What I had feared all day had finally arrived: sunset. Since I'm mad at Becky, there's no way I'm staying at her house, or her secret spaceship hideout. I didn't want anyone to see me sleeping on a park bench, because I'm no hobo and I didn't want anyone to think such a thing of me. Alley? No, too dangerous. Can't get tied up with an orphanage. Didn't have enough money to rent out a hotel room for the night. I'd have to transfer back to my school in Bridgetown before I could find my way back—and besides that, I had no idea how to get home.

I came to the conclusion that I could just turn myself into a squirrel and sleep in the trees with the rest of the cute little squirrels.

~…~

"Honey, where's your friend?" Mrs. Bottsford asked when she noticed that April was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, her parents came home early because something came up. So she went home." Becky found a quick lie. Her mother nodded in understanding.

"Ooh. Well okay then,"

"Oh, but she said thank you for letting her stay." Becky didn't want to make April look good, but she was no villain and she didn't like making people look bad. Even if she was mad at her. It wasn't in her good nature.

"Well she's very welcome."

~…~

Fair City may have been peaceful, but just miles down the road laid despair and hopelessness.

"Where is Animalia?"

"Who will save us?"

"Someone help!"

"Let us out of this prison cell!"

And plenty more cries of despair bellowed from the mouths off innocent citizens of Bridgetown yelped for their favorite—and only—superhero. It had seemed that the person who had been protecting them over the years had let them down and failed to protect them. What were they to do, with no savior? Stay in this lowly prison cell, left to die? Someone had to step up. They could not remain waiting for their super heroine to save the day a week too late.

The only person who was not trapped in the prison cell with the whole town was a boy, around the age of eleven or twelve. He had been able to escape the trap of the villainous Negagloom just in time; yet he wasn't happy. He couldn't set foot out of the alleyway, and it was dark. He had been sheltered in the bright light of his home, with his parents protecting him, but now he was left out in the world alone, with no one to save him.

He, too, wondered where the faithful superhero Animalia had gone. If she hadn't left they wouldn't be in this mess. If they hadn't been abandoned, they wouldn't be in this mess. No one would be imprisoned, no one would be endangered, everyone would be safe and living their normal, everyday lives. He would pursue his everyday conversations with his best friend.

Speaking of which, where in the world is April?

~…~

Ehh, I feel kind of bad for yelling at and nearly exposing Becky's secret identity. I mean, after all, she has been protecting this town for a while before I got here and I do have my own town to protect. I wondered how they were doing there without me. Not good, I imagine. It worried me, nonetheless, and I wondered if they were okay and if they were living just fine without me, or doomed to a life of miserable endangerment due to me not being there.

I felt homesick. I missed my bed at my house, and my mom and my dog and my dad and my friends and even my school. I missed being happy with my best friend at my own school. We would walk back to my house every day after school, but sometimes I wished I could tell him my secret identity. But every time I tried I felt like I shouldn't because that could encourage him to help me solve crimes and that would result in him being in constant danger because if villains knew he was helping me they'd know that he was one of my very few weak spots. Besides that weird thing where I hate when people say words wrong…

I turned from my squirrel-form and stretched my cramped limbs. Being a small little squirrel for all hours of the night while scrunched next to a family of nice squirrels wasn't exactly the ideal night for a human.

Maybe a map would help me find home…

Before I could continue walking down the street, I bumped into someone. Before I could excuse myself, I saw that it was none other than Becky.

"Oh," I said, completely calm, "hey." She didn't respond for a moment, but then crossed her arms.

"Hey." She said back. I couldn't tell if she was still mad at me or had mixed feelings.

"So, umm…whacha been up to lately?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"N-nothin' much, really…" She said. She even sounded a bit nervous, but that was just my opinion.

"Havin' a good superhero career?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, 's been going just fine."

"That's good…"

"Mmhmm…"

There was a long silence, but no one moved.

"Look, I need your help getting home. I'm getting homesick, and I'm worried that my town isn't getting along well without me."

Becky still did not speak for a moment, but I could tell she was thinking about what I said because I noticed she had a thinking face. I did the same thing when I had to think long about something. My thinking face was almost the same as hers.

"I'll see what I can do for you," I sighed in relief,

"Thank you!" I hugged her.

Was that short? Random place to stop? No? Oh, well. Just review.