My short stories

Sugar Crazy

Note: Inspired by ImaginationsPortal. My OC, Hope Mason, will be in the story and Lloyd is a kid. Everyone may be OOC.

Hope Mason was in a good mood. Her birthday was coming soon and she was very excited. But she still pretended to be surprised when her friends threw her a supposed surprise birthday party.

'Oh wow, did you guys throw me a birthday party?' asked Hope in fake surprise. 'Oh, you shouldn't have.'

'But we wanted to,' said Nya. 'Besides, it's been ages since we have been at a good party.'

Hope felt touched. She had only been part of the team for two months, but she already felt like one of them. They were all like her brothers and sister.

Everyone had a whale of a time. They played games like Charades and Pictionary, though Jay was terrible at the latter. When he attempted to draw an airplane, his drawing looked more like a bird, which caused everyone to guess random birds.

Hope was surprised when Zane announced that the birthday cake was ready. She hadn't even noticed that he had been baking one. Cole, who absolutely loved cake, was shaking with excitement.

'Come on and make your wish already,' Cole told Hope. 'I can't wait any longer.'

'Alright,' said Hope. She made a wish as she blew out her candles.

The cake was a chocolate one, and everyone liked it. 'Make sure that there's at least a slice left,' said Hope. 'I want to save some for my foster sister Alyssa.'

Alyssa Howes was Hope's foster sister. Whilst Hope's foster parents had been abusive to her, Alyssa had always been kind. Hope and Alyssa were still in touch.

'Don't worry, we will save a slice for Alyssa,' said Kai. 'I say, where's Lloyd? He was here earlier. I remember because he ate three slices of cake.'

'Three slices?' asked Hope. 'Isn't that a bit greedy? Even Cole didn't eat that much. He's always gobbling up his food.'

Nya sighed. 'Hope, he gobbles up his food because he's afraid that it might be taken away.'

'What? Why would he think that?' asked Hope.

Kai sighed. 'I forgot that you are fairly new to our team,' he said. 'Well, remember when you first started living here, you would wince if any of us touched you and you got frightened when you broke a vase, thinking that you were going to get beaten up.'

Hope nodded.

'Well, Lloyd used to go to Darkley's school for bad boys,' said Cole. 'He got punished for pretty much everything there. Sometimes he got deprived of food. That is why he's so undersized.'

Hope remembered how surprised she had been when Lloyd had told her that he was ten years old. She had thought that he was eight.

'Well, after he got kicked out, Lloyd was homeless,' said Nya. 'He had to dig in trash cans to keep himself from starving.'

'That's horrible!' said Hope.

'When he went around demanding that people give him candy, we thought that he was just being your typical bratty kid,' said Zane. 'But then after he started living with us, he confessed that he was actually starving. Every time we give him some food, he would always eat it quickly even if he isn't that hungry.'

'I had no idea,' said Hope. 'But surely he knows now that we won't take away his food. I mean, I know now that you won't hit me.'

'Lloyd is a kid. Recovering from trauma takes time,' said Jay. 'We just have to be patient and...'

But before Jay could finish his sentence, there came the sound of a loud crash from the gaming room. Everyone ran there to investigate. There was Lloyd, standing on top of the television wearing Hope's fairy wings from her Tinkerbell costume.

'Lloyd, what are you doing?' asked Hope. 'Get down from there.'

'I'm a fairy!' said Lloyd. 'I can fly. Wheee!'

Lloyd jumped off the television. Cole quickly caught him before he hit the floor.

'I want to play!' said Lloyd. 'I want to fly!'

'Are you high?' Zane asked Lloyd.

'Zane, I don't think Lloyd knows what that means,' said Kai.

Lloyd wriggled out of Cole's arms and started hopping like a bunny rabbit all around the room.

Just then, Nya noticed an empty jelly bean packet alongside a half-eaten chocolate bar.

'Guys, I think that Lloyd is on a sugar high,' she said.

'Well, it's not going to last long,' said Cole. 'These things never do.'

'Well, we better make sure Lloyd doesn't eat any more sugary treats,' said Hope. 'He might get sick.'

Later on, everyone had cleared up the remains of the party. Lloyd hadn't been much help thanks to his sugar high, so everyone just let him be. But it was nearing Lloyd's bedtime, but getting him ready for bed proved to be an exhausting task.

Jay tried to get him to brush his teeth, but Lloyd kept hopping around the place. Kai tried to give him a bath, but Lloyd kept splashing the water in his face, much to his annoyance. One, Kai hated water. Two, the water was messing up his hairstyle. Nya tried to change Lloyd in his pyjamas, but the latter kept wriggling.

'I'm not sleepy! I want to keep on playing.'

'Lloyd, you need your sleep. Or else you will be exhausted in the morning,' said Nya.

Lloyd kept jumping on his bed. Everyone wanted to slap their hands on their faces.

Hope went up to Lloyd. 'Can you at least try to go to sleep? Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?'

'No way! I don't want to sleep! I want to...'

But what else Lloyd wanted no one ever found out, for he suddenly passed out on the spot. Everyone stared at the little green ninja in disbelief.

'He just fell asleep just like that?' asked Jay.

'Well, life is full of surprises,' said Cole.