Authors note: April Murphy is © Dead Composer.
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Muffy was over at Buck's she was a bit upset that he was leaving, they both had been through a lot, he was like a father figure to her, but it was the cold hard truth, people needed to move on to bigger and better things. She couldn't change his mind; he was set for the music industry.
Buck had carried his computer case he had seen how upset she was, "I will remember you when I move to Tennessee, don't be upset, I promise when my single becomes a hit, I will invite you to my place."
Muffy had hugged him as she started to cry, "Don't go, I will miss you."
Buck hugged her, "I will be here for two more days; we are just packing right now," they had both went inside, he had offered her a can of Coke, "I'd love to stay here, but there really isn't much for me in country music here."
Muffy lowered her head in sadness, he meant a lot to her, they weren't close when they first met, but they both started to go on these far out adventures transcending light years to strange planets, fight injustice and what not all in a days work. But those days were over, Buck is about 39 years old, he stroked his graying goatee, and he sighed sadly, "Where does the time go? You have your life ahead of you; I am already halfway through mine."
This had guilt ridden Muffy, as she wiped her tears away, "I will stay strong… Someone has to keep a lid on things while you are gone."
Buck sighed, as he looked at his wife, "So beautiful…"
Muffy still had feelings of sadness inside of her… The sadness had engulfed her, she had run to the bathroom as fast as she could, the next thing she knew her head was in the bowl of the toilet and she had thrown up. She had laid on the shag rug holding her stomach in pain.
"What happened?" Buck asked.
"I… don't… know… I think I still have the lingering effects of the food poisoning…" Muffy mumbled.
"You are nervous, and you should probably see a doctor or it will simply get worse…" Buck said as he had seen her tremble nervously, "I don't have confidence in that pill that weirdo doctor gave you."
She curled up into a ball and she was crying as well as ignoring his advice, "I just don't want you to leave…"
Muffy was so emotionally attached to him, that she treated him like her father. It was almost comparative to when Max was attached to Mrs. Armstrong. He had a sad smile on his face, "I will come back to visit, but no more adventures, I am getting too old for this…" Muffy had gotten up and they hugged.
She had left the house and walked down the street, flurries were in the air as some landed on her face, as she was at the crosswalk; she had seen Francine walking down the street being pulled into a white van.
Muffy screamed in horror as she saw it happened… she fainted on the cold sidewalk.
The world was a cold unforgiving place.
Francine was in the van she shrieked and a hand covered her mouth, it was Tony, he had a crazy scheme, he thought it was Muffy to the chagrin of everyone else in the vehicle, "We are going to play a game, we are going to hold a ransom of $1 million dollars… and to top it off, a list of 60 cars in 30 days. These cars have to be classic, sporty and luxury cars."
"Tony that isn't Muffy…" Roscoe warned.
"Shut up and tie her up!" Tony warned; he pulled out a black pistol and pointed it at Roscoe, and added "Before I shoot you or something…"
Roscoe tied her up with some nylon rope; he had turned around as he finished up the ransom note made of clipped letters from magazines.
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Mr. Read and Mr. Ratburn were really hitting it off, they were enjoying each others company, the aardvark man began to speak, "Jane is out shopping with the kids, and I want to have dinner with you."
Mr. Ratburn smiled, "It is so good of you to show up," however he put Mr. Read on the spot, "So when are you going to tell Jane?"
Read didn't expect that question to come out, he seemed slightly miffed about it, "I don't know, I don't know how she will handle it; I don't know how the kids will accept it."
"We have to tell them sooner or later, we can't keep it a secret because sooner or later someone will find out…"
That was what Mr. Read was afraid of.
The next day Fern was fooling around with that oak wand that she had gotten, her friends were nervous because of it, especially Sue Ellen and Max.
Prunella thought it was so cool though she was mildly jealous.
Fern was fooling around with it, until a white sphere of energy came out and hit Max knocking him unconscious in a small snow bank.
Sue Ellen was shocked, she grabbed her collar and shook her, "What did you do?"
Fern grabbed Sue Ellen's hands, "I don't know…"
Sue Ellen sighed, "This is why we get rid of things of mysterious powers, because they often lead to serious repercussions. I don't want any more strange adventures... I just want to savor my childhood before well before we all become teenagers…"
"I was only fooling around with it, nothing major," Fern replied as Max got up, "See he got up."
"W-what happened?" Max asked as he dusted his jacket off of snow.
Sue Ellen was a bit annoyed she looked at him, "Fern cast a spell with something she should have got rid of after Cyrax was defeated…"
Max didn't know it but he felt that there was something definitely wrong, he was a bit nervous about what had happened.
Prunella looked at him, "You are looking a little flush, what seems to be the problem?"
Max of course replied with an, "I don't know…"
"Fern!" Sue Ellen exclaimed, and then yelled, "Fix him! He might have amnesia!"
Fern of course was worried, "I don't know what I cast, give me a break…"
"I will break your arm if you don't tell me what you did!" and the cat girl walked towards her and grabbed Fern's arm putting pressure on it while Max separated the two girls.
Max was now annoyed with the two girls, "Why must you both fight like this? I remember when you were both friends and you helped each other out!"
Sue Ellen lowered her head, "I worry about you sometimes, I worry something bad is going to happen to you and it will be too late…"
"Where are you going with this?" Asked the confused tiger boy.
Of course Sue Ellen remembered a piece of recent history, "Remember April?"
"Who is April?" Max asked curiously as he of course has never read the Arthur Goes Fourth or Fifth series.
Sue Ellen just ran off crying.
Fern started to explain, "April is…"
(Spoiler deleted)
"…and that is what happened to April." Fern explained.
"Is that why she is so upset?" Max asked.
"It isn't her fault…" Prunella replied but Buster overheard the conversation.
Buster added a rude comment, "Yea, I think it is."
"Buster!" Fern and Max exclaimed.
"What?"
"Sue Ellen happens to be a bit upset over someone named April, so can you lay off her for the rest of the day at least?" Max asked, and then he had an evil grin on his face, "Or I will tell Mrs. Baxter what you have been doing!"
Buster shrieked, "No! Anything but that!"
Fern had one more thing to ask Max, she had pointed out the obvious, "Why are we putting April in italics for?"
Prunella covered the question, "Perhaps she will be a guest here…"
Max went over and found Sue Ellen crying, Arthur had seen her with Muffy, Arthur was consoling the upset cat girl "I know how you feel, Francine is gone…"
"It isn't anything to do with that…" Max commented.
Muffy didn't say anything; she didn't even acknowledge anyone's presence.
"What's with Muffy?" Max asked curiously.
Arthur lent the explanation, "She saw Francine get kidnapped."
Sue Ellen wiped away her tears, "I still can't believe the way she died, and it was too horrible to watch…"
"Why do you worry about me so much?" Max asked nervously, "Is this why you think I am going to die the same way she did?"
"I don't want to see any more people close to me die, she was so young…"
Buster overheard, "She had it coming…"
Sue Ellen literally freaked out; she chased Buster with an almost deranged look on her face as she tried to tackle him breathing heavily as she wanted to well see him suffer
"Oh please don't hurt me!" Buster whined nervously as she tried to get him and he ran off like a little girl, she was trying to jump on him but was missing and getting angrier.
Five minutes later, Sue Ellen had a satisfied smile on her face and Buster's ears were tied in a knot at the base, "I feel much better now…."
To Be Continued.
