"Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like."
-Lemony Snicket
Somewhere in a small, Hyrulian town…
"Mother, I'm going out to get the mail," a young girl called.
"Alright, dear. I'll be in the kitchen," a woman yelled back.
The girl skipped happily to the mailbox, which she opened and collected the contents of. As she walked back, she sifted through each letter until she came across an odd-looking grey one with no writing on it. Strange…Shrugging it off, she dumped the mail onto the sleek white counter.
"Mail's here, Momma," chirped the girl.
"Thanks, dear. Dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes." The mother opened the envelopes one by one. Cable bill, electric bill, and…what's this? Her eyes landed on the grey envelope. Opening it, she pulled out a sheet of thick cardstock. On it was a message clipped from old newspaper and magazine headlines: SURPRISE.
Slightly shaken, the woman trashed the envelope and note. Wiping her oddly grimy hands on her apron, she attempted to shrug off a nagging feeling in the back of her mind and continued to make dinner.
"I can't believe you coerced me into this, Malon," I said.
She scoffed at me with a toss of her fiery red hair. "Normal people take vacations, Zelda. They find it relaxing. Plus, we were both feeling overworked. You said so yourself. Something along the lines of 'We seriously need a break, Mal.' Remember that? You asked, I delivered. You should be thanking me."
She's right of course. We were both pretty sick of working the graveyard shift at a popular fast food chain, Quick Cuccoos. Coming home every morning and smelling like you bathed in day-old French fries is pretty awful.
"But anyway, it's a lovely town. The people there are really nice, and Saria said that you don't even need a car to get anywhere there, since it's so small. And it's only a couple of miles from the beach! Which, by the way, is supposed to be beautiful, and it's a private beach, so no tourists! Our hotel is actually on the beach. It's such a quaint little inn, but it has such a wonderful spa! We can get massages, mani-pedis…"
I smiled weakly. "I don't know, Mal', I mean, I've never even heard of Ardin-"
"Ordon," she corrected.
"Whatever. But this town is so small I'm surprised it has a dot on the map."
She shot me an annoyed glare out of the corner of her blue eye. "Just keep an open mind, Zelda. I've put a lot of thought into this. This place has everything you could think of. Shopping, food, spas, the beach…" she paused to give me a sly look. "Boys…"
"No. Not doing that again, Mal'. You know I'm still not over Ike." I said.
"Ugh… It's been two months Zel'. You need to get over that cheating son-of-a-"
"Malon!"
She rolled her eyes at me. "What I'm trying to say is that you need to get over him, and the only way to do that is to find someone new. And better. And more attractive. And preferably someone who isn't a total douche. You deserve better than him. And who knows, you may just meet someone here. Small town guys are supposed to be sweet."
"Or rednecks," I argued. "Besides, you only say that because Sheik's from a small town."
I heard her scoff, and I practically heard her roll her eyes. We then drifted off into a companionable silence. I contented myself by watching the various scenery roll by the car. The view is mostly dominated by wide, open plains, a corn field or a barn scattered here and there. We passed Lon-Lon Ranch, a humongous dairy farm owned by Malon's father Talon, a couple of hours back. I watched fat ponies and sun-bathing cattle flit past my line of vision as I gazed at the rolling emerald-green hills.
"We'll be passing Chateau Romani soon," Malon commented. Chateau Romani, also owned by Malon's family, was named after her nearly identical cousin Romani. Chateau Romani also owned a very expensive and very exclusive restaurant in Castle Town's East End. Their cheesecake is to die for.
"On the right!" Malon squealed. "That means Ordon's very close! Fifteen minutes, max!"
I looked at the huge farmhouse as we passed it. Why couldn't we have stayed there instead? Wide open pastures, horseback riding, and cheesecake… I sighed as we passed a sign that read: Ordon, Twenty Miles.
The scenery very abruptly changed from farmland to dense woodland. We breezed by Trill's Gasoline and headed down a gravel road.
"Almost there, Zel'! Hey, would you mind getting some stuff at the store while I check us in at the inn? I forgot my toothbrush, and it would be nice if you could get some shampoo. I hate the hotel crap they have."
"Sure, Mal'. Just drop me off when we get to town."
"Thanks Zel'."
As Ordon came into view, I was amazed by what I saw. If you weren't looking, you might've mistaken it for just another patch of trees. The roads and sidewalks (if you could call them that) were all just dirt paths. All the buildings were made of logs, most of them with leaf-green roofs. Some of the buildings were obscured by clusters of trees. One building was a tree. A gigantic, hollowed out redwood with a door. A sign that read "Kokiri Scouts" was in the front. Figures.
I looked up, and there were even tree houses, with suspended walkways and everything. I spotted a partially obscured sign that read "Visitor's Center," so I walked up and grabbed a couple of pamphlets and a map of the town out of the little stand just outside the door. How handy.
Looking at the map, I could see that "Sera's Sundries," a general store, was just down the road. I passed a couple of houses and Kokiri Elementary before I came across the building. It didn't look like the lights were on. That was odd, considering it was only one in the afternoon. On a Monday, no less. Confused, I tried the door. It wouldn't budge. That's odd.
I consulted the map again. I kept going and then made a left at the end of the street to head towards Kokiri Shop. Sounds promising. Now that I paid attention, I noticed that there were no other people on the street. Actually, I hadn't even seen a soul outside at all. It was starting to creep me out. The only noises were that of the forest animals that had taken residence here and the wind through the trees.
I tried the Kokiri Shop door. It also wouldn't budge. Oh crap. I was really freaked out. Relax, Zelda…They were all probably just in the town square celebratingafestival of some kind. That would explain it.
I consulted the map again and headed to the town square, which was also devoid of any life. There was something on the ground over at the edge of the square, though. I walked over to find a lone squirrel. Dead. Oh no. Oh, no, no, no! This was exactly what happened in that horror movie I watched last Thursday! A girl was in some creepy town with no people… If my intuition is correct, a crazy man wielding an axe was just around the corner…
I fingered the pepper spray in my handbag nervously. When I rounded the corner, I saw…nothing. I needed to get out of here. I checked the map again and started on my way out of this crazy town.
As I passed close to a house, I heard a click. The door behind me flew open. An arm reached out and grabbed me roughly. I felt myself being jerked into the building, and the door snapped shut. And then, I did the only thing that I could think of doing. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then my eyes rolled back as I dropped to the floor in a dead faint.
I hope that you enjoyed the story. I wanted to post it much sooner, but a bunch of stuff came up, and now my computer doesn't have an IP address for some reason (meaning that I can't access the internet on it) so I have to post this on my mother's computer. I know that this chapter is short, and that it was a little rough around the edges, but it always takes a while for me to really get in the zone. So please pardon that. I will be on vacation for about a week, so don't expect updates until around August 10th. I really would appreciate constructive criticism, or even just a review. Flames are also welcome, but I can't guarantee that I won't mention your name... As this is my first multi-chaptered story, advice would be very much appreciated. (And if you liked my writing, feel free to check out my stories on my other profile, airbender552.) Feel free to PM me or email me anytime. Thank you for reading!