Another week had passed and it was the weekend once again. I didn't have any specials plans this time so I was going to laze about at home. It's good to have a rest every now and then!
I was relaxing on the couch, surfing through the TV channels. Nothing all that interesting is on in the afternoon, though. My sister, Claire, walked into the living room and stopped to stare at me.
"You look like you're doing nothing, can you do a favour for me?" she said.
"What kind of favour?" I asked and sat upright. Even if I did say no, she would make me do it anyway... She twirled some of her blonde hair around her finger.
"Well, I have a date tonight and I need you to get me a couple things."
"Why can't you do it yourself?"
"Did you not hear me? I have a date tonight! I'll be getting ready right here," she scoffed and put her hands on her hips. You need the whole afternoon to get ready? What on Earth is she doing? She does tend to take these things very seriously so I probably shouldn't ask.
"Look, I'll even give you some change and you can buy something nice for yourself too," she added.
"Okay! That seems fair. What do you need?"
"Get me that hairspray that smells like cotton candy. Oh, and some mints too."
"What, your breath stinks?" I teased.
"No!" she yelled. "It's just in case. Geez!"
"Alright, alright, I get it. I'll go then..." A small smile appeared on her lips and she gave me the change. She swished her hair to the side and then disappeared back into her room. "Don't take all day though!" she yelled once more and slammed the door shut. I shrugged and made my leave too.
There's only one big shopping centre in town, and luckily it's not that far away. In no time at all, I made it to my destination. Now, I guess I should check out the hair items shop first... It's below ground floor, I believe. With a good amount of change in my pockets, I made my way towards the escalators. When I got there, I was met with three familiar faces.
Sitting on the side-lines, were three cats, Penny, Luka and Maxwell. I know them from school! It looked like something was wrong, because Penny had her face buried in her paws.
"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked as I walked over to them.
"Oh, um, well..." Maxwell stammered.
"Penny won't go down the escalator," Luka said and huffed out some air. From beside her, Penny made a small whimper. The little black cat shook where she stood.
"Why's that?" I titled my head to the side.
"The thing is..." Maxwell said and told me the story about what happened. He explained that both him and Penny have been best friends since they were young. And also since they were young, she has been deathly afraid of escalators. Only going down though, because, according to her, it's a big difference. The three of them have been here since early afternoon, but this is as far as they've gotten.
"I see!" I exclaimed in amazement. "Well, why don't you use the elevators instead? Unless she's also afraid of those-"
"No, but she should be able to use these too! It's much easier and less time consuming!" Luka snapped, her pink striped tail twitching in annoyance. Meanwhile, Penny hadn't said a word and was only staring at the floor. Maxwell put a paw on her back for comfort. Paws on my hips, I stood back to think about it.
"Hmm... I get that but you shouldn't force her to do something she's not comfortable with."
"I'm not forcing her to do anything! It's just annoying!" the white and pink cat shouted. I feel like it's pointless to argue back and forth but I don't know what else to say...
"Then, what would YOU like to do about it?" I asked.
"Well, I would... I would... Um..." she mumbled. See? Not that easy, is it! At this point, Penny had looked up off the ground. Her green eyes were wide like saucers. But at the same time, she had a determined look to her face. We turned to look at her, her expression not wavering at all.
"I... I want to try going down. I want to be able to do it..." she said. Maxwell and Luka's jaws dropped.
"R-really?" Maxwell gasped. She nodded and Luka jumped in the air with delight.
"That's great!" I grinned. "Should we go then?" Penny turned sheepish and fiddled with her tail.
"Um... Could we wait five minutes maybe?" she said. Luka rolled her eyes but the three stayed with her.
Five minutes were up and Luka and Maxwell were itching to go. Penny stood up on shaky legs and gave us all a smile. "Let's go, let's go!" Luka said and made a beeline towards the escalator. Maxwell, Penny and I followed her.
"I'll meet you all down there!" I said and boarded on to it. Maxwell gave Penny a reassuring pep talk and he came on after me. Then Luka and then... And then... Not Penny? She stood right up the top but when it was time to put her paws on to it, she chickened out and ran off.
"Where did she go?" Maxwell asked in surprise, light blue eyes blinking.
"She's gone hiding again!" Luka scoffed.
"No worries, we can go back up to meet her!" I said, all three of us now at the bottom. We used the second escalator to go back to the top and for a second, I thought we actually did lose her. Turns out she was hiding behind a big bushy plant pot. Luka grabbed her by the tail, making her squeak, and pulled her out.
"What was that about!?" she shouted.
"I-I'm sorry... I-I just... Got scared..." she stuttered, shrinking into herself. Maxwell put his tail around her to keep her calm.
"Even after you said you would do it? What's the truth then!?" she growled.
"Hey!" I shouted and put myself between the two of them. "There's no use getting angry about it. Let's take things slow, hey?" She puffed out some air in annoyance but sat back down anyway. Penny looked at me with her big green eyes, expecting me to do something. Well, I mean, I'm here anyway so I might as well take the initiative!
"Right! Penny, if you don't mind me asking, what is it about it that scares you?"
"It's big. And high up," she replied almost instantly. She was starting to shake again and her black fur stood up on end.
"If I remember correctly, there was this incident once from when we were little... Nothing all that major but, you know," Maxwell said and lightly chuckled. I stopped to think about what to do. This doesn't look like it'll be an easy task but I pride myself on being able to help people! It won't hurt trying a couple things out... The metaphorical light bulb in my head went off and I thought of something.
"Have you tried going down at the same time? Like, you could hold paws or something," I suggested.
"More like hold tails," Luka added and made an effort to push her fluffy tail in my face. Beside her, Maxwell's face had lit up.
"That sounds like a great idea! Come on Penny, we can go with you. We promise to not let go until we're at the bottom," he squeaked. She looked at him with those wide eyes of hers.
"O-okay... We can try that," she said. Maxwell gently smiled and after a short break, we went back to the escalators. Penny's tail had wrapped itself around Maxwell's as we stood up the top.
"We'll meet you down there," Luka said and stepped on. I gave Penny a thumbs up and I followed her, going downstairs once again. From behind me, I could hear Maxwell gently talking.
"...Okay? On the count of three!" he squeaked. I didn't hear Penny reply, but then again I was further away now. Luka and I were now at the bottom staring up at them. Luckily, it wasn't all that busy now so no one was being held up.
It appeared Maxwell had finished his count down and stepped forward with a smile. Penny didn't budge and the poor things almost fell all the way to the bottom. ...I don't think that would've helped her case one bit. Luka clicked her tongue and her tail wagged in irritation. Maxwell was still encouraging her to go down but it looks like she won't budge. Eventually, they walked away and we were told to come back up. Luka and I ran back up to meet them. Penny was staring at the floor with a gloomy face.
"So, that didn't work so well. But that's okay!" I shouted. "There's still more things to try!"
"...I don't think so," she replied. "All this is pointless. I'm not going to be able to do it." Maxwell was about to speak when Luka jumped forward and stood in front of her.
"No!" she shouted. It was so loud that some passer-by's stared at us. That didn't seem to waver her fierceness though. "Ricky is right, we can't give up. And I-I know I sound mean sometimes but, um..." Her face turned away and a light blush appeared on her white cheeks. "I-I think you can do it. You're good at things like that. You can try things and you get the job done. W-what I'm saying is... I-I believe in you." At this point, her cheeks were a bright red. I giggled to myself. So, Luka can be like that too, huh?
Penny's eyes were sparkling a bright green. "Y-you mean that?" she asked. Luka nodded and flicked her tail.
"Oh, I... Thank you..." she blushed. Her ears drooped downwards and her gloomy look returned. "But I don't know if I can... I don't want to disappoint you all."
"I-it's not like I'll be disappointed...!" Luka snapped. "I... Just want to see you do it."
"We all believe in you, Penny. And we won't be mad if you can't do it today. Maybe another day you'll be able to," Maxwell added and warmly smiled. I gave her a smile too and her cheeks were almost as red as Luka's had turned. She shuffled her paws in embarrassment and smiled back.
"Thank you, everyone. I think I want to try a little more."
"Great! Want to try holding my paw next?" I offered and she gave a nod.
So... We had been at it for about another ten minutes. Going with me didn't work and neither with Luka (who got a little angry afterwards). We tried once more with Maxwell also. He suggested she try doing it herself but she said it was too scary.
"Got any other ideas?" he asked me.
"We could, uh... carry her?"
"Then that's hardly going down herself," Luka said. I turned to Penny, who was looking around the room absentmindedly. I knelt down to her level and talked in a kind voice.
"What would you like to do? What would help you feel more comfortable?"
Her ears went against her head and avoided eye contact. "Um... I don't know."
"Do you want to keep trying? Or should we stop for today? We can come back tomorrow," I said. She looked at me for a couple seconds and shook her head. Her long thin tail twitched nervously.
"I... I want to keep trying," she said. Luka walked up and stood in front of us.
"Come on, then. Get to it," she said and pushed her up off the floor. Penny's back legs went up over her head as she pushed her along to the escalators. Her eyes were wide as the panic started to set in. Her lips were moving but no sound came out. So, I decided to step in myself.
"Wait, wait, wait! Not so fast!" I squeaked and forced Luka to a stop. She spun around towards me with furious eyes.
"Nothing's going to get done if we keep sitting around like this!" she shouted.
"I get that, I do, but we shouldn't be forcing her to do something she doesn't want to!" I said back. Before I knew it, I had found myself having an argument with the irritated white and pink cat. Ah, geez! What have I done!? I understand she wants to get it over and done with but I don't think that's the right way to go about it!
Penny and Maxwell watched us argue, speechless. Maxwell looked to be the most in a panic and like he was trying to figure out what to do. His paws were on his head and he had started to mumble some random nonsense. Penny looked side to side and-
"STOOOP!" A loud voice echoed throughout the shopping centre. Luka and I stopped arguing instantly. Where did that loud yell come from? Was it...? I turned to Penny, who was staring right at us.
"Please don't argue!" she pleaded. "I-I changed my mind... I can't do it after all..." Her ears flopped downwards.
"But Penny... We've been trying so hard..." Luka said. The black cat shuffled her feet and stepped backwards out of nervousness.
"I know... But I think that's all I can do today..." she said. "We can try again some other day." She gave us a forced smile and continued to shuffle about. In fact, she seemed to getting awfully close to the escalator...
"Ah, watch out!" I shouted to warn her. But then she went down... and down... Maxwell leaped to his paws.
"Penny, you did it! Congratulations!" he yelled.
"Eh?" she squeaked and looked at her surroundings. Sure enough, she was sitting on the escalator going down! After all this time, she could finally do it! ...Somehow.
"She had to go... backwards?" I thought aloud.
"That's it!?" Luka snapped. "How does that even make sense!?" Maxwell chuckled.
"Well, I'm just glad she was able to do it..."
Bright eyed and bushy tailed, Penny ran back up to greet us. I don't think she knows how she did that either. But to see if it wasn't a fluke, we made her do it again. The trick was to distract her with something while she walked backwards. It sounds strange, yeah, but it works!
Feeling happy with themselves, the three friends invited me to have lunch with them. We ordered something to eat in the food courts. After lunch, we had a chat about whatever popped up into our heads. It was mostly about school, to be honest. I stayed with them for a while but then I decided to make my way home. I can't help feeling like I forgot something though...
~~~~~
When I got home, I collapsed on to the couch. Ahh, another busy but fulfilling day! Time to relax~. Just as I propped up my feet paws, my sister Claire walked into the room. Her blonde hair was curled up into a towel around her head.
"God, you sure took your time. What, was there a parade going through town or something?" she said. "Anyway, where are they?" She outstretched her hand as if she was expecting me to give her something.
"Where's what?" I asked.
"The hairspray and mints I asked you to get. Did you forget about it!?" she barked. Oh, so that's what I forgot! Uh, I don't think Claire would be too pleased to hear that...
"Uh.... Well, you see..." I said, twiddling my thumbs.
"Ugh! This is why I should never count on you for anything! Whatever!" she shouted and stormed off. I heard her bedroom door slam shut. Oops...
I might not be in my sister's good books but I don't care! I'm still in a good mood from helping out Penny and co. I'm not sure if I actually did all that much to help but I'm glad Penny was able to face her fears. Now, let's see if she can go down it facing the front! Maybe some other day we can try that!
