Ses' Story: Part One by aizii |  |
The Beginning
I don't really remember the day my owner
never returned. I was young and stupid, believing that my owner would be with
me for life. How stupid was I? My owner was a young boy, around 12, with dark
brown hair, haunted black eyes and a terrible temper. If he did not win on Meerca
chase, or if he missed a trophy he felt he deserved, he would throw tantrums,
destroying whatever he could lay his hands on and hurting those he cared for.
Despite his fowl temper, I was never mistreated, in fact, my owner was convinced
I was a battle star, and would constantly train me in the Battledome.
However, one day, my owner, Pip, seemed
to be in a particularly vindictive mood, his face a picture of thunder. He wondered
round the house, furiously muttering under his breath, knocking over pictures
and vases, the glass smashing onto our beautiful wooden floors. I walked behind
him, picking up broken objects and dodging flying glass.
"Pip, please calm down!" I cried, as
Pip threw a large purple vase at the wall. As it smashed, glass went everywhere.
Pip turned to face me, his eyes flashing with an anger I had never seen before.
"Why should I you pathetic Shoyru?"
he sneered. "After all, you're dumb. I own you."
My bottom lip trembled slightly, but
I knew he didn't mean it. Pip's temper got to him quickly, and he would lash
out at whatever he could find. He would apologise later. Instead, I looked up
at him, my eyes slightly glazed from unshed tears, my lips firmed into a tight
smile.
"Because…because you love me!" I said
proudly. At that moment, my world fell apart. Instead of agreeing and apologising,
Pip merely laughed.
"Love you?" He smirked. "How could I
love you. You're nothing but a pathetic creation; there are millions of pets
like you in the world. I don't need you. In fact, I'm leaving Neopets. I'll
go back to earth, and get a dog. Dog's can't answer back, unlike you."
I inhaled sharply, and when I spoke,
the words caught on the knot in my throat.
"How…How could you say … that?" I asked,
my voice shaking. I honestly believed that Pip would retract his words, pull
me into his arms, tell me he didn't mean it, he loved me. Instead, he shrugged.
"Quite easily." He shrugged. I bit my
lip to stop the tears from escaping. I took a deep, haggard breath and said,
"Fine then Pip, if that's how you feel.
Go."
Pip grinned at me. "I need your approval
now?"
I stared back at him, the tears now
no longer threatening to fall; instead, cold anger had spread through me, hatred
of Pip blinding my senses.
"No, I just thought you'd like to hear
something from your…friend." I replied, my words cold and hard. I could see
the first hesitant fleet of doubt creep into the corners of Pip's eyes before
they were cold and hard again. He caught my glare and replied, in a voice I
had never heard before,
"With friends like you, Sesebia, who
needs enemies?" With that, Pip turned round and storm out of the NeoHome, leaving
me sitting on our Zen sofa, raging with anger. After a few moments, I realised
I was totally alone - Pip wasn't returning. That was when the tears fell…
***
The next morning, I woke up to the sounds of banging downstairs. For a few
moments, my sleepy brain thought it was Pip downstairs, worked up into a tantrum
about something else. Yes, I thought, It's Pip. I'll have to go downstairs,
make us some breakfast and calm Pip down…How can I calm him down? He's gone.
I thought sadly, remembering the row and Pip's words. Despite my bitterness,
I couldn't ignore the banging downstairs. Perhaps it was Pip back after all.
"Pip, is that you?" I yelled, walking
down the stairs. I started as I saw four boys, around 15 or 16, removing the
furniture. All were dressed in black, their faces covered in black fabric. A
fifth boy, around 10, too small to move anything, was spray painting the room,
writing in large red letters,
"You've Been Hacked Dummi" over the
walls.
I gaped at them. Immediately, two options
sprung to mind. One, Pip gave out his password to the nearest stranger when
he left the home. It seemed logical, as our house is password protected, and
the door was not forced open. Two, Pip was really being hacked, and would come
home to find our home in shambles and would almost certainly leave. As I trod
on the next stair, it creaked loudly, catching the hacker's attention. The youngest
boy looked at me in surprise, and as he spoke, it was slightly muffled.
"He said he ain't got none pets,"
he said. I shuddered at his grammar - Pip had read me many books, saying brawn
wasn't everything. It also told me what I had guessed - Pip had gone and told
his password to the nearest stranger, he really didn't care what happened. Bitterly,
I thought of him on earth, probably getting his dog. Good riddens, I thought
hardly. No doubt he would get rid of the dog when he was bored too.
"We'll disown it," A second boy said
casually, rooting through our trophy cabinet. He stood up and brushed himself
down. "That idiot even left his adoption papers here," He murmured, snatching
them up. Looking at me, he motioned for one of the boys. I felt a collar being
attached to me, and a lead being clipped on. Although I could have resisted,
I didn't. I felt numb inside.
The walk to the pound took forever.
All the time, I was thinking only one though : Pip should save me I didn't deserve
this. After all I put up with, with Pip, I was going to be disowned. Any record
of me wiped out, no one to care for me. I wouldn't be adopted - no one wants
a plain yellow Shoyru. As the eldest boy signed the disown slip, I felt Dr_Death
pick me up.
"Come on, Shoyru section," he said,
expecting me to cry out to my 'owner'. Instead, I stayed silent, my face impassive
and body tense. Dr_Death sighed. I think he realised I no longer knew or cared
about my owner. With a last glance at the hackers, I closed my eyes, allowing
myself to be taken to a place many pets never speak of. The pound.
The Pound
For the first week, I just sat at
the back of my cage, too numb to speak. Dr_Death put fresh food in my cage three
times a day, but I wouldn't touch it, merely glancing at it occasionally, to
see whether it had been removed or not. Next to me, a young blue Shoyru sat,
sobbing quietly. She couldn't have been more than an hour old when her owner,
a newbie with good intentions, handed her over. The newbie, who she told me
was called Lila, adopted 4 pets and quickly found she couldn't handle it. Not
more than an hour after her birth, the Shoyru was disowned, along with her brother,
a red Kougra and a yellow Draik. The Draik had been snatched up quickly, as
it was rare and the Shoyru hadn't seen her brother since she was abandoned.
"Who are you?" I asked quietly, breaking
my stony wall of silence. The Shoyru started and looked at me. Her cage backed
onto mine, and I could look though the bars to see her. She had pale amber eyes
and a sorrowful expression. 'Kids like that don't deserve this' I thought sadly.
"Kayz29603_" She said quietly, her voice
choked with emotion. "You?"
"Sesebia," I replied in an equally quiet
voice. For a moment, we fell silent. Then I saw Kayz's paw sneak through the
bar, and she grabbed my paw tightly. Her small face was shining with hope.
"We'll be adopted, don't worry Sesebia!"
she exclaimed.
"I hope so, Kayz, I hope so," I replied,
not voicing the growing doubt that pets like us aren't adopted, merely forgotten.
I knew too well which pets went first - the cute pets, painted, high levelled
and stats. Pets like us were left to rot. I wished I could be like Kayz, naïve
and believed that people were kind. I knew it was a lie. Owners just left you
when they felt like it, when a newer, better pet came along. Or in Pip's case,
when they got sick of you. A new surge of anger built up when I thought of all
the things Pip had done, and, to my dismay, I felt tears sting the corners of
my eyes, hot and moist.
I let go of Kayz paw and curled into
a ball.
"I'm going to sleep for a bit," I told
her and turned my back to her. Not for the first time since I had got to the
pound, I cried myself to sleep.
***
"I'd like a Shoyru!" An obstinate voice said. I blearily opened one eye to
see a young blue Wocky walking towards me, dragging a girl of 15 behind it.
The girl looked tired and sad, glancing at the frightened faces in the cage
with sympathy and … something else. I shook myself mentally - no use sympathising
with owners, they'll just stab you in the back.
"Hey, Aiz, come here!" The Wocky yelled,
pushing its face up against my cage. I backed into a corner. I watched as the
girl pulled the Wocky away by the scruff of its neck with an exaggerated sigh.
She obviously had to put up with its … exaggerated excitement … a lot.
"Ade, why are you always so difficult?
This isn't a petpet stall or something. We aren't just choosing a cake,"
the girl sighed. She smiled at me, but I just glared at her. She didn't seem
to mind, just glanced at the tag hanging limp from my cage. She pulled out some
change from her pocket and started counting it. I could tell she hadn't thought
it through, because most owners brought stacks of Neopoints with them, not a
handful of change.
"Hey…Sesebia…would you like to come
with us?" the girl asked. I thought. I didn't want to go anywhere with her or
her Wocky, but if she let me out of the cage, I could escape, run away to a
land where no owners tread. Quick as a flash I made my decision.
"Please miss," I replied as meekly as
I could, the hatred of owners building in my throat only backed up my decision.
The girl slowly opened the cage and pulled me out. The moment I was free of
the cage, I opened my wings and spread them out as far as they would go. Then
I flapped as hard as I could. I heard the girl scream and let go of me, as I
hit her in the chest. I rose quickly to the ceiling, and, with a regretful glance
at the girl, started out towards the door. The girl was doubled over on the
floor, clutching her chest. The Wocky glared at me, her hackles raised.
"Hey, you hurt my owner," she growled
angrily. I almost laughed as I hovered over the chaos. This pet was so stupid
- my owner? Pets like me don't have owners. Humans are our only enemies.
"She'll live," I replied, flying towards
the door. I stopped dead as I saw Dr_Death at the door, holding a large net
above him. He glanced at the cage I had flown from before stating calmly,
"You'll not get out. No one escapes
fro the pound."
I smirked at him. "Yeah. Get ready to
change that because I'll be the first!" With that, I dived at him, teeth bared.
I smiled as he dived to one side, fear and horror clearly written on his yellow
face. "See ya later!" I yelled as I flew out of the door. Sweet freedom had
never tasted so good.
Breathing in a deep gulp of fresh air,
I sighed contentedly. The pound disappeared quickly from sight, along with the
memories of my time there. I grinned. Gliding softly, I headed out towards the
fields on the boarder of Neopia Central. Freedom awaited…
To be continued...
Neomails
are roundly appreciated and I will personally reply to each and everyone. All
characters apart from Sesebia, Aidhru, Aizii and Drakona14 are made up and therefore,
do not belong to me x.x So if they are on Neopets, then they are totally irrelevant
and are not the people I refer to in my story. Thanks! |
