Birthday Celebrations Are Fun For All

     Our story, however, takes us over to Mystery Island, where the annual beach party is being held. Thousands upon thousands of Islanders and their guests gather at the beach every year to celebrate with the most spectacular firework display one could ever imagine. As far as the eye can see, brightly coloured tents and stalls are linked by wonderfully colourful bunting. The stalls sell all manner of wonderful treats, warm mugs of Fruitmallow Grog and Islandberry Tea to warm the party goers, as the cool breeze dances along the beach, it too celebrating. Candy apples, Islandberry Ice Cream and Mystery Island Tiki Burgers are also popular purchases, and the brave even enjoy the Pickled Eel on offer at some of the stalls. Scarves and cosy hats are warn by many as the youngest pets charge up and down the beach twirling sparklers and shiny ribbons as they go by. Twinkling bottled faeries are sold up and down the beach; only the brightest of faeries are selected to be sold this night, as they all dance merrily inside their glass jars. A roaring trade in codestones is always expected as the inhabitants of the training school also descend upon the beach to enjoy the party with everyone else. The very atmosphere itself is electric, and as the excitement builds, there is not a single sad face to be seen upon the beach.

     The story is different for one pet sat up in the sand dunes that rise above the beach. Here one neopet sits alone, hiding himself from the view of everyone else down on the beach. He watches the festivities below; he too is waiting for the fireworks to start, but he does not wish to be seen by others. As the smell of Islandberry tea and sparklers drifts merrily all around him, he sighs and looks sadly at the Darigan drugal whose nose is peeking happily out of his jacket.

     "I wish you could talk, Eric," the shadow Krawk says, sighing again. "It's so lonely with no one to talk to." The drugal makes a warm noise and pulls his nose back inside the warm jacket, where he proceeds to fall back asleep, snoring loudly.

     "Who is there?" a merry voice calls out.

     The Krawk is suddenly alarmed; he thought no one would find him sat back here. He does not want any trouble. A much smaller than average yellow Lutari appears through the brambles in front of him with a glorious smile on his face and a candy apple in his hand; he is obviously enjoying the festivities. As the Krawk comes into clear view, the expression on the Lutari's face changes quickly. The candy apple tumbles out of his hand and thumps into the sand, ruined. His eyes fill with horror as he freezes in terror, just as everyone always does. He quickly turns to run away as the Krawk sighs yet again.

     "Everyone always runs," he says to nobody in particular.

     The Lutari, who has only taken two steps, freezes again. He turns around at the sound of the voice and looks again. The Krawk is huge, yes, he is perhaps twice the Lutari's size, maybe even three times. The mask upon his face is scary, yes, but the eyes that are shining out of the mask are friendly and filled with tears. The pained voice is what made him turn, but he is glad that it did. For this is clearly one of those occasions where appearances can be deceptive.

     "Sorry," says the Lutari, ashamed of himself. One of the first things he was taught as a young Lutari was to be kind to everyone, and ignore appearances, as everyone is the same really; they just look different. "I'm Beans, by the way," he adds as he extends his paw to the Krawk.

     The Krawk stares for several minutes, his expression unreadable. "Godric," he says simply as he finally takes the Lutari's paw and shakes it very gently.

     "Why are you all the way up here, Godric? This year's party is truly amazing!" Beans grins, every ounce of fear now forgotten.

     "I want to watch the fireworks, but I don't want to scare anyone," the Krawk says miserably. "Ever since Edna cursed me, everyone runs away."

     "She cursed you?" asks Beans with horror. "Why? How?"

     "I interrupted her sleep once, I was looking for her avatar. She wasn't happy; she made me really big and attached this mask to my face and ever since, well, no one even stays in my presence for longer than ten seconds, all because I look scary." A tear rolls down the mask as Godric sniffs.

     "That's harsh of her. I guess that's why she's a witch, though! Come on, you can't hide up here all day. No one will care!" Beans smiles again and tries to pull Godric.

     "What if they stare at me..."

     Beans smiles. "They'll be fine, there's enough people down there that nobody will even notice you!" He grabs Godric's arm again and pulls him as hard as he can. Godric finally moves and the pair head slowly towards the beach. Let's not forget Beans is only a little Lutari; he showed great strength to get the Krawk moving at all. On the way down, they talk a little more about the spell. Godric explains how the scary mask can never be removed and that he tried everything to get it removed. Even Queen Fyora herself had failed, and now no one but his drugal will ever even look at him. Beans tells him a little bit about himself too, but Godric is too scared to really hear what he is saying. The closer they get, the more frightened he becomes.

     As they approach the beach, everyone stops talking and stares at the unlikely friends. For a few seconds, silence seem to resonate across the whole of Mystery Island, as if no one even dares to breathe, and then without even a second thought everyone goes back to the festivities and the party continues.

     Godric smiles for the first time in ages as he and Beans head straight to get some of the wonderful Islandberry tea he has been smelling. He gets a triple helping of whipped cream on his before eating twelve candy apples and even a helping of eel. He makes sure to replace Beans' candy apple he had dropped earlier as the two wander amongst all the glorious stalls.

     As the fireworks begin shooting into the sky, the beach falls silent again. The bright colours twirl and swirl across the whole sky, beautiful pinks and blues dancing with amazing golden stars and swirling green moons. A dazzling orange dragon firework swims thorough the sky whilst purple sparkles fall around him. This is easily the most beautiful display yet and everyone whoops and cheers. It is only Godric whose eyes are not on the sky. He watches his new friend Beans the Lutari and everyone else on the beach as no one pays him the least bit of attention, not one bit. He's never been happier.

The End

HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY, NEOPIA!