The Very Hungry Skeith
(part one: The Very Angry Owner)
by Emminou
"What do you mean you ate it?"
The plump blue skeith silently inspected her claws. Her owner continued to rage, stamping angrily about the cramped kitchen of their neohome.
"I mean, that was a genuine faerie paintbrush- cost me over one hundred thousand neopoints, I'd been saving for months-"
Lily knew. With a shudder, she remembered the time - not all that long ago - when she'd often gone days without eating.
"-and what do you do? You go and... and... and eat it the moment my back is turned! What do you have to say for yourself, eh? Eh?"
A glance at Sandra's bright red face told Lily it would not be a good idea to mention the "100%-Fake-Faerie-Paint-Brush-Made-On-Mystery-Island" label she'd found on the back of the brush. Instead, she said the next thing that came to her mind: "It would've tasted better with sauce."
***
Lily lay awake at night, gingerly nursing the bruise where Sandra had thrown a frying pan at her tail. Her stomach gurgled, and Lily's mind again turned to food, and to her fight with Sandra that afternoon. The problem was, she was a very hungry skeith. Sandra just didn't understand her needs.
Lily's stomach rumbled again. "I'm sta-a-a-a-a-arving," she moaned. As quietly as she could, she jumped off her bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
She didn't turn on the light - Sandra's bedroom was across the corridor, and waking her would only serve to make her angrier- but instead went straight to their fridge, gleaming in the moonlight. She opened it, and gasped-
It was empty. Well, almost empty. A sheet of paper had taken the place of her's favourite snack: asparagus spears. Lily reached for the paper. Unable to believe her eyes, she read what Sandra had written:
Lily-
After you ate my faerie paintbrush, I figured you wouldn't need to eat again for a few days, at least, so I moved the food - all of it - to the Safety Deposit Box. And no, I won't be telling you the combination.
-Sandra
"Fine then," Lily growled. Angrily, she rolled the note into a tiny ball and ate it.
***
A delicious smell woke her the next morning. Her stomach grumbling furiously - one piece of paper does not make a good snack for a skeith who's used to better things - she raced down the stairs.
Sandra was in the kitchen, cooking faerie cakes. Hopefully, Lily took her usual seat at the kitchen table. Sandra said nothing.
Lily wriggled in her chair uncomfortably. Surely Sandra wasn't still angry? Clearing her throat, she tried to begin a conversation. "Say, Sandra, those smell really good-"
"Forget it," her owner snapped. "Haven't you had your fill of faerie food yet?"
Lily, vivd purple with embarrassment, didn't reply. Fighting back tears, she stared out the kitchen window, and tried to ignore Sandra, who had joined her at the table and was pouring maple syrup over her faerie cakes.
"Mmm..." Sandra murmured. "Even if I say it myself, these are really good faerie cakes."
That did it! Stifling a sob, Lily fled to her room.
Sandra's voice followed her. "I expect they taste a lot better than paintbrushes!"
***
Lily threw her last Tombola booby prize into her orange backpack. She already had three other bags, piled neatly on her bed, that were filled to overflowing with things she couldn't leave behind. She looked around her room with a strong sense of satisfaction. There was nothing else she'd need to take with her.
Her walls were stripped, the posters that had once covered them in her green bag; her blanket was buried in another bag, along with her Dark Faerie doll and her ragged Dire Lupe plushie.
Yes, Lily had everything she needed for a new life on the streets.
She glared in the general direction of the kitchen, where she could still hear Sandra eating. "Eat my dust, Sandra," she whispered, then glanced at the carpeted floor. "Er... eat my carpet dust."
With difficulty, she picked up all four of her bags, then opened her window and climbed out onto the sill. Flexing her wings, she prepared to make her great escape.
"Geronimo!"
And Lily the skeith flew away.