The Return Of ThereAndBackAgain
An vast fear overcame me as I saw Brain_stew unzip
to tent, I pulled back the flaps that acted as the tent's doors and peered into
the darkness, I heard ReelBigKougraFish come up behind me and moved aside a
little so that he could see, his eyesight was better than mine and Brain_stew's
put together. My eyes adjusted to the darkness and I felt the cold, wet breeze
of the morning brush past my face, everything was so calm and peaceful out side,
but there was something out there that I couldn't see, but that didn't mean
that I couldn't feel it.
ReelBigKougraFish held up his paw and pointed
into the darkness.
"There," he said calmly. I looked in the direction
that he pointed but saw nothing; I squinted hard but again still couldn't see
anything. What if it were a creature escaped from the haunted woods. Some evil
creature, there weren't enough of us to protect ourselves. ReelBigKougraFish
had battled before and I must admit he was very good for a young Neopet, but
what if the creature was to powerful for ReelBigKougraFish to handle. We'd all
be stranded out here in the Uni meadows where hardly anyone ever went, we might
be injured and with no help available, we could be destroyed.
I managed to take a small step out of the
tent, and put my foot down on the grass, wet with the morning's dew. The air
had not yet been warmed with the sun's morning rays. There was tenseness in
the air that I could not describe; there was something that was screaming to
me, something calling out to me, telling me something that I couldn't hear.
I felt Brain_stew's presence behind me; he stood by my side and gazed around.
"I don't see anything," he said confused.
I stood staring at the ground around the tree, if anything moved I would pick
up on it. And I did.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the grass
rustle, my brain was screaming to me, telling me to retreat. But I was frozen
to the ground in fear, my legs wouldn't move. The strength had all but drained
from my body and I was stripped down to a weak and trembling child.
"What is it? Do you see something?" Brian_stew asked, clearly noticing my
paralysed form. I managed to point a small and weary finger in the direction
of the movement, Brain_stew followed my gaze, but the movement had stopped and
I managed to shake myself from my daze.
"Th...There was something moving…I saw it,"
I said shakily. Brain_stew looked down at ReelBigKougraFish who was sitting
nervously by his side, they fell silent, ReelBigKougraFish looked up into his
eyes, I could tell by the way that he was looking that he and Brain_stew were
in silent conversation, ReelBigKougraFish asking a mountain of questions such
as, "What's over there?" and "Don't you think we should start running now?"
and Brain_stew was trying his best to seem calm and collected, but he too, couldn't
help but feel scared. We all did, we all felt scared.
Again came a rustle from the long grass, my
head spun round to look, the fear inside me was now volcano sized and not far
off erupting. I managed to take a small step back but bumped into ReelBigKougraFish
who stood cowering behind us. The rustle came again, but instead of running,
my fear drove me to do something I completely did not expect. I strode right
up to the grass and then as I was about to pull the grass aside I stopped in
my tracks, realised what I was doing and peered round at my friends. The two
of them were as shocked at my actions as I was. Just as I was about to open
my mouth to speak to them I felt something drop onto my foot.
I froze.
I turned my head slowly round, as tense as
a greyhound ready to spring from its box. I looked down at my foot; on it lay
a small green wing. My eyes widened and for the first time that night I remembered
what the little Zafara had told me about a green Shoyru, about Taba. I bent
down and brushed the grass aside. The figure of a weak and dying Shoyru lay
before me. I reached out and touched his skin, he was smaller that I remembered,
but it was defiantly Taba. I picked his limp body from the muddy ground and
cradled him in my arms. He groaned in pain and pulled him closer to me.
"Oh Taba," I wept, "I'm so sorry." My heart
sank at the sight of his frail body, and I carried him back to the tent where
Brain_stew and ReelBigKougraFish stood in shock.
I lay his head gently on the ground and looked
around for any spare food that we were carrying, I grabbed a tin of Mushy Musho
peas that I had picked up at the Tombola the day before. I hurriedly opened
it and grabbed a spoon from nearby. I desperately tried to get him to eat something,
and soon after the first few mouthfuls he was eating like there was no tomorrow.
Thank god. And he seemed fairly awake by the time he had eaten the whole thing.
Luckily there was more food to hand and, not to my surprise, he managed to eat
everything we had. Much to my relief, he didn't look half so bad as when I found
him, but then came the question that I had dreaded.
"Why did you leave us?" he asked sadly. My
eyes dropped to the floor and I felt my heart pull.
"I'm sorry, I tried to get back as soon as
I could." My mouth felt dry and I tried to think of a way of saying what I had
to say, that wouldn't make him fell betrayed. "There was a hacker, he got into
our bank and the NeoHome. Everything's been taken. I'm so sorry…they wouldn't
let me in for weeks…they said they couldn't be sure it was me." I stopped, searching
for the right words, but much to my relief no more were needed. Taba took my
hand and looked up into my eyes.
"You're back now, and that's all that really
matters to me," he said sincerely. I pulled him into an embrace and never
wanted to let him go.
"I'll never leave you again I promise," I
said, and I meant it.
That night I slept more easily, waking only
a few times. Taba was close by my side and next to him was ReelBigKougraFish.
I held his small hand in mine, and wondered what he had faced out there by himself.
Complete solitude was something Taba was not very fond of, so just imagining
his pain was more than I could bare. I thought about Kathlon and Zutore who
were still out there. Tomorrow I would find them, as quickly as I could, seeing
Taba lying there on the ground when I found him made me want to go out and find
them this instant, but I knew that I couldn't go out there by myself. After
promising not to leave Taba again. But for the while I was content, I had one
of my pets back with me again and it was only the first day of our journey.
Maybe things were looking up after all.
I woke that morning alone, I sat up and rubbed
my dreary eyes, I could hear ReelBigKougraFish talking. By the sound of his
voice I could tell that he was telling one of his jokes again, though I couldn't
hear the words very well. Then came the sound of Brain_stew and Taba laughing.
I smiled; I had longed to hear the sound of laughter coming from my Neopets
again. I pulled myself out of bed and went to join the others outside. The sun
was up and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Another perfect day in Neopia. Taba
turned and smiled as he saw me sit down with them around the, now extinguished,
fire.
"Good morning," I said smiling back at Taba.
"Morning," replied Brain_stew, "once we've
eaten do you wanna start heading for the airport?"
"Sure," I agreed. ReelBigKougraFish's eyes
widened in excitement.
"Great! I love the airport!" He cried, " Me
and Brain_stew go there all the time its great fun!"
"We've never been before," explained
Taba, "Were always been able to fly around Neopia, Amerock would got on Zutore's
back and me and Kathlon would fly along beside." He fell quiet, "I guess we
can't do that anymore."
"Hey, we'll find Kathlon and Zutore," I said
firmly, "I'll make sure that we do. It's not fair to leave them out there and
that's why I came looking for you. And, well, I found you didn't I? I'm sure
I can find Kathlon and Zutore too." Taba nodded determinedly.
We packed up the tent and were soon on our
way again. We had covered more ground yesterday than we initially thought, so
it wasn't a long walk to the airport. Soon the end on the Uni meadows was in
sight, Taba flew further in front to see what was up ahead. Brain_stew had never
crossed the Uni meadows on his way to the airport, so we were relying on Taba's
intuition to guide us, and I had every faith in him.
After about five minuets, Taba appeared over
the horizon, he flew towards us and swooped down landing perfectly in front
of us. "From what I can see, the airport is about five miles west from here,"
he explained, a little short of breath. "There's a small brook, but there's
a bridge so we'll be able to get across okay."
"Great, thanks Taba," said Brain_stew.
Taba nodded smiling at his achievement. I picked him up and cradled him in my
arms. He must have been tired because he had fallen asleep by the time we reached
the airport.
Brain_stew kindly paid for our tickets, while
Taba, ReelBigKougraFish and I lingered patiently in the waiting lounge. Taba
had roused himself from his sleep and was playing Bet-You-Can't-Catch-My-Tail
with ReelBigKougraFish when Brain_stew arrived with the tickets and four cans
of Neocola for us while we waited.
"Man, this place is packed today!" exclaimed
Brain_stew as he sat down next to me and handed me my can of Neocola.
"Thanks," I said gratefully, taking the can.
"How long do we have to wait? Brain_stew glanced down at his watch.
"Not long," he replied, "about half an hour."
I smiled to myself, soon we would be on the next leg of our journey, it wouldn't
be long now.
Time passed slowly in the airport, most of
my time was spent watching Taba play. I felt a great love for that little Shoyru;
most of the time I didn't show it, but it was defiantly there. His bright eyes
shone with happiness every move he made, made me think how lucky I was to have
him as a companion. There was nowhere else I could feel happier than Neopia.
The speaker crackled into life and the voice
of a female Lupe echoed through the room.
"Could all passenger on the 12:30 flight to
The Lost Desert please proceed to departure gate three please. Thank you."
"That's us," Brain_stew said rising from his
uncomfortable chair, "Come on you two, time to go." He picked up his bag and
flung it over his shoulder, I did the same.
It felt strange to that I was excited about
going on this plane. I was always so grown up, looking after three pets was
a lot of hard work and you had to have a certain maturity about you. I reached
down into my pocket and pulled out our boarding tickets.
"Come on Taba," I said taking his hand, Brain_stew
lead the way with ReelBigKougraFish at his heals. We walked happily down onto
the tarmac and boarded the plane; our bags were taken and put safely in the
luggage department. We walked single file up the steps into the large plane.
The isles were already packed with eager pets waiting for takeoff. We took our
seats, ReekBigKougraFish by the window, next was Brain_stew followed by Taba
and finally I sat in the isle seat. After a few minuets, when everyone had gotten
onboard the speakers above our heads blasted out with the captains voice.
"Good afternoon everybody, my name is Andy
and I'll be your pilot today on our trip to the Lost Desert." We listened intently
to the voice of the pilot as he run all the safety regulations past us. The
cabin crew showed us how to put on a life jacket and pointed out the emergency
exits.
The seat belt sign flashed above our heads
and the sound of the passengers fastening theirs came in many clicks. We fastened
ours and soon we were ready for takeoff. I had always loved flying, but this
was going to feel quite a bit different to riding on Zutore's back. I missed
the wind in my face but we were on our way to getting him and Kathlon back again.
The Lost Desert, here we come…
To be continued… |