The Gallery Keeper

      I was a small blue Xweetok. My eyes were big, and I smiled an innocent large smile at the nurse. She giggled and asked a girl, "What would you like to name her?" The girl, who I would eventually call Melly, was my owner, and her name was Melody.

      At first, I was a new thing, a wonder. She fed me on a daily basis, read books to me, and played with me. But she slowly abandoned me, though I didn't realize it at the time. Instead of eating breakfast together, she would leave an omelette, jelly, and if I was lucky, a tchea fruit or a ptolymelon. She'd play Destruct-O-Match III instead of playing with me. And when she was talking to her Neofriend, I heard her call me a nuisance.

      My last Christmas with Melly, she said she had a "big surprise". This would be the worst surprise in the history of surprises. She brought me a new sibling.

      Granted, Aliambra wasn't necessarily the worst surprise. She was an adorable Baby Tonu, who adored me. And I loved her back. But instead of taking me to the hospital when I had Neomonia, Melly would take Aliambra to do dailies. And then, she adopted another 'pet.

     RickyD. RickyD was a huge fan of the Battledome, not to mention that he was a Poogle, one of Melly's dream pets. She slowly started to neglect Aliambra, as well as continuing to neglect me, and then she finally abandoned me and Aliambra so she wouldn't have "a bunch of stupid low stats next to a high stat" according to RickyD.

     When I was put into the pound, I insisted to Rosie, the pink adoption Uni, that Aliambra and I be put in the same cage. I was her older sister, and we came in a package. They would see... Oh, look, how cute, a Baby Tonu! Oh, a Blue Xweetok. Never mind. I hated this.

     There are certain pound pets who have lost all feeling and they can't even cry anymore. We happened to be near those pets. But Aliambra gave them hope. She giggled and laughed boisterously and showered kisses upon all Neopians equally. She especially liked my Birthday Alabriss, who Melly had given me, back when I was her only pet.

     Finally, a person adopted us. She gave Aliambra a pair of Baby Summer Wings and me, a pair of Sparkling Winter Wings. "Hi! I'm Andi, and all of my 'pets can fly, and I didn't want you to feel left out!" This was maybe one of the nicest things anyone had said to me. And I smiled.

     Our new siblings were Jannie the Christmas Zafara, Reyroy the Chocolate Shoyru, and Mia the Baby Aisha (who wore Baby Cloud Wings).

     Aliambra and Mia immediately gravitated toward each other, and spoke in their own baby sort of a language.

     I was more suspicious. Reyroy approached me and said, "Hi! I'm Reyroy, but you can call me Ray. Um, do you like to play Destruct-O-Match III?" Well, I do like playing it, but I wasn't so sure. I said instead, "Um, it's okay, I guess, but I like playing with my petpet better."

     At this point, Jannie squealed. I covered my ears as she screamed. "OH, THAT BIRTHDAY ALABRISS IS THE CUTEST LITTLE THING EVER!!!! MOM, CAN I HAVE ONE FOR MY PETPET??" Andi came running, probably thinking that the house was on fire or Jannie was being bitten by Count Van Roo (oh, they lived on Roo Island).

      And then Andi noticed my petpet and she said, "Whoa, cowboy! First of all, her petpet is expensive, way too expensive. Second of all, um, well, it, doesn't have petpetpets, does it?" I could tell from her face that she wanted to get my beloved Alla and sell her or give her to Jannie.

      But I wasn't tricked so easily. I said, "Of course not!" while hiding the side of Alla's body that had her Lightmite. And I vowed to somehow unattach Alla's Lightmite from her body just in case.

      Jannie became increasingly mean to me. She accused me of all sorts of things I had not done. She said it was me who had bit her (stray petpetpet) and I hated her and I hated this family, although Reyroy was nice.

      Finally, Andi decided to abandon me. She said she had never meant to keep me, anyway. I was just a badly named (there's a reason why I'm not telling you my name) basic pet.

      Alla tried to comfort me, and then she caused some trouble for me. A boy called ZackeriahZ saw Alla, and he adopted me. He sneered, "I'm gonna paint you Rainbow, put you back in the Pound, and, oh, as payment, I'm gonna take your fancy little Birthday Alabriss. Hah!" he laughed cruelly. The day after I was painted Rainbow was the day he planned to take Alla from me. I planned.

      I planned to run away during the night, when Rosie was on duty at the pound. I didn't want to meet up with Dr. Death. That would be scary. Rosie saw me, and she made a surprised face. "Back again, so soon? The pound is the only place in Neopia that doesn't want regulars, and gets them anyway."

      I didn't feel like any corny jokes, and she placed me in cage M115. I looked around. Just as I had expected. Rows and rows of abandoned pets surrounded me. Just like the last time I had been here.

      Days passed. Days where the pets next to me cried their hearts out or stared at the floor, lonely. Nobody wanted a Rainbow Xweetok that was unresponsive and sullen. I stopped keeping track of the passing days. When we got out of our cages to have free time, I didn't even talk.

      Finally, the day came. It was a normal day that would change into the best day of my life.

      I had lost hope of getting adopted. The adoption Uni called out, "Someone looking to adopt! Look your best!"

      Whispers reached my ears. "Psst. Looks like a Christmas Uni, a Yellow Ogrin, and, um, I think it's a Starry Kacheek." I just said, "Oh."

      Then, as the group came into my aisle, the girl said, "Oh! She looks perfect!" I perked up. Someone thought I was perfect? I had never been called perfect. Nuisance, Hey You, Stupid, Boring were my names.

      That girl was Pixie, and I am her gallery keeper. All four of us get along fine (although there was some disagreement about who got the last Mint Chocolate Chia Pop, and then it was snagged by Jeremy, Sugar's (the Uni) Warf.

      My favorite part of my new life is that I get to be with petpets. You see, Pixie is a petpet collector. I have always dreamed of becoming a petpetologist or to work at the zoo. And I get fed, read books, and all the good things of life. Gallery keepers don't normally tell their stories to others. They say, "Hello, welcome to the NAME OF GALLERY." They don't say, "Hi, would you like to hear my life story?" I feel privileged to share my story with you. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

     Psst... Pixie. Is that how you end a story?

The End