The Statue

     She flipped it over to check for a price tag. Nothing. Was it for sale after all? She was at an estate sale for Mrs. O’Brady who had recently passed away. Furniture lined the expansive lawn and tables were covered in knick-knacks and boxes full of her old possessions. This statue was set apart from the rest of the items, though. Almost like it had been set down and forgotten.

     Well, it didn’t hurt to ask! The Scorchio cradled the statue in her arms and wandered over to the check-out line. A pastel yellow Lupe sat with a cash box collecting Neopoints.

     “Excuse me,” said Zoyra, “how much is this statue?”

     The Lupe glanced at the Meowclops. He furrowed his brow. “How unusual. I don’t remember that in the inventory.”

     He reached for a stack of papers and began scanning them. “I’m almost positive… yeah, I thought so. That’s not part of the sale.”

     “Oh, so it’s not for sale?” asked Zoyra, disappointed. She moved to set the statue down.

     “No, I didn’t say that. All of Mrs. O’Brady’s belongings are for sale. This isn’t hers. I don’t know where it came from,” the Lupe eyed the statue and Zoyra could almost sense a wariness to his expression. “You can keep it, for free. It definitely didn’t belong to Mrs. O’Brady.”

     “Oh,” said Zoyra, suddenly uneasy. She thought about putting the statue back, and held it at arm's length to examine it again. The Meowclops looked like it could wake at any second. It looked so real, so alive. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to own something so amazingly lifelike… for free, even. “Well, I guess I’ll keep it then.”

      “Good,” said the Lupe, almost too quickly. “Let me know if there’s anything else you would like to purchase. Anything that’s actually for sale, that is.”

     Zoyra nodded and carefully walked off with the statue. Something about the Lupe’s demeanour and the mysterious origins of the statue bothered her. But every time she looked into the Petpet’s stony, sleeping face she fell in love with the exquisitely detailed artwork.

     ***

     The fire Scorchio arrived home later than she thought she would. She had chosen to walk instead of fly, afraid of accidentally dropping the Meowclops if she had hurriedly flown home. It had just seemed more secure to cradle the statue in her arms and walk slowly, nice and close to the ground and not miles in the air.

     She carried her new statue into the house, and debated on where to set it down. Downstairs by the fireplace? Upstairs in her bedroom? She gazed into the sleeping face of the Petpet and decided to put it on her bedside table. She could pretend this was her own Petpet and they could doze off together.

     She carried the statue upstairs and set it down on the table beside her bed. She yawned and realized she was pretty tired, as it had gotten late. She would curl up in bed and sleep with her adorable stone companion asleep beside her.

     “Good night,” she murmured, gently stroking the statue’s head. She drifted off to sleep with her hand still on the statue’s head.

     It was the middle of the night when Zoyra woke up. She wasn’t sure why she had woken up, but she realized uneasily it was because it felt like something was watching her. Her eyes drifted to the statue, and the one eye of the Meowclops was wide open and staring at her. She gasped and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes.

     The Meowclops was in the same position as before, with its one eye closed in sleep. It wasn’t looking at her at all. She must have been dreaming.

     She lay back down in bed and tried to fall asleep again. It was harder to fall asleep this time around, and the Scorchio found herself dreading opening her eyes in case the statue was looking at her again. She forced herself to slowly open her eyes and face the statue. It was still sleeping peacefully. She hesitated a moment before turning the statue around so it faced the wall. It felt irrational, but maybe it would stop any more weird dreams about it watching her at least. She felt better knowing its eye was facing away and managed to fall back asleep.

     ***

     In the morning, Zoyra sat up in bed and stretched. The statue was still sleeping away, of course its eye had never been open. Silly. She patted its head good morning and got up to brush her teeth. She was halfway to the bathroom, when she realized something strange.

     The statue was facing her bed again. She had turned it to face the wall last night, hadn’t she? Or had that been part of her dream? She suddenly felt her stomach heavy with dread and hurried into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She went straight from the bathroom to the stairs without looking into her bedroom, not wanting to see the statue. She went into the kitchen and began to toast some bread for breakfast.

     As she buttered the toast, she tried to remember if she had turned the statue around last night or if maybe the whole thing had been a dream. She had just convinced herself she must have been dreaming, when she heard the distinct sound of footsteps coming from upstairs.

     She looked toward the ceiling. The creaking footsteps were coming from her bedroom. She put down her toast and crept toward the stairs. The squeaky floorboards were not as distinct when she wasn’t directly under her room.

     She climbed a step, then took another. She held her breath and listened. Silence.

     There was no sound at all except for her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She climbed the rest of the steps, straining her ears. The footsteps had stopped.

     She approached the bedroom, her door still wide open from this morning. Her eyes fixed on her bedside table, and she gasped. The statue was missing.

     Where…?

     Her eyes drifted down, and the statue was on the floor beneath the table. Had it… fallen?

     She had distinctly heard footsteps. Right?

     She walked slowly up to the statue, picked it up, and placed it back on the bedside table. Its sleeping face no longer looked peaceful. Like maybe it was a statue of a dead Meowclops and not a sleeping one. She tried to push the thought away. She decided she couldn’t deal with this on her own anymore. She was going to contact her friend, Shelly. Shelly was a brave cloud Pteri. She was small but fierce. She would know what to do.

     She sent a Neomail right away before hurrying out of her room and shutting the door tightly behind her.

     ***

     Shelly flew up to the house, bright and chipper.

     “Haunted statue?” she teased Zoyra. “Watching you sleep, walking around your room when you’re not there?”

     Zoyra laughed half-heartedly. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I swear it’s true.”

     “We’ll see about that,” Shelly chirped. She whipped the front door open and fluttered up the stairs. Zoyra plodded along behind, not quite as eager.

     Shelly turned the knob to the bedroom door and let the door swing open. Zoyra stood just behind the Pteri, not wanting to look but looking anyway.

     The statue was in the same spot on the table, still sleeping.

     Zoyra was feeling foolish as time dragged on and nothing happened.

     “Alive, eh?” Shelly was smirking and turning to elbow Zoyra when it happened.

     The Meowclops opened its eye and sat up. It began bounding towards the pair, and Zoyra shrieked.

     “It’s ALIIIVEEEEE,” screamed the Scorchio. She ran out of the room, expecting the Pteri to fly out behind her.

     But she was alone.

     “Shelly?” Zoyra called in a panic.

     She heard laughter coming from her room.

     She inched toward the door and poked her head in.

     Shelly was cradling the Meowclops who blinked its one eye lovingly up at her.

     “Silly,” cried Shelly, “it’s a relic Meowclops! It’s just a painted Petpet!”

     All of the fear drained from Zoyra’s body and she felt limp with relief.

     “It’s just painted? That’s it?” Zoyra tentatively tapped the Meowclops, who swatted at her with a paw.

     “No big deal, girlie. You have a Petpet now, that’s all. Nothing to be scared of.” Shelly passed the Meowclops to Zoyra, who cuddled it fondly.

     “You scared me, little guy!” Zoyra scolded. The Meowclops nuzzled her and she giggled. “I’m going to name you Nightmare, because this was a nightmare before I realized you were just a painted Petpet!”

     “You alright now, dear?” Shelly asked. Zoyra nodded and thanked her for coming over. Shelly cheerfully said goodbye and let herself out of the house.

     After she closed the door, she stood thoughtfully on the front porch.

     Relic was a paintbrush colour all right, for Neopets. No such colour existed for Petpets.

     But she wasn’t about to tell Zoyra that.

     The End.