Valentine: Good or Evil?

As Valentine’s Day approached, Valencia_Valentine rummaged through her safety deposit box for gifts she planned to give to her closest friends and even her most secret Valentine. Valencia_Valentine just adored Valentine’s Day. Maybe it had to do with her last name, or maybe she was just a caring Faerie Cybunny. Nevertheless, she sorted through her gigantic assortment of stuff. She really should have cleaned the safety deposit box after Christmas. She looked outside and watched the large, fluffy clouds in the sky and started daydreaming of a previous Valentine......

     It had been a glorious day in Neopia. One of the warmest days in history, for the month of February. The sun was bright and glorious. A huge picnic had been planned by Valencia_Valentine and her best friend Devonna_Vercelli –the faerie Krawk. Many fellow Neopians had attended and brought home made goodies to eat. The massive banquet table was filled with anything from Valentine’s Cookies, Strawberry Cybunny cakes, Valentine’s Muffins, and more. Many smoothies were being handed out to Neopians as they sat down to devour some baked goodies. Little Neopians played games or played with their new Valentine plushies in the grass. Everyone was in such a great mood, and enjoyed the day.

     Valencia and Devonna were busy placing bags on another table. This was the gift table. Everyone had brought “secret” gifts for their valentine’s and friends. No one knew what they would get. Heart Swirl Valentine cards and Mysterious Valentine cards were being handed to everyone. Neopians were laughing and smiling. Then, just as everything was absolutely perfect, something horrible happened.

     Sam Stoney, a Disco Grarrl, came running toward Devonna. As he ran, the ground shook. He stopped in front of Devonna and Valencia and screamed: “She’s coming, she’s coming... the purple cloud is almost here... run!!!!!!!!!!!”

     Devonna looked behind Sam and saw the sky had turned dark. A massive purple cloud approached.

     “Quick, everyone, run home... the picnic is cancelled. Jhudora is coming!!” screamed Sam. Everyone scrambled to hide or to run back to their homes. Panic had set in.

     “Sam, we don’t know what she is up to. Maybe she is not here to do any harm. We should not panic!”

     “Oh, get a grip! Everyone knows that when horrible, strange things happen, for some reason Jhudora is always around?”

      Unfortunately for Jhudora, she did not have a good reputation. Most people assumed she was evil or that she was always plotting to do something nasty. Whenever there was something going on in Neopia that was NOT good, everyone assumed that Jhudora had something to do with it in some way. No one had ever really been able to prove that she was behind the nasty or evil things but still it was easier to just blame her.

     Suddenly, Jhudora appeared and hopped off her cloud. She walked toward the three waving her hands with her purple hair flowing all around her. She smiled devilishly as she approached. Devonna and Valencia backed up in order to avoid close contact. Valencia could hear her heart beating in her ears. She was feeling a bit sick. Sam jumped in front of the two, as if to guard and protect them. This only seemed to annoy Jhudora more. She motioned for him to move aside. He carefully backed up and moved in between his two friends. The three were on pins and needles with curiosity as to WHY she was there and WHAT she wanted.

     “Well, well. So, what do we have here? Looks like a party or picnic. Why was I NOT invited?” she asked as she pointed to the table of goodies! “Seems to me that every time there is FUN and excitement, I am left out. Why do you suppose that is?” She walked toward the gift table and with her long fingers and pulled open a few of the bags to take a look inside. “Oh, aren’t these just so lovely and cute! I bet everyone just can’t wait to get their hands on these most thoughtful gifts. No one has EVER given me anything like this....” She frowned and walked toward the banquet table and stuck her green fingertips into a Valentine’s Muffin. She licked the frosting off her nail and turned around. “Hmmm, must be nice to have all these yummy goodies. Too bad no one is around to enjoy them,” she cackled.

     “Look, if you don’t mind. What exactly is it you want? Why are you here and WHY did you scare everyone off?”

     “ME? Excuse me, but I NEVER told anyone to leave; he did.” With that, she pointed to Sam. She smirked as she said it. “I thought I would drop in for some fun... I have been known to have some fun sometimes. Not that any of you would know. No one ever gives me a chance.”

     There was a slight cracking noise coming from some bushes behind them. Jhudora ignored it and continued on. “Maybe just once I would like to be invited. Maybe just once I would like to participate and give and get gifts. Maybe I brought presents?! No one ever thinks about me.”

     The three looked at each other with rather confused looks. Valencia walked toward Jhudora. As she was just about to say something, Jhudora stopped her and put her hand out. “Stop, don’t even get any closer. I don’t want to hear it. You are going to tell me it is never too late, right? Yeah, right. I tried. I wanted to be nice. I can see you don’t want anything to do with me.”

     She spun around and walked toward the table of gifts. Her purple and green gown flapped in the wind. Her anger had caused her to start flapping her massive wings. She almost knocked some items off the table. The others could hear rustling noises, probably coming from her opening bags. Sam tried to peek around to see what she was doing, but couldn’t. Devonna was nosy and decided to ask: “Hey, what do you think you are doing?”

     Annoyed and upset, Jhudora spun around.

     “See, there you go, assuming I am all EVIL! Once a dark Faerie, always evil... that is so wrong!”

     Getting rather defensive, Devonna moved toward Jhudora.

     “You know what? Here, have some Happy Neggs.” She shoved them toward Jhudora’s face. “Maybe these will put you in a better mood? Seems like you need that?” remarked Devonna as she flared her large nostrils. Devonna was getting rather annoyed with Jhudora and wanted nothing more than for her to leave. It was apparent because her tail was starting to flick and slap the ground. The others started take notice of Devonna’s annoyed behavior.

     “You know what? Forget it, I am out of here... I don’t need this! Keep your pathetic Happy Neggs. I am a Faerie and they don’t work on me... Shows you how much you know about me. I tried, I really did. Have a Happy Valentine’s Day and enjoy your day.” Within seconds she was back on her cloud and gone as quickly as she had appeared.

      Some of the Neopians that had been hiding in the bushes came out. Soon, more and more Neopians joined. Everyone was in an uproar about what had just happened. More than anything, everyone was VERY suspicious of WHY Jhudora had even appeared or talked with them.

     “You know, maybe she is right? We do assume she is always up to something not so good. How do we really know she is all evil? I kind of feel bad. Valentine’s Day is supposed to be about showing compassion and kindness toward all Neopians... faeries included. We did invite all the other faeries! Maybe we should have thought about her and given her a chance,” stated Valencia.

     “No, never trust her. I just don’t. She is always around when there is trouble. Today is a happy day and now that the sun is back out and everyone is back, we should continue on with our picnic. Let’s open our bags and have a good time and enjoy!”

     Everyone gathered around the gift table as Devonna and Valencia handed out gift bags. Once everyone had their bags, they took turns looking inside. There was a lot of strange sighs and comments coming from many Neopians. Some were looking perplexed as they looked inside their gift bags.

     Sam became curious and looked inside his. There he saw what the others were talking about. Inside his bag he found a Purple note that had been handwritten by Jhudora that said: Happy Valentine’s Day from Jhudora... signed in green ink. Next to it was a Portable Cloud. Wow, quite the prize! This made him instantly wonder WHY? Why was she being so nice? Sam was so suspicious. He sat in silence and watched the others open their gift bags. Everyone took out their gifts from Jhudora. It seemed like everyone was more impressed with her gifts than any other. Neopians received Jhudora’s Potion, Shrooms, Jhudora Music Box, Jhudora Snowglobe, or Portable Clouds! She had been very generous!!

     With her new Jhudora snowglobe in hand, Devonna contemplated today’s event. Suddenly, she felt extreme guilt. They had all unfairly judged Jhudora. She did have a heart!!! *gasp*

     “You know,” started Sam, “I guess I was the worst of us all. I really did not believe she could be nice or have a good heart. I am so wrong! I hope we all get the chance to tell her one day.”

     Everyone agreed! She did deserve another chance!

     “Yes, I suppose you could say she taught us what Valentine’s Day is really about! Friendship and caring!! She showed us she cares in her own weird way. She gave us some really nice gifts and she didn’t get anything in return.”

     A noise from downstairs startled Valencia. She turned her head away from the window. Her daydreaming came to a stop and she came back to reality.

     “Hey are you up there?” yelled Devonna. “Are you ready to head out to the annual Valentine picnic? I hear Jhudora is bringing the cake!”

The End