Chronicles of Elm St: Swarm
It was a normal day in Elm St, the town hall was buzzing with activity, the museum was packed with tourists and villagers alike, and I was running around town, trying to do an errand for one of my fellow neighbors.
I'm Tiny; I've lived in the small, country side town, Elm St. for two years now. I've made many friends since I first moved here.
Gaston, he's my best friend of all, he lives right below Tom Nook's shop and The Able Sisters. He isn't great at making first impressions because he comes off as abrasive and anti-social, but once you get to know him, he can be really cool and sometimes a bit sappy.
Then there's Bob, he's the mellowest guy you'll ever meet! Everyone likes Bob; even though sometimes his laid-back personality can get him into trouble. He lives really close to the beach, I always see him asleep there amongst the rushing and receding lull of the ocean's waves.
Alli is Elm St's gossip queen; she always knows all the personal stuff about everyone in town. Her vain and conceited attitude doesn't sit well with the animals sometimes, but everyone respects her for her honesty, no matter how brutal. She lives in the very north-western tip of Elm St, behind town hall.
Lily's next. She's the most kind, and sweetest girl in our entire town! She gets along great with everyone, but Bob. Lily lives right beside Gaston.
Kid Cat! He is crazy when it comes to working out—he lives and breathes it! When he's not pumping iron, he's usually making someone laugh whether it is intentional or totally accidental. Kid Cat lives in the south-western tip of Elm St, right above the beach.
Kabuki is pretty moody and at times a lot like Gaston—both of them get along great. Kabuki seems to have a way with the ladies, though; charisma seems to ooze through his fur and big, golden eyes. If you follow the river from Lily's down, you'll see Kabuki's place.
Agent S is the next villager and she's Elm St's little diva! She's so cute and silly, but you wouldn't want to get on her bad side because she can be pretty catty. Agent S lives between Bob and Kid Cat, and below Aurora.
Speaking of Aurora, she's our final resident. She's the newest resident and doesn't seem to fit in as well. She moved in the town a few months ago, and all attempts I make to bond with her she seems to brush off.
*
This morning I woke up to the noise of cicadas screeching through my window. I went outside, and saw Aurora sitting next to the teeny holding pond besides my house with a fishing rod in flipper.
"Hey Aurora! Whatcha doing?" I called, waving from the front of my house.
I got no response; it looked like she was deep in thought. Then I noticed the "ting… ting" noise that my mailbox makes when there's new mail in it. Clearing Aurora from my mind, I opened the red flap, and saw three letters. There was, one from Agent S, one from Crazy Redd, and one from Kabuki. I knew what Crazy Redd's said, the new password this week for his rip-off shack—junk mail!
Then I read Agent S'… it said:
My little Tiny!
I'm having a big birthday bash on July 2nd!
You being my biggest, BEST-EST friend, like, ever
SO needs to come! It'll be super-duper fun!
Just 'member to bring a gift for the birthday girl! A.K.A. ME!
Xox, Please come! Agent S!
I laughed to myself, but made a mental note to pick Agent S up the perfect gift, I shoved the invitation into my back pocket. Then I went onto Kabuki's letter. His read:
Tiny!
I really need your help!
Trust me, it's very important… get down
To my house now… OR ELSE!
Seriously… Kabuki.
Reading the brief and very uninformative letter a second time, I put it in my pocket, along with the other, and ran down to Kabuki's house immediately. On my way there, I saw Bob standing below a peach tree, with a giant stick, trying to poke down a snack. I waved at him quickly and continued on—he really didn't seem to notice me, too immersed in his hunger.
I peered through Kabuki's window, but couldn't see a thing. I tried knocking, once, twice, trice—I didn't hear or see him. I jiggled the doorknob and the door popped open.
"Tiny! Come over here, behind the screen," ordered Kabuki, his voice a cavity-less specter. "Make haste!"
I walked in further, my head swiveling from side-to-side atop my shoulders with fascinated gradualness. I always loved Kabuki's house because it was filled with stuff from his past, like old family heirlooms that his father and mother passed onto him. There was this amazing sharp, but beautiful white katana his father owned as a child, and a full samurai suit his great, great, great grandfather once owned. I sat on the mat he had laid out behind the screen; he had a gift put at the tea table between us.
"Sit, Tiny," he said quietly, but you could sense the urgency as well, his eyes looking up at me and darting through the meager candle-light which made his room glow dimly.
"What's wrong, Kabuki?" I asked. "I got down here as fast as I could, are you all right?"
He looked up at me from his mat, and gestured me to sit. I sat down, not wanting to upset him—knowing how easy it was to do so.
"See the present on the table, Tiny? This present is for... a special someone…" Kabuki trailed off, he began to blush.
"OK? So you sent me a letter, told me there was an emergency, and all you want to do is show me this present?"
"No, you idiot!" he cried, "I want you to deliver this present to someone, I'm way too nervous to do it myself, I'm afraid she'll laugh at me…"
"Oh… I'm sorry. I can do it for you. Who is it that you want me to give it to? Phyllis? Celeste?" I asked thinking of Kabuki's past infatuations.
"No… it's for Alli," Kabuki said and paused. "I really like her, so I bought her this shirt, and just in case she hates it, I want you to be there, not me." The subtle pinkness of his cheeks intensified and spread to his nose.
I took the carefully wrapped present into my hands. "Sure, I'll come back and tell you how it goes, OK?"
Kabuki nodded solemnly, probably trying to regain his dignity after being too afraid to face a girl. I closed Kabuki's door behind me and sighed. I started walking toward Alli's house, nearly on the other side of the town. I looked up at the peach tree Bob was prodding, and then down at the sleeping, purple cat, he had bits of peach caked into his mouth.
Before I got to Alli's, I saw her talking to Kid Cat by the town hall entrance, I walked over, and they stopped talking abruptly.
"Oh, my God! Tiny!" Alli squealed running toward me. She gave me a big hug, it kind of hurt, Alli being an alligator, was strong, stronger then she knew.
"Kid Cat! Go away, me and Tiny are talking, I don't need you to amuse me anymore!" Alli demanded, not even giving him a glance.
Kid Cat looked hurt. He rolled his eyes and went into the town hall.
"Some people just don't know when they aren't wanted, huh, Tiny?" Alli said, smiling, "So, what did you want from me?"
I took the present from behind my back, and held it in front of Alli.
"It's a present to you, from someone, not me, though!" I told her as she snatched it from my hands.
Alli's eyes were shining brightly as she tore off the wrapping! When she got down to the cardboard box it was in, she ripped it open and there was some sort of shirt inside.
"Oh… my… GOD! This cannot be the hottest design of the season… is it? It's Gracie's hottest selling pattern! The cow shirt! Wow… people must love me even more than I know! Can you guess how much this thing is to buy?!" Alli screamed ecstatically.
I shrugged my shoulders, as she was eyeing me as if expecting a response.
"Ohhhhh, Tiny! Thank you so much for delivering this to me! I'll give you some hot gossip, OK? Well… tonight this girl, Katrina, is coming to Elm St. She's a world famous fortuneteller and her predictions are always accurate! It only costs a measly 100 bells to get it done, it's totally worth it!"
"Really? It sounds cool, are you going?" I asked Alli somewhat dully—I hadn't heard anyone else talking about it.
"Of course, darling!" she said plainly. "Anyway, I have to go try this thing on, I'll look so hot! Actually, I am going to wear it tonight to Katrina's!"—her eyes were set upon me again, as if I should agree or disagree with her. I nodded dully, and she lit up—"Ta ta, Tiny!"
Before her departure, she blew a kiss to me as she walked behind the town hall and to her place.
Later that day…
I told Kabuki that his gift with Alli was a complete success, but it was pretty dumb of him to intentionally leave out who it was from. Also, I decided to ask Gaston if he wanted to go to Katrina's with me, she wasn't there yet, but Alli said she would be very soon and already I had seen animals running from their houses and making their way to the plaza—their tones hushed but thrilled.
As I was walking to Gaston's, I saw a humongous spider jump out behind Lily's house. I staggered backward, and the thing ran behind Lily's, to Nook's. It was the first time in all my life in Elm St, that I ever saw something like that.
Dismissing the sighting as nothing, while urged from the growing yet distant murmurs of animals at the town hall, I sped off to my friend's house. Gaston's lights were on. I looked in one of the windows, and saw him sitting down, eating. Knowing Gaston would do the same, I just walked in without knocking.
"AHH! Tiny! Who do you think you are coming in without knocking? You made me spill my miso soup!" Gaston yelled as his soup dripped off his moustache and into a puddle on his lap.
"Sorry, dude. I came to ask you if you want to go see a fortuneteller with me. Alli said she's world famous and very, very accurate with her readings."
"Tiny, you can't be serious!" Gaston laughed, slapping down the half-empty bowl of soup, "You actually believe that garbage! It's all fake, a big scam so idiots can steal your money! Well Tiny, I'm no sucker, you can count me out!"
"Hmmm, not even for 5,000 Bells, Gaston?" I taunted. "You know how much you need money to save up for the new electrical chair at Nook's."
Gaston paused then began grinding his teeth.
"Oh, FINE! I'll go! Don't expect me to believe anything that freak says! Or spend any of my precious Bells there!" Gaston roared, upsetting the bowl of soup on his lap, its contents spilling out over the edge.
Gaston and I walked a little ways to the town hall. There was a big crowd there; it looked like everyone in town was lined up. Gaston and I got in line behind Lily. The line did move pretty quickly, and before Lily's turn she turned around to talk to us.
"Oh, I'm so nervous!" Lily cried, "I wonder what she'll say to me… I hope it's not bad."
Gaston rolled his eyes. "Lily, it's a scam! None of it is real; she probably says the same thing to every gullible sap that goes in there!"
Tortimer sluggishly crept out of the tent and then boomed a voice that said, "Next!"
Lily gulped and then entered the tent. The purple curtain drew shut behind her. Within a minute or so, Lily walked out of the tent, and looked completely puzzled. Then, again boomed the voice. Gaston and I both went inside. There, sitting on the other side of a small table, was a black, gypsy cat, with large, eerie, golden eyes.
"Ahh… the skeptical one…" Katrina purred. Her mysterious eyes darting toward Gaston. "Come, have a seat, I will give you your fortune, no fee necessary."
Her voice carried a concealed, venomous tone which shot goose bumps up my arms.
"HA!" Gaston snickered. "I'm no moron! Go try to fool some other animal!"
"Fool you I not. I suppose, if you are too much of a coward to let me read you a simple fortune, then leave my tent at once," she snapped at Gaston.
"WHAT?!" Gaston roared! "No one calls me a coward, and NO ONE tells me what to do! Why don't you just run on home to your circus, you freak!"
Suddenly, a strong wind whipped through the tent, it stung my face. I grabbed Gaston's shirt and told him to stop, he didn't know what he was doing, but he pushed me away.
"No one speaks ill of Katrina! I can lay a curse on this village that will haunt every soul in it! Just say one more thing, one more thing and you will regret it dearly!" she threat.
"Oh yeah?" Gaston grinned. "You are a phony thief, and a worthless, waste of my time!"
"You've done it now!" Katrina hissed. "You will suffer for your arrogance!"
Her eyes gleamed a deep red, her claws stuck out from her paws, as she scraped them along her crystal ball. Katrina began to chant, at first it was quiet, but it led into a fevered pitch. Everything in the tent seemed to shutter; her cards flew in every direction. I grabbed Gaston's hand and started to run out.
"KREEEEEEE HA!" Katrina howled, the noise so shrill it rattled my ears.
Thinking purely on instinct, I snatched Gaston's clenched and clammy paw then I dove out of the tent and onto the hard town hall pavement—pulling Gaston along the entire time.
Every animal stood around us in awe. Kid Cat burst through the crowd with his hero face on—his eyes narrowed beneath the tint of his visor and his lips convoluted in mid-war cry. Lunging over and around animals he darted through the curtains of the fortuneteller's tent. Katrina sat there, lifeless, her body draped across the table. He roughly took her by the arm and she suddenly sprung up, the metallic jangle of her pendants, bangles and bracelets clanging sharply. She hissed deeply and loosed her claw toward Kid Cat. He staggered out of the way, but stumbled on a pile of junk thrown into the tent's corner. With a throaty howl and her eyes burning demonically, she leapt from her stool and slashed Kid Cat across the chest—blood shedding immediately and falling to his feet.
He yelped in pain, and as soon as he let go of Katrina's arm, she vanished from tent; a mass of obscure, purpled clouds filling the inside to the point where it burst past her curtains and to the night sky.