Friendship in an Igloo

     Mika’s favorite thing to do was visit the Snowager’s lair. True, she got blasted so many times, but when she did happen to sneak away with an item... Well, there was no other feeling like it. The little trinkets the ice worm had were so cool. Most other Neopets didn’t think so.

     Well, that’s what Mika thought, until she met Carassa. Mika had just tried sneaking into the Snowager’s cave. She could feel her heart beating quickly as she stumbled out of the lair. Sometimes that worm could get the best of her. Mika sat down outside of the cave, catching her breath.

     She heard a laugh. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been chased by the Pant Devil.”

     Mika looked up and saw a yellow Chia, who looked the same age as her. “Worse,” Mika replied. “The Snowager.” They both laughed.

     “Been there, done that,” the other Chia said. She held out a hand to Mika. “I’m Carassa.”

     Mika took Carassa’s hand and got to her feet. “And I’m Mika. I take it you’ve been here a lot.”

     “Of course. I come to the Snowager every day! I was just on my way in. But apparently, he’s awake.”

     Mika laughed. “Yup!”

     “Well, I guess if he’s awake, I’ll go shopping,” Carassa said, and began walking back down towards Happy Valley.

     “You’re a shopper?” Mika asked as she followed her.

     Carassa shook her head slightly. “Not usually. But I’m all over the place on Half Price Day.”

     Mika had totally forgotten. How could she forget Half Price Day? She was always all over the place too! “Oh yeah!” Mika cried. “It’s Half Price Day!”

     Carassa let out a laugh. “You’re a fan too?!” And they spent the rest of the day wandering around at the shops.

     ****

     When Mika returned home that night, she had bags and bags full of stuff that she had gotten all at half price.

     “My, someone certainly has been busy today,” Mika’s mom said when she saw all the bags.

     Mika nodded as she went upstairs. “All at half price too!” She dumped all the “junk” on her bed and started sorting. Her shelves were so full, she was worried that she may not have enough space. After all, she had the Pack Rat Avatar. That sure says a lot.

     As Mika looked through the stuff she had bought, she thought of the new friend she had made. Mika had never met anyone more like her. Snowager, Half Price Day... And she hadn’t even thought to ask where Carassa lived, or her Neomail address. What if she never saw Carassa again?

     Mika fell asleep on her bed with all her new items surrounding her, thinking of Carassa. When she awoke the next morning, she went out to the Snowager’s lair once again, hoping to get something from it, and hoping to bump into Carassa. Unfortunately, she didn’t find Carassa, nor did she get anything from the Snowager. Mika spent the rest of the day looking for her friend. But the yellow Chia was nowhere to be found.

     ****

     Mika pulled the dusty box out from under her bed. Written on the top of the box was “MIKA’S JUNK”. She almost had to laugh. Junk. That was definitely the word to describe it all. But inside the box wasn’t only pointless items that she had collected when she was little, there were memories of crazy Half Price Days and intense encounters with the Snowager.

     Mika opened the box and pulled out a Yellow Wocky Keyring. She laughed quietly to herself. How many of those did she have? Next, she pulled out a Korbats Lab Card. Ten thousand Neopoints right in her hand. She had gotten this during Half Price Day. She never sold it because it reminded her of the day that she had roamed all around Neopia with a good friend she had made. What was that Chia’s name again? Claire? Clarissa? Mika couldn’t remember. It had been a long time ago.

     She didn’t go hunting for junk as often as she used to, but she still liked to look around on Half Price Day. And she occasionally took a visit to the Snowager’s cave. Today was one of those days where she just felt like looking for junk. After all, it was her favorite day of the whole year—Half Price Day!

     Mika always checked the Super Happy Icy Fun Snow Shop first. She didn’t ever buy stuff, but the Lenny who worked there had always been a good friend to her. Ever since she was a little Chia.

     “Mika! My buddy!” the Lenny cried as Mika entered the shop.

     “Hey, Leonard! How’s it going?” Mika asked.

     “Not much. But I thought you might want to know, I saw Carassa today. She just stopped in to say hi.”

     Like an old, dusty lightbulb had flickered to life, Mika’s eyes grew wide. Carassa. That was her name. “Where? When?” Mika said, excited and anxiously. She never thought she’d see her friend again!

     The yellow Lenny chuckled to himself. The same, old Mika. Always excited. And somewhere in that face of surprise, he saw the little blue Chia who came into his shop almost every single day for a Snow Puff. He pointed left. “She went thataway about two minutes ago.”

     Mika darted out of the shop. “Thanks! I’ll come back soon!”

     She ran left, looking all around for a yellow Chia. Mika was just about to lose hope when she saw a flash of yellow dash into the Snowager’s lair. Mika smirked to herself. That must be her, she thought.

     The blue Chia didn’t tiptoe into the cave like she usually did. She practically ran in shouting, “Carassa!”

     Of course, the Snowager roared at her menacingly, so Mika dove out of the lair and sat down.

     “I thought I heard my name,” a familiar voice said.

     Mika had déjà vu as she looked up and saw a yellow Chia looking down at her.

     “Carassa!” Mika cried. She got up and gave her old friend a hug. They talked all day. Non-stop. They forgot about Half Price Day. The two friends chatted the day away like there was no tomorrow.

     “...Well, actually, I was thinking about getting out of here. I’ve got the rest of Neopia to see. And shopping at their stores doesn’t count,” Mika continued.

     Carassa took a sip of her hot chocolate. “That’s not a bad idea, actually. I’ve always wanted to live on Mystery Island.”

     “But the only problem is, I have all this junk in my room. I have a million boxes of all my old stuff.”

     Carassa laughed. “I feel your pain! I’ve got the same problem in my house!”

     “I was thinking I could just sell it all. Get rid of it, y’know what I mean?”

     “Yeah. Maybe we could have a garage sale together, or something,” Carassa suggested.

     “In an igloo,” Mika said, building on the idea. “After all, it’s Terror Mountain.”

     “We can call it...”

     They both finished the sentence. “The Igloo Garage Sale.”

The End