I KNEW IT was wrong the moment I opened it. But who could resist? In front
of me was a pink envelope with loopy hand writing across the front that read
"To Miss EverWild of 124596 Soup Alley, Neopia Central". There was no return
address, and the parchment smelled lightly of vanilla. My Aisha paws shook slightly
as I ripped open the envelope. I slipped my paws into the inside and felt a
thin piece of stationary folded neatly in half. I lifted it out.
I faintly heard a squeal coming
from the hallway, and looked around me to saw Novalaen (my caretaker) race inside
the room. Her face was red and her eyes were wide like her open mouth. "Ev,
you will not believe this," she murmured quickly as she paced around the room
with a sly grin. "We just made it into The Neopian Times!" my owner screamed
happily as she lifted her hands up into the air and danced in a circle about
me. I guess Nova could tell I wasn't in the mood to celebrate, because she floated
out of the room to Neomail my best friend Polayo's owner. I just sat on the
coach staring ahead. Any other day I would be excited that Nova had finally
won something, but somehow, today, I felt lazy. I felt as if nothing in the
world really mattered. That everything that was meant to be would happen over
time, and that I should just rest. That I should just relax. I rubbed my eyes
sleepily and realised that I still held my letter firmly in my hands. Lazily,
I opened up paper. A blank letter face stared back at me. The letter was empty!
What did this person want, anyway? This was all strange, but I let all my emotions
slip by as I put the empty letter beside me and stretched slowly. This was the
life... yet something felt terribly wrong... I just couldn't put my finger on
it.
A few days later, Po stopped
over. "Hey, Ev!" she said in a peppy grin as her faerie Aisha wings flew her
into the loft where I was lying. "Oh, Hi..." I mumbled sleepily. It wasn't that
I didn't want Po over, it was just that I hardly had enough energy to get up,
let alone entertain Po This was not like my usual self...."Why are you just
lying there like a bag of Potatoes? There's a world out there!" she joked as
she motioned to my window.
"And," she said mysteriously.
"I brought your favourite game! 'Pin the tail on the Uni!'" As much as wanted
to go play "Pin the tail on the Uni" and hang out with Polayo, I just didn't
have enough stamina or perk left in me. "Sorry, Po... Not today," I told
her. "Maybe tomorrow?"
Po looked down at the floor.
"What's gotten into you lately?" she asked me as she stormed out of the room.
"But... Po!" I called after
her. Po never looked back. I guess I should have taken a hint right then and
there. I should have realised that there was something terribly wrong. But I
only fully understood when Tazzmar stopped by. Tazz is one of my best friends,
and he's also my mate.
"Ev!" he cried as he ran into
the loft like Po had.
"Ev, Po has told me all about
it. She told me all about how you aren't yourself. Quite frankly, I didn't believe
her... until now." He looked at how I was draped over the couch.
Guilt rushed to my face. I
took a deep breath and suddenly my guilt had vanished. "So what?" I asked him
lazily as I took a big sniff into the air. Something smelled good--really good.
I guess Tazz can keep his wits
about him more than I can, because he sPotted the problem at once. "What's this
letter doing here? It smells like Vanilla. Oh my gosh, Ev!" she shouted. I wanted
to know what he was talking about and why he had lifted my letter away from
me as if it were some poisonous snake. As if Tazz could read my mind, he showed
me a copy of the news page. "The evil Dr. Sloth is at it again!" read the headlines.
"Mysterious letters have been showing up in Neopian's mailboxes with some kind
of scented paper that actually slows Neopians down to the pace of a slug."
So, this was what it was all
about. I was Poisoned! (and practically turned into a... slug!) And worse--by
Dr. Sloth!
Later that night, I watched
Tazzmar burn my letter outside near Neopia Central. He held my hand, and I could
already feel my usual energy and spunk coming back to me.
"Excuse me, ma'am," said
a voice behind me.
I turned around, and a striped
Grarrl stared back on me.
"Did you receive one too? A
letter, I mean," he asked nervously. I nodded. "May I... if this is all
right with you... may I join you?"
I nodded again and I could
feel the blood rush to my head. Tazz leaped to my "rescue" and asked if I was
all right.
"Mmhmm..." I murmured.
The Grarrl sat down next to
me and we gazed at the lively fire in silence. As I looked at the licking flames,
I realised something: it's the people in my life, Tazzmar, Polayo, Nova... who
really make a difference. Like tonight. Tazzmar saved my life, and without these
people, these special people, I don't know where I'd be today.
The End | 
