Part of Me
Chapter 1:
Every person has something that they used to like in their childhood: that old box of legos that you keep in the closet, that ratty little scrap of cloth you used to call 'Blanky', that doll that's missing an eye, that train-set you used and your siblings used to play with. It was there for you on your darkest days, you time of need, reminding you that you would prevail and see daylight again; it wasn't the end… or it just took your mind off things for a few seconds.
For me, it was my Pokémon Ruby version that I'd had since I was five. I had played it over and over, never getting as far as the second gym before restarting. Of course, as I grew older I got past that, making it just a little past Norman's gym before calling it quits and restarting again. Usually it was just because I would take too long of a break from playing and I'd forget who Blaze the Combusken or Kippy the Mudkip was. But I'd always come back to that game eventually.
My older sister, Piper, had Pokémon Sapphire and played Pokémon alongside me for a while. But by the time she hit sixth grade (I was in third grade), she was done with it. In fact, she was so done with it that she sold it at one of dad's garage sales.
Piper was also the reason why I was having to stand in line at a video game store to see if they had a copy of Pokémon Ruby. You see, a few days ago, it had been April 1st. And I made the mistake of escalating my typical petty pranks (putting salt on her toothbrush, stuffing her shoes with newspaper, etc) that I would do every year. That particular year, I wanted to get Piper real good. Of course, like I said before, I went too far.
I pulled four pranks on Piper. For the first prank, I took some toilet-paper rolls and got them wet and tore them up. Then, I reconfigured them into thin, narrow cylinders that resembled pieces of poop. I made four of them, putting one in her bathroom sink, another one on the shirt she'd laid out to wear the next day, the third one I put half in half out of her favorite pair of flats (which she also planned to wear the following day), and the last one was placed on her pillow next to her face.
Should I have stopped there? Probably. But Elsie Dunder is a person who likes to go overboard.
The second prank I did was taping Piper's perfumes and make-up to the ceiling. I tried to make it as discrete as possible, but I couldn't really scatter them because I could only reach the ceiling above the bathroom counters.
Should I have stopped there? Absolutely. But Elsie Dunder is a person who likes to push her luck.
The next prank that I did would obviously make Piper want me dead. I took dad's stapler out of his office and snuck into Piper's room. Now you see, Piper always slept on her side, making that first prank I set up even more effective. I stapled Piper's long, chestnut-colored hair to her pillow, pinning her head to the pillow and there for she would definitely wake up on that side of the bed. Piper had turned away from the toilet-paper roll sculpture that I had set on her pillow, so I moved it, placing it right in front of her face. I knew she was going to hate me when she woke up.
Should I have stopped there? If I wanted to see daylight again, then yes. But Elsie Dunder is a person who lives in the moment.
The last prank (and the best prank in my opinion), was the one I looked forward to. While I was in Piper's room, I stole her cell phone off her bedside table. I took it downstairs into the kitchen where a pack of Jell-O and a big bowl sat. With a big grin on my face I had mixed the Jell-O into a bowl with some sugar and water for a while before I added the key ingredient: Piper's beloved cell phone. I stuck the Jell-O in the fridge with a little yellow sticky-note attached to it with the words, 'For Pipes' scribbled onto it. Was Piper going to be seething and furious for a long time? Yup. (I blame 'The Office'). But I knew it would be worth it; besides, the phone would surely be fine, right?
Should I have stopped after that last prank? Yes, because I had a death-wish, messing with a seventeen year old girl's phone. But Elsie Dunder is a person who lives for the adrenaline.
And dear god the screams were ear-shattering the next morning. Piper came running out of her room yelling and screeching with a pillow stuck to her head. I remember watching from my door in my pajamas with a smug look on my face. I half expected Piper to run at me and tear me to shreds, but I don't think she really knew what was going on at that point. That, or she was just more concerned about the 'poop' on her pillow and the fact that the pillow was dangling off the hair on the right side of her face.
I knew the pillow was going to fall off at any second, but that never stopped me from snickering while mom and dad tried calming Piper down.
Normally, Piper was the one putting me to shame, but on April 1st, it was Piper's day to get humiliated. Piper was the princess of the family, always looking like a girl out of a movie with her perfect hair, perfect make-up, perfect teeth, perfect smile, perfect everything. Piper made her chestnut-brown hair sleek and soft, cascading flawlessly over her shoulders and reaching all the way down to her waist; her lovely bluish green eyes always popped with the mascara she applied; and she somehow never had any blemishes on her face. She just seemed to… I don't know, glow.
Then there would be me, the annoying little sister. My shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair always felt wiry and liked to frizz up unless I put it up in a ponytail. I had blue eyes, but they seemed dull compared to Piper's vibrant, vivacious hazel irises. When I tried putting make-up on, it just seemed to eat my face in a way, making me look more like a clown than a pretty fourteen year old.
I shone brightly in school, taking honors courses and getting good grades in them where as Piper took all normal classes. Sure, Piper never failed any classes, but she wasn't a genius either.
She had the looks, and I had the brains. How else would I have thought of those awesome pranks?
You can imagine how Piper reacted once she went into the bathroom. Another shriek echoed in the house, sending dad and mom running into the bathroom. Just like I had when Piper had came running into the hall, I stayed and watched the bathroom from a distance, finding it hard not to burst into laughter. Mom and dad being the party-poopers they were, helped Piper get her stuff off the ceiling and convinced her that the toilet-paper roll that I had placed in her sink wasn't poop.
Piper was shaking with what I assumed to be a mixture of shock and rage when she stepped out of the bathroom. Much to my surprise, she hadn't even looked in my direction, instead going back into her room where she gasped again. I think that's when she found her shirt, or maybe it was when she tried putting her flats on? I don't know, all I know is that she came back out all dolled up with an angry expression on her face.
"Elsie," she had said calmly, "have you seen my phone?"
I could barely hold my laughter back when she uttered those words. "N-no! But I'll help you look after breakfast." I had said, quickly going back into my room to get dressed before Piper could say another word.
So I was just putting my shoes one when I heard another scream, but this… this was a scream not of horror, but of pure hatred.
"ELSIE!" Piper had yelled my name, telling me that she had found the Jell-O.
… well, mom and dad had to hold Piper back after she found her precious phone. And it turns out that Jell-O isn't the best for cell phones. I didn't know what to say when I found out that I sort of shattered Piper's whole world.
We had both gone to school that day, Piper had driven me to school despite the fact that she wanted to strangle me. The school day had gone well, I boasted about my pranks, aced a history test and finished most of my homework in class. All in a day's work for me. Of course, all good things must come to an end. My end came when I strutted into the parking lot behind the high school, ready to tell Piper about my history test. I sauntered to where Piper had parked that morning only to find an empty parking space. I was going to call Piper when I remembered what had happened to her phone that morning… I waited around for another ten minutes to see if Piper had just moved the car on me as an April Fool's joke, but she never showed up. I ended up walking home that day.
When I got home, Piper wasn't home. Mom and dad had told me that Piper went to a friend's house. I didn't bother telling them that Piper ditched me, since they obviously knew. I went upstairs to play my Pokémon Ruby game, only to find that my Ds Lite was short of the red strip on the bottom. I practically tore my room apart looking for it until dear Piper came home, a smirk worn upon her features. She looked pretty happy for someone who'd just lost her phone to a tub of jell-O. I asked her if she had taken my Pokémon game, and she just stared at me.
It was after dinner when Piper finally told me that she had sold it to one of the many video game stores around town. Then it was my time to get restrained by mom and dad.
Well, that's how I ended up at a GameStop store, waiting in line to see if they had my Pokémon Ruby game. I was slightly tempted to look at the X and Y games instead, but I didn't have a 3Ds, so it would've been pointless to buy it. Besides, that Pokémon Ruby game had been mine since I was five. I wasn't going to let some random person buy it!
When the guy in front of me finally finished at the register, I stepped up. "Um, would you happen to have a Pokémon Ruby version?" I had asked, my heart pounding with embarrassment. I was in high school, it was frowned upon to be playing Pokémon; even though I wasn't in school at that moment, it was still a little embarrassing for some reason.
Much to my relief, the guy nodded, "yep, you're in luck. I just got one in about an hour ago." He pulled out one of the drawers and bam! A little red rectangle was in his fingers. He set on the table and gave me the price, which I happily paid. I took my game back, hurrying back to my bike that was waiting for me outside and riding home.
Once I got home, I realized that I should've taken a better look at the game I was buying. The game I brought home was definitely not the same game I'd had since I was a little girl. It looked more beaten up and held a darker hue of red to it, and it didn't have a sticker like mine did. I wasn't happy about it, but after walking all the way home from school and biking to GameStop and then back home, I wasn't about to go out and find my exact game. Believe me, I was upset and mad about it, and I didn't want to play it at first because it wasn't mine.
I decided that I would check other stores the next day after school, and went to bed. I couldn't sleep that particular night, which happened often so I thought nothing of it. I laid awake, staring at the foreign dark red Pokémon Ruby version, debating if I should play it anyway. For a while, I held strong, but by the time the clock struck midnight, I couldn't take it anymore. I sat up and grabbed my Ds Lite, sticking the game inside and turning my Ds on.
Before I got even as far as selecting 'new game', I grabbed my phone off the bedside table and played the remix of the song 'Cruise' by Florida Georgia Line, putting it on repeat and laying it on my chest so the deafening silence didn't get to me. My hands gripped the sides of the purplish Ds, starting a new game and starting the tutorial. Quickly, my eyes started to grow heavy with sleepiness. I ignored it, selecting the female character and typing my name in. I was never one to just type in 'May' because it was her actual name. I let out a yawn, my eyes fluttering as I foolishly fought sleep away. Now, let me just say that when it comes to most things, I'm stubborn as a mule, I'll fight the current. But when it comes to sleep… I'm weak. I closed the Ds, not bothering to turn the device off; the battery was already low, so I assumed that it would just turn itself off soon.
I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.
I know, I know I'm writing too many stories I know! But right now I'm playing Pokémon Ruby and it made me want to write about it, so I'm writing about it… don't worry though! I'm almost done with the next chapter of 'Fire Burning' and the next chapter of 'Pride' is coming along nicely.