A Week At Cockroach Towers

     I’d have to say my owner, Cassie, was definitely the latter.

     My brother, Kody, and I had the best of everything in my opinion; it wasn’t always the most expensive of food or toys, but nonetheless it was food that was healthy and toys we could play with. Our colours weren’t extravagant but they were nice and suited our personalities, myself being a purple Wocky and Kody being a camouflage Kougra. We’d run home from school to see Cassie in the kitchen, her long brown hair tied up in a loose bobble and a grubby white apron over her jeans and T-shirt. She’d be singing at the top of her lungs and make me and my brother wince in pain. We’d giggle uncontrollably and at our first outburst of giggles, she’d turn away from the cake she was baking for our afternoon treat and throw a handful of flour at us.

     But this story isn’t about how I think our life was good. This story is about the week that wasn’t so good....

     The week we spent in Cockroach Towers.

     *****

     “What do you mean you’re going away?!” I was so shocked. Every day since she’d created us, Cassie had spent with us. There was just no question about it; she loved us and she couldn’t bear being away from us, but then why was she standing in front of me telling me she was going away for an entire month!

     Kody remained quiet throughout the whole explanation; her mum was taking her and her sister on holiday and she couldn’t come see us in that time; it wasn’t something she had a choice about.

     Being the younger, more irrational sibling, I was annoyed at once.

     “We’re going to starve! You just don’t care anymore!” I yelled. I don’t even know why I did; it just blurted out. I knew she wasn’t abandoning us, and I knew my words were hurting her as she blinked back tears; at the end of the day, I was forgetting that she was just a fourteen-year-old girl who loved us dearly.

     “Well... I’ve booked you into the neolodge for the week...” Suddenly I was hit with a huge wave of excitement, but I could see with the look on her face she wasn’t thrilled about it. “Now because there’s two of you, and it’s for a whole week... I’m sorry, but I couldn’t afford the best...”

     *****

     A week later, Kody and I stood looking at the crumbling building in front of us. There was a large spiral tower with a turret on the top crookedly leaning from the top of the building. It was the sort of thing you expected to see in the Haunted Woods, the crumbling paint on the wooden sign acknowledging the name of the hotel swinging on a rusty chain in the wind. What were we being subjected to?

     “Come on, Beebie, we have to go in sometime.” My elder brother tugged my fur and I stepped forward shakily. I felt like I was on a boat, my legs wobbled in fright and I almost lost my balance, then I gulped and said, “It can’t be that bad... can it?”

     A grim looking Aisha peered over the reception desk down at us, Kody clutched in his paws our booking confirmation and placed this in front of her slowly. Her eyes didn’t leave our faces for a few moments, and then laboriously and tiredly she averted her gaze to the booking confirmation, her paws grappling at the corners as she read.

     “All seems to be in order, room 21, dinner at 7, thanks for staying at our wonderful hotel.” Her voice seemed as laboured as her eyes, repeating the usual script for visitors to the hotel.

     My brother took the key from the desk and grasped my paw tightly in his own. We walked towards the lift at the end of the reception, a handwritten sign hung limply from the door, ‘OUT OF ORDER’.

     ‘Looks like we’re taking the stairs,’ I mumbled disgustedly, Kody squeezed my paw, I couldn’t bear to look at him, as the tears were welling in my eyes now, and the only thing disguising my fear and sadness were my large white sunglasses, perched precariously on the end of my Wocky nose.

     “Come on, Beebs. The room will be better than the rest of it, I’m sure...” but I wasn’t convinced. We climbed to the first floor. Dirty neopets opened their eyes as we walked past on the corridor; they looked almost lifeless, drained of energy and hope. It reminded me vaguely of when Cassie was intent on adopting a pet more unfortunate than ourselves, but after just ten minutes in the pound none of us could bear it anymore. They all looked so sad; deprived of life. I felt somewhat out of place here also; it wasn’t like I was a limited edition pet, or painted a really really expensive colour, but my purple fur was brushed daily, so it was soft and luxurious and clean. These pets had matted fur, their eyes were sad, and in some of them shone a glimmer of hope as we walked past.

     This was a nightmare.

     *****

     Room 21.

     Our home for the next week, or more accurately, a perpetual nightmare from which I wished to wake...

     Two rusted iron bed frames sat in the centre of the room, a thin, lumpy mattress covered in a brown woolly blanket. Other than upturned apple crates, which I assumed were meant to be tables, these beds were the only furniture in the bedroom; I felt dizzy as I placed my small suitcase at the end of the bed and flopped onto the blanket, sighing with fatigue.

     Hours passed by and I couldn’t bring myself to move. I could hear the curtains flapping viciously around the rotting window frame. I could Kody’s attempts to cheer me up to no avail; the only thing that finally won over my head was my stomach...

     “I’m hungry...” I whined. I knew it must be time for dinner by now, so I clambered from the bed and stretched. I knew it was about time for dinner so I dragged Kody back down the flights of stars to the ‘restaurant’ of the hotel.

     It was little more than a soup kitchen. An aging Acara stood at the head of the room, over a large cooking pot; a small queue was forming next to the pot and several neopets were already seated at the wooden benches, slurping the warm soup.

     My stomached groaned and ached as I smelt the soup; it didn’t smell that bad, so maybe there was something about this hotel that wasn’t absolutely terrifying.

     I reached the front of the queue and held out the small bowl I had picked up seconds previously. The Acara looked me up and down for a moment before slopping the soup into my dish using a large ladle. It was a greyish colour and although it didn’t smell too bad, it looked terrible...

     I slumped down at a wooden bench and gazed at the dish, my hunger gone in the last few seconds. I wasn’t used to this. Even though we weren’t rich, we still had a variety of foods so that we had a balanced diet; it didn’t need to be expensive. This was surely not good for my health, I thought as I prodded the floating parts of my ‘soup’ with my spoon. I sighed and laid my head on my paws in defeat.

     *****

     The week continued to drag on the same as the first night; the bed was itchy and irritated my skin and with each day I fit in more and more as my fur became matted and ridden with bugs from the room and lack of vegetables in my diet. My brother was the same and nothing could make us smile; it was horrible...

     I couldn’t imagine ever being home. Ever being away from this horrible place. Every day, the food was the same, the same stares as I took the long walk back to room 21 and the same itchy blanket on my bed.

     I’d never really taken advantage of everything in my life. I knew there were always people who had had it worse, but all the same, like every other pet, I had had selfish moments. Moments where I cared about nobody but myself, moments where I had wished we were rich and could afford better clothes and toys and food.

     But now I would be grateful for a reject plushie toy and an omelette.

     I’d given up hope when we received a call from the reception the day before our owner's due return. I slumped down the stairs with Kody; we no longer spoke to each other despite being close. Instead we walked in silence towards the reception, then my eyes widened... the girl standing at the reception, looking slightly awkward and out of place, was Cassie!

     I ran towards her and screamed in happiness; I knew Kody was following suit as I flung myself into her arms and felt squashed as a much larger Kougra slammed into the back of me, trapping me between my owner and my brother. I’d never been happier in the entirety of my life.

     *****

     That was what we did on our holidays. We learnt never to take anything for granted again and even when we had silly things for dinner, as long as it wasn’t grey and lumpy, neither of us complained.

     Home is definitely where the heart is...

     ...If you leave home behind, you leave your heart with it, even if it is just for a week!

The End

Long time since I've submitted a story, but I hope to get back soon. Love to hear all your comments. :)