Pages of a Lost Past: Part One

Lately it seems I've been becoming restless. My days seem more and more meaningless, and my nights are filled with strange dreams that are oddly familiar. My days used to be spent going to the Lab Ray and helping my owner gain Neopoints so I could train, because I hoped to make it big in the Battledome someday. But now I just sit and ponder these strange dreams I've been having. It's like remembering things from when you were very little; you can remember several details except for people's names or dates. But you know that it's all true, you just don't know how to explain it. That's how I feel about these dreams. There's something there, I just don't know what it is. But I keep having these dreams. It's like destiny is trying to tell me something. Destiny makes me keep having these dreams so I don't forget them, like it's pushing me to figure out this mystery. It's all very confusing. But looking at a little yellow Kacheek, you would never think they'd have problems like this.

     * * *

     I sat in my favorite spot in the house, the old lawn chair in the spa room. I was stretched out on the chair staring out of the window daydreaming as usual. The window of the spa room looked out onto the garden, which was filled with an array of strange and mismatched plants. Sibertiger9 was never much of a gardener. My loyal petpet, a Psimouse named Kachie, was doing her infamous rain dance around the spa room to get my attention. But after half an hour's desperate attempt to get me to look at her, she gave up and went back to taking a nap on my lap.

     I was so involved in my daydreaming that I never noticed the door open or my brother enter the room. LuckDragon, a silver Shoyru, was followed into the room by his loyal and ever present petpet BuzzFuzz the Buzzer.

     "Ruffle?" he said, but I didn't hear him. So he spoke again, louder this time. "Ruffle? Do you want to go get some lunch?"

     I still didn't hear him because I was deep in my own little world. So LuckDragon slammed the door as hard as he could. The noise was so loud that I jumped, nearly falling out of my chair. I looked up at him feeling a bit disoriented, but at least he had my attention.

     "Ruffle, do you want to get some lunch? Sibertiger9 was thinking about taking us to Krawk Island."

     "Um, no thanks, LuckDragon... I 'm not really hungry right now."

     "Ruffle, are you okay? You've been acting really weird lately. You hardly eat anymore. You don't even talk about the Battledome anymore."

     "Yeah, I'm fine... it's just these strange dreams I've been having, that's all." I appreciated my younger brother looking out for me, but I just don't think he would understand what was going on with me, so I wasn't going to bother explaining it to him.

     "Okay then, I guess it's just me and Mysticat going," LuckDragon said. Just then our sister Tigerlily, a gold Wocky, entered the room.

     "What's going on? I heard a loud bang," she asked.

     "Sorry that was me," LuckDragon said. "I was just trying to get Ruffle's attention."

     "Oh, so she decided to rejoin the rest of civilization back on Neopia, did she? It's about time."

     I wasn't sure what to say to that so I just kept my mouth shut. There was a short silence that was broken by someone shouting from a couple rooms away. It was Sibertiger9 shouting for LuckDragon to hurry up.

     "Oh! I better go, bye guys," and with that LuckDragon left. Tigerlily remained standing in the doorway.

     "So... you're not going either," I asked.

     "Nah, didn't really feel like going this time. Besides I want to keep an eye on CryptoManiac(that's Tigerlily's petpet, a Tigermouse), he's being more destructive than usual today. I didn't want him taking apart the restaurant. So anyway... we should do something, Ruffle. You want to play cards?"

     "Um... sure... why not," I said. I decided it was a good idea to take a break from daydreaming, and besides, now there were fewer people in the house to interrogate me on why I've been acting so different. "Let's play in LuckDragon's room," I suggested. "Crypto won't be able to take apart his room because it's made of silver."

     "Good idea, and he has a door to the storage room in his ceiling, so if the little runt annoys us too much we can lock him in there."

     I laughed in response. "You seriously need a new petpet, Tigerlily. Even Kachie says Crypto's annoying. And you know it's got to be bad when it annoys Kachie."

     TigerLily laughed as well. "Yeah, I know. I want a Gallion; they're just so expensive. And every time I find another petpet that looks interesting, I find out it's expensive too."

     "Maybe sometime soon we can find you something. Hey, what about those new Geraptiku petpets?" I suggested.

     "Ooh, one of those would be perfect! The only problem is picking which one... "

     And so I engaged in conversation with Tigerlily. I figured as long as I keep talking, there's less of a chance of her asking me questions I didn't feel like answering.

     So we went into LuckDragon's room and made ourselves comfortable, grabbed a deck of cards and started playing. We played several rounds of Go! Go! Go! and even Kachie joined in. CryptoManiac did play for a while, but he was more intent on eating his cards rather than playing with them. We did eventually end up locking CryptoManiac in the storage room. After a while we got bored of playing cards. I stretched out on LuckDragon's bed and stared at the ceiling, while Tigerlily opened up a magazine and started reading. I could hear Crypto scratching at the ceiling...

     * * *

     I was traveling through the Lost Desert by myself. The sun was blazing up above, the heat was unbearable. Yet I kept walking. I walked alongside the river that went through the Lost Desert and continued on. After what seemed like hours of walking through the desert, the environment started to change. The land got rocky and a canyon appeared up ahead. I walked straight toward the canyon. There was a narrow path that went around the cliff. It was just wide enough for one person to walk along it, maybe even a person with a small cart. The river next to me turned into a waterfall and plunged deep into the canyon and continued on. I was about to make my way towards the path going around the cliff when I heard a voice echo throughout the canyon. I stopped to listen to it. It got louder and louder until...

     * * *

     I snapped awake. I was back in LuckDragon's room. It was only a dream... but why did it feel so real? Tigerlily's upside-down face was staring down at me.

     "Sorry, you were talking in your sleep and I couldn't tell if you were having a nightmare so I woke you up," she said.

     "That's okay... I'm... I'm a little hungry. I'm going to get some lunch," and I hurried out of the room and down the hall. But I didn't go to the kitchen. Instead I went to my room and shut the door. I searched around my room and found a drawstring bag hanging in my closet and I quickly stuffed it with some possessions, some Battledome weapons, and some candy I had stored in my room that nobody knew about. I also grabbed the black cloak that was hanging in my closet and put it on. I knew what I had to do. I had to leave, and I had to leave now. Kachie hopped into my bag because she sensed something was up. I looked at her and she looked back up at me.

     Just then the front door opened. I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder, then I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head. I left my room and headed for the front door. Sibertiger9 (my owner, a human girl with short ash-blond hair), LuckDragon, and Mysticat, a spilt Aisha, were standing there telling Tigerlily some rousing story about some Eyrie they met on Krawk Island. I didn't hear much of the story, I was concentrating on getting out the door.

     "... so he turns to us and says, 'You dare talk to a pirate like that?!' so I said to him, 'Of course, I'm a pirate as well!' So then... Oh, hey Ruffle, there you are. Come here, we've got a great story I know you'd love."

     But I ignored them. I made it to the front door and opened it. Once I closed the door behind me I started running without a second look back at the house.

     "... I didn't think my story was that bad..." said Sibertiger9.

To be continued...

Author's Note: Questions? Comments? Feel free to neomail me! ~Sibertiger9