Fridays at Night

Like clockwork, every Friday at precisely 9:00 pm there would be a thunderstorm disturbing the peaceful night of the residents of Neopia Central. This night was not any different, and all alone in a neohome lives a little petpet who gets easily frightened. With its owner no where in sight, how will the petpet fend itself from the ominous and eerie dark night?

      ****

      *THUNDEROUS ROAR*

      "Ah! I've got to find somewhere to hide!" cried a little petpet who was quickly dashing through the neohome and towards his master's bedroom. The petpet's master once said that whenever he gets scared, he should seek some sort of comfort to soothe his emotions. The comfort item can vary, whether it is being cocooned in a large blanket, cuddling with a loved one, or even holding an object.

      For that reason, this mini petpet was rummaging through his master's prized Usuki collection. After squeezing through a multitude of Usuki dolls, including a prized Vira Usuki Doll that the little petpet thought was too scary to hold, a rare Queen Fyora Usuki Doll that was deemed too fragile to hold, and a Squeaky Mini Usuki Doll that apparently was not big enough to hold, the frightened petpet began searching through his master's equally valued and expensive plushie set. However, after vetoing all of them with strange remarks like, "This plushie is not soft enough for me to hug", "This plushie can eat me", and irrationally "This plushie is not plushie enough", the petpet had no comfort item in sight.

      *THUNDEROUS BOOM*

      "EEK!" yelped the petpet. On instinct, the petpet dropped a Plumpy Plushie he considered to be too grumpy and covered his grey ears with his shiny black hooves. Tears were streaming down the petpet's round blue eyes as he silently chanted, "Rain, rain, go away, come back on another day."

      After five minutes of chanting, the little petpet recalled his master saying that cocooning yourself in a blanket can bring forth a sense of comfort, and so he rushed towards the bed and scrambled underneath the covers.

      He nuzzled his black triangular nose into his master's blanket, and his master's scent helped alleviate the petpet's stress and fear. After a few moments, the petpet rationalized the situation and said to no one in particular, "I hate it when my master works late at night... Why can't she be home with me instead?"

      You see, his master works at the Neopian Bank and this little petpet is fairly good with numbers. Not fairly good, incredible! You can give this mini math genius any equation, whether it is addition, subtraction, multiplication, or even division and he can solve it in no time. 435 divided by 29 is 15. See! Quick as a flash! However, being employed in the Neopian Bank means that she often works late in the night, hence the reason why this little petpet is frequently left alone on Friday nights.

      "Oh, how I wish she were here with me right now. She would know what to do!" wailed the mini math genius. All of a sudden, he heard something strange from outside his master's bedroom door.

      *Creak, creak creak*

      The little petpet uneasily peeked from under the bedcovers and shifted his eyes towards the door. His two gray ears twitched in correlation to every out of place sound. All of a sudden, he heard something indistinguishable outside the room.

      *BAAA BAAAA BAAA BAAA*

      "Ah! Someone is in the house!" screamed the terrified petpet. In an instant the frightened petpet managed to untangle himself from the blankets. However, his impulsive action caused him to lose his balance and fall off the bed with a loud thud.

      'Oh no, the invader knows that I am here!' he thought. He scanned the bedroom for hiding places and had to decide between three options: Either confront his fears and subsequently fight off the invader, jump out of the window, or hide underneath the bed. However, due to this petpet's predisposition of getting easily petrified, he chose the latter option and scurried under his master's bed.

      The petpet was as silent as a mouse as he heard the bedroom door creak open. He saw the shadow of a large lumpy figure appear on the parquet floor and move around the room. The petpet closed his eyes and curled up in a fetal position. Interestingly enough, instead of feeling anxious, he felt a sense of peace. The petpet gazed at his hiding spot with considerable thought and concluded that it was dark enough for him to camouflage himself from would-be attackers, soundproof enough from the echoes of the dark night, and most importantly, a quiet haven away from the chaos the world has to offer. The petpet had finally done it, he finally found a source of comfort: hiding underneath a bed!

      Just as the petpet released a sigh of relief, a pasty, white hand came out of nowhere and grabbed the petpet by his white cotton fur. The suddenness of this action shocked the petpet to his core - he could not breathe, scream, or even fight. All that was processing through his mind was 'I have been found! Please tell my master that I love her and I'm sorry for eating her last piece of Apple pie! I knew that it was hers but I was too much of a glutton!'

     He sent a quick and quiet prayer out to Queen Fyora and closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable end of his life.

      "I have been searching you everywhere in the house! Why were you underneath the bed?"

      Huh?

     The petpet opened his blue eyes and he saw someone he wasn't expecting... his master! She had a worried look on her beautiful face and she looked like a mess! Her hair was dripping water all over the floor and her clothes were completely soaked from the rain. More importantly, why she was at home? She usually arrives home at 11:15 pm, but the petpet looked at the clock on the wall and concluded it was 9:37 pm. Why was his master was here? She should be at work!

     "I was browsing through the news and discovered that it would be thunderstorming tonight. I know that you get easily scared so I skipped lunch so I could leave work early. Are you okay?"

     The petpet's emotions were running through him at an alarming rate as his master spoke to him. Even though his master was present he could feel his pulse racing, adrenaline shooting through his body at an unhealthy pace, and sweat dripping on his forehead. His master took note of her little petpet's emotional and physical state and began to soothe him by stroking his soft, cotton-like fur. Once she calmed her little math genius down, she repeated her question, "Why were you hiding underneath the bed?"

     "I guess I found a new hiding spot whenever I get scared or surprised..." responded the little Babaa.

     Babaa Trivia: Babaas are easily scared and will hide under your Neopet's bed when surprised.

The End