Changes for the Worse

"I'm home, Mom," the striped Kougra shouted to the air, throwing her red backpack onto the ground.

     "How was your day at school?" Mom called back from up the stairs.

     Bad, Celia thought at the same time she said, "Good."

     "That's good, hon; there are some leftovers in the fridge for your dinner. I'm going out for dinner with some friends."

     Celia's mother came down the stairs as she said that, wearing huge hoop earrings and a ton of makeup.

     "Have fun," Celia mumbled.

     "Oh I will, dearest. You have fun doing...whatever you do."

     With that, the eccentric Kougra ran out the front door. Her not-so eccentric daughter walked into the kitchen in search of the food. She found the meat in a container in the fridge. She smelled it. It smelled like rotten shoes and dung mixed together. Deciding that she wasn't going to eat dinner that night, Celia threw the rancid meat into her garbage.

     "Now that I ate I'll go work on a story!" Celia said to herself excitedly.

     She ran out of the kitchen and up the wood stairs to her small room, which was the first room that you came to upstairs. She quickly grabbed her paper and her favorite pen, an air faerie one, and ran back downstairs. Her favorite place to write was a little odd. In the living room, snuggled between the comfy couch and the plush armchair was a tiny corner, barely big enough for the Kougra to squeeze into. Although she had all of those comfy places to sit, she loved to sit in this small corner and write because the small space helped her think. Suddenly, she got an idea for a story and started writing.

      ...Amora coughed. The poor Usul had been roaming the streets without a home for what seemed like forever; now she was getting sick.

     But one day, everything changed. While wandering aimlessly, she bumped into a rather scruffy looking Lupe.

     "Oh, I'm sorry," Amora said wearily.

     "It's all right," the Lupe replied kindly. "What are you doing here in the streets? You look like you've caught the fever."

     "I have nowhere else to go. I live on the streets."

     "Here, you can stay with me tonight and get some rest. Come on," he offered...

     Celia removed her favorite pen from the paper, and frowned. She realized how clichéd most of her writing was, but it didn't bother her much at all. It was the joy of simply writing anything that encouraged her to continue.

     The Kougra eventually dozed off in her corner, still clutching her pen and paper. The following morning would be a Saturday, so she knew she could sleep in and eventually wake up to the sound of Puppyblews making annoying barking sounds from the window. What awoke her, however, was her mother.

     "Celia, wake up, we're going out to the market!" she cried shrilly.

     Celia opened up her eyes groggily, and grumbled, "Okay."

     Her mother, a pink Kougra, frowned. "I really don't know why you sit in that corner. It's so small, like a little...small place."

     You're a genius when it comes to describing things, Mother, Celia thought. Instead, she said, "Yeah, it is kind of weird. Whatever. Let's go."

     The two of them left their house and proceeded to the market place, which was conveniently a quarter of a mile away. It was just what Celia's mother wanted, to live near the city. It was just the opposite of what Celia herself wanted.

     ****

     "First we'll hit Unis Clothing, and then maybe a quick trip to the Grooming Parlour, and if you want, Celia dearest, we can go get you a new Usuki at Usuki Land! I heard they have some new ones in stock," her mother said as they walked along the streets of the Neopian Bazaar.

     "How about, Mother dearest," Celia mocked through gritted teeth, "you go get some clothes, get groomed, and buy some Usukis for yourself, and I'll go do what I want, okay?"

     Staring at her daughter, shocked, Celia's mother nodded.

     "See you later, baby!" she cried, loud enough it seemed like the whole planet of Neopia could hear her, and then planted a huge kiss on Celia's cheek.

     As everybody around stared at her, Celia's face turned bright red. She wanted to run and cry, but she knew that would draw even more attention to her. Instead she just ran, looking to others like she was on a morning jog.

     She did not look where she was running, until she became completely out of breath and stopped, panting. She now looked where she was, and groaned.

     It seemed to be the poorest section of town. Celia could tell it was at least poor by how there were only a few rundown shops and a bunch of houses made out of cardboard. She was about to start running back to the Bazaar when something amazing stopped her.

     It was a coughing yellow Usul, who looked to be quite young. She was just walking up the street opposite Celia, not looking like she was going anywhere. A Lupe was also walking down the street towards the Usul. Neither saw each other, and so they collided.

     "Oh, I'm sorry," the Usul said wearily.

     "It's all right," the Lupe replied kindly. "What are you doing here in the streets? You look like you've caught the fever."

     "I have nowhere else to go. I live on the streets."

     "Here, you can stay with me tonight and get some rest. Come on," he offered.

     Celia rubbed her eyes and blinked. Did that just happen? she asked herself silently. The scene in her story that she had written the night before had just happened right before her eyes. She knew it had, because she saw the Lupe and Usul walk away together towards the better part of the town.

     She was about to follow the two pets she had just observed when her mother came stampeding towards her carrying half a dozen shopping bags. "Sweetie! Where have you been?"

     "I was just, uh, walking around."

     "Well we need to get back home now, you shouldn't scare me like that!" Mom exclaimed.

     "I'm sorry," Celia mumbled. The two of them returned home; the entire time the mother was showing off the different beauty products and Usuki dolls she had purchased. Celia's mind was on other things, though. How did my characters just come to life like that? It couldn't have been just a coincidence. The dialogue was exactly the same as it had been in the story, she thought.

     Upon returning home, Celia quickly gobbled up her lunch, constantly thinking about what had happened in the marketplace. She got her air faerie pen and paper, then raced back to her corner in between couches.

     "It's time to experiment," she said. Excitedly, she wrote in large print: There is a Babaa directly in front of me.

     Celia blinked. Nothing. She blinked again. And when she opened her eyes, there it was. The small, woolly petpet was prancing in circles on the floor right in front of her.

     She could have screamed, but instead she gasped in silent amazement. "It worked!" she exclaimed giddily.

     A bit later, she decided to do one more test: making food appear. She was hungry after all.

      A huge plate full of chocolate on the middle cushion on the couch, she wrote happily.

     She scrambled out of the corner and checked the couch. Sure enough, a plate full of assorted chocolates sat on the green middle cushion. Celia grabbed a piece of chocolate off the top and bit into it, letting the sweet stuff melt in her mouth. The little Babaa that she had created baaed pitifully, so Celia gave him a small piece of chocolate; she wasn't sure if the candy was good for him or not.

     I could get used to this thing, thought Celia as she and her Babaa climbed back into the corner with the plate of chocolate in hand.

     ****

     "Celia, oh Celia wake up!" a voice cried, waking the striped Kougra up.

     Celia groaned and opened her eyes to see her mother holding the Babaa and giving it a look of disgust.

     "Hold on," Celia muttered, turned onto her back as best she could in the tiny corner.

     "Honestly, Celia, I give you a nice bed and you insist on sleeping in that dreadful corner every night! And what is this Babaa doing here? We're going to drop it off at the Petpet Store before we go shop for some clothes and makeup!" Celia's mother nagged.

     "How about you go and drop the Babaa off, go do your shopping, and I'll stay here! Oh, and while you're shopping, why not buy some real food? If you haven't noticed, there is none."

     The pink Kougra looked hurt, but Celia didn't care. She was too tired and too grumpy from sleeping in a corner to really care about anything.

     "Fine, Celia, you waste your life away sitting in your corner! At least I do the shopping!"

     With that, Celia's mother ran out of the house, Babaa in hand, letting the door slam hard behind her.

     Celia groaned and arose from her corner. She was not in the best of moods, and she wasn't sure for a moment if what had happened the previous day was reality. But of course, it was; she had seen her mother carry the Babaa out of the door.

     At the thought of her mother, Celia sighed. She'll never understand me, and I'll never understand her. Unless...

     An idea popped into her head. A wonderful, brilliant idea. She took a nearby pencil, and began scribbling the words down: My mother is interested in writing, not shopping.

     She grinned, knowing this idea would certainly change her mother for the better. No more annoying shopping trips, screechy voices, or arguments...

     But right at that moment, her mother reappeared in the room, the same as she had ever been. "I forgot my purse!" she said, quickly swiping it up from the couch it had been sitting on. She then departed from the room once more, leaving Celia confused.

     The Kougra stared at what she had just written. "Why didn't it work? she asked herself in frustration. It was then that her eyes slowly shifted over to her air faerie pen. It was her favorite pen, and she had been using it all three of the times her writing had occurred in real life. She raised an eyebrow, picked it up, and decided it was worth a shot.

     Once again, now with her air faerie pen, she wrote: My mother is interested in writing, not shopping.

     It was worth a shot.

     ****

     Celia's mom wasn't home until the next morning; Celia knew she was home by the door slamming shut. The striped Kougra dragged herself out of her comfy bed, it was the first time she had slept in her bed in awhile, and went to greet her mother.

     "Hi, Celia," the pink Kougra said the minute she laid eyes on her daughter.

     "Hey, Mom," Celia mumbled, still half asleep.

     "How is your writing coming along?"

     Celia, who was staring at her paw, abruptly looked up. Her mother NEVER asked about her writing.

     "Why do you want to know?" Celia asked suspiciously.

     "There was a writing convention going on in the Deep Catacombs, but you had to have a story ready to go in. I have mine!"

     Celia's mother dug in her purse for a moment before pulling out about ten sheets of crisp white paper with words scrawled on them in beautiful handwriting. Celia was about ready to faint, until she remembered what she wrote.

     The air faerie pen worked! It really worked! Celia thought, wanting to dance for joy, but instead she just said,

     "I don't have anything from recent times, but I have a few old ones that are kind of good."

     "Well, go pick one out quickly! We need to get going if we want to enter our stories in the story competition."

     Feeling as if she was floating, Celia ran into her room to grab one of her numerous stories.

     She grabbed a notebook of stories that she had completed. "Is it okay if I bring them all, Mom?" she asked delightfully.

     "Sure! Let's go!"

     And so the two of them headed to the writing convention, having a conversation about literature on the way over.

     It was an enjoyable experience for Celia. She had gotten her writing read and workshiped, and for once do something with her mother that she wanted to do also.

     Afterwards, as they headed home, Celia sighed peacefully. This was the greatest idea ever, she thought.

     "So, Celia, would you like to help me write a story when we get home?" her mother asked.

     "Actually, I was thinking we could play a board game or something. We've been writing all day," Celia replied with a chuckle.

     "A board game? Why play a board game when you could write some more instead?"

     Celia shrugged. "Writing isn't the only thing I enjoy doing."

     "Well, I think we should do some writing," the mom answered stubbornly.

     "Well, okay... But shouldn't you make dinner or something?" the young Kougra asked hopefully.

     "I don't want to make dinner for you, I want to write. Come on."

     It was at that moment that Celia realized how horribly things had gone wrong. Yes, the mom was interested in writing, but she was no longer interested in Celia. Celia's mother had been turned into a two dimensional character, someone completely lacking of a personality, someone who completely lacked... love.

     As they stepped back into their house, Celia knew exactly what she needed to do.

     "Mom, why don't you go on to bed?" suggested Celia.

     Celia's mother nodded and yawned.

     "I am tired from all this writing. Goodnight, Celia. We can write more in the morning!"

     Celia watched as her mother walked into her room before sprinting into her own room and grabbing a piece of paper and her air faerie pen. My mother is back to the way she was before I made her different and the air faerie pen disappears. She scribbled down quickly.

     The Kougra then lay down in her bed and pulled her blanket over her. There was nothing else left to do except wait until morning and hope it worked.

     ****

     Celia woke up before her mother. She sat anxiously on the living room couch, awaiting her mother's arrival. When the pink Kougra walked into the living room, Celia immediately asked,

     "What do you want to do today, Mother?"

     "That's a stupid question..." she paused to get a glass of milk. Celia held her breath as she awaited her answer. "...I want to shop!"

     Celia wanted to hug her mother and cry, but instead she just said,

     "Do you want me to come along and help?"

     "Of course, Celia dahling. First we'll go to Usukiland, and then Unis Clothing!"

     Celia sighed, but then laughed. Things were back to normal.

The End