A Familiar Place

by pinkbabe46

I was sitting at my kitchen table the other day, giving my pets their breakfast- fried eggs and smoothies, and managing my finances. While looking through old business letters and such, I found a Sales History list from a shop called The Luau. This shop was once owned by me, a long time ago. Seeing the slip made me stop everything I was doing. I kissed my Kacheek, Gwendy, and my Aisha, Hermionie, good-bye and told them I had to go do something and I would be back. I left them with their favourite toys, and hurried to get into my car.

After driving for a while, I came across an old, rundown neighbourhood. Seeing it again sent shivers down my spine. Then I spotted it. The most run down house of all, if you could call it that. It was small, like a shack, and had broken windows and holes in the roof. The wood was rotting and there were mounds of garbage surrounding it. This was my old home. You see, when I first came to Neopia, I was very poor and clueless about Neopia. I adopted 4 pets right away, not knowing what a burden they would end up being. I had a Cybunny named Tickity-Tockity, a Gelert named Kali, an Aisha named Alia, and a Kiko named Kaibabe. If that wasn't stupid enough, I went and bought TONS of useless stuff. I bought gifts that couldn't be played with, movies that couldn't be watched, and books that my pets grew to be bored of. This left me with hardly any money to buy food, and when I did, only 1 or 2 of my pets could have some. I relied on the soup kitchen, but could only afford to make the journey there every couple of days, because I had a junky car that took a lot of gas, and the soup kitchen was an hour away from where I lived. I wasted money on a shop that no one ever went to. One day, I took my pets to the money tree, where we received some battle armour for my Gelert. This made Kali very happy, and was her pride and joy. We were also visited by the Easter bunny, who gave us a special Easter Negg. This was what kept us going. It wasn't much, but it was all we had of value. One day, I could not take it anymore. I couldn't pay for food , toys, or anything. I went to the bank and opened a small account of 1 NP so I could put my pets precious things in a safety deposit box. I left them in that house with no food, and just their crummy toys. I ran and ran, far far away from that neighbourhood. And I never returned.

Now I was back, and tears were in my eyes. Were these pets OK? Did someone find them? Are they starving? These questions and more ran through my head. I got out of my car and opened the door, which creaked loudly. There in the small room, laid 4 weak, starving pets. I ran over to them and hugged them all. They got up, with the energy they had, and started to smile. They remembered me, and had forgiven me. I felt awful. I loaded all 4 of them up in my car, and drove them to the soup kitchen where they all ate joyfully, for the first time in months. We returned home, where I learned that they only had 29 NP and no owner to spend them. Their books were all torn and soggy, and the movies and gifts had been torn to shreds. They showed me their safety deposit box, where I found the two armour pieces and Negg. I took those things out, their NPs, and them, and put them back in the car. First, we went to the advent calendar, where they got 2000 NP and toffee Ice cream, which they all shared. Then I took them to the toy store, pharmacy, food shop, and grooming store. I bought them stuff with their money, and then played with them, treated their illnesses, and groomed them. With the remaining NP, we bought a little cottage right next to my house. They would stay there and I would care for them every day, just like my newer pets.

I am very glad I came across that old piece of paper. These pets are now happy and healthy. I am glad to have them back in my life, and they get along great with my newer pets. I reopened The Luau, and now it is doing just fine, earning more NP then ever to support these pets. I love them with all my heart, and they love me too.

The End