Santayur's Secret

     “Yes, the meeting is very important,” said Andrewthebestes.

     “Well, it will be boring without you.” Squirrele_7 frowned.

     “Don’t worry, I will be back tomorrow.”

     “Well, why can’t you be back earlier?” asked Squirrele_7.

     “I just can’t. Faerieland is a long distance from here. It takes ten hours to get there, ten hours to get back, and I have to be at the meeting for about two hours,” explained Andrewthebestes.

     “Well, I don’t think it really matters. We can still play games and remember, we have to do the homework for Monday and tidy up the garden,” said Santayur.

     “Oh yeah,” remembered Squirrele_7. “Bye, Andrew.”

     “Bye bye,” said Santayur.

     ***

     After Andrewthebestes left, Squirrele_7 and Santayur went to do their homework. Since the two pets do their homework in the same room, Squirrele_7 noticed that Santayur was, for some reason, in a rush to do his homework.

     “Why do you want to finish the homework so badly?” asked Squirrele_7.

     “Well, I want to go outside and tidy up the lovely garden in the nice morning sun,” answered Santayur.

     Santayur always did chores, but this time he was in a hurry, for some reason.

     “If you need me,” said Santayur, “I will be in the shed. Please knock on the door before coming in. I will be in the shed all the time, so don’t go looking for me.”

     “What? You've been saying that the whole week! And you stay in that shed for hours!” said Squirrele_7 surprisingly.

     “Well, still, please knock on the door when you want to come into the shed,” said Santayur.

     ***

     After Squirrele_7 did all the homework, she decided to play with Santayur. She went outside and knocked on the shed door (like Santayur told her to). But this time Santayur didn’t answer and tell her to wait a minute until she could come in (this is what Santayur usually does). After knocking three times, Squirrele_7 thought to herself.

     “Hmm... I wonder why he is not answering,” thought Squirrele_7. “Santayur is always mysterious... Oh right! I remember! He woke up early to watch Moehog in the Middle. He must have fallen asleep in the shed, sitting there, doing nothing, for an hour. I better get inside and wake him up.”

     Squirrele_7 opened the door, but Santayur wasn’t there.

     “Hmm, strange. He said that he will be in the shed the whole time. Where did he disappear to?” But then Squirrele_7 saw the trapdoor in the floor.

     The trapdoor had always been there since the house was built; it led to a basement, but neither Andrewthebestes nor Squirrele_7 ever came there.

     “Ah, yes, that is where he is. He probably stays there the whole time. But why? Maybe that’s where he plays with Nuky,” (Nuky is Santayur’s petpet) “since that’s where Nuky lives.”

     Squirrele_7 gently opened the trapdoor... She slowly went down the ladder leading into the basement... She came down, and without even looking around, she jumped in shock... What she saw were ten blue, red, yellow and green Chias, dressed in strange clothes. They were all standing near conveyor belts... but not just switched off conveyor belts with nothing on them. They were moving... and on them, there were... PRESENTS! Yes, that’s right, different kinds of plushies, toys, bikes, very interesting and fun books and other things were moving on the conveyor belts, stopping every ten seconds, and the Chias checked each one of them carefully. The conveyor belts started from one other room, and ended in the room where Squirrele_7 was standing, and they would fall into boxes, which other Chias would carry into another room. After the Chias noticed Squirrele_7, they all stopped doing the things they were doing and stared at her. Squirrele_7 was expecting them to be angry at her, because she found their “secret hideout”. But instead, one Chia spoke.

     “It... It... It’s HER! The one Santa talks about! The striped Xweetok! She’s HERE!” the Chia exclaimed, surprised and happy.

     Questions swirled around in Squirrele_7’s head. “Who are the Chias? Why are the Chias here? Why are the Chias dressed in different clothes? Why are there presents on the conveyor belts, and moving around the room? Where are the Chias, moving the boxes with the presents? Why did they say that Santa talks about me?” And many more.

     “She has no idea what we are talking about; we should tell her,” said the second Chia.

     “But Santa didn’t allow us!” said a third Chia.

     “Well, she already saw all of this, so we have to tell her,” said a fourth Chia.

     “So who’s going to tell her what’s happening, and show her a tour of the place.” The second Chia smiled.

     “OK, I am going to wake up Santa. Or should you?” said a fifth Chia, to a sixth one.

     “Maybe I should tell...” started the sixth one.

     “Guys!” interrupted Squirrele_7, “Can you just wake up 'Santa', please?”

     “OK, come with me,” said the fourth Chia.

     The Chia and the other Chias were about half the size of Squirrele_7, they all looked at Squirrele_7, as she followed the Chia. They all whispered things, some were still shocked and looking at her, others were smiling and you can see they wanted Squirrele_7 to meet Santa. Squirrele_7 came to Santa, and she saw him sleeping on a chair, with a list in his hand. But Santa wasn’t just some Neopet... He was... Santayur!

     “Santayur?!” exclaimed Squirrele_7.

     “Huh?” Santayur woke up. “What is it, Bob?”

     Bob, who was the Chia that took Squirrele_7 to Santayur, pointed at Squirrele_7, who was standing at the other end of the room.

     “Squirrele_7! It’s you!” Santayur smiled.

     At this point Santayur’s secret was revealed, so he let Squirrele_7 ask questions, and he would answer them.

     “Thanks for letting me ask these questions,” said Squirrele_7. “I don’t really know what to ask since there are some questions that I want to ask. Well, here’s some: Why are the Chias calling you Santa and why are there thirty Chias in our basement, and why are they doing weird things?”

     “Well, I am... Santa. The Chias work as elves; they make presents in one room, and they put the presents on the conveyor belts, and the belts take the presents into the main room, where the Chias check the presents to see if they are OK, and the bad presents are thrown away while the good presents fall into a box, and the Chias take the box to me, and I pack the boxes into a big bag, and I take the presents and put them in a sleigh attached to Nuks the size of me, and the Nuks can fly, and they fly all around Neopia, and I drop presents at every neohome in Neopia,” answered Santayur.

     “Wow! That explains a whole lot!” said Squirrele_7, “but what is the list for you have in your arm for?”

     “Well, you know, not all pets are nice, so this is the list of the bad people; the bad people don’t get any presents,” explained Santayur.

     “Oh. And the last question, does anybody except me and you and the Chias know about this?” asked Squirrele_7.

     “Well, nobody, not even Andrewthebestes. I keep this as a secret. I prepare presents for everybody, I start working after Halloween, and I deliver the presents on Christmas,” said Santayur.

     “Cool! Hey, want to go play outside?” asked Squirrele_7.

     “Well, I’m busy,” answered Santayur.

     Santayur saw that Squirrele_7 frowned.

     “But,” he continued, “with you, sister, I’ll play anytime!”

     Squirrele_7 then smiled, and they both went outside to play in the garden, under the warm sun.

The End

Well! That’s the whole story, hope you have enjoyed it! It was exactly 1350 words (including this bit after “The End”). Please message me for comments, and send me friend requests! And this story doesn’t teach children anything... except that always put friends and brothers or sisters first, and tell them your secrets! And it also teaches you that Santa is real, even in Neopia. =D Hope you’ve enjoyed this, thanks for reading, bye!