Home Again

SOS

I sat down at a table in the cafeteria, grimacing at my crutch while placing my food down. My friend sat opposite me, a chicken sandwich on his plate. A pink wristband was around his wrist. It was decorated with My Little Pony characters. Yeah, he's a major brony.

"So, what'd you have next?" my friend asked, biting his chicken sandwich.

"English," I answered. I smiled; my eyes lit up. "Then Science! Looking forward to it. We're doing biology- can't wait!"

"Really?" Marcus (that's his name) asked. "What's so good about science? Seriously, all you do is talk about growth and physics and get homework."

I rolled my eyes. "And what about you and My Little Pony? If I had a dime for every time I've seen you watching it, I'd be at an expensive private school, in a fancy uniform, drinking high tea and saying, 'good day, dear sir'."

Marcus laughed. "You've got your Poptropica." He sighed. "Well, that's how we get on. Anyway, this is off-topic... but have you noticed Louisa hasn't been coming to school the last few days? She's in my English and Math class, so I see her often. But she hasn't been around for a bit, although her gang- or Chrissi's- has."

I felt my throat grow dry. It was true, Louisa had been strangely absent. For some reason, I thought of the brown-haired girl I saw in my dreams... was that her? I hoped not. But then again, Louisa had been acting off for a little while.

"Yeah, it's weird," I replied. "I guess she's sick or something."

"And, not only that, she was being really creepy, too," Marcus added. "Like, I saw her whispering with her friends and stuff, and not like you girls normally do; they looked pretty sinister. Do you think they're, y'know, doing... drugs?"

Drugs were bad, but they sounded oddly relieving compared to the brown-haired girl stuff. I mean, that was legit world-destroying. But how do I know that girl is even Louisa? She could just be someone who looks like Louisa. I mean, plenty of girls have brown hair...

"Maybe," I replied, feeling fear well up in my chest. "Maybe."

Immediately I felt a chill as Fierce Fox and myself landed on S.O.S. Island. We were standing on a slick iceberg. Ahead of us was a large, grey cruise ship, called the S.S Pequod (aka the Titanic's successor). It was a nice ship, apart from the fact it was sinking and people were trapped inside.

"Help!" a lady cried, running up to us. "The ship is sinking and people are trapped inside!" Now, normally, if I came across a situation like this, I'd call 911 then run for safety. But this is Poptropica. We're the 911 here.

"This big chunk of ice is blocking the entrance." Fierce Fox said, gesturing to a chunk of ice that was covering the ship's door. I pointed to a large ball of ice sitting on the ship's roof.

"Push that ball down, and it'll crush the ice." I instructed. Fierce Fox nodded and did just that. The ball indeed crushed the ice chunk, giving us a clear entrance. We entered the ship. There were fluorescent lights on the dark stairs, and water sloshed at my feet. Fierce Fox and I went through a door that said, 'Bridge'. In there, we passed various things, such as a mermaid statue and a boat model.

Fierce Fox and I climbed a ladder and came to a space full of fizzing wires. There was a computer there, and a bunch of wires and buttons. Also, the captain was standing there, trying to send out a message.

"Any survivors on board, please press your emergency call button!" he said. Fierce Fox and I approached him.

"You need to get off this ship!" Fierce Fox exclaimed.