Misterfleas makes and Announcement…Sort of
Misterfleas crawled out from behind and pile of junk and cautiously made her way over to the Great Tyre. She scrabbled to the top, only slipping three or four times in the process, maybe five. Once she was up there she looked down and almost fainted, as she is greatly afraid of heights and the tire sits a whole four feet off of the ground!
By this time many of the Jellicles were curious as to what Misterfleas was doing up there.
"Oi! Misterfleas!" Munkustrap called, causing Misterfleas to jump and nearly topple off of the Great Tyre, "Wha' choo doin' up there?!"
"I, I…..I need…I need ta, need to, I need to…to…ta make…make an, an…an announcement!" Misterfleas replied shakily, "I need ta…make an announcement."
"Oh..OI, EVERYONE! MISTERFLEAS NEEDS TA MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!" Munkustrap yowled.
Misterfleas stood stalk still as every eye in the clearing turned towards her. Even Jenny and the kittens came out to sit in front of the tire. Misterfleas could hear them all whispering excitedly, wondering if she was going to make an announcement about a brand new story featuring them as the main character.
"It's definitely going to be me!" Pouncival boasted loudly, "Everyone knows it's secretly me she fancies."
"No me!" Victoria meowed, eyes shining.
"Shut up, Stupid!" Tumblebrutus told her, "Every one knows that Misterfleas hates your guts!"
Vicky pouted, but could not deny this simple fact, "It's not fair! It's not my fault Mistoffelees smiles at me!"
"Get on with it then!" Tugger complained, "I want to get back to practicing my amazing fatherly techniques on Misto."
Mistoffelees cowered a little ways off, "Or you could just stop writing that one." He mewed just loud enough to be heard.
"I'm kind of afraid of where it's going to go…" he added with a side glance at Tugger, who grinned evilly.
"My story sucked!" Growltiger yowled, "I hate song-fics!"
"Well, I want my story fixed!" Demeter growled, "It needs to be much longer! And Macavity's death is too easy. He should suffer more!"
"Hey!" Mac exclaimed, "Why does everyone hate me!?"
"Er, because you're evil." Bombalurina pointed out.
"I'm not evil!" Mac insisted, "I'm just misunderstood!"
Misterfleas took a step back and mumbled something incomprehensible.
"SHUT UP GUYS! SHE'S SAYING SOMETHING!" Munkustrap yowled.
"N…n, n, nevermind!" Misterfleas squeaked. And with that she turned and vanished into this air.
"HEY GET BACK HERE!"
"MISTOFFELEES, AFTER HER!"
"I don't really want to…"
"WHO ASKED YOU!?"
"Hey! Quit Pushing!"
"yAHHHOWCH!"
"STOP SHOOTING LIGHTNING!"
"MAKE ME!"
Alas the horrible riot lasted for several hours while Misterfleas watched from a safe distance. And in the early hours or the morning before dawn, she began to compose a letter addressed to the Jellicles.
11 days later.
The sun had risen two and a half hours ago and Alonzo stood watch at the Junkyard entrance. He was instantly alerted when a small tom cat came trotting towards him.
"Halt! Who goes there?!" Al called, wanting to sound all cool and stuff.
"Blackjack." The tom meowed.
"Never heard of you." Al meowed suspiciously.
The small tom sighed; "That's because I am an original character that has never been written into a story."
Alonzo narrowed his eyes, "And why should I believe you?"
"I have a message from Misterfleas." Blackjack meowed, ignoring the question.
"Misterfleas~" Alonzo hissed, remembering the riot seven days ago, "What's the message?"
"It's for all ears." Blackjack meowed scornfully.
Alonzo scowled, "Fine." He half-growled before stalking into the Junkyard.
Blackjack followed.
"OI!" Al called, "ANNOUNCEMENT!"
As everyone gathered around, Munkustrap glared at Alonzo, "Hey that's my job!"
"Whatever." Al shrugged.
Blackjack ignored the two of them and leaped onto the Great Tyre in one bound.
"I have a message form Misterfleas." He announced.
Angry yowls erupted in the clearing and Blackjack rolled his eyes.
He untucked the scroll of paper from his makeshift yarn collar and shook it out.
"Dear Jellicles." He began loudly.
"EVERYONE SHUTUP, HE'S TALKING!" Munkustrap yowled, casting another glare at Alonzo.
"I regret to inform you that due to personal issues I will be putting a hold on all stories posted on - "
"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!"
"A SCANDAL!"
"%#$&*!!!!1!11!!!!"
"- BUT SEVERAL THINGS HAVE HAPPENED TO ME IN THESE LAST FEW MONTHS THAT I WILL NOW BRING TO YOUR ATTANTION." Blackjack continued calmly, quite a bit louder than before, but calmly. The Jellicles quieted and Blackjack adjusted his voice appropriately.
"In a nutshell: My father had lung cancer, and in September it got really bad. He spent a lot of time in the hospital and even a few days in the ICU. In October he passed away due to complications of the cancer treatments. Ten days after that I 'celebrated'…" Misterfleas voice faltered and he continued reading the letter, "My eighteenth birthday. It should have been a joyous occasion, but it was not. On Halloween I was subpoenaed to appear in court on the third of November. For those of you who do not understand what that means, I had to appear and testify in court. If I had not complied, I would have gone to jail. So, I had to sit on the stand for an effing custody battle just a mere eighteen days after my father's death. To you, dear Jellicles, eighteen days may seen an eternity, but it is not. On top of all of this I had to deal with the many family members who flew and drove out to stay with us. I had to support my mother as she was in a stage of extreme depression. I had to continue to go do school, turn in homework, work on projects, and study for my finals. I had to chauffeur my younger siblings anywhere and everywhere they needed to go. Not to mention I was babysitting my little niece, the one for which the above mentioned custody battle was over. All of the stress made me quite literally sick, I've had the flu, and numerous colds over and over and over, and the doctors even told me that I have early onset arthritis."
Misterfleas paused so that the Jellicles could reflect over what was said.
"Of course, that was my life in a nutshell. You could not possibly undertand what emotional, physical, and mental stress and pain I've went through. So, dear Jellicles,( readers, and reviewers), I ask not for your pity or sympathy, in fact I'd rather you kept such things to yourselves. I simply ask for your patience and understanding as to why I've had such immense writers block. With love, Misterfleas." Blackjack finished. The silence in the Jellicles Junkyard was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. It's really too bad that all of the knives are missing at the moment. Check your front lawn in a week; I'm sure they'll turn up.
xXxXxXx
Yes, dear readers and reviewers, all the things mentioned in that letter to the Jellicles is true. No, I really don't need, nor want your sympathy. I wrote this story to convey to you why my stories have been and will continue to be a little slow for a while. And when I start them up again, I will probably change them…a lot. In fact I may just rewrite them all. For now, I plan on fan writing for another topic, but I do have a New Year's Resolution to finish all of my cat's stories. I will make a point to continue reading your stories as I started doing again back in November. Truly with love, Misterfleas