A Simple Gift
"Get out." Her owner ordered.
Robin, a young blue Zafara, glanced at the rain pounding on the door outside, she then looked up at her owner with wide eyes, hoping for him to reconsider.
"I don't have time for this, Robin, go!" Her owner repeated firmly, his mind made up. Tears swelled in the zafara's eyes, her owner tried not to notice.
As if in a dream, Robin stared at her owner one last time before opening the door. She stepped out, and her former owner slammed the door shut from behind her.
Robin couldn't believe what had happened; it was a horrible nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. She woke up this morning without a care in the world, planning to go with her friends to the bookstore and become absorbed in the books that she loved to surround herself with.
She stared at the empty, foggy road in front of her.
He said it had to be this way, that it was for her own good too. They would never meet again, he said. Did Robin mean so little to him? Her owner showed no sympathy when he told her she had to go.
A large, cold winter breeze brought her back to reality; she shivered and stepped out into the rain. She was instantly soaked, and the cold wind touched her very bones. No one was outside, and why would they be? It had been raining for days now. She walked down the road as an eerie silence enveloped her, shaking from the cold.
"I have to find some sort of shelter." Robin muttered to herself as she entered the Neopian Bazaar. "I'll get sick if I stay out here."
She began to search throughout the Bazaar, looking for any unoccupied place where she could stay and think. There was nothing in the Bazaar that seemed remotely helpful, everything was either wet or locked up. Robin had never thought for herself, she had always relied on her owner.
Just thinking about it brought back the memories. Her owner, laughing as they ran through Meridell, making her take a bath despite her protests. Her first book, which she had kept safe and locked up since she finished reading it…
"Stop it." Robin ordered herself out loud, disrupting her thoughts.
It was then that she spotted a small alleyway encircled by so many buildings that it remained dry. She stepped inside, the alleyway was barely large enough for her to stretch her arms in, but at least it was dry. There were a few Neopian Times scattered around, she began to clump them together and after some time formed a suitable paper blanket. She took a large box and set it up; it was just big enough for her to fit in. She took her paper blanket and climbed inside the box.
She sat there for some time, thinking about where she would go. She could turn herself into the pound, and maybe some owner would pick her up.
"But the pound is a horrible place. Could it be any better than this?" She consulted with herself. The minutes seemed to turn into years as she lay there, thinking. After a few hours she had cried herself to sleep.
She woke up to sun gleaming on her face, her fur now dried from the rain. She glanced at the sun and for a moment seemed to forget where she was. She imagined herself back in her home, with her large, fuzzy purple bed and room full of books.
"Pull yourself together, think of something!" Robin ordered her mind. Her voice was not loud, barely a whisper, but somehow someone managed to hear it.
"What was that?" A voice cried out from somewhere nearby.
"I don't know, but it came from that alleyway!" Another voice cried.
There was the sound of footsteps approaching her, but Robin refused to open her eyes and look.
"Well, look what we have here." A voice sneered.
Robin finally pulled open her eyes and saw a red Lupe standing in front of her, glaring at her with teasing eyes. She blinked a few times, hoping the image would go away.
"Look! It's a stray!" A striped Wocky said, emerging into view.
"Leave me alone." Robin muttered to them.
The Lupe shoved her in the shoulder. "Get out from that box! You're not allowed here!" He said playfully.
"Why not?" Robin replied, stepping out of the make-shift shelter.
"This is our territory, no strays." The Lupe said simply.
"Territory?" Robin asked, puzzled.
Apparently, the Lupe didn't like being disobeyed. He leaped over to her and shoved her hard from the back. Robin fell a few steps before falling face-first into a mud puddle. She could hear laughter from behind her. Tears started to fall from her eyes, but Robin refused to cry in front of them.
"Ah, leave her alone Tyno, you big bully!" A friendly voice called.
Robin sat up, now covered in mud so she looked more brown than blue. She saw a white Kyrii standing at the entrance to the alley. "Who is that?" The Kyrii asked the Lupe.
The Lupe shrugged, "Just a stray."
At this the Kyrii frowned and looked at Robin with sympathy. "And you're just going to leave her there! C'mon, help her, the poor thing!" The Kyrii ran over to Robin and helped her to her feet. Robin tried to brush the mud off her fur, but it seemed to stick.
"I'm Kady." The Kyrii introduced and waited for Robin to speak.
"R-Robin." She finally spoke and Kady nodded. "Where is your owner, Robin?" Kady asked her sweetly.
Robin opened her mouth, ready to speak the name of her former owner, but quickly shut it. The tears poured out of her eyes again. Kady seemed to understand immediately.
"I know how it feels, it must be hard." Kady said considerately. "I'm an abandoned pet too, along with these two bullies." She said and looked at the Wocky and Lupe. The Lupe glared at her, "What? Can't we have a little fun now and then?" The Lupe said innocently.
Kady glared angrily at them. "This is what you call fun? I should've left you in Meridell, running from the pound." She said stiffly.
"And…all of you…live…" Robin couldn't speak.
"We live by ourselves. Street pets need to stick together, despite their differences. We have a nice little set up just outside Neopian Central. How about you come and stay with us?" Kady offered.
Robin was amazed, and the sun seemed to shine even stronger. She recalled her memories of yesterday, hiding from the cold and pain that her former owner had caused her. Now, just the next morning, another pet was asking her to stay with them.
"Apparently, she doesn't want to." The Lupe said.
"No! I do! I do!" Robin exclaimed suddenly, shocking Kady.
Kady smiled, "Oh how wonderful! You'll love our home! We have it all set up in an abandoned shop. The shop went out of business years ago and we each have are own rooms and-"
"Save it, Kady." The Lupe said, rolling his eyes. "I'm Tyno." He stated.
"Ignore him. Tyno likes taking his anger out on people; he just lost his hard-earned plushie, again. I'm Nile, by the way." The wocky said.
Robin smiled as they shook hands.
"I did NOT lose that plushie! It's around here somewhere, I know it is!" Tyno immediately bellowed with clear anger.
Kady ignored Tyno's sudden outburst. "Let's go! I'll lead you to our home!" Kady said, marching away from the alley.
"If you can call it that." Tyno added.
"Wait! I still have to get my claim of food!" Nile said and jumped over to the garbage can that was in the corner of the alley. He dug around and emerged with a Bitten Green Apple. Nile looked at it, as did Robin, with a hungry stare. He took a bite of it and chewed for a moment before handing it to Robin, who ate it happily.
"When Tyno meant territory, he meant that we've befriended the store owner over here. He always discards his old food. When we first saw you, Tyno thought you were trying to steal our food." Nile said, swiping a second apple from the garbage can. Tyno only shrugged.
"Oh…" Robin stared at what she was eating. Just yesterday she had eaten some delicious Faerie Pancakes for breakfast.
Kady seemed to be able to read her thoughts, "It's not always this bad. Nile here works at the local Neopian Bookstore, and I work at the Soup Kitchen, we get enough neopoints to get us some food." She explained.
Robin nearly dropped her apple. "You work at the bookstore?" She cried. Nile nodded. "I love books." He said with a hint of embarrassment.
"Me too! I go to the bookstore all the time!" She replied immediately, and Nile smiled. Together, they walked out of the alley.
Mixed emotions swirled within Robin as she approached the street pet's 'home'. Her memories refused to go away. At any minute she wanted to wake up, happy that this was all a dream. On the other hand, these pets seemed friendly enough, even Tyno. Living with them would not seem that bad.
Their home was a tiny old abandoned store that still had a large sign that read in red letters 'Going out of Business'. Several windows were bordered up and the roof seemed about to collapse.
"My owner ran this store a long time ago. It's not much, but it looks better on the inside." Kady said.
"You're owner owned this? And…where is your owner now?" Robin said in shock.
"Oh, my owner was this young girl who only wanted me for the Lab Ray avatar. I was once a poogle. She abandoned me nearly a year ago." Kady said with no stuttering or anger.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. She left Neopia, I think, awhile ago. I don't think she'll mind if we use her store." Kady said.
"Aren't you…mad at her?" Robin asked, recalling her own owner.
Kady thought about it for a moment. "No, I've really forgotten about it. I was mad at her for the longest time, but in the end I've forgiven her."
They went inside the store and Nile gave her a nice tour of the place while Kady made her a room. The place was small, and scattered with various items and furniture. There were 3 rooms in the entire store, and Kady made Robin her own room in the corner of one of the rooms next to a stack of abandoned plushies.
Robin spent the next few weeks with Kady, Tyno and Nile. After awhile even Tyno began to like her. After a few days Robin went with Nile to the bookstore and watched him work. In the end, the bookstore owner noticed her interest and offered her a job as well. Robin was overjoyed, and with their combined neopoints Robin helped fix up their home. She bought a small bed, cleaned up the floors and bought some curtains. Nile bought a few more books for all of them to share, and Tyno managed to find a lamp at the money tree.
A month past as Robin made even closer friends with her new roommates. Her owner was forgotten, only a memory. It was exactly one month and 5 days later that Robin went scavenger hunting with Tyno and Nile.
"You got to be fast, and accurate! Things go by fast at the money tree." Tyno explained, going on for hours on just how to find what you needed. Now her newly developed skills were put to the tests. As soon as the money tree had new items, Robin charged into the crowd and tried to grab as many useful things as possible.
She spotted a pile of omelettes and her mouth watered. She had been having soup from the Soup Kitchen for a few weeks, and the omelettes stood out in the crowd. She dived for them, separating from Tyno and Nile.
She grasped her hands on the omelettes at the same time as another person. She tried to grab them out of the person's hands, but the person held on. Finally she looked up at who the person was and gasped. It was her owner.
"Robin! Is it really you?" Her owner said in disbelief, he looked a lot tired than Robin had ever remembered. Now that she saw him that horrible day in the rain was refreshed in her memory. She glared at him. "What do you want?" She demanded, clutching the cheese omelettes.
"Right…Robin…so…how are you?" Her owner said.
"Fine, no thanks to you." She said angrily. Nile and Tyno watched from a distance.
"Umm…well I'll put this blandly, Robin. I need you back. I haven't been doing well lately, and I'm short on Neopoints. It's why I had to leave you in the first place, you know, I just didn't have enough neopoints. Now…"
"Now what? You want me to help you get more neopoints?" She shouted.
"That's not precisely what I mean…It will be nice to have you back and everything but…look, let's go back to my house, now!" Her owner said as if she had no choice.
Robin stood defiantly. "No." She said firmly.
"What did you- ahh!" Her owner was cut off as a giant cheese omelette slapped him in the face.
She held her nose in the air and turned her back. "I've got my own family now." She said, loud enough for Nile and Tyno to hear. She saw Nile smile in the corner of her mind.
"Your own family, huh?" Her owner sneered, trying to remove the slimy cheese from his face.
"Yes, in fact, I have to thank you. If it weren't for you, I would have never found my real home." She said, and with that, she walked off to Nile.
When they got back to the abandoned store they immediately told Kady what had happened. Kady was surprised. When she heard about the omelette, she laughed.
"Gosh, Robin, I'd have to say it's been great with you around, that's for sure." Kady said and gave her a hug. After a second Tyno and Nile joined in.
"I should've realized all he wanted was neopoints." Robin said, though not feeling any guilt.
"Yeah, neopoints and omelettes." Tyno said, licking his chops.
Robin laughed and threw a cheese omelette at her new-found friend.