Getting Rid of Zara

      I, still half asleep, wasn't really listening. "Great, Little, " I said. "Now go to sleep."

      Little frowned. "Momma, aren't you going to help me find Zara?" he asked.

      I rolled my eyes. More talk about Zara, Little's imaginary Ona. "It's too early for growing Yurbles to be up and playing. Go back to sleep, honey."

      Little growled at me, hoping it would make me think he was tougher than he really was. "See, I'm the strongest guy in Neopia," he said. "If you don't get out of bed I'll drag you out myself." But I knew Little wasn't very strong, and even if he was, he wouldn't be able to get me out of my cozy bed.

      "Little, I have to get up super early today," I said. "My shop doesn't run itself, now does it?"

      Little shook his head. "Sorry, Momma," he said. And with that he walked off.

      And so Little went back to bed, thank goodness. But about an hour later he woke me up again. "Hey Momma, you know where I found Zara?" he asked, climbing onto my bed.

      "No, Little, I don't know," I replied coolly.

      "She was in the pantry!" Little exclaimed. "She ate my white chocolate Eyrie! Can we get a new white chocolate Eyrie?"

      I groaned. "There's no point in doing that, Little. Zara couldn't have really eaten your Eyrie thing. Now go back to bed!"

      Little invented Zara when he was very young, for he had quite an imagination back then too. I sometimes wondered why he had to make her do strange things in the middle of the night. Maybe he loved Zara so much that he couldn't wait until morning to play with her.

      The next morning I found Little across from my Xweetok Ava, who was my oldest Neopet, at at the breakfast table. They seemed to be arguing about something. "No, I'm not fixing megapepper pizza for breakfast!" I heard Ava yell. "I'm not, not, not, not, NOT! I don't know how to make megapepper pizza and megapepper pizza isn't a breakfast food!"

      "Megapepper pizza is the only food Zara eats!" snapped Little.

      Ava rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. Zara 'ate' some green pepper omelette yesterday. Why don't we just give her what's left of it today?"

      "Because Zara doesn't like green pepper omelette anymore."

      "Do you know how annoying Zara can be, Little?"

      "Zara is not annoying!"

      I put one arm around Little and said, "We all love Zara, Little, but we'd love her more if you didn't make her run away during the night-"

      "She didn't run away, Momma!" Little barked. "She woke me up in the middle of the night 'cause she was hungry, asked me if I could get her something to eat, and when I said no she ran away."

      "Well, alright. But still, you shouldn't let her run away or have her demand new foods for each meal every day."

      Little growled and stroked something invisible lingering in the air. After a second I realized he was petting Zara. "I'll keep a better watch on her from now on, Momma," Little replied.

      Ava stood up. "Momma, he needs to get real friends," she grumbled.

      And so on it went. Little remained obsessed with Zara. Zara was all he ever talked about too. Maybe Ava was right… Little did need some real friends. I knew that my younger brother had some pets. Maybe they'd like him. And so I contacted my brother and set up a play date for Little and my brother's pet Izzie, a Xweetok. Sadly, Little wasn't too eager about this.

      "Zara doesn't like Xweetoks," he told me.

      "Why not?"

      "'Cause's Ava's a Xweetok."

      I groaned. "Little, why don't you like Ava?"

      "I do like her, but she's so bossy."

      I patted Little's head and gently said, "Please go play."

      Finally the day when Little would meet Izzie came. As I walked Little up to my brother's Neohome I could see Izzie's large eyes staring at us through the living room window. "I think you and Izzie are going to be friends," I told Little.

      "Maybe," he coolly replied.

      Suddenly a green Xweetok hopped outside. "Are you Little?" he asked.

      "Yeah. You must be Izzie."

      The Xweetok nodded. "I am."

      As soon as I left Little to play I decided Izzie would cure Little of his loneliness and he wouldn't need Zara anymore. Boy, was I wrong. When I came back to pick up Little I found him fighting with Izzie about something. "Why can't Zara play hide-and-seek with us?" Little screamed. "She wants to be It."

      "If she was we'd stay here forever because Zara isn't real." Oh no. More Zara.

      As soon as Little and I got home Ava rushed up to us. "Did you have fun with Izzie?" she asked.

      "No, I did not. But you'd like him… you both don't like Zara."

      "Oh, in that case I really do like him!"

      I could tell by the look in Little's eyes that he was mad. "You're mean. I'm going to feed Zara now." When Little says he's going to "feed" Zara he basically means he's going to hold whatever Zara wants up to her invisible mouth and pretend she's eating it. Then Little eats the rest of whatever Zara had "eaten" some of.

      Ava rolled her eyes. "He's the worst brother in the world," she growled between gritted teeth.

      "He is not."

      "Yeah, he is! It's one thing to have an imaginary friend. It's a whole other thing to have an imaginary friend who eats everything, gets lost in the middle of the night, demands dumb stuff, and gets in the way of friendships. I want to get rid of Zara and I know how to do it."

      "I think Little deserves an imaginary friend…."

      "Mom!"

      "Alright, we should do something. What do you have in mind?"

      Ava put on that smile she always puts on when she has an idea. "Have you considered a petpet?"

      And so I took Little petpet shopping. "Now, honey, remember, we have to stay on a budget," I told him.

      "I know, Mom. Hey… how expensive are-"

      "Little, you are not getting an Ona."

      Little sighed. "Alright. Can we get something else then?"

      "Yes, Little."

      I thought the shopping trip would never end. Everything Little thought was cute cost too much. But finally we settled on something- a Snarhook.

      And so Little proudly took home his new Snarhook. As soon as Ava saw it she begged me to get her one just like it. I shook my head at her and said, "Not until I have more money."

      Ava scowled. "Okay," she said. "Hey Little, what did you name your Snarhook?"

      "I haven't named it yet, but I think she looks like a Zara."

      Ava cringed. "Bad name."

      "What about Ona?"

      "That's a bad name too. It reminds us too much of Zara."

      Little growled. "I'm naming her Ona. That's final."

      Ava stormed off to her room, muttering something under her breath that sounded like, "Little had to get a petpet…."

The End

Hey! I worked super hard on this story. If you're reading this, I have one thing to say... I GOT PUBLISHED! YAY!