How the Meerca Lost His Fish Negg

      Every day for him was the same. He would wake up and go to his couch and sit there all day long. All he would do was sit, waiting for every agonizingly slow minute to pass by one by one. He thought that there would always be nothing to look at, nothing to admire, nothing to behold. He thought that nothing would ever be of importance to him, but there, he would soon find out, he was wrong.

      ***

      It was an unusually depressing day, with thunderstorms rampaging across the inky blue sky and haunting winds pounding on his windows.

      This Meerca was special. If he listened, he could hear what the wind had to say. He could make out every word, and have conversations. This day, he felt that he should listen very closely.

      The wind rapped on the window. "Let me in. I want to come in. Please, please let me in," the wind said.

      "No, no. I shall not let you in and here is why," the Meerca responded. "You are nothing but a nuisance. Knocking on windows, asking if you could be let in so you can blow everything around, it's really quite barbaric."

      "But I have a present for you. A wonderful present. All you have to do is let me in... just let me in... your present... let me in..." the wind repeated over and over in an almost hypnotizing voice.

      "If I let you in, do you promise to give me this wonderful present that you are telling me about?"

      "Oh, yes. I promise... promise... just let me in... let me in... present... wonderful present..."

      The Meerca thought about this for a moment. What really was the wind promising? What was this present? The Meerca had never gotten a present before. "Okay, I shall let you in."

      "Thank you... you won't be... disappointed."

      The Meerca made his way to the window. "Three, two, one, GO!" he said under his breath right before he flung open the window. At that very moment, the wind leapt into the house, nearly knocking the Meerca down. Somehow, the Meerca managed to get up, struggle to close the window, and lock it. "That is it, wind! You are banished from this neohome!"

      The Meerca was almost back to the couch, not caring that the wind hadn't kept its promise, when the wind screamed, "You have locked me out, and for that you shall receive your present in the worst way! And you should thank me for being so generous as to keep my promise after you banished me!"

      All at once, thunder boomed across the sky, and the Meerca was knocked to the ground by the wind. The wind? The Meerca looked around. All of his windows were shut and locked, and even though it was impossible, the wind was holding him down to the ground, defenseless.

      The room went dark. The wind had blown out all of the candles. A few seconds later, lightning illuminated the room brighter than ever and there was a loud crash and a slight thud.

      Then it was over. The lightning, the thunder, and the wind was all over. Not forgetting the crash, the Meerca got up and looked around. He noticed that his window was broken. Has something crashed through the window, or was it just the wind, unable to contain its anger?

      The Meerca examined the room. He spotted something blue on the floor. He picked it up and couldn't believe his eyes. Yet there it was, staring back at him with a silly grin. He was holding a Fish Negg. That was the kindest gesture that the Meerca had received in a long time. A tingly feeling went through his body. The Meerca would not dare eat it.

      ***

      Months passed, and the Meerca had never been so happy in his entire life. The Meerca even named his Fish Negg. The Meerca thought that the Fish Negg was a girl (actually, there are no boy or girl Neggs, just Neggs) so he named it Hope, and for good reasons. The Fish Negg helped him see that one should always have hope, and that one should always have a companion as great as his Fish Negg. That's why the Meerca saw that the name fit perfectly.

      No matter what, the Meerca and Hope always had fun together. When it rained, he and Hope would go out and roll around in puddles to get soaked and it would be fun. In thunderstorms, the Meerca and Hope would curl up in blankets and tell stories. When it was sunny, they could do anything and go anywhere they liked.

      The Meerca cared deeply about Hope, and worried about Hope at night when he couldn't see the Negg through the twilight that surrounded them. He would wake himself up in the dead of night to check on the Fish Negg, and admire it.

      The Meerca and Hope would have conversations, and Hope would always listen to everything that the Meerca said. Neggs are great listeners.

      The Meerca and Hope traveled all around Neopia together. They've been to the Lost Desert, they've been to Terror Mountain, they've been to everywhere in Neopia together. Almost. The one place that they haven't ventured to yet was the Haunted Woods. The place that was so scary, so breathtaking, so terrifyingly dark that one would scream at the sound of a twig snapping in half.

      The Meerca, being as protective as he was, scared very easily. When the Meerca was scared, he couldn't pay attention to important things very well. That is why something worse than anyone could imagine was going to happen in the Haunted Woods to them, that was so scary that milk curdled at the mention of it.

      ***

      The Meerca finally took Hope to the Haunted Woods. Instantly the Meerca became terrified. Hope stayed calm. Neggs were good at stuff like that. Everything that caught the corner of the Meerca's eye frightened him badly, and with Hope being in the Meerca's hands, that was not a good thing.

      The Meerca wasn't paying attention, which caused Hope to slip through his terrified hands, roll down the path, and head straight to the game graveyard.

      The Meerca was frantic once he realized that Hope was missing. He could never forgive himself. Although Hope missing brought him peace in an unusual sort of way. He knew that whoever, or whatever found Hope would see how great Hope was and take good care of her. That was what brought the Meerca peace.

      ***

      Meanwhile, a Lupe just happened to be passing the game graveyard when he noticed something blue tumble out of the brush. The Lupe recognized it immediately as a Fish Negg. The Lupe would not dare eat it, as he too saw that this particular Negg was special.

      As the Lupe looked at the Negg, then the graves, then back again, he had a brilliant idea.

      ***

      The Meerca went home, all hopes lost of finding Hope.

       ***

      The Lupe's brilliant idea was to create a game and hide the special Fish Negg in it so that when the owner played the game he could find his lost Negg. This was a truly generous Lupe.

      And so the game Meerca Chase was invented. Sure enough, the Meerca played the game and eventually found his Fish Negg. He was so ecstatic, he decided that he should be the character in the game that goes looking for Hope.

      Over time, though, fewere and fewer people played Meerca Chase so the Meerca and the generous Lupe came together and invented Meerca Chase 2. So now the Meerca is happy playing games with Hope all day long. Even though he rarely finds Hope, he is still happy all the same.

      ***

      To this day, whenever the slightest breeze happens past the Meerca, he would always ask, "Is that you? The kind wind that gave me my beloved Fish Negg? Are you there?" But there was never a response. The wind that gave him Hope was long gone. That wind was the adventurous type and wanted to blow through all of the corners of the world. (If worlds even have corners. Wind may be able to talk in their own special language and give presents, but they were not very bright.)

      ***

      So, as you can see, the Meerca did find Hope eventually, and that this story has a happy ending just like all others. And what other ending could there possibly be?

The End

Yay! My first story in the NT. Thank you for reading my story.