Friends Found in Odd Places

     “Think, think, think,” she said, tapping her forehead. Lilah sighed. She had flew all the way to Meridell from Mystery Island, which was a very long way considering there weren’t many places to land and rest.

     “Oh well,” she thought and she started packing up her things when all of a sudden, Lilah heard a faint whimpering. She stop and listened for a moment. Not hearing the noise again, she decided she was hearing things and began to flap her wings to leave. Right before she lifted off the ground, she heard it again. It was louder. In fact, it was so loud this time, that it made her jump, causing her to drop her things. She gathered them up and sat them by the tree.

     "Hello?" she said. "Who's there?"

     Lilah received no reply, but whatever it was was still whimpering and now crying. The noise was very close to her. It was a full moon this particular night and she could see very well. She looked around, and didn't see a soul. This bothered Lilah. She wasn't someone to ignore things like this. She got up and started walking around the tree.

     "Ouch!" screeched Lilah. She hadn't been looking where she was going and her foot slipped right into a hole in the ground. She tugged and she pulled and wiggled and she couldn't get free.

     "Are you alright?" she heard a voice say in her head. Her eyes widened with fear.

     "Am I going insane?" she thought to herself. First the whimpering and crying, and now this, these voices?

     The voice in her head replied. "No, you are not going insane." The voice was in her head again.

     "I'll push up on your foot and you try to pull it out, okay?" The same voice from her head again, only this time it wasn't in her head.

     "Wh... wh... who are you?" she stammered.

     "Well... err, my owner never gave me a name. He bought me from a market in the Haunted Woods. I'm a petpet. A snorkle to be exact."

     "A snorkle? But you're a petpet. How can I understand you?" Lilah asked.

     "You must be a petpet whisperer," replied the snorkle. "Now listen. I'm going to push up on your foot and you pull. Okay? NOW!"

     Lilah did as the snorkle said and pulled up as soon as she felt its little feet on hers.

     PLOP! Lilah's foot came out and she fell over backwards and rolled. She stood up and shook herself. Lilah walked over to the hole, being careful not to step in it again. Sure enough, there was a snorkle looking up at her with dried tear streaks on its face. So that was the crying and whimpering she had heard.

     "Little snorkle, why were you crying?" Lilah asked.

     "Well, you see... my owner bought me so I could wake up the Turmaculus. I was very scared. My momma used to always tell me stories of how it eats petpets if it gets woken up. Being a snorkle, I squeal when I'm frightened. My squealing woke up the Turmaculus. My owner tried to throw me at it. I didn't want to be eaten so I ran as fast as I could. I wasn't watching where I was going, so I fell straight into this hole and I'm too little to get out on my own."

     "Aw, you poor thing," Lilah said. She began thinking of a way to get the snorkle out of the tiny hole. She knew she was far too big to go in and get her. Even her limbs were too big. "What on Neopia could I do?" she thought to herself.

     "I know!" she yelled out loud, startling the snorkle. "I'll call Samuel, Petpet Crusader from Petpet Rescue!" But after hearing her idea out loud, she found it to be silly. "I can't awaken that Scorchio at this time of night. That's so very inconsiderate, but then again... " She trailed off in her process of thought. The little snorkle sighed, feeling helpless. “I could fly home and get some rope....” This was her best idea so far. Lilah started to flap her wings. She was about two feet up into the air when a sharp pain in her wing sent her crashing down.

     “Ouch!” she yelped.

     “Are you o-oo-okay?” the snorkle stammered.

     “I think when we got my foot unstuck and I rolled back, I damaged my wing,” she replied. “Well, it sure isn’t going to stop me from getting you out of that hole,” Lilah claimed, determined. So she sat there, and she thought, and thought, and thought. “I’ve got it!” she said, once again a little too loudly, startling the snorkle.

     “I know how to get you out of that hole. This is what we’re going to do. I’m going to lower my tail into the hole; you jump onto to it and hold on tight. I should be able to pull you out. My tail is mighty strong,” Lilah explained with confidence.

     Lilah turned around and lowered her tail into the hole for the snorkle to hold onto. The snorkle grabbed on and Lilah pulled it up. As soon as the snorkle was on the ground and out of the hole, the Turmaculus let out a big snore.

     "Yikes!" the snorkle squealed and jumped into Lilah's arms.

     Lilah giggled. "It's all right. He's sleeping."

     "Oh... I knew that," the snorkle said but it was obvious that it was petrified.

     Now that Lilah could get a good look at the snorkle, she noticed it was a girl.

     "Would you like to come live with me and be my petpet?" Lilah asked the snorkle.

     The snorkle squealed again, but this time it was a happy squeal.

     "I'd love that!" she replied.

     "I would too." Lilah smiled at her. "You'll need a name. How do you like Serenity?" she asked.

     "I like it a lot."

     "Then that's your name. Serenity. Let's go home."

     Lilah nuzzled Serenity, already loving her. She picked up her notepad and heading home thinking, "This will make a great story for my next novel," and it did. In fact, Lilah was awarded for creating such a miraculous story about friendship and not only that, but she was given a trophy from Samuel the Petpet Crusader himself for being so kind and helpful to Serenity. Now, even to this day, Lilah and her petpet, Serenity the Snorkle, live happily together playing and taking care of each other.

The End