sign on the front of our cage doors told them everything about us, and for the rest, they just looked at us and figured it out.

      Any rare pet was adopted right away.

      I remember one time: a Draik somehow got put in there with us. Almost before his cage door had shut it was opened again, and a Pound Sniper – or maybe the owner on a side account – ran off with her. Literally, a matter of seconds!

      But I wasn’t rare, limited edition, or painted, and I didn’t have awesome stats. So I was always in the Pound. A Pounder, like I already said. It makes you lose your hope, you know, to always be in there.

      Dr. Death? Yeah, you’re right; there are many different stories about him. Everyone has different opinions. I guess he was OK, when I met him. Several times. He always nodded at me when I showed back up, and smiled the ghost of a smile. And he was pretty rude to abandoning owners, too: “A pet is forever, not just for Christmas”, and all that. So, yeah, I suppose he was on the side of the pets. But, once in the Pound, we didn’t see him much. He’s really busy at his job.

      You know what’s sad? So many pets get abandoned everyday. That’s sad. And so many pets get created – no offence, Abu. It’s just that there are so many pets in the Pound looking for owners, and so many owners, instead of looking at the Pound, go ahead and head for Create-A-Pet. They don’t even search the Pound, first, to see if anyone is what they wanted for their first pet. Or second. Or third. Or fourth, fifth, sixth... whatever.

      So there I was, sitting in one of the cages, feeling alone. I didn’t think anyone would find me. I stared at the ground. And then, out of the blue, I heard a voice coming from over my head.

      “Would you like to leave the Pound?” It was Sabby.

      Of course, I didn’t know it then. All I knew was that some owner was standing over me and asking if I waned to leave.

      This was a new experience for me! Usually, people just reached into my cage, tossed a sack of Neopoints at whatever member of Pound staff was nearby, and walked off with me.

      I thought about it. She – your owner, Sabby – was different. She had asked. She might even actually cared about Pounders’ feelings. Maybe... maybe she wouldn’t abandon me, I thought. I could do worse than get stuck with her.

      So I nodded. She reached in, let me out, and handed a bag of Neopoints to a Faerie Ixi, who I assume was volunteering at the Pound.

      As we walked to her Neohome, she told me all about you. Then, she let me speak.

      As I told her this story, her face grew dark, and closed, and sort of sad. Then she turned to me, and told me that she wouldn’t put me back there. I believed her.

      And I’m still here, after eight days, so things have changed. I’m going to stay here. This is my home, and you and Sabby are my family.

      I think I’m going to have to think about that for a bit.

***

Day Ten:

      OK. So she is a member of my family. And... I sort of feel sorry for her. But I don’t think she wants pity. I think she wants to be a member of our family. So, reminder to myself: Treat Kat as a sister.

***

Day Eleven:

      Today, Kat and Sabby took my to my Yooyuball game. They watched, and cheered. We won – we’re going to the quarterfinals!!!!! YES!!! After the game, I introduced Kat and Sabby to my team.

      Kat shyly told all of us that she sort of liked to play Yooyuball – she had learned how to from a “previous owner” (I guessed that she meant Christine, but I didn’t say anything – no sense in bringing up sad memories).

      Anyways, my teammates thought that it was cool, and I asked Coach if she could join our team next year, if we’re still all together.

      Coach answered, “Sure!” and then some of the other guys on the team asked what position she played.

      “Goalie,” she replied.

      Some someone suggested that we play Altador Cup. That’s one of my favorite Yooyuball practice games: we grab partners, and then we try to score. When a team of two scores, they get to sit by the goal. They will continue onto the next round. In each round, the last team left who hasn’t scored is eliminated. It goes on like that until one team is left. It’s a super fun game!

      Sabby and I were still talking to Coach, so I wasn’t in that game of Altador Cup. But, boy, could Kat play! She rocked.

      The game was a draw, because no one could score on her!

      “Wow!” I told Kat. “You’re great!”

      She is! Maybe having a sister is OK...

***

Day Twelve:

      Kat and I went and played Trouble at the National Neopian together this morning, while Sabby went on an insane “NeoMillionaire” guide phase.

      Then again, insanity seems to run in our family! Even Kat is becoming more outgoing and talkative after just a couple days with us! She likes to make jokes, and pull pranks. Not mean ones, though. She’s pretty sporty and athletic, though she’s no jock. She doesn’t share Sabby and my interest in literature, unfortunately. Maybe it’ll be fun to have a sister...

***

Lots Later:

      Wow! I found this under my bed, with dust and stuff all over it. I can’t believe this ever happened! I mean, Kat rocks! She’s the best sibling a Xweetok could ever wish for!

      Anyways, I’m just unearthing this old relic because Kat and I are going to share a room. Yeah, I was totally excited, too, when I found out.

      You see, this morning, Sabby brought home another pet: a red Ixi, from the pound. Her name, I think, is Xenakanakari. Well, I’ll let this journal be a lesson to me: I’m not being mean to another sister! So, off to talk to Xenakanakari...

Author’s Note II: As you see, I matured a lot, and even lived my second sibling and welcomed her! Now, there are a lot of us: at least eight permanent pets! We all live on different accounts of Sabby’s, but I’m still close to my sisters, and especially to the first one, Kat.

The End