Lost and Forgotten

He had been alone for a long time. It wasn't that he was a bad sort; not at all. He was just… alone. He never had family in life, he had no companionship. In death he had been alone for many years, but in the present he had a family of sorts. He had a girl named Luna who wasn't exactly an owner but a friend, he just lived in her house and was a valued family member. Torkkin, Luna's pet Eyrie, was another good friend and he was quite fond of them both -- he even liked Torkkin's 'unique' Whoot, Ridge.

      What bothered Vrandir the most was the fact that most people and Neopets were afraid of ghosts, especially one that resembled the feared Ghost Lupe. Vrandir was lying on a sofa with his head resting on his paws to the right of Luna. Torkkin was out somewhere keeping Ridge out of trouble no doubt, and Luna was reading a book. "Vrandir, I have to go out for some supplies, do you want to come and keep me company?" Luna asked her friend while smiling warmly.

      Vrandir hopped off of the sofa and smiled at the girl. "I'll go."

      "Cool, just let me grab my Neopoints and we'll head on out," Luna said as she walked up the stairs to her room.

      A few minutes later Luna and Vrandir were walking along their near-empty neighborhood, (Ridge was to blame for that) towards the bazaar. Vrandir reveled in the daytime splendor of Neopia central, having been unable to tolerate sunlight only a short time before. The blue flames that flickered along his body was the only thing that allowed him to do so. After a while they entered the commercial district where they passed the bank, a hospital, and the pharmacy. A family of Quiggles were busy eating hotdogs that they had purchased from Hubert's hotdog stand, and a small red Zafara had hopped into the rainbow pool clutching a faerie paintbrush and later emerged with wings. Luna turned into the bookstore with Vrandir at her heels; she peered at the books on the shelves and frowned when the book she was seeking was nowhere to be found.

      "Excuse me, do you have any copies of 'Peophin Poetry' left?" Luna asked the blue Nimmo behind the counter.

      "Not at the moment, maybe if you check back later we'll have it by then," the Nimmo replied.

      "Okay then, I will. Ouch!" Luna cried out as a book materialized out of thin air above her head and hit her. "Peophin Poetry? I'll take it then." She put the Neopoints on the counter and left with her book.

      As the pair wandered their way towards the food shop, Vrandir turned his head towards Luna.

      "I hope that you're alright. It wouldn't do for you to get hurt."

      Luna smiled reassuringly at the Lupe. "I'm fine, don't worry, okay?"

      Vrandir nodded, the blue flames rippling along the length of his body. Luna and Vrandir entered the food store and Luna whipped out a shopping list and began down the aisles in search of the various foods she needed. When Vrandir looked at the food he remembered how much he had enjoyed the rich flavor of gingerbread Chia cookies in life, and the texture of sirloin steak, dripping with juices. Lost in his thoughts, Vrandir wasn't looking where he was going and ended up walking through a Shoyru mother and her young child, causing the child to begin to cry loudly.

      "Look what you've done you bungling spook!" the angry mother yelled at Vrandir.

      "I-I'm truly sorry Ma'am," he tried to apologize.

      The Shoyru scowled at him while trying to comfort her child. "The heck you are," she snapped. "Why, all you ghosts do is make trouble for us living folk. I'm sure you even did that on purpose! You filthy ghost!"

      Vrandir stood with his mouth agape in shock. Could she possibly have said that? Just then, Luna stormed over to the Shoyru looking like she was about to pluck off her wings.

      "How can you be so callous?" Luna shouted angrily. "You know nothing about my friend, so how dare you judge him so quickly!?"

      The mother seemed unfazed as she held her child. "You can't trust ghosts, just as you can't trust Darigan pets or mutants." The Shoyru sized Luna up in one glance. "You're his owner, I presume? Well I can't see how you can let a monster like that live with you."

      Luna's look that she gave the Shoyru could have stopped an army of killer Meepits in their tracks. She seemed as if she would say something nasty but turned to look for Vrandir.

      "Vrandir, where did you go?"

      Vrandir ran down the main shop row and then down the bazaar, streaking through the crowds. He felt as if everyone stared at him with disgust and contempt in their eyes. He ran all the way to the edge of a small forest grove and hid himself underneath a large shady oak tree. 'Filthy ghost?' Vrandir thought to himself. 'Nothing but a ghost? Is that all I am?'

      He lay his head on his paws and gazed at the surrounding trees and grass as thoughts swirled through his head. It wasn't long until he drifted into sleep. Around sunset a voice awoke Vrandir.

      "Uhg! It's hideous, Stan!" Vrandir looked through the trees to see a Techo talking to a Jubjub while dragging something along on a leash.

      "Honestly, what was my owner thinking when they got me this thing?" The indignant sounding Techo exclaimed as it gave a sharp yank on the leash.

      "He must not have been thinking when he bought you a mutant Gruslen." The Jubjub said as Vrandir watched attentively. "So what are you going to do with it?"

      "I'm going to let it go into those woods. I'll just tell my owner that he ran away and then they'll buy me a new petpet." The Techo leaned over and slid the collar off of the creatures neck.

      "Go on, get going you blighted creature!" With that the Techo kicked the petpet and it ran towards the trees with a yelp.

      Vrandir watched the two Neopets walk off and then turned to the petpet running towards the area that he was in. The Gruslen had sickly-looking green fur, the color of asparagus, it had yellow eyes with red iris' and slitted black pupils. It had a tail shorter than that of a normal Gruslen, longer ears, a scruff of fur that stood on end over the haunches, and a long set of tusks that curved slightly at the ends. Although its most noticeable feature was that it had six legs, with three on each side. The petpet saw the ghost Lupe and halted in mid stride, skidding along the grass and then spinning around to face him.

      "Are you alright?" Vrandir asked the Gruslen.

      The petpet couched down and curled its upper lip, and growled deep in its throat at him. Vrandir sat down unafraid of being harmed, for how can something without substance be hurt?

      "I may be a ghost, but I'm not evil or malicious. Just like you being a mutant doesn't make you vulgar or a servant of Doctor Sloth," the Lupe said calmly.

      The mutant Gruslen cocked his head to one side as if thinking about what Vrandir had said. Finally the Gruslen purred in agreement and looked at the Lupe expectantly. Vrandir suddenly realized what it was that he had said, and discovered that he had known it to be true all along. He looked at the Gruslen and knew that they were the same; both had been rejected from society regardless of what they were really like, solely on preconceived conceptions and appearance.

      He looked down and saw the Gruslen sitting directly in front of him, gazing intently through the bushes at something approaching. He craned his neck to see through the brush and saw a figure wandering about.

      "Vrandir!" It was Luna. "Vrandir, where are you?"

      The Lupe let out a howl to call Luna and watched as she came running.

      "Vrandir, I was so worried about you!" She panted when she reached the Lupe. "I looked all over for you."

      "I'm sorry, but I needed to be alone." Vrandir looked at his friend and saw the anger in her eyes. Is she mad at me? he thought. Or is she going to reject me?

      "It's all that haughty Shoyru's fault!" Luna growled.

      Vrandir blinked. "So you don't care that I'm a ghost?" he asked her.

      "Of course not, you should know me better than that by now," she said.

      Luna felt a tugging at her jean leg and looked down. "What's this then?" she said to the creature at her feet.

      "Some callous Neopet abandoned it just because it was a mutant," Vrandir said with a mix of anger and sadness.

      "That's just wrong. Never judge things based on how they look. It's just as bad as that Shoyru was!" Luna knelt down and reached out a hand to the Gruslen but it backed towards Vrandir warily.

      "He seems to have taken a liking to you, Vrandir," she said. "What will you call him?"

      Vrandir looked at Luna, surprised. "You want me to keep him?"

      "Well, we can't just leave it here. So think of a name."

      The Lupe paused for a moment and thought. "His original owner called him a 'blighted creature,' so I think I'll name him Blighter."

      Luna smiled and gathered the mutant Gruslen into her arms. "Let's go home then."

-The End-