[So, yeah, chapter 10. I hope I can continue writing this. I hate writer's blocks.]

I wandered my way home eventually, deep in thought the whole way. I didn't notice how dark it was until I had turned on the lights. I put the tea kettle on the burner and sat down at my table. It was a system, a cycle, one human moves into the town in every year, then just before the next year they are gone. Were they chased out? Were they forced to leave? Did they kill themselves? Were they put in asylums? With the limited info I had, anything could have been a possilbility. So far I knew that the last human here was seeing things, scared, and cautious of everyone in town. I was beggining to suspect everyone in town as well, with those pills and such things. Were there similar outcomes for the other humans? I didn't have time to check the other humans' files that thouroughly.

Just how far did the similarities between Thomas and myself go? What were the similarites I shared with every other human? How many more humans were here before them? It was established that we are all human, but anything else was unkown to me. I'd have to get back into those files to try and find anything more specific. But how could I get back there? With the mayor now wary of me, how could I manage to sneak back in? And I'd imagine that even that guilible pelican would get suspicious of me were I to return again. There was also the matter of finding a way to distract her for a long enough time in order to perform my search.

I had to do something, with the current info, I didn't have many more months until december rolled around. I wanted to know what happened to the rest of the humans on December the 31, but I'd prefer it not to find out the hard way. I trembled at the thought of December coming upon me like how it did the others, it felt like a timer, counting down, an omninous timer that was sitting there quietly, watching me, waiting, counting down until it could do something I didn't know.

I was startled by a high-pitched scream and almost fell off of my seat. My tea kettle began to shake as steam shot out of the small hole, creating the loud noise. I got up feeling slightly embarrased that I had been startled by a tea kettle. I got up, turned off the burner, poured myself a cup of the tea, and returned to my seat.

After a few calming minutes of sipping tea, I cleared my mind and put all that I knew down in front of me. I couldn't draw a conclusion from the limited info I had, so I had to find more info. The town hall case files wouldn't be the best place to return to; the mayor was wary of me and was a lot more bright than that pelican girl. Trying to break back into the record room would be too risky. I would have to find another source of information, a library or something. The village didn't have a library, and the nearest town would be a good distance away. Would I even be able to reach it? Maybe I could pretend I was vacationing.

I thought about it before coming to the conclusion that I wasn't financially stable enough to afford it. I didn't want to risk asking around town since there was clearly something or some things that they didn't want me to know about.

for the next hour I thought, and I thought hard of other options to find information, and if they weren't physically impossible to do, then they were just simply out of reach. I was beginning to get frustrated, and stepped outside for some air. I breathed in the cold, autumn night air and it sent a chill down my spine. I stayed on my porch and kept the door open as not to be in the darkness.

I looked up to see a bright, shining, silver disk peeking over a dark blanket of clouds. The clouds slowly drifted their way through the sky, like a behemoth swiming through the sky, trying to cover the whole moon and stars, trying to engulf the whole world. I began to shiver, and not just from the cold. I put my hands in my pockets, and felt something in one to my surprise, and pulled it out. It was a leaf, a leaf of a computer. I remembered picking it up from the dump and taking it with me. I looked at it with a sense of slight easement, it for some reason calmed me down. It was strange that a computer would do that. Wait a second, a computer! It could connect to the internet! I'd be able to complete my reaserch after all.

I rushed back inside and plugged in the machine immediately to a wall outlet. I then realized that I was missing something crucial: a computer moniter. The computer had wires plugged into the back of it, they were screwed in place, and the previous owner probably didn't want to spend the time to remove the wires from the tower itself. It had one that plugged into the wall, and the other had an end that split into two metal prongs. One had yellow rubber around it, the other had white rubber. This computer was useless without a moniter. I felt a sense of grave disappointment.

Exhausted, I went to my tv, at least I still had something to do. I flipped on the little box and began my wrestling match with the bunny ears on top. After I finally getting a clear image, I sat down in front of it. At first, I thought it was some reality tv show since it showed a woman and her twin living in the same house, the older one was married while the younger was single. Being content I sat back and began to relax. But then I started noticing strange things. The sister who was single was living with her sister and her family until she could get back on her feet, or at least that's what the married one thought.

I began to realize that this was in fact a movie, a movie about the single twin sister trying to take her much more successful sister's life. The elder one also seemed to have a fear of snakes. I began to feel uncomfortable with this movie. Then I noticed that the logo of the station at the bottom right was the same logo I saw when I saw that movie with the dog stalking the cat. After I had watched that movie was when I had had that nightmare of Rover trying to kill me. Not eager to have another horror filled night, I quickly got up and pressed the button on the tv that changed the channel. Almost immediately after I pressed it the whole tv shut off.

Slightly annoyed, I pressed the power button, but it didn't turn on. I checked the back of the tv set; it was plugged in, so what was the problem? I grabbed the cable and pulled it out of the power socket. I then plugged it back in, and from the sounds and lights that came from behind, the tv was back on, but my attention had fallen elsewhere by then. On the back of the tv, there were two inputs, one was rimmed with yellow plastic, the other with white plastic. Immediately I grabbed the computer and plugged the coloured cables into their respective colours. I pressed the power button on the tower, and a logo of a tree blinked on the television set. Judging from the discolouration around the edges and the slight warping of the image, it wasn't made to be plugged into an old tv, but that was alright, I could still see its images well.

As the computer booted up, I realized that I still had one more problem: how would I connect to the internet? The computer had a date that read 1998, meaning that a wireless connection wouldn't likely be possible, and even if it were, I didn't have wireless services. I then remembered a phone that was on a desk next to my bed; it had a phone line plugged into it. I came with the house, Nook said that it was part of the standard. It had a direct line to Nook for ordering and such, but it was possible to call other numbers.

I took my computer station up to my bedroom, and set it up on a desk. I then unplugged my phone, and stuck it into the phone jack on the tower. After signing in with the admin account, I immediately clicked the 'internet implorer' logo. A small box opened up on the screen, text appeared on it reading searching for connection...connection found...calling...and then the sound of dial up began to whir in a static like fashion. It then opened up to 'foogle' and in a calm excitement I clicked on the search bar.

In my state of happiness I realized that I didn't know what to look for. This was a small town, a small and simple town. The chance of it having an online data base was next to nil. I sat there for a few minutes, trying to think of what to do. I remembered that Tommy was part of several animal groups, some of which would likely have websites. It was a start.

Of the organizations that I could remember, I searched one by one. I searched the first one page by page, looking for anything, a list of members, pictures, hopefully info I could use. After looking through the awards pages, I found that I could search the previous award winners all the way back to four years. I would only need to search through one: last year. I didn't need to look far, in fact, I didn't need to look at all. The monthly awards, nearly all of them, went to Tommy, and they ranged from getting the most young animals adopted, to getting the most out of the small funding, and other such things. Quite the over achiever, wasn't he? I clicked on his name, and it went to a page that held contact info, mailing address, email, and the like. His address was N/A, as was his phone number, and his email, everything.

I went to the next site, and after searching for a while, I finally found his name again. I searched until I found contact info, it was little better. It was almost entirely N/A except for his address, which said he was in Shady town; I supposed that town was real after all. I repeated the process with all of the sites I could find that were of the long list of organizations that Tommy was a part of. I managed to gather little more than what I already had.

I considered not checking the last site, but figured it couldn't hurt. The Animal Equal Treatment Organization was the last one I could remember. I reluctantly typed it in the search bar and then sat back; as if the fact that this venture was of little reward wasn't enough, the dial up internet literally took several minutes to load each page.

As I slowly drudged through each page, I felt a little tired. I'd need to get some sleep soon. I found Thomas Doe, and clicked on it, surprise, no useful info. I pressed backspace, and was about to press the power button, but as the page returned to a list of member names I noticed something. Underneath Thomas Doe was someone named Whitney Doe. Faint memory of reading of one named Whitney in the town files came to mind. Interested, I clicked.

As the picture showed up, I felt a slight queeziness in my stomach. I remembered that this wolf was Tommy's girlfriend, a wolf, was dating a human. It seemed by the last name that it went further than dating as well. I began to look at the listed info on her as well, it seemed she also quite the go getter, she had accolades and the like, and it listed that she was no longer an active member. Though it seemed to have a mailing address as well, and to my surprise, it was in Shady town. A moment of realization hit me in the face. I don't know why I didn't think that Shady town was a real place, even after finding every site listing it, it sounded like a fantasy, almost like how this Thomas person felt. But now, it was real, a real person was also there, but where was there?

With my mind now full of new questions, I turned off the computer, got dressed in my night gown, and then tried to sleep, but thoughts constantly shook me awake. I tried to subdue them, tried to chase them away, but they'd always return. I laid in my bed, tossing and turning like a wave. My eyes were heavy, to the point of them stinging in irritation whenever I tried to open them, but an even heavier weight was on me, one that insured no sleep.

Much to the torment of my eyes, I looked up to my clock: 2:34 AM. It was just after 10:00 PM when I got ready for bed. I sat up, my eyes still closed, the stinging feeling like I was in a room full of freshly chopped onions. I stood and walked my way over to my window; a pale moon stood above the trees in the ebony night sky, staring down at me, wondering why I was still awake in the dead of the night.

The thought hit me, a question more like. I was afraid to answer it, but it wouldn't let me rest until I did. Could I go to that town? Could I make the trip? Would Whitney even be there? Would Tommy be there? Was the strange happenings that had happened to me just coincidence? Did Tommy just go a little estranged and move? Maybe to start a new life, A new leaf so to speak? I could go to that town, and look for them, the two of them. I moved here to start over, but I question myself of whether or not this place is for me. Maybe Tommy thought the same and moved again?

If they were still living together, that contradict the files from this town which stated that Tommy had distanced himself from her. Maybe they made up? But then how would all these things be happening to me? It couldn't be random.

I had so many questions, and only one way to get an answer. I'd make a trip to go to Shady; I'd have to plan the day, and how I'd make my search and approach. I couldn't just wing it in an unknown city and hope to find them, and even if I did I'd have to have some explanation why I was looking for them and questioning them.

I looked back at the clock, 2:46, I had to get some rest before I did anything. As I sat back on my bed, I wondered if I even would be able to sleep. I lay my head on my pillow, my eyes then closed as if they had a will of their own. It seems even a troubled mind can't keep a tired body awake for long.

I stopped as my next destination came into view on the calm autumn morning. Despite the cool air I felt a bead forming on my head; my last visit to the Able sisters' shop had been less than reasurring. I had had it all planned out, for the past few days I had to set things up for my trip. I had it carefully planned and timed. I didn't tell any of the animals of my little 'vacation' I couldn't risk it. The one thing that was in my way of it continuing was in the Ables' shop.

I took a breath and continued my way to the little shop of horrors. Able had said to stay away for a while, I hope it had been a long enough while. The three little steps that led to the door looked like trip wire, and the door was the trap. I reluctantly walked up them and reached out my hand, as if to a ravenous animal, and I tried to grab the handle. My insides began to churn and twist with the handle when I twisted it open.

I opened the door to stark contrasting welcome to when I had first done so. I stood there with the knob in my hand, and the Ables stared back at me, astonished. We stood there in that awkward silence for several minutes before I broke the silence.

"Uh...Hi..." I said nervously. The two Ables looked at one another simultaneously as if to confirm that what was happening was real before responding.

"Um, welcome?" Said Mable. I opened my mouth to respond to try and prevent the awkward silence, but nothing came out. As my mind began to search for words, Sable's arms wrapped around me tightly and squeezed.

Afterwards, we all sat down and began to talk. I was especially surprised since it was working hours. Mable put up a sign on the door that read "Out to lunch"Sable even turned off her machine. Sable grabbed the coffee table that they used for breakfast.

"So...you're sure you're doing alright?" Asked Sable, her worriedly clutching my right hand like a concerned mother. Even though her tone was still very shy and she was still being quiet, I was surprised that she was being so (relatively) open.

"Yes, I'm fine." I said, glad and happy that Sable was back to normal.

"Oh, there you go again, sis." Mable said jeeringly at Sable. "That's the third time you've asked her." She turned to me. "I haven't been able to leave the room and come back without her asking me if I had seen you and if you were alright all week."

"Mable, don't." Sable pleaded; Mable laughed.

"Ah, don't be shy about it." She assured Sable before turning to me. "I've never seen her so attached to someone before, well minus myself."

"Wow, really?" I was surprised that Sable had seen me in such a light.

"Ask her yourself." Mable said, as she turned to Sable with a sly smile. Sable suddenly became the center of attention; she didn't like it.

"Uh...S-so, Ai, what are you looking for?" Sable said, passing the potato to me.

"Huh?"

"Surely you must be looking for something, right? A hat? A dress?" Mable looked surprised that she didn't think of that sooner. Both of the sisters then turned towards me.

"Well, I mainly wanted to stop and say hi..." That was a lie.

"Oh, alright then." Mable said as she stood up. "Well, it was great to see you again, alive and well. We'll need be getting back to work." She nodded at Sable and then they both got up. "If you need anything you'll know where we are." Mable said as she smiled brightly. I headed toward the door as if to leave, but then stopped as my hand was on the knob.

"Actually, there is one thing I was curious about." As said as if an afterthought. Both Ables looked up to me in curiousity.

"I heard that you rent out sewing kits. Is that true?"

"Why, yes it is, would you be interested in renting one?" Mable said.

"Yes I would."

"Alright then, rental fees are 350 bells." After I paid her she grabbed a dusty looking box that had a handle and blew it off. "These aren't rented too often as you can see." She lifted it up and handed it to me, and when she let go it nearly brought me to the floor. The weight especially surprised me because Mable seemed to be able to lift it without a problem.

"Wow, it's really heavy."

"Yeah, it's one of our older services, so it used older equipment. But it should still be easy to use if you used Sable's machine." She gave a wink. "I'm glad to see you aren't letting your talents go to waste."

"Heh, thanks."

"There's no time limit or anything, just bring it back when you're done."

"Will, do." I said as I struggled to pull the box to the door. After a few seconds of no sounds except my exertive grunts, Mable grabbed hold of the handle.

"Here, let me help you with that." After she took me a few paces from the front of the door, she placed the case on the ground. "Be sure to lift with your knees."

"Okay." I said, tired already. As I began to try and lift the case, I heard Sable's voice.

"Take care, Ai. Be careful." She said, evidently saddened by this departure. I turned back towards her with a face of endearment, she was so precious.

"I will, Sable. Don't work too hard."

"I'll be lucky to get her off of her machine by midnight." Replied Mable, her tone suggesting that she wasn't etirely joking.

After the final farewells, they went back inside, the open sign now on their door. I, with great strain, managed to lift the case off of the ground, and began walking funny with it between my knees. After a while I dropped it again as it began to hurt my back. I tried lifting it on my shoulder; sure if I can carry and unconcious dog on my shoulder, I could carry a I could, but not for very long, only to where it felt like my arm would tear from its shoulder socket.

I continued trying to find different ways to carry the worlds heaviest case, only to figure that I was actually finding new pains, aches, and sores across my body. After what seemed like forever I stopped and sat on the case, panting heavily, and sweating profusely. Every muscle was aching, even in places I didn't know you could get sore muscles. I looked up to the trees, at this rate, I'd never make it home before dark.

As I began considering just opening the case where I was and working in the open field, Chief came across and offered to carry it for me to my house. As we were walking along the path I looked up to the sky, it was pretty cloudy, only spots of sky were visible.

"So, what's with the case? You aren't moving are you?" I was taken by surprise. Chief had never been the first to break the silence. I also think I heard a bit of concern in his tone. He carried the 1Ton case on one shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, no. It's a rental sewing kit from the Able's"

"They do those?"

"Yeah. Though I guess it's not a very well known service."

"Hm, never picked you for th' sewing type."

"I'm not, well, until recently."

"What're you making?" I stammered; I couldn't tell anyone what I was using this for, it had to to with my plan.

"Uh...it's a secret." I said with a nervous chuckle. Chief noticed.

"Secret, huh?" A few seconds silence caused me to begin to worry. My face began to heat up, nervous that he would inquire further. "Well, I suppose it's none of my business."

"Wh-what? Really?"

"Well, yeah. If you want to keep a secret, it's up to you who you want to speak it to." Chief spoke as if stating common sense (because it really should've been). I was surprised at how easily Chief dropped his curiosity of the subject; it had almost become second nature to keep secrets from the rest of the village because it seemed everyone was suspicious; they'd inquire, pry, and behave in a way that suggested a secret agenda of their own, but Chief seemed calm, mellow...normal.

A tension that had been around me in even the most peaceful of times in this town had eased a little. I suddenly felt a little more comfortable around this wolf than anyone else in this mysterious town of fear and secrets. In relief I looked up to the evening sky, the clouds cleared some, and revealed a red, yellow, and orange painting across the heavens. Autumn always had the best evening skies, it made me feel tranquil.

I had felt this sense so little since I had moved here, like I didn't need to look over my shoulder. I looked at Chief, it was strange how the smallest of actions from someone says the most about them. I wanted to show my appreciation to him somehow. I then noticed that tattered pink-and-white stripped shirt he seemed to always wear. Just as my thoughts began to delve into what I could do, Chief spoke.

"That your house?" He pointed his free paw towards a house that was coming up, and surely enough, it was mine.

"Uh, yeah, that's the one." I answered, kinda disappointed that the walk was over already. I opened the front door and Chief carried the case inside. I followed and placed my finger on the light switch, then remembering the cluttered mess and makeshift fort that was my house, I hesitated.

"Hey, Ai, I could used some light." He said after there was a sound of things being bumped into and knocked down. I reluctantly flipped the switch, and illuminated my current living conditions to yet another villager. When the lights turned on, Chief navigated his way between furniture and placed the case down on a clear spot on the ground. He then casually looked around for a few seconds before returning attention to me. "If you need help unpacking, I'm free all night, y'know." He said in his nonchalant manner.

"N-no, it's alright." I said, trying to hide my embarresment. "I'm...I am unpacked." I said. The wolf's eyes then widened in surprise. I needed to get started on my secret project immediately.

"Oh...Okay." He said, giving the interior another glance through, this time with an estranged look. "I guess...I guess I'll just be going then." As he approached the door, I surprised him yet again. I wrapped my arms around the large wolf's body and held tightly. His fur felt warm, and soft...and kinda prickly since the hug caught him so off guard that all of his fur bushed up. After a few more moments I said.

"Thank you, Chief." Then I continued to bury my face in his fur. After a few seconds, he awkwardly patted me on the head..

"Y...You're welcome." He forced himself to say before holding me at arms length. "*Ahem* " He cleared his throat and brushed down his fur. "Well..." He said, not being able to look directly at me. "Let's not do that again anytime soon." He continued as he looked around for any invisible viewers. "See ya later." And he was gone. I didn't know what had come over me, to hug him like that, but I was glad that if anything, he broke new waters tonight.

I was reminded of my purpose as I saw the case. I walked over, and opened the case, and in it was an old, metal, rusty sewing machine, and some thread of all of the basic colours. As I pulled out the large, heavy machine hoping I wouldn't pull a muscle, I glanced over to a mess of papers on the floor. After I made my way towards it, I tried my best to place the machine down without breaking the floorboards. BUMP! I nearly dropped it, but the floor appeared to be undamaged. After a few breathes, I grabbed one of the papers off of the floor.

On this paper was a sketchy drawing of the side and front view of coat and a skirt, a formal coat and skirt. Among the other papers were detailed sketches, like the other, with notes and measurements made precisely to look as close to the real thing of which they were based off of. I had used pictures I found off of the site to determine what sort of uniforms they wore. I had been real busy for the last couple days.

The key piece had a sheet of paper all to its own; a logo made that showed a shape that was like a human, filled entirely with white, and next to him was a similar shape, except this shapes head resembled a dogs, and was coloured entirely black. The two abstract figures were standing shoulder to shoulder, shaking hands and the human had his free hand around the animal's shoulder. They both were looking towards the viewer, they shared an eye in the middle, the intersecting shapes made a grey tint. Underneath this image was an acronymn that read. A.E.T.O which stood for Animal Equal Treatment Organization.

I then began my work, studying the papers very closely. I looked at the time, 8:49 PM, I had less time than expected, I'd need to work faster.

[Well, there ya go, the 10th chapter is finished, on to the next. :)]