Chapter 1:
Origins
The synthesised noise of lasers made me adjust my eyesight clearly. Even though I was lying down, I could only see properly, and I could feel fur being placed onto me. I had two sticky-up ears, all semi-circular, and a tail was placed onto me. When I fully emerged, I was stark-naked and crying my eyes out. Two human hands helped me out of the machine and wrapped me up in a soft, white shawl. I don’t know who my true mother is, but they called me ‘Zuri’. I remember them as ‘Jo’ and ‘Phil’, but I only remember their names and no one else. I was still crying when they placed me on a desk. “This little lioness isn’t fit for any of our stop-motion productions,” said a tough male voice, and stamped a ‘Rejection’ stamp on my shawl. The real reason why I’m so different is because one of my ears drooped down.
The next thing I remember, I was carried down the street in the arms of ‘Jo’ and taken to a little house in the country. I was placed on the ‘Welcome’ mat on the doorstep. A knock on the door alerted my new mother - Ophelia. She was a woman of 33, a simple young woman with pale white skin and a flowery dress, plus red high heels that dug into the soles of her feet. Ophelia opened the door and saw me lying on the doorstep, sniffing and crying. She took me in her gentle arms and began to rock me lovingly, lifting me against her bosom. She looked at my shawl and saw the name ‘Zuri’ planted on it. “Now, Zuri, let’s get you a bottle before you starve.” she said.
I grew up living a quiet life with my new mother, my grandma and my foster siblings. They’re the most unusual siblings I could’ve ever had. Most foster children have normal brothers and sisters that are human, but my mum works for a TV agency company, hiring animated characters to star in TV series and movies. The company was named BiroCorp, and five of these characters were assigned to be my foster siblings. Everyone knew I was a stop-motion character, and three of my siblings were stop-motion too. Charlie may look like my older brother, but he’s actually a werewolf whenever he feels stressed. All you have to do is make him grind his teeth and you can let the fireworks go off. Charlie and his two siblings starred in Halloween Monster Party and various Halloween episodes of preschool shows as extras. Now they star as main characters in Monster Avenue. Monster Avenue is my favourite show in the world, and I can’t believe I’m living with my own idols!
Next, there’s Montague. He may be a vampire, but he’s vegan. That means he never eats animals and instead eats food made with plants. He likes to embrace his inner nature, and sometimes before bathtime he takes off all his clothes and lies down in our shared bed, feeling the softness of the duvet against his sensitive skin, which he always takes care of. I always laugh when I see Montague in the nuddy, lying in our bed. He is a gentle vampire who cares for nature and often wants to get outdoors without any clothes on. He hates scratchy clothing and prefers to wear smooth, soft clothes instead of vampire uniforms.
Mona is an Egyptian mummy, an immortal princess who is as gentle as Montague. She is a blackbelt in karate and likes to do yoga to relax in the garden, sometimes swatting away flies and bees. The only time she gets excited is when she plays with me, and when I chase her with the garden hose. Mona and I love to try on Mum’s makeup when she isn’t looking, and sometimes spray each other with Mum’s precious ruby red perfume. Egyptian mummies usually smell musty and rotten, but Mona smelled of lavender bubble bath, mostly because she uses lavender perfume or body mist.
Star and Abby are 2D-animated Australian Jack Russell dogs who had a bad start in life. Their dad was drunk so much that he started abusing his wife, and sometimes abusing Star when she ran to stop them. They were shipped off to the UK, where they were sent into foster care. Everyone spent their time laughing at them and treating them like they were the foster home’s real pet dogs. One day, Star had enough and bit the kid who she used to call ‘alien’, so their social worker put them into a dog shelter. Star and Abby spent their miserable lives surrounded by real dogs. When Ophelia came to adopt our dog Coco, a chocolate brown dog, she decided to adopt Star and Abby too, for they have had a horrible time at the foster home. Star and Abby sometimes flew back to Australia to ‘Star’ in their own preschool series - Star The Shelia Dog. It became famous all around the world
As Ophelia was cradling me in her arms, her loving hand stroking my soft, downy yellow fur, Charlie, Montague, Mona, Star and Abby came to see me. “Hey! You stay away from our mother!” cried Montague, who hated it when my mum paid attention to the other siblings. “Now, Montague, this is Zuri. She’s been left by her parents outside our door, but if you want, you can all welcome her with a big cuddle.” “We don’t mind cuddles, Mum,” said Mona, “I don’t mind a new baby in the house.” “And me!” shrieked Abby. “Okay, everyone gather round,” laughed Ophelia. With that, they shared the biggest cuddle in the world. I could already smell the lavender perfume scent of Mona, and the wet dog smell of Abby and Star.
Now, something you didn’t know about my house is a magical cupboard in my bedroom, which I’ve had for 22 years and counting. I was born gifted and talented, which means the Blue Fairy (no, not the one from Pinocchio) flew through my window overnight and tapped her wand gently on me, giving me the power of a big imagination.