Welcome all to my newest story about the game Animal Crossing. In this we see the life of Max Stigler as he moves to Woodhurst, a town on the verge of becoming a ghost town, yet only inhabits animals. Why is he moving there? What is the mystery of Woodhurst? Finally how will he get along with his fellow neighbors that live with him? This will all come out in Max Stigler's Life in Woodhurst
Max Stigler's Life in Woodhurst
April 10, 2016
"Arriving at Woodhurst in ten minutes" is what comes through the speaker. I start to gather my bag that I have on my seat on the train that is bringing me to my destination. I get up and move towards the front end of the car I am in to get ready to debark. I notice that the car I am in only has a few occupants in it and none of them get up with me.
By occupants I meant animals. Don't try to tell me to explain how a human can interact with animals pretty much his size, because I can't explain. There are days I don't understand it.
"Excuse me? But you are heading to Woodhurst aren't you?" I turn to see a lion looking at me, putting his newspaper down.
"Yes I am. It's kind of a renewing resolution I made for myself. I decided to start a new life there" I state, which is mostly the whole truth. In fact I it has nothing to do with renewing myself and more to do with tiring of the hustle and bustle of city life.
"In Woodhurst!" the lion screechs. He suddenly looks sheepish. "Sorry just in the many years I've been riding this train very few people every get off at the Woodhurst stop and even fewer decide to stay," He smiles at me deciding to turn the conversation to a different point. "My name is Oscar."
"Max. Nice to meet you." I say. While it seems like I didn't want to talk to him more it is only because it seems like he wants to talk more about Woodhurst. I am not wrong.
"Pardon my overreaction to you deciding to move to Woodhurst but I don't understand why. If anything it has become more of a way to push goods through to other cities. Maybe it's second in a tourist type of place and even then it gets twenty to thirty people to visit it in a year. I swear it only has a couple of stores still lasting, some essential places and only some residents still living there. It's practically a ghost town now." He says blathering on. It sounds mean but I already know all of this and it is the reason I want to live there. It is quiet and not many people around to talk to you or who will see you.
"Now arriving in Woodhurst" The speaker states. I quickly move towards the door to exit the train.
"Thanks for your thoughts. Got to go now." I say, quickly getting off the train onto the platform. The doors closed behind me and the train starts to pull away. I don't have to look behind me to feel Oscar's eyes bore into the back of my head as the train pulls away and into the distance. Well time to find the real estate office.
I realize though I have no idea where I am. The move here had been quick, within this month in fact. I sold my apartment in the city and was told by a friend that this place had houses you could buy for cheap, considering that no one really wanted to live here anymore. But since the move had been so quick I only called up the real estate office to buy a cheapish home and then had some of my furniture shipped to the house and then that was that. Today was the first day I step foot here.
I start down the steps from the platform and am immediately on a cobblestone path and I could either go left or right. I am still just as confused but saw a sign ahead of me giving me directions towards important buildings. None of them say real estate building but one of them does say town hall and I guess they would know where I should go. So I head right.
I walk down what seems like the center of town considering the closeness of all the building around me. But the one thing I notice is a majority of them have all been shut down. I have been walking for close to three minutes and only pass by one shop which is actually open. It looks like a general store which I assume sold pretty much anything you could think of. Probably why it has lasted since the people that live here need a place to buy food, clothes, furniture, and essentials. Otherwise you would need to get on a train or take a vehicle to the next town over, which considering how empty the town is, it would be quite a ways.
I soon enough arrive at the town hall and am pleasantly surprised at how nice it looks. It is a two story stone building that looks like it has been taken care of quite nicely. It is clean looking and looks like it was built this year. Then I mentally slap myself. It's probably clean because there probably weren't many residents to dirty up the town and it has been cared for because it probably doesn't get much use. I am going to have to get used to being in a town that not many people are in, the exact reason why I am here.
In the town hall though, I am quickly confused since it looks like I enter someone's office instead of an entrance. There are paintings on the walls and a door on either side of the walls but the odd part there is a desk smack in the middle of the space. The next odd part is a mule is sitting at the desk with a pair of glasses on. She (at least I assume she is a she) is wearing a pink skirt and a purple t-shirt.
"Ummm excuse me I am looking for the real estate office. Do you know where that might be?" Suddenly the mule looks up at me and gives a squeal of delight that surprises me making me jump backwards.
"Oh it's you, it's you." She quickly gets off of the chair she is sitting on and comes around the desk to shake my hands. "You are the one that's moving to our quant town here." I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Yes my name is Max Stigler. I'm here about the house. I'm just looking for the real estate office right now." The mule smiles at me and quickly goes back behind her desk again.
"Well look no further. Welcome to the Woodhurst Real Estate Office." She opens up her arms and basically shows me her office. I am even more confused now.
"But this is the town hall I thought."
"Well since the town has been downsizing for a while a lot of needed jobs have left Woodhurst and so the ones that need to stay in town have just come here and I do all those jobs. I'm the real estate manager, the town event planner, and even at times the town mediator for disputes. I fill a lot of roles." Wow even though the town didn't have many people in it she certainly seems busy. "I'm Maggie by the way." She opens up a drawer and pulled out a key chain with one key on it and moves around the desk. "Follow me."
We leave the town hall and start walking down the stone pathway. We seem to be heading further away from the center of town as I can tell the shops are lessening out and more trees and houses are popping up. We have been walking for close to three minutes and so far I haven't seen another animal or person at all.
"I don't know if you noticed when you entered into town but there are three paths that enter into the main town district. The path we are on goes towards the residential area and the town forest. The center path goes towards the residential area and the port. Finally the last path heads towards the river district. The town forest, which is where your house is, does have a few houses in it but is mostly uses as a landmark for the town. The port if you didn't know is the prized possession of Woodhurst. It's where we get most of our money for the town. Sadly passenger ships don't come down as much anymore. The residential area holds probably between 50-100 houses but most of them are abandoned at this point. Lastly the river district holds a few more houses than the forest does but they are much fancier. The river is mostly the area where we hold our special events." At this point we enter the town forest. It is certainly a forest. Trees are everywhere and it is quite peaceful and quiet.
"Wow this place is amazing, just what I want." I respond once we are in the woods.
"Wait until you see the house." She says smiling at me. We walk a tiny bit further. That's when I saw what she meant. The house that I have bought looks better than what the pictures showcased. It is truly amazing. It is a one story small ranch house painted a nice grey color. There are no other houses as far as I can see and I can tell this is a peaceful and quiet area, just what I want. Maggie leads me to the house and unlocks the door with the key she has in her pocket and ushered me inside. It is quite homely.
We entered into a sort of entryway that looks like it is a place to put your shoes and coat when you enter into the house. I peek into a room off of it and notice a washer and dryer. We walk through the entryway and into a spacious living room, spacious only because it holds a couch, a recliner and an end table. I look beyond the living room and can see a deck that looks like it was covered.
"This way now." Maggie says and drags me into what looks to be the dining room that is attached to a small kitchen. "The kitchen has a small pantry in the corner. Now if we go through here." She pulls me out of the kitchen, back into the living room and into another area near the living room that resembles a tiny hallway. "Now here is one of the bedrooms, the smaller one, a storage closet, and while it's not attached directly to the bedroom this bathroom here is meant to be of use to the person that owns this bedroom." Ok good to know. Each person's bedroom gets their own bathroom. "Now I will show you the other side of the house." She leads me to the other side of the house which seems the same. We enter another tiny type of hallway that is the same as the other one. "On one side you have a room that can be used as an office space. In front is another closet and finally the master bedroom." She opens a door and we enter a very nicely decorated bedroom. While the other rooms in the house barely have any furniture, this room is fully loaded with a bed, end tables, a floor lamp and even paintings on the walls. "The previous owner left all his furniture here when he left and we didn't have the need to get rid of it so we decided to just leave it for the next owner. As you can see he spent a lot of time in his bedroom and rarely spent any time in other rooms." I look around the room and notice a door that leads to a walk-in closet and master bathroom. Both large rooms, or at least large enough for me.
"Wow, this is incredible." I say to Maggie, still amazed that this house is mine.
"I am so glad you like it. I'm also glad we are getting fresh blood in this town finally. You have no idea how happy everyone will be to know you are moving in." Well what she didn't know is that I am not here to make many friends. Just keeping a low profile.
She tells me that the back has just a covered deck and it didn't need to be shown to me, figuring I understand what it is. We discuss more about what else the house has to offer but little seems to interest me. A downside to the house is that there is little storage space, meaning no attic or basement. Another downside she says is that it is a distance from anyone in town. Of the people that live in town I am the only one that lives in the forest district. That is no problem for me.
"Just curious, but how many people actually live in this town?" From everything I've heard I'm surprised anyone does live here.
"Hmm well let's see," She pulled out her hoof, which I wasn't sure why, almost like she was going to count on it. "My brother is the mayor and I live with him in the river district. There is Oswald who runs the local general store and supermarket although it's basically the only place to get goods here. There is Amelia who runs our post office." Her eyes suddenly lit up. "That reminds me to tell you. Due to the fact only one person runs the post office any mail you get can only be picked up there. They don't deliver anymore." She pauses probably trying to collect her thoughts. "There is Joseph and Rosalie. The last four I named all live in the residential district." Her eyes suddenly go dark and she squints. "Finally, Fedor also lives in the river district." I am momently surprised with the change in attitude. It seems so unlike her to get mad all of a sudden. But as quick as it comes she's suddenly back to her smiling self. "Well I think that's all that needs to be done for your homecoming." She suddenly grabs my hands and shakes them "I'm going to get out of your way while you get settled, but I do hope you enjoy our town. Everyone has been ecstatic with the thought that someone new is moving in." She turns and waves while she leaves via the front entrance.
Well finally I am home. Just in my quiet little house by myself.
The furniture in the house is enough that I would be able to get by till tomorrow when the rest of my furniture comes in. I don't really care enough to get new furniture or even the design of what furniture is in the house, just happy to have a new life start. I sit in the recliner in the living and breathe a sigh, content with being alone finally.
That is until the doorbell rings.
It can't be Maggie, could it? I grunt as I get out of the chair and go towards the door and open it to see a hyena standing there with a blue t-shirt and jeans looking very excited to see me.
"You must be the new person in town, Max right? Pleased to meet you," the hyena grabs my hand in its paw and shakes it extremely quickly, as well as giggling to itself. It pushes past me and goes in my house, quite rude actually. "Gosh I've always loved the forest district and this house is so nice looking. Actually everything in Woodhurst looks nice." The hyena starts giggling again and goes to open its mouth but I quickly put up my hand which stops it.
"Who exactly are you?" I ask the simplest question I can think of.
"Rosalie. My name is Roslie. Oh you probably don't know anyone else in town. Well there is." I quickly hold up my hand again which silences her once again.
"I know who everyone is living in town through Maggie. Shes been very helpful to me." I say. This girl is exhausting.
"Ahh, she is fantastic to everyone. The backbone of the town. I go to her a lot to figure out what is happening in town and what is going on in the future," She looks around and seems puzzled by something. "Is this all of your furniture? Not much here is there." I sigh becoming quite tired from the energy she is exhibiting.
"No this is all the furniture that was left in the house. Not mine at all." I really wish she would just leave.
"Well what a nice space to live in. My house is nothing like this," Her eyes suddenly get really big. "You'll never believe it but I have to go. I forgot I need to talk to Oswald about an order I need to get. Sorry to just run in and out but I want to get it down before I forget," She runs back to the front door and opens it up quickly but turns back to me. "Nice meeting you Max. Hope you enjoy your visit here." With that she is gone from my house.
What just happened?
Is this what life is going to be like here? I really hope not because I came here for peace, quiet and I don't really feel like being bothered on a daily basis. Just hope I can accomplish that.
Thank you for reading. Like another one of my stories, this story will be done, in world, on a daily basis so you might have 3-4 chapters all focused on the same day. With that there will come out a lot about different events and the animals that live in this town. As before please review and tell me what you think so far.