[I'm very sorry to those who follow'd this story, It shouldn't have taken this long to update, but it was partially out of my control. At times writing can be as troublesome as it is fun; life happens, and I also had a very long period of complete "Where the f*** am I going with this?", but sometimes I want to write so badly that it eats at my nerves until I begin dreaming of my writing, It happens more than I would like for it to. Okay, enough sharing circle time and time, for some 9]
I waited for the next day; I didn't want to be outside in the dark with this…problem around the town. I didn't even know where to start trying to begin my…investigation…enquiry…search…whatever this was called. I couldn't sit still long enough to properly do my hair, I hardly had the focus to clean up a bit before leaving, and eating didn't even cross my mind.
I left my house and looked around at the surrounding trees as I stayed on my porch. Leaves were falling from their branches, the sky was light gray; the early morning light was hidden behind clouds. It was rather cool out for it was an early autumn day, regardless I felt a bead of sweat slide down my face; the outside… this day, it made me feel…exposed. I began to breathe a little heavier as I looked around again. Then I noticed my mailbox, its red flag was up. I opened it to find a small box, a package, from Nook it seemed; there was the trademark leaf logo on the box.
I heard something rustling in the distance; my head shot up in its direction to find there was nothing in sight. I tried to dismiss it as a small creature moving about, or a twig falling, but I couldn't shake the feeling of something watching me. I went back inside my house quickly and took time to calm down. I sat at my table. What was I doing? Jumping at a little sound? This was ridiculous; it was just a morning like the rest of the ones I had spent here. If I jumped at every little thing like this, I'd never leave this house and never find answers.
I then realized that I was still holding the box, with a slight curiosity I picked at the tape. I opened it to find a flashlight. It was a heavy, metal one that I had ordered weeks ago, back when nightmares had me barricading my house. I ordered a lot of other things as well, but couldn't remember what. I guessed I'd remember when they arrived.
I put the flashlight on the table and began heading towards the door, but stopped as I grabbed the handle. I looked back; something was telling me that I would probably need that flashlight later. I grabbed it, and decided to get some other things as well. I took a small notepad, some pencils, a map, and a military swiss knife, and put them all in a side pack that I had once used for school.
I made my way out, and found myself stopping on the porch again, but quickly remembered myself and forced myself to walk. I still had the feeling of being watched, and it grew stronger. I had to constantly remind myself that it was just another normal day, and that I was being overly paranoid, but the feeling persisted, and grew. I walked faster, and thought I heard something behind me; I quickly turned and saw nothing. The feeling instantly vanished, like a blanket being yanked from over your head. After taking a deep breath, I continued.
I walked and walked, but didn't even know where I was going. I eventually found a house, one of the villagers' houses. I walked to the front and read the name, Bob, I faintly remembered them from when Nook had me meet everyone in the town. I walked over to the side of the house, and peered through a window. The lights were off; no one was home, good. I cupped my eyes as I planted my face against the window. Despite the fact that there was some light entering through the window, it was still too dark for me to see.
After a few more minutes of eyeing the interior trying to make out the different things I remembered my flashlight. I pulled it out and chuckled a little in embarrassment. I guessed it was a good thing that I had brought it with me after all, and shone it through the window. I looked around for anything suspicious, mainly for those pill containers with the grey and blue branding. After a while of searching I decided to try another window.
I spent what felt like an hour searching through the windows. I periodically looked around to make sure that no one was seeing me do this. After searching the last of the windows I let out a breath in relief. It seemed that this one was clean.
I walked off feeling a little better, certainly better then when I came. I pulled out the map and marked the house. Afterward decided to try to the next house. I repeated the searching process that I had done with the first, and likewise it seemed to be clean. I checked it off and went to the next one. And as with the first two it was marked off.
I began to be almost cheerful, despite myself as I marked off the fifth house. Some were that of some of my closer friends; a weight had been taken off of my insides. I made my way to the closest house on the map. I couldn't help but feel a little normal, the intensity of this morning was definitely gone at least, and as I continued to walk, I found my mind drifting to different thoughts. I saw the house and without taking my mind off of the thoughts of maybe buying some new clothes, I went up to the window. In an almost casual manner I began peeking through the window, looking for the contianer with a vague interest. I could swear that I was forgetting to do something important.
"What are you doing?" Said a stern and inquisitive voice from behind. I tensed up in shock; I had forgotten to see if anyone was around before I started searching. "I've seen enough, ma'am, you're coming with us, put your hands on your head and no funny business." It was a police officer. I was too petrified to do as they said, and in an attempt to move, I fell over on my side; paralized like a statue.
After a few seconds I heard another voice, this one sounded vaguely familiar.
"Wow…I didn't know you were part possum." Wait…was that… "For a second I thought I was arresting a posing mannequin." Came again the voice of none other than Lucky. His bandaged feet came into view as he walked in front of me. My body released and fell limp on the ground.
"Lucky." I let out in my sigh of great relief, a short chuckle followed. I sat up and looked at his mummy-wrapped face; His eye was closed, the mustache that he bought was neatly groomed and perfectly placed underneath his nose and above where his smile would be. I stared at his face in relief for a second, before realizing what had just happened.
"Lucky!" I growled bitterly. It caused him to jump, and quickly thereafter flee; I gave chase as he began to laugh. I chased him around the house for as long as I could, which turned out to be not nearly as long as I thought. I slowed to a mere walk as I panted like a…well, like a dog. I saw a boulder and crashed down on it, still out of breath. Lucky had stopped some ten feet ahead and was jogging in place, waiting for me to continue after him, the troll.
After a few minutes I was still out of breath; Lucky jogged circles around me a few times before settling to plopping on the boulder next to me. In an attempt to get back I pushed him with all of my remaining strength; it barely nudged him to the side. He was smiling again; I could tell, I could practically see it beaming through his bandages.
He began to chuckle in amusement as he repositioned himself; I forced out a loud, wheezy, distorted sound that I hoped was a laugh from between my gasping breaths. After I finally caught my breath and sat up on the boulder.
"You're pretty spry for a full body cast." I said through a dry throat.
"And you're pretty spiteful for a peeping snail." He quickly responded, and followed it with another short but lively chuckle.
"Peeping snail?"
"I saw the way you were looking through that window."
"What? I wasn't peeping, I was…I was just…"
"burglaring?"
"No. I was-"
"Then what's with the bag? What's in it?"
"Uh…"
"Are theystolen goods, they are aren't they!?" He accused with a mock tone.
"No, they're my..." My head raced to think of something "...cosmetics, yeah! They're my make up, my lipstick, my eyeliner, my eyeshadow, my nail polish." I was listing every type of girl's make up I could think of before I was interupted by a loud snoring sound. Lucky had his head on his folded hands as he was pretending to have fallen asleep. "Ha ha, very funny." I said.
"I may not be funny, buy you certainly were acting it just a few minutes ago. What's the deal sneaking around looking in people's houses like that?" He asked as he grabbed onto my bandaged hand. I stammered as my mind began to race again for another cover up.
"Uh...I...was...playing...hide and go seek?" I said almost like a question, hoping he'd buy it.
"And you were looking inside a house? Isn't that against the rules?"
"Uh, this game was...a switch around. Uh, we could only hide inside of houses."
"Really? And you didn't invite me?"
"Uh, we had an even number?" I looked up to see his face, hoping he wouldn't get wise, but he was too preoccupied with my hand. My bandages were removed, revealing a swollen purple line that was between my thumb and index. I didn't even notice that he had taken off my bandages. He also had his box open next to him.
"I guess we'll have to worry about that later." He said as he gently prodded the closing wound. "Just as I feared, it's infected." He then turned to his box and began to dig through it hurriedly. After a few more seconds he produced a small, dark bottle and some cotton swabs. He dipped the swabs in the clear fluid from the bottle and began to swab the wound. I almost yanked my hand away when the surpringsly intense sting took me by surprise, but he had kept a firm grip.
"Ouch! What is that stuff!?" I questioned as the stinging intesified as he continued to swab.
"The alcohol didn't kill the bacteria last time, so I'm using something with a little more omph to it." He said, not breaking his concetration.
"Well, a heads up wouldn've been nice." I began to tap my feet on the ground. The stinging now began to send a tingle all the way up to my elbow.
"Sorry, but I had to act fast. I thought it would've been good for a few days, but I should have checked sooner. We don't want you getting sick, especially with Winter coming soon." I was a little focused on the sensation that now held my whole right arm, but I realized something strange with Lucky's words.
"Whose we? And why Winter?" He finally looked up from my hand, and with a sense of slight dismay.
"Uh, we as in...you and I." He stopped dabbing my wound as he seemed to struggle to continue. "And...Winter is...flu season, yes. It'd be horrible if you were to get the flu while fighting an infection...so." He could tell by my face that I was a little skeptical. He pressed the swab back to my swollen flesh, this time without the gentleness from before, and the mother of all stings assaulted my hand. It felt like he had just stabbed my cut with a red hot sewing needle. I let out a small squeal of pain as tears formed at the corners of my eyes. "Oh, sorry." He said as he looked at my hand again. "Well, that should do it." He said as he began to apply fresh bandages.
"You sure you don't want to stick hot coal on it first?" I said sourly. He pretended he didn't hear me as he continued to wrap.
"So, this game of yours." He began as he was finishing up. "You're checking through windows, right? To save time I'm guessing. But what if the others are hiding in the basement or attic? What if they're in a closet or dresser? You wouldn't be able to see them just from the window if they were."
"I...I guess not." I said in realization. I wasn't playing a game of hide and seek, but I was looking for a particular container, and the chances of those being in plain sight were hit and miss. Gala had hers on her mantle, but Ed had his pills inside of a secret fake diary that was stuffed in his dresser. "Hm, I don't know if this is allowed, but I'd sneak inside the houses and look for the others." He suggested with a mischevious look in his eye. "I'd sniff the lil rascals out."
"Though, I guess that means I'll have to recheck all the houses I've already checked." I said, feeling like I had wasted time. I stood up. "Well, guess I should get started." I said that, but I knew that literally searching the insides of each house was practically impossible. I really needed to find a place to think clearly of what to do next. I began to walk away as Lucky was placing the medical items back in his box. "Thanks for my hand." I said blankly.
"Y'know, you remind me of Tommy." Lucky said as I was a few steps away. I turned.
"Who?"
"Tommy." He repeated as he locked the clamps of his box. "The last human to live here." He continued as he himself stood up. "He'd always come up with get-rich-quick schemes since he owed Nook a bundle, but he'd always overlook a littlelest details that would bring him back to the drawing board."
"What happened to him? Where is he?" I asked. Lucky seemed to be taken off guard by the question.
"Uh...he...he moved." Lucky said. "He...couldn't pay his debt and had to move back to the city to get a job."
"Oh...that's a shame." I said, not fully convinced that Lucky was telling the truth.
"Well, I'm done here. I'll be off now. I got-uh-stuff to do. Important stuff...well... be sure to drink some tea to fight the infection, and get plenty of sleep and fruit too. See ya!" The little mummy zipped off, out of view before I could even say goodbye.
I began walking, not to any place in particular, just walking. It helped me think. I thought about how I was the only human in this town. Back in the city, with the poor economy, people were striving for a place that was cheap to live, and it didn't get much cheaper than in an animal village. One would think that at least two humans would be here at one time. Nook also said that the last human to live here lived in my house. It was a nice place to live, and Nook didn't seem very strict at all with payments. If one couldn't afford to live here, well, they would be hard pressed to afford a card board box to live in. Something was really off about the deal with this Tommy.
I remembered my search for the pills, but it seemed that that particular trail was currently road blocked. I supposed I could find out more about this Tommy character, it seemed like it could provide some information on why he truly left. I also couldn't help but feel that the pills and this boy's history were somehow connected. I began to wonder if he had a similar situation to myself.
I looked up to notice where I had wondered to in my thoughts. It was the dump, or what this little town called a dump. It was little more than a little fenced area about the size of a house and its lawn. It had an opening, and no doors or locks or anything. The residents were simply able to come and go as they pleased, dropping off trash, and maybe picking up some worth while items. I had found a few decent things here myself. I decided I could take a look while I was here.
I walked in and wasn't surprised to find that it was almost barren. The animals didn't throw away much, and whenever they did someone would usually pick it up few days later. It only held one item; I walked over to see was it was. It was rectangular and made of dark plastic. It took me a few seconds to recognize it as a computer. I immediately took it up and pocketed it. My fuzzy television hardly provided any entertainment anymore, and a computer could help with that.
I then decided to make my way to the town center; it would have records of all the citizens who have ever lived in this town.
I had only been there once before to meet the mayor, so getting there wouldn't be too much of a problem. I soon came to an end of grass and dirt and to a cobblestoned plaza, big, wide, and round. In the center of this plaza held the biggest tree I had ever seen, it stood like a mountain above even the biggest of the other trees. It was extremely thick, thicker than any of the buildings in the whole town. I stopped to gaze at it in awe, its ancient branches were the size of some of the normal trees. I liked it, it reminded me of my grandmother, old and wise and kind; a shining example to all.
I remembered myself and made by way to to town hall: A large building (though it seemed small next to the great tree) that stood at the edge of the cobblestone. I entered in and was treated to a sweet smell, and elevator music in the background. The first thing one saw upon entering in was a front desk with a one of the two pelicans that worked here. The first time I came here was after dark, and had an unpleasant encounter with a rude, pink pelican. This time though, the pelican was a white, and a rather cheerful looking bird. She brightened up as she saw me enter. Her charming smile was almost like that of a young girl; it made me feel a little happier just seeing her.
"Welcome to town hall." She spoke with glee and bliss. "We also have our postage service here. So if you need to send a letter or package, we will deliver. Whether in rain, sleet, or hail. We'll deliver what you mail. My name is Pelly, how may I be of service?" Her question reminded me of my purpose for being there, but I couldn't let her know.
"Uh, Hi...I...I was wondering...If I could...see the mayor." I said what first came to mind. The pelican's face dropped to a saddened expression, which in turn made me feel a little bad for asking.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Our busy mayor is out right now; attending to duties. If you leave a message for him, I'll tell him you dropped by." She seemed genuinely sad that she couldn't help me. Then at that moment I noticed a door to the wall on the right. I needed to at least find out where the records were or weren't. I turned back to the pelican.
"I actually have a letter I'd like to give him. But I can just leave it here for him. Uh, is that his office over there?" I pointed at the door in question. The pelican bent over the desk a little to see.
"I'm sorry, but that is just our record room." She said in an apologetic tone. Bingo. "If you want I can have that letter sent by today, our delivery bird, Pete will deliver it in a jiffy." She then waited for my giving of said letter, but it didn't exist.
"Oh...I...well...you see I'd rather not..." The pelican's head tilted slightly in confusion.
"You don't wish to send the letter to him?" She seemed confused. I was feeling myself sinking into something of a pickle.
"Well, no. I want to send it. But it's just that...I'm not sure I can...trust...the postal services here." The pelican seemed a bit hurt by that statement, which somehow made me feel a little worse for her. She seemed so sweet, I didn't want to make her feel bad. "Well, not that there's anything wrong with...the services...it's just that...it's just that...I ordered a really...fancy...lamp...a few weeks ago, yeah, and I haven't heard anything about it since." The pelican girl seemed shocked, like if I just told her I had just been mugged.
"Oh no, a delayed delivery? That's horrible! I apologize for your inconvenience ma'am. I'll check into the matter right away! It's probably lost in circulation, I'll have to you by tomorrow at the very latest, I swear by my job." She began to walk from behing the desk.
"Oh, no you don't have to-"
"It'll be my pleasure, If you'll excuse me, I'll need to leave for this. Please wait here, I'll be back momentarily." She guestered to a few waiting chairs and was out the door. I saw through the window that she took flight away. I stood there in disbelief for a few moments. That seemed very...easy.
The pelican girl was a stark contrast from the one who worked the nightshift in just about every way. I hoped I didn't send her off on a wild goose chase. Though I really was missing a lamp I had ordered previously, so I suppose it wouldn't be entirely a goose chase. I just hoped I wouldn't get her in trouble, she was very sweet. Guilible, but sweet.
I then turned around and looked at the room, the only noise coming from an office fan and from the elevator music. I had the hall all to myself for them moment. I walked over to the door. It had a sign that read employees only. I tried the handle, and it opened. If there was one perk about living in this town, it was that its locks were signs that relied on others moral fiber.
I walked in and closed the door behind me. I flipped a switch to find a poorly lit, dusty, cramped room filled with shelves that held boxes upon boxes that held files and papers and smelled of mothballs. It was a complete 180 from the pleasant main room.
I noticed the shelves had dust covered labels on them. I dusted one off: It had Town Ordinances in bold black lettering. Not what I was looking for; I made my way to the next row of shelves and rubbed the dust off of the next lable: Town History, nope. Town Crime Records, Town Laws. I finally came to the Town Residents and squeezed by way between the rows. I noticed one of the boxes in the residents aisle had a lid that had a wing tip-shaped area that only had a light covering of dust. It must be the most recent, I would have likely been filed in shortly after moving here. I grabbed that box and pulled out of the aisle, placing it on the floor and kneeling down, I opened it.
It contained files that were labeled by the resident's last name first, then their first, but they didn't appear to be in alphabetical order. I saw that the file in the front had my name. I pulled it out and opened it. It had official papers and other boring stuff, like my age, name, origin, birth date, and the one piece of info I was looking for: the date I moved here.
I placed the file back into the box and checked the one directly before it; wow, I didn't know that that was even a last name one could have, I'd be sure to ask Chief about it. His file likewise held the usual info, and his date of moving here was just a month before mine. I suppose they were filed in chronological order, which would help. I made my way up until the names on the files were no longer familar. I pulled up the first unfamiliar name: Hambone, a pig who appearantly lived here about half a year ago. I was about to place the file back when I realized that on the papers in Hambone's file it had a large stamp pressed on it with red ink. The stamp was a design that showed an emblem of an animal print that was put together by a third of a paw print, by a third of a bird talon, and by a third of a hoof. Underneath the emblem was a banner that read something in a different language.
Neither Chief nor I had this stamp on our papers. I quickly dismissed it as some animal group or something. I then made my up the files until I reached the end. I then put away the box, and grabbed the one next to it and checked the last file, the date of which that villager moved here was just a few months before the last file of the previous box. I was glad that they kept their files organized chronologically.
I began skipping files, I at least knew that the last human here was named Tommy, so I could search for the first name. It wasn't long before I found a Doe, Thomas. I looked inside and scanned the info until I found the species area. Surely enough, this guy was human. He apparently had brown hair and green eyes. I checked the date he moved in: May 16, last year. and next to it was the date he moved out: December 31 last year. New years eve hardly seemed like a time anyone would move to another town.
I began scanning the other papers of his file; he apparently was born Thomas D. Owe but changed his last name to Doe. He also was an animal rights activist, an animal vet, he worked for a non profit animal orphanage, and pretty much anything that had to do with animals and helping animals. It sounds like living in an animal town would have been a dream come true for this guy, it was hard to think that he moved just about 6 or 7 months later. He was only 21 when he left, pretty large resume for one so young. For the time he was here he apparently dated with a wolf by the name of Whitney. Disgusting!
He apparently had payed off his entire mortgage to Nook within weeks of moving to the town, debunking Lucky's statements. I began to wonder if I should keep my distance from Lucky.
I found a medical file, and it was almost as long as his resume. He apparently had severe case of asthma, as well as allergies to most types of animal fur, how ironic. I read on, a check up, an inhaler refilling there, but as I was about half way down the list I noticed something. A hand written note penned in fancy penmanship: Patient Thomas claims to be seeing strange animals at night and hearing frightening noises. Request drugs listed below for medication. and surely enough, a grocery list of drugs I've never heard of were listed below. I wondered if any of them were those red and purple pills. Just below were more notes requesting more things, but it was the symptoms that were catching my attention. Nightmares and night terrors, constantly found alone in the woods in a panic and cold sweat, hallucinations, deleria, and the like. A feeling of sickness spread throughout my body as I saw more symptoms that I shared with him.
The last of the notes said that he was suffering from paranoia and refused to take prescriped medication, he even denied to have his inhaler and breathing medication. It was noted that he accused his doctor and the whole town of conspiracy against him, he even accused his girlfriend and stated he kept away from her. It was noted that he was willing to become violent and needed sedatives, and then nothing. They finished, just like that. The date for the last medical entry was December 19, last year.
Frantic, I tore through the rest of the file, people don't just up and vanish into thin air. There had to be something, even just a transer paper, a note of imprissionment, a note of descease, anything. But there was nothing, Thomas Doe apparently just poofed out of existence. He had local criminal records for stalking, spying, and other suspicous activity for his last few months here. He had a criminal record as white as snow before that. I double checked everything and found something, he apparently moved to a town called shady town and gave all of his money to the town hall. One doesn't give off every red cent they have just before they move.
After reading over it all again, I decided to put the file back, but then noticed something. There was the emblem, that animal print made from three different prints with the banner underneath. This one was different, the print and the banner were covered with some dark fluid, and the red ink made it look like it was dripping in blood. The sight sent a chill to my bones. It wasn't even on any of the offical papers, just on some small square sheet. The foreign letters now gave off an onimous feeling. I wanted, no, needed to know what they meant. I grabbed the little paper and pocketed it. I could look into it later.
As I put away the box, I began to wonder if there were any other humans before Tommy. I suddenly felt a urge to leave. It had been a while, and if that pelican girl came back, I'd have a tough time talking my way out of this one, I'd likely end up in the local prison. But I had to know, I had to. I quickly pulled off the third box and searched each file. There weren't pictures, so I had to look for the listed species. I searched file after file, but it seemed there were nothing but animals before Tommy. This village seemed to have had quite a few previous residents for a small town with allegedly limited transportation.
I finally read the word human and let out a breath of relief. Samantha A. Edison, blonde, brown eyes, 19 years of age. She moved into town in Feburary 24, a year before Tommy, and left town at...my body went cold at the sight; Decemeber 31. I quickly searched until I found the next human, Jay J. Cruz, Moved in July 2, the year before Sam, and likewise left at December 31.
I continued to search, and found three more humans: George K. Sextson, Krystal B. Fox, and Darci B. Sternn. All moved in at different times of the year, all came in the year before the other, all left at December the 31. I had also noticed that every animal had that same emblem stamped on their profile, I didn't really look for it, but it's pretty hard to miss a big red stamp on a black and white paper. The only time I didn't remember seeing it was with Chief, myself, and the other humans. Though I was willing to be that the other humans had that bloodied version of the stamp stuffed inside their files somewhere like Tommy.
I was also willing to bet that their records would be similar to Tommy's toward the end of their stays. I was willing to bet that they all saw things and became crazy and paranoid. Was I crazy? Was I getting paranoid? This all seemed so surreal. I had to wonder if my own file reported anything on my own behaviour.
My thoughts were interrupted by a sound outside. I shoved the file I was currently holding back into its box and almost threw it back to it place on the shelf, which caused it and a couple others to fall off othe shelf, dust and papers flew everywhere. I only flipped off the light, and made my exit as quiet as a mouse. I looked over to the desk, Pelly wasn't there, I looked to the window, she wasn't anywhere to be seen. I sighed inside my head and quietly made my way to one of the waiting seats. I'd been in there for a while, I didn't want to push my luck.
I sat down and placed my hands on my lap, looking to my feet. After a few seconds that felt like minutes, I began to wonder if it was worth tyring to go back into those records. Nagging thoughts and questions still lurked at the back of my head, begging to be answered. I looked up and saw something that would prevent such actions. A turtoise, an elderly turtoise was bent over, trying to reach something that had fallen on the floor. It was the mayor. Lucky for me he seemed to have had his attention locked on bending down far enough to pick it up, he didn't seem to have noticed me.
When he finally grabbed a paper weight and lifted himself back up (with great effort) his eyes came to me and he stared blankly for a second, and then his eyes widened in surprise.
"Jimminy, I didn't even hear the door open." He said in an aged, raspy voice. He placed the paper weight back on the desk and corrected his back, which apparently didn't want to be. "I swear a bomb could go off and these blasted ears wouldn't pick up a peep of it." He grabbed a cane that was leaning against the desk and made his way slowly towards me. "Pelly said that you wanted to deliver a letter to me, so I skiddadled my way back. You weren't here, so I was about to make my way to my office in back, and poof, your magically here. I swear you little whippersnappers are always on the move, like little bunnies on a caffine addiction." He sat himself down on the chair next to me. "So...err, what were you here for again?"
"A letter?"
"Ah yes, you wanted to give me a letter, well, here I am. would you be so kind as to hand it over?"
"Uh...no."
"No? No as in you don't have a letter?"
"Uh...no, it's just I...I..." The turoise began to eye me suspicously. "I thought I could...just tell you...y'know, since you're already here." He began to tug his small beard inquisitively.
"Well, all complaints, comments, and requests are supposed to be delivered via letter, but I guess It'll save time. Who needs all these little pointless regulations anyhow. Very well then, proceed." His eyes remained squinted.
"Uh...weeds? Yeah...there are weeds growing everwhere."
"Weeds, eh?" He didn't sound convinced, he only seemed to be get more suspicious by the second. I was falling apart, it was like he could read my thoughts, his eye like razors disecting my mind. His intense gaze dropped. "Eh, when I was young, we had bigger problems than weeds, like food, shelter, and the like. I suppose kids these days are always complaining about something." He lifted himself up off of his seat. "I'd like to help you, youngster, but pulling weeds is a vanity fair. It depends on if the villagers get tired of living in weeds and take time out of their day to pull 'em." I got up as he did.
"Oh, okay then." I said.
"If that's all you were concerned about, I'll have to excuse myself. Have a good day." He made his way past the post office desk, and walked past another desk in the area behind it towards a door. He turned again just before he went through. "Stay out of trouble now." He was gone. HIs tone with his last words reaffirmed his suspicion of me. I'd have to be a bit more careful around him.
I decided that this was enough for today. I had a lot to consider and a lot to take in. As I approached the door I was greeted by a box, a box held by the pelican girl. Just as she promised, she got my lamp for me. She definitely looked proud of herself and happy to have helped me. She had some black smudges on her once pristine white feather and her perky pink outfit, but her smile shone through regardless. It almost made me feel a little better.
I thanked her, and took my package and made my way home.
[Again, so so sorry about the 1.5 to 2 year wait. So now that I have an idea of where the next few chapters are headed, I might be able to update soon (though I can't promise anything since I have an unregular schedule) and hopefully won't be the 1.5 to 2 years that this one took ^^;]
