Terror Mountain Trip

      But this year things are different. My big brother Shocks is at the Mystery Island Training School for the week. He wants to train as much as he can to defeat all those bad guys in the arenas and Dad lets him. He just hands over the codestones from the safety deposit box and a bunch of Neopoints (more than my allowance). So my brother the Electric Zafara gets to spend the holiday at warm Mystery Island. He says he'll bring us back souvenirs, but I don't know if I believe him. He's never liked to share.

      Another thing that is different is that my sister is going to be at Brightvale! She's studying her books and Dad says Brightvale is a very educational place. So that's where he is letting her go. She's a White Draik and very smart already. Maybe she'll get to meet King Hagan over the week and impress him with her knowledge. I know Ruby can do it though, she's a smart Draik.

      So Shocks and Ruby won't be with us for our annual vacation. That just leaves me, dad and Finnegan. Ugh, Finnegan. He's the youngest in the family and very annoying, even to me! I'm the second youngest and you'd think we'd get along, but we don't. He's an Orange Gnorbu and he likes to ask silly questions (he calls them jokes).

      Anyway, the three of us are the only ones going to Terror Mountain. There is a seasonal hotel that opens in Happy Valley that we stay in every year. It's called The Snowy Draik and Ruby is always excited because she is a Draik and it is named after her species. But as we walk in this year I don't hear her excited intake of breath and giggles. It makes me sad, even though I'm on vacation. But I try not to look sad because I know Dad and Finnegan are still happy to be here. The Gnorbu is talking Dad's ear off about a joke he heard about an Invisible Uni as we take the stairs up a floor to our usual room.

      We unpack out things and discuss what we'll do today. I just want to sleep, but Finnegan wants to have a snowball fight and get a slushie at the Slushie Shop. Normally there would have been a long discussion because Ruby would want to find the book shop and Shocks would have wanted to see if the Snowager was asleep. I would have argued that I wanted to check out the Igloo Garage Sale and get some discounted items for my cold collection.

      But I don't feel like arguing today. Ruby and Shocks aren't here to make it fun. We bundle up in our coats, hats, scarfs and gloves to go into the cold again. Finnegan is the first out the door, but Dad hangs back with me and makes me sit down on the bed I'll have to sleep on alone the whole week. With only the three of us, we each get our own bed. I usually share with Shocks and Finnegan with Dad. Ruby got her own because she is the girl. "What's the matter, buddy?" Dad asks is his soothing voice.

      "N-nothing," I tell him with an attempt at a happy smile.

      "You're no good at lying," Dad tells me. "Bruces never are."

      "Fine," I tell him. "I'm sad the Ruby and Shocks aren't here. It's not as fun."

      "Listen Mort," Dad says with a smile. "I know it's hard. But your brother and sister are growing up. They need to have a little time alone. They didn't want to come and be smothered by another family vacation."

      The words hurt me more than any words have ever hurt me. Ruby and Shocks didn't like to spend time with me? I feel like crying. I think Dad can sense it too, because he put his long arms around me in a hug. "I know it hurts bud, but you'll get there too. All Neopets grow up, as sad as it is. They'll always be here. They don't hate you, I promise. And I made them promise to bring you something back and tell you all about their own adventures. It'll be fun listening to their tales, won't it? And you can tell them what we did here. But it won't be fun if you don't enjoy yourself."

      "Okay," I say. Knowing that they promised Dad made me feel better. You can't break a promise. "I'll have fun, I promise," I tell him with a determined smile. They would be jealous of how much fun I would have this week with Finnegan and Dad. "They'll wish they'd come with us too! I want to do everything," I tell him.

      "That's my boy," he says with a smile. He helps me up from the side of the bed just as Finnegan comes back into the room.

      "What's takin' ya so long, slowpokes?" the Gnorbu says with a cackle.

      "None of your business, Finn," I say and stick my tongue out. "I'll race you to the snowball fight place!" I take off running and I hear Finnegan take off down the steps after me. I run as fast as my webbed feet will carry me, but Finnegan pulls ahead of me at the last second.

      "Beat cha! Hehehe, slooowpooooke," Finnegan declares.

      "You may have beat me at the race, but be prepared to be frozen with snow," I tell him.

      Dad finally catches up with us. "Easy boys, let's not be too competitive," he says with a chuckle. The snowball fight commences with the three of us lobbing balls of snow at each other. By the end of the day we're all covered in snow and melted snow. The fight ended in a tie and we ended up not getting Slushies. We were entirely too cold and ended up getting caramel hot chocolate in the lobby at the hotel.

      After that we changed into warm, dry clothes and ate dinner at The Holly and Mistletoe. It's another seasonal shop only open in the Month of Celebrating. It's a small, homey little diner Christmas themed. It's decorated with holly and mistletoe and ornaments, but it's named after the nice owners. They are a pair of Christmas Kacheeks named Holly and Mistletoe. They are sisters and have been running the shop for as long as I can remember.

      Anyway, we settle in at a corner booth and order our favorites. Finnegan gets a sliced turkey dinner; Dad gets a turkey steak dinner and I get a turkey wing dinner. They always have great turkey and we're never disappointed. We talk about the day and have all kinds of fun eating our dinners and drawing on the Neopets menus they always hand out so we're not bored while we wait for our food.

      Before we know it, it's late and time to go to back to The Snowy Draik. Dad pays (and gives a tip) and we go into the cold night air and head back to the hotel. We get ready to sleep and I lay down in my very own bed. I have my own bed at home, but whenever we go on vacation I have to share one with Shocks. This time the large bed feels empty without him beside me. I close my eyes and wait for Dad and Finnegan to get into bed and shut off the light. After a few minutes I open my eyes and look around. I don't want to sleep alone, so I crawl out of bed and ask Dad to sleep with him. He says okay and I snuggle up with him for the night.

      The rest of the week goes by pretty quickly because of all the fun I have. We get scratchcards, go ice-skating, look at the wintery petpets and merry outfits, buy gift tags for the Day of Gifting and visit the Slushie Shop in Happy Valley. We played games like Let it Slide and Snowmucher in the Ice Caves and visit the Neggery and the Ice Crystal Shop. We also get some coloring pages and check in on the Snowager. We visited the Shop of Mystery, Igloo Garage Sale and Toy Repair Shop at the Top off the Mountain. I got some cool figurines for my cold collection at the Igloo Garage Sale. We also played the games and visited Taelia and helped her with some quests. We did everything we could over the week and ate at The Holly and Mistletoe every night.

      By the end of the week I was exhausted. It was the last day we were going to be at Terror Mountain and I didn't know what we were going to do. I knew Finnegan would pick something, but I was out of ideas. He'd probably want to have another snowball fight. We pack up our things to so we'll be ready to head out on the little steam boat back to Neopia like we do every year as the sun sets on the last day.

      But when we go down to the lobby there is a surprise waiting for us. The familiar faces of Ruby and Shocks excite me more than anything else had this week. I run over to them and smother them with hugs. "I missed you guys so much! When did you get here? How was your trip? I had so much fun, I can't wait to tell you about our trip," I gush out as quickly as I can. I know Finnegan and Dad are waiting their turn to greet our family members as well, but I just want to tell them everything.

      "Hi there, little guy," Shocks says as he hugs me. I can feel how much stronger he has gotten over the last week. "We'll tell you all about it on the trip home, but let's go have some fun while we've still got some time here," he says with a chuckle.

      Ruby returns my hugs as well, "Darling, we weren't gone forever," she says in her girly voice. "I promise I'll tell you all about King Hagan and Brightvale later. But Shocks is right. We should enjoy the last day here."

      They go out the door with Finnegan trailing behind telling them his new Terror Mountain jokes. I hang back with Dad and smile at him. "Did you know they were going to come here?" I ask.

      "Yes, I sent them a neomail after the first day. I wasn't sure if they'd get it, but I guess they did," he tells me with a chuckle. "I just got their replies this morning. Scorhio delivery isn't all that efficient," he continues with a chuckle.

      I smile and hug Dad as tight as I can. "Thank you," I whisper in his ear. Then I grab his hand and pull him with me to catch up with Ruby, Shocks and Finnegan. They're already discussing teams for another snowball fight. I smile widely and run to join my brothers and sister. I can't wait to hear about their adventures and tell them mine, but first I'll enjoy our time left at Terror Mountain.

The End