A Story

     One place the light reached was a garden, and in this garden were gnomes. Lots of gnomes.

     Not many Neopians know this, but at night, the gnomes come alive.

     Yes, you read right. THEY’RE ALIIIIIIVE!

     And one gnome in particular was a Musical Lupe Gnome by the name of Richard.

     After listening to make extra sure the coast was clear, he placed his flute to his lips and began playing a cheerful tune, letting the others know it was safe to move.

     Laughing and singing, the gnomes gladly stretched the stiffness out of their joints.

     “Hey, Rich!” came a voice from behind the flute-playing gnome.

     Richard stopped playing and turned to greet the gnome behind him.

     “Hi, Felix.”

     Felix the Purple Zafara Gnome grinned. “Ready for tonight?”

     Richard returned the grin. “I sure am.”

     ****

     “Ulch.”

     The girl ripped the paper that contained the start of the gnome story out of her typewriter, crumpled it into a ball, and then flung it over her shoulder.

     Groaning, she fed another piece of paper into the machine and stared at it.

     Another idea coming into her mind, she began typing.

     ****

     Dear Diary,

     Today is the first day of band in school. I hope I get to play the-

     “Hey, Melody!” came the voice from beside the green Zafara, interrupting her writing.

     Melody the green Zafara looked up and saw her yellow Kyrii friend.

     “Hi, Harmony,” she said with a smile.

     “Are you as excited about band as I am?” Harmony asked, her eyes dancing.

     Melody grinned. “I sure am! I really hope I get to play the Saxophone.”

     ****

     “Ehhh, no.”

     Again a piece of paper was pulled from the typewriter, crumpled, and flung over the shoulder of the barefoot girl who was sitting cross-legged in her chair.

     With a sigh of annoyance, she grabbed another piece of paper and fed it through the typewriter’s paper-feeding thingy place.

     ****

     “Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, te, do!” sang the young yellow Kougra.

     “Very good, Kayle!” praised the music teacher. “You have a very good singing voice.”

     Kayle blushed and ducked her head, but was smiling as she did. “Thank-you, Ms. Forte.”

     ****

     “And so Kayle will become the next big singer to hit Neopia and live happily ever after.” The girl sighed. “Unlike me if I don’t come up with an idea,” she muttered, removing the paper from the typewriter, crumpling it, and tossing it to the growing pile of paper balls behind her.

     With a determined look on her face, she fed yet another piece of paper into the typewriter and, after cracking her knuckles, began typing once more.

     ****

     The birds sang merrily from the trees, not a care in the world.

     Not a care, that is, until they came. Big, black spaceships, with lasers blasting randomly, and smaller ships flying from the larger ones, and zooming low over the ground. They appeared to be having much fun with watching the ensuing pandemonium they were creating around Shenkuu.

     Their joy was cut short, however, when the Space Faerie appeared on the scene.

     ****

     The brown-haired girl stared at the paper before her and blinked. “Girl, you’ve been reading way too many Virtupets/Sloth-related stories lately...”

     Removing the paper from the typewriter, she half-heartedly crumpled it and flung it over her shoulder.

     Staring out the window as if an idea would appear there, tap on the window, and introduce itself, she finally sighed and fed yet another piece of paper into the machine and stared at it.

     Then, leaning forward, she began typing once more.

     ****

     The green Kacheek took out his violin and placed it up near his face, raised the bow, placed it on the violin and- hifklngbvnjd ngoidsgijdsdfsgjkfd bgidvjlbgp; oeqaaaaaaaa-

     ****

     “Aaaarrrrgggghhh!!!” came the screech, and the paper was ripped out, crumpled into a tight ball, and flung behind the chair.

     Groaning, the girl began banging her head on the desk out of annoyance.

     “Why. Can’t. I. Come. Up. With. An. Idea?” she grunted, banging her head on the desk in rhythm with the words. She paused. “A good idea, that is.”

     Sighing, she rubbed her now-sore head and fed yet another sheet of paper into the typewriter.

     “This time, I WILL make an okay-ish story...” she muttered.

     ****

     There once was a White Weewoo who loved to sing more than anything. Even more than flying through the Catacombs and listening to the squeals of excited Neopian Times Fans and the like.

     Well, maybe not that much. But he liked singing enough to make himself hoarse at least four times a month.

     ****

     The girl blinked at what she had just written.

     “I don’t think so...” she said, pulling out the paper, crumpling it, and tossing it behind her where it landed near the pile of paper balls.

     So after grabbing another piece of paper and feeding it into the typewriter yet again, she began typing yet again.

     ****

     Once upon a time, in the land of Brightvale, there lived a white Kougra by the name of Kieliy. More than anything, she loved playing the flute.

     ****

     “And so she played night and day, got fussed at, but it didn’t discourage her, and she kept at it, and so she became one of the most famous flute-players in Neopia, but never forgot those who helped and encouraged her along the way. End of story.” said the now quite annoyed girl, finishing the story before it was even started, really.

     Groaning, the paper was once more pulled from the typewriter, crumpled, and tossed away.

     “Why can’t I be happy with one idea?” she groaned, removing her glasses and rubbing her face.

     Replacing her glasses back on her face with a sigh, she looked over to the stack of paper that was getting smaller, and then to the pile of paper balls that was getting larger.

     “Let’s try this one more time...” she muttered, and, taking a piece of paper in hand, fed it into the typewriter.

     ****

     The Water Faerie sat quietly on the moon-lit rock, the waves lapping against her light-blue tail.

     She shifted her gaze from the water to the sky, and admired the hundreds of thousands of stars.

     She began humming softly, then the humming turned into singing, and then she was singing with abandon, seeming not to care if anyone heard her.

     This night, however, had she known what lurked in the murky shadows of the water, she might have taken more caution.

     So engrossed in her singing, she was, that she didn’t notice the silent shadow that soundlessly rose to the surface of the water and slipped towards the faerie.

     Didn’t notice it until it was too late, that is.

     The thing - she had no idea what it was and didn’t intend to stick around and find out – lunged out of the water towards the faerie.

     With a scream, she dove into the water and began swimming quickly, the mysterious thing following.

     She swam as fast as she could, and the thing – whatever it was – was gaining ground.

     But just as the thing was about to reach the Faerie...

     ****

     “The author got Writer’s Block,” came the sigh.

     She looked at the story. She rather liked it, and hated to crumple it as she had the others.

     So she decided to just leave it for the time being. She figured she could always move it into her “works-in-progress” folder later.

     “Well, I’ve got to send in something.” she said in exasperation, looking around the room.

     Her gaze fell onto the pile of paper balls. She intently looked at the pile, studying it.

     “Hmmm...” she hmmed thoughtfully.

     She shrugged. Why not?

     And so, after gathering up all the stray paper balls, she smoothed them out, and began typing one more time.

The End

Or is it the just the beginnings?