What happened to all of my wonderful reviewers? Am I not reposting fast enough? Please keep reviewing:-1
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"Omigosh." Ann turned and looked at all of the other citizens that were in the clinic. "He loves me?" Ann was shocked. All that Jack had said was true. She was too busy with her own pain to care about him. "I have to find him!" Ann grabbed some Kleenex, wiped her cheeks and ran back to Cliff. "Thanks Cliff." Cliff smiled weakly then stood in shock as he saw Ann dash away from him, to look for Jack.
"Good luck hermit." Popuri muttered, just loud enough for Cliff to hear.
"Did you just call Ann a hermit?" Cliff asked, turning to face his ex. "Did you?"
"Maybe." Popuri answered.
"She's not a hermit. She's a beautiful, kind young girl. Why do you refuse to see that?" Cliff raised his voice a little higher than usual.
"Don't yell please Cliff." Popuri whispered but Cliff's voice only got louder.
"Are you jealous of her?" Cliff accused.
"Cliff, please don't yell." Popuri's eyes filled with salty water.
"You're jealous! You're jealous of Ann's beauty!" Cliff shouted.
"Cliff…please stop yelling." Popuri covered her ears and fell to her knees in a soppy teary mess.
"You make up with your jealous feelings by acting like a slut!" Cliff was yelling at the top of his lungs. "You're jealous because you know I love Ann!"
"STOP YELLING AT ME!" Popuri shrieked at the top of her shrill voice. "STOP IT NOW CLIFF!" Cliff grabbed Popuri's arm and jerked it away from her ear.
"I'll yell if I want." Cliff threatened. Popuri went limp and let Cliff throw her into the wall. "You're a terrible, selfish whore, you know that Popuri?" Cliff shot at Popuri's wilting figure. Popuri was sobbing and bleeding. Popuri was holding something. Cliff grabbed it out of Popuri's tired hands. It was the flower he had given her. He crushed it in his hands and threw the ash onto Popuri.
"I thought you loved me." Popuri sobbed quietly.
"How could anyone love you? You're a pitiful snob! I didn't say that we would get back together. Why would you tell people that? Especially people that tried to KILL ME!" Cliff ran out the door and back to the Inn.
"I thought he loved me…despite my flaws." Popuri cried into her hands. Her dress was blood stained. It was the one she had worn on the terrible night of Kai's rampage. The black and pink one. Popuri got up with trembling legs and a clenching throat. She limped out of the clinic and went home.
Elli had taken Ghai upstairs when they had started yelling. She didn't want her 'son' to be witnessing that kind of behaviour.
Once she was home, she found a note that said that her mom and brother had gone out to Dustwood City looking for her father. They would never find him. At least her mother had gotten well enough to travel again. Popuri ripped the dress off and changed into some clean jeans and an orange t-shirt. She almost looked like Ann. Popuri shrugged of the thought and ran to the beach.
"This dress, it represents the old me. The new me…will be unlocked tonight." Popuri threw the nasty dirty dress into the sea and it sunk as soon as it hit the waters. Drenched with the sea water it disappeared from Popuri's sight. Popuri then noticed that someone was standing on the edge of the docks. It was Ann. Popuri tip-toed to where she was standing. Ann hadn't noticed.
"Jack… I'm so sorry. You were so good to me…" Ann was crying softly and holding something close to her chest.
"Ann?" Popuri softly whispered.
"Popuri?" Ann didn't turn. She hid her face. "I'm sorry I punched you…what do you want?"
"To help a friend." Popuri softly turned Ann towards her and looked into her eyes.
"Friend?" Ann asked with glowing eyes. She still clutched the object in her hands. "Since when was I your friend again?"
"Since tonight." Popuri smiled warmly and for the first time in a long time, pulled Ann into a gentle hug. Ann gratefully accepted the hug and wrapped her own shaking arms around her pink-haired opposite, clutching her possession in her right hand. They cried together and told each other what happened and promised to be best friends forever, no matter what. Even if a new hot farmer came to the island.
They went to the farm and slept. Popuri on the bed and Ann on the sofa. Popuri didn't want to sleep in an empty house and neither did Ann. They didn't know what they would do the next day but, Ann was focusing on finding Jack and Popuri was focusing on avoiding Cliff!
Cliff was bashing around in his room.
"What a slut! I can't believe she did this! Poor Ann! How could I fall for Popuri's tricks? Does Ann still love me? That bastard Jack! He's going to steal away my Ann! Ann!" Cliff stormed over to the window. "I LOVE YOU ANN!" He shrieked into the open night sky.
Ann shot up from under the sheets and so did Popuri. Popuri burst out in tears once she realized what Cliff had said and Ann ran to embrace her.
"That'll teach the pink-haired snob." Cliff taunted from within the Inn's biggest room. He had moved his things into Doug's room. Doug hadn't been seen for seasons so Cliff didn't think that he'd mind. He leaped onto the bed then felt a twang of pain in his gut. "Ugh…the guilt again?" Cliff groaned. He had deep secret buried in his mind. He had never told anyone and his stomach hurt because of it. "I have to tell her sometime." He muttered and stood. He stretched and pulled all of his clothes off, except for his boxers, in which he slept in. He jumped into the bed and pulled the covers over himself. He didn't sleep well these days but, who did?
Ann and Popuri slept peacefully. Elli and Ghai slept fine. Cliff barely slept but he was sleeping at this point.
A murky fog had settled on the beach. If you were standing out there in the sand, you wouldn't be able to see your hand three inches away from your face. A boat was docking. The boat slowly made contact with the dock and a single figure jumped out. The figure waved the boat away. The figure only seemed as a shadow in the fog. Who was this? Why had they come? Everyone would soon find out…some sooner than others.
The next morning.
Popuri and Ann woke up and ate some breakfast, went shopping, got more food and loaded the refrigerator. They decided to go for a walk to Rose Square.
"Well, how are you going to take care of the farm Ann?" Popuri asked inventively as they walked.
"Since when was I going to take care of the farm?" Ann replied. "I have no intentions of taking over that farm. I'm only living in it." Popuri nodded, even though she thought that it would be wise to take over the dying farm but, it was Ann's decision after all.
The girls walked through the south entrance to Rose Square and sat on the bench closest to the east exit. They talked about girlish things, then about boyish things, and then they noticed something.
"What's this marking?" Ann wondered aloud.
"What do you mean, marking? It's a bench." Popuri rolled her eyes. "It's old and bound to have some missing paint or something."
"No no, this one was manmade." Ann confirmed. "Come here and look at it." Ann pointed to some scribble on the wood. Popuri twisted her body to look at saw two scrawled symbols.
"They're letters." Popuri commented. "J…The first letter is J." She looked up at Ann. Ann nodded.
"What's the second one? It's so hard to read." Ann muttered. "P…." She concluded.
"J P?" Popuri sounded. "That doesn't make any sense."
"JP…J.P…" Ann mumbled. "It's someone's initials…" Ann eyes grew wide. "Jack Polden! But, this looks so old. He must have been here such a long time ago."
"Oh well…he's gone now…there's nothing we can do." Popuri concluded and stood. "Shall we go to the beach? I'd like to talk with Kai."
"All right then." Ann stood also, linked arms with Popuri, and went to the beach with her.
Cliff was still sleeping. Elli was feeding Ghai.
Cliff suddenly woke up.
"Why do I feel so awful?" He asked his mirror. He stood up and put some pants on. He trudged over to his mirror and stared at his reflection. "Is this who I want to be? What have I become?" He thought to himself. His ruffled and matted hair was covering his brown eyes. His eyes, they were twisted with thoughts that shouldn't and didn't usually belong to him. "Ann doesn't love me. Popuri does I suppose. Well, maybe Ann does love me. I don't know. Maybe I should ask her. Why did I hurt Popuri? Nobody is perfect. Out of everyone that lives in this place, I should be the one getting beaten. Not two wonderful girls. But still, life isn't all about girls right?" Cliff talked to himself often these days. Everyone did, or at least he thought they did.
Cliff slipped on a light button up shirt and walked out the front door of the Inn. Time to go apologize for his terrible actions. Cliff was not good at apologies.
Popuri and Ann walked onto the sandy beach and took of their shoes. They were both wearing jeans with a coloured top. Ann's top was pink, Popuri's was orange. They padded along to the shack.
"Popuri?" Ann stopped Popuri from opening the door. "I have to tell you something."
"Shoot Ann." Popuri answered with a smile and let go of the door knob.
"Well, the last time I went in there…" Ann motioned to the shack. "There was a little girl sleeping on a bed on the second floor."
"There's a bed on the second floor?" Popuri questioned.
"Pop!" Ann was annoyed.
"Sorry Ann…let's go in and ask him about the little girl then I guess." Ann nodded and opened the creaky door that obviously, still needed a new paint job. They both entered the shack which was surprisingly brighter than they thought it would have been.
"Hi girls. Sorry about the other night, at the pond." Kai greeted from the kitchen, which was on the first floor in front of them. His back was turned towards them, he was busy with something. "Please close the door."
"Sure…Kai…" Popuri replied and closed the door. "What're you doing?" Kai turned.
"Well, I…" Kai was interrupted by a little girl stepping in front of him.
"Hi!" She waved brightly and stood on her tip-toes. "I'm Kira!" Kai blushed.
"Hi…Kira…" Ann greeted in response and raised an eyebrow. "Who is this Kai?" It was the brown haired and eyed girl that was sleeping on the bed before.
"Well, this is my daughter." Kai smiled brightly. He knew the child had no family so, he suspected that raising a child of his own would straighten out his lifestyle. He had named her Kira because he didn't know her real name.
"Cool." Popuri answered. Then there was an awkward pause. "Who's the mother?"
"Popuri!" Ann scolded.
"No, it's fine Ann. I don't ugh…Gulp…mind." Kai coughed nervously. "Well, her name is uh…Melody." Kai lied. He had no clue who the mother had been.
"Really? Where is she?" Popuri asked.
"She has passed." Kai responded quietly. Kira wiped a tear from her eye.
"Mama's died." She whined and Kai picked her up gently. He stroked her hair. Ciar didn't remember anything, too much water in her brain, Kai suspected but, he was no doctor. The funny thing was, Kira actually thought that Kai was her father.
"Oh…" Popuri suddenly looked sad and guilty for bringing up the subject. "I'm so sorry."
"No worries Pop." Kai smiled and set the child down on the counter. "So, how may I help you ladies? We really must be going soon."
"What? Going?" Ann asked. "Going where?"
"Well, leaving of course. Kira and I were just finishing up our packing. The boat is expected to be here at…" Kai checked his watch. "Well, in half an hour." Kai lugged two large black suitcases onto the counter and then bent down and set a small pink backpack onto the counter. "No one wants me here…"
"Daddy did something bad." Kira confirmed and nodded her head. She was standing on the counter, wearing a simple blue and pink dress with black buckle shoes.
"I see." Ann choked. "Well then uh, we'll see you again some time maybe…all right?" Kai nodded.
"See you around girls." Kai smiled and handed Kira her bag, grabbed his own suitcases and walked past the girls, out of the door and onto the dock. Ann and Popuri looked at each other, and then sprinted out of the tiny shack and onto the farm.
Cliff had been walking to the farm from the Inn when he had seen the two bare-foot girls run past him and onto the farmland. They were giggling in the river now, splashing each other and getting totally soaked. Cliff smiled. He loved seeing Popuri smile… or did he love seeing Ann smile? No matter, he wasn't going to choose either one of them. He walked over to the river, and immediately as Popuri noticed him, she screamed. Cliff stared wide-eyed as Popuri opened her mouth widely and let out a horrific scream. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Ann yelling at Popuri to calm down, Popuri running out of the river, gathering up her summer-dress (that she had changed into before jumping into the river) and running into the forest behind the farm land, her fierce and tangled wet, pink hair slapping in behind her. Then, things went back to normal speed.
"Popuri! Come back!" Ann cupped her hands over her mouth and hollered at her. "Pop! Ugh. Thanks Cliff, now we've got to go catch her…or maybe…you should stay." Ann got out of the river and sped after Popuri, leaving Cliff in her dust.
Kai and Kira were sitting on their bags, waiting for the boat to come and take them away from Mineral Town. Kira though, had a fear of water. A great big huge fear of water. Kai knew why but for Kira, it was just a natural fear. Apparently, the boat was very busy today. Almost everyone from the town was in Dustwood City looking for Popuri's father. The mayor had gone, Harris had gone, Grey and his grandpa had gone, Mary's parents had gone, and Ellen had gone, Gotz had gone, Barley and May had gone, Carter had gone. Everyone had gone except Mary, Karen and her parents, Stu, Elli, Ghai, Ann, Popuri, Kai, Kira and Cliff.
"What was that noise daddy?" Kira asked suddenly.
"What noise hun? I didn't hear anything." Kai answered. He honestly hadn't heard anything.
"Okay then." Kira replied happily. She was young and care-free, it didn't matter.
Popuri had run deep into the forest, and Ann was trying to find her.
"Ann!" Popuri cried out. Ann could tell she was near. Ann ran around, looking for her friend. "Ann! Up here!" Popuri shrieked. Ann hesitated, afraid of what she might see, and then looked up. Popuri was hanging with her chest toward the dirt and rocks holding on for her dear life with two hands over the edge of Mother's Hill's cliff!
"Gah! Popuri!" Ann shrieked. "Hold on! I…I'm coming!" Ann took off to the other side of the mountain where there was a path that she could easily climb to reach the top of the mountain.
"Hurry." Popuri whispered to herself and clung closer to the cliff side. Ann sped as fast as she could through the forest, running into a few bushes, tripping, then jumping back up and continuing to sprint. She had to save Popuri! Once Ann reached the other side there was a poorly hidden brown dirt path that went up the mountain. Ann quickly scaled the smooth and slightly slanted part of the path, but then the path got jagged and scaly. Ann cut herself climbing with her bare feet on many sharp rocks but Ann made it to the top.
"Ann? Is that you?" Popuri yelped from the mountain side.
"Popuri! Be careful!" Ann scolded as she briskly jogged to where Popuri's fingers were visible on the edge. Ann grabbed one of Popuri's hands just before her other manicured fingers lost their grip. "Hold on Pop." Ann grunted as she tried to pull Popuri up. She wasn't strong enough. "I can't pull you up! We need help." Ann thought about who was close enough to hear her if she screamed for help. "What about Cliff! He could help!" Tears suddenly fled to Popuri's eyes.
"Please." Popuri sobbed. "Not Cliff…he'd drop me." Popuri was afraid of her ex-boyfriend after what had happened at the clinic.
"Okay…" Ann sighed and pulled on Popuri's arms again. Still no luck. "Hold on…I've got an idea." Popuri returned her hands to the cliff side and Ann made sure she wouldn't lose her grip. Luckily, there was a thin tree nearby, and Ann was wearing a scarf like belt with a very strong buckle. The belt usually hung down to Ann's knees when she wore it, so she suspected it would be long enough. Ann strung the scarf around the tree, took the end and buckled it in the first hole on the material. She then grabbed the other end and tied it to her back belt loop. Then she lay down and crawled over the edge. Like I said, long, strong belt.
"What are you doing you crazy chick! You're going to get hurt!" Popuri scolded as she hung from her fingers. Ann grunted and let the scarf hold her as she faced the same way that Popuri was facing. She held onto the rock's jagged edges and cut herself by accident.
"Would you rather I call Cliff?" Ann threatened and winced at the same time. Popuri's eyes widened and she briskly shook her head. "Then this is the only way." Ann grunted and hopped to the other side of Popuri, letting the belt swing her over. She landed on a small ledge on the mountain side, just barely wide enough to put her toes on. She was afraid to put any weight on it, so she used it for balance purposes only. The belt had looped under Popuri's rear so she could sit on it. "Turn around but don't fall. Can you do that?" Ann ordered. Popuri nodded, lifted one hand, pushed against the rocks and dirt, then swung so that her chest was facing the sky and then replaced her other hand for more support. "Step onto the belt and lift yourself up. I can hold it." Ann instructed, still maintaining her balance.
"What?" Popuri asked in a surprised and shocked tone.
"Step on the rope and climb up! You can do it Pop." Ann looked Popuri in the eyes and nodded. Popuri put her hands on the rock behind her for support, and put one foot on the belt in front of her so that her weight was balanced on the belt fully. It swung a bit but Popuri didn't notice.
"Are you okay? Are you sure about this Ann?" Popuri asked, glancing at Ann.
"Just get up there!" Ann was straining under Popuri's weight so Popuri lifted her other foot onto the belt, turned once more, placed her hands on the grassy top of the hill, stood and pulled herself onto the top of the mountain. Just as Popuri was lifting her right foot off of the belt though, her foot got caught on the scarf and pulled Ann off of the ledge! Ann's body was dragged by the belt and she was slammed into the mountain side.
"Aaaaaahhheeeiiiiii!" Ann screamed louder than she had ever heard herself or anyone else ever scream before. Cliff heard the scream, Mary heard the scream, Karen and her parents heard the scream, Elli and Ghai heard it. Even Kai and Kira had heard the scream. They all came rushing toward the forest as soon as they heard Ann's horrific shriek.
"Ann!" Popuri yelped as she leaned over the cliff and watched her best friend dangle from a belt. The scarf was still holding…for now. '
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So? What did you think! I need to know! Questions? Comments? Ideas? I need to hear them all!