Boris the Sock and the Important Best Friend Forever
by Jade Thaerd

One day, Boris the Sock was feeling lonely and nostalgic and decided to go for a spin in his old dryer down in the laundry room to cheer himself up. He wiggled and squirmed until he was inside the dryer. Just as he was about to close the door to go for a ride he heard this sad little whimper coming from behind the dryer. Well, you know Boris, his curiosity got the best of him and he jumped down out of the dryer to find the cause of this mournful sound.

As he turned to go around the back of this dirty, once-white dryer, he saw it. A piece of loose lint was rolling along between the wall and the back of the dryer; it was cackling as if it was up to no good. At the back of the dryer, Boris found the reason for all the sad sounds that he had heard. It was greyish in color and looked a bit soggy from crying. Cautiously, he approached the odd looking ball of fuzz.

“Helloooooo...” he said as he edged closer and closer. “May I be of some assistance?” he inquired. “You sound distressed.”

A fairly large fuzz thing came at him. "Go away!" it roared at him, "leave me alone, you always do!"

s own way and was quite unaccustomed to being bullied and told off by... by some over grown piece of fuzzy static cling thing and he would have nothing of it what so ever!

"Now see here, my good fellow!" He tried to sound as indignant as he felt, being shunned by some stranger he had only seconds ago felt sorry for. "I have never met you and I don't "always" leave you alone," he replied.

"Oh, you don't, eh…" came the response, "a lot you know you, you…" but it was useless. The creature had started to whimper again.

Boris could see that there was a great deal of distress going on and he did the only thing a sock could do in this kind of a situation. He sat down. "Listen, tell me about it and I will see if I can possibly help you, ok?" he asked.

"Well, not that you would care or anything, but we have met before. You see, I am the Dust Bunny that you used to share your under-the-bed space with. I know I have grown, but I got lonely when you left me and I have been searching for you for a long time. It's not easy traveling from place to place. Apparently, you travel with your witches, quite a lot. I know we didn't say much but geez, you would think that you could at least have remembered about me. I was so young and I worshipped you so much. And now you don't even remember me." With that, the dust bunny let out the most mournful cry. Boris immediately felt sorry for the little oddball.

"I'll tell you what, why don't we get to know each other all over again and we can be friends. This time, I promise never to forget about you again," Boris promised.

The dust bunny leaped over to Boris and hugged him with its strange extensions that Boris guessed passed for its ears. "Ok, I can do that. After all, it's so lonely here. I came down looking for you or anyone and the only thing around is the stupid bullying piece of lint that brags about all the wonderful bits and pieces that it is made from. It claims to be made up from all your travels and thinks that I am below it."

The creature continued on into the better part of the day. It told Boris that its name was Skitter and that she was composed of all the bits and bobs from under every bed, drawer and suitcase that Boris had ever slept in or under. It hated to get wet and soggy cause it was harder to travel when you were wet and leaving trails of yourself behind while searching for your friend. It really liked, well ok, loved, Boris and was willing to pull itself into a million pieces to find him again. It told Boris of its secret fears of never being able to find him or being good enough to ever be his friend again.

Boris had to admit that he barely remembered Skitter when she was young and he apologized again for not realizing that his brilliance had affected her so much that she would wander the world looking for him.

”I am truly sorry for all the trouble I have caused you Skitter, but I won't be so thoughtless again. In fact, I think that I can predict that we will become the best of buddies. Now what say you and I go and torment Cyn for some fun. After all, that's what buddies do, right?" he asked.

Skitter, the greyish dust bunny, rolled up in a tight ball and zoomed around and around Boris in a frenzy of happiness. It stopped, pulled out its weird little antennae shaped ears and hugged Boris tight. "I found you, I finally found you! Erm, that is to say after all this searching you finally came and found me. You really do care. Thanks! Now let's go get Cyn and you can introduce me!" she replied with a huge fibrous grin and a wink of her orange and blue glittered eyes.

And with that the newly reunited friends made their way up the stairs to taunt the unsuspecting Cyn.