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Last time on JUST A LITTLE FURTHER (or "JALF", as I sometimes call it):

Heloise is going to Dr. Grehiel Stokes's office.

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Chapter 6

"Please, have a seat." Dr. Stokes gestured Heloise towards a red loveseat situated in the center of the room and then sat in the office chair beside it.

Heloise hesitated and eyed the doctor suspiciously. "You're not going to…"

Dr. Stokes shook his head. "You are the one who will be asking the questions, of course."

The girl continued to stare at him for a few moments before finally sitting down.

"Alright Heloise, the first thing I would like to know would be if you have a last name. And if so, may I know what it is?" The psychiatrist smiled blankly at her.

"I thought I was supposed to be asking the questions?"

"Oh, yes, of course. I apologize for being rude; I just like to keep professional business professional."

More smiling.

Heloise shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not liking the way he was staring at her. "Well, that doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't make sense?"

"Lucius told me that people here can't feel. How can you like anything if you have no emotion?"

Dr. Stokes stared at her.

Heloise blinked. "Hello?"

"Hello. I think Lucius may have misinformed you. Not everyone here is like that. The mayor, in fact, is full of emotion, and I too experience some 'feelings', as you called them, although my range of emotion is not as explosive as the mayor's. I do have the capacity to prefer one thing over another, as do a few other citizens."

"Oh, like Morello?"

Dr. Stokes frowned at the girl. "The toll booth operator? No, I don't believe he experiences any emotion at all. Why do you ask?"

"He kept smiling at Beezy and me when we were at the gate."

"Oh. Some citizens, such as Mr. Morello, do express emotion even when they don't have it. It could be something they have learned from other citizens, or it could simply be from old habit. But most don't express anything at all. Now, shall we begin?"

Heloise quirked a brow at the lemon head. "What do you mean, 'habit'?"

"Do you want the definition?" He pulled out a large dictionary. "'Habit. Noun. A regularly repeated behavior pattern.'"

"Where did you get that from?"

"My bookshelf."

He pointed to a small hutch by the door. Heloise looked from him to the hutch several times, puzzled. "Did you pick that up before we sat down…?"

"No. Let's begin."

Later (yay)…

Sighing, Heloise exited Dr. Stokes office, ignoring the polite 'have a nice day' following after her.

"Well, that's about three hours of my life down the drain," she muttered, closing the door.

"HI!"

Heloise jumped and spun around; coming face to face with one of the most hideous beings she had ever seen in her life.

She rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Beezy? I'm busy."

Beezy crossed his arms and huffed angrily. "I wanted to see if this town had any good fast food places, but Jimmy said I had to hang out with you."

Heloise gasped and a wide smile spread over her face. "Jimmy's here? Where?"

Beezy reached into his pocket and pulled out one of his many cell phones. "At home. He called me a few minutes ago wondering where I was. I guess I should've told him I left…"

Heloise snorted. "It would have been a good idea."

The two stood next to each other for a few awkward moments not saying anything.

Heloise toyed with a crease in her dress, hating the silence. "So…"

Beezy looked off, uninterested. "So."

"So... Umm… What's new?"

A strange and slightly girly expression came onto the teen's face.

"WELL, Jimmy wants me to go hang out with this girl, Heloise, who is totally lame, but I was thinking about ditching her and getting my dad's chauffeur to drive me around town to look for a place to eat, like a pizza parlor or something, until Jimmy get here, but I'm worried 'cause Heloise is really creepy and might find out where I am and like, stalk me or something, and I might not find one because I don't think mimes eat pizza. Do ya wanna come?"

Heloise face palmed. "Seriously, Beezy? Seriously? I'M RIGHT HERE! And the people here aren't mi- Wait, did you say Jimmy's coming?"

"Yeah." Beezy stared at her dumbly.

Heloise shrieked in delight. "Oh, Jimmy! Why didn't you tell me he was coming here? When?"

"I don't know. He called me a few minutes ago saying that he was on his bike and coming over." He jumped suddenly and threw his claws to his face in horror. "Oh no! I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Now you're gonna wanna hang out with us… Heloise?" The teen looked around, dumfounded.

She was gone.

Outside 'Factory B'…

Heloise sat on the steps of the still-forming factory, daydreaming. She had already decided that Jimmy was coming to see her, and not Beezy. They would spend the whole day together exploring the town, making picnics, watching movies, 'appreciating' nature (as Jimmy had so adorably dubbed it), and torturing citizens, all without that smelly lump of a Heinous. If she had her way, the boys wouldn't even have time to talk to each other.

She was busy fantasizing about her Jimmy, when a shadow came over her.

"You look like you could use some company… Or so it would seem."

Startled, the little girl looked up. "No, I'm fine."

The woman standing above her wasn't a lemon head; she looked like a giant frog wearing a dress made from cheap flowery curtains and a wasp's nest on her head. But it wasn't her bumpy green skin or yellow beady eyes that caught Heloise's attention. It was the strange feeling the girl got looking at this woman, thing. It was an almost familiar feeling, like she had met this creature somewhere before, and it disturbed her.

The frog lady tilted her head and smiled pityingly at her. "Are you sure? You seem to be rather lonely. Or are you waiting for someone?" She flicked her long, red tongue out for a split second, causing Heloise to begin to lean back a little.

"Um, I fine. I'm just… None of your business. Go away now."

The toad shrugged. "Alright, if you really want me to leave," she began to turn away, then paused. "But, I really don't want to go without properly introducing myself, lest we should run into each other again." She held a flipper out to the young monster and grinned, revealing a thin row of very short, very sharp teeth running along the top of her mouth. "I'm Mermitrude. And you are?"

Heloise eyed Mermitrude's webbed hand and shivered. There was something seriously wrong with this lady, although she couldn't quite put her finger on what it could be.

She was on the verge of deciding to ignore Mermitrude's request when she realized that there could be some benefits to her friendship. After her interview with Dr. Stokes she had discovered that having emotionless physiatrists wasn't the best idea, even if they were only semi-emotionless. During the entire meeting, other than learning the mayor's name, she had gotten almost nothing else. Clearly, the doctor didn't understand emotion well enough to explain any of it to her. She figured that maybe if she could get more familiar with the locals she could get more information on 'Mayor Robert Hegway'.

The child monster smiled sweetly at Mermitrude. "Hello, I'm Heloise." she said kindly, taking the frog's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mermitrude gasped, bringing a flipper up to her face to hide her blush. "My, such manners! Most people in town ignore me, but you are so polite!"

Heloise giggled and nodded, resisting the urge to smack the astonished look off the woman's face. "Yeah. Uh, say, would you mind showing me around a little? I'm new, and I-"

"-Of course I will show you around! I know all about this town. Trust me, you won't find a better guide anywhere."

Heloise sat patiently staring at the frog creature as she looked around anxiously. Mermitrude glance behind herself and then motioned for Heloise to follow her. "Come, girl. I think the first place I will show you is Spokeslee Bridge. Come, now, hurry before someone tells you to do otherwise."

Now Heloise looked at her with some worry. Before someone tells me to do otherwise? Maybe this isn't a very good idea after all...

But before Heloise had time to protest, Mermitrude had already grabbed the little girl's arm and was dragging her away from the building and down the street at a frighteningly fast pace.

"It's this way, Heloise. I trust that what you will see there you'll find to be very interesting."

Heloise tugged back on her arm, desperately trying to get loose. "Jeeze, you're strong! Let me go, NOW!"

Mermitrude looked back at her, eyes full of concern. "No, child, this is important. I must get you to that bridge. He commands it so."

Heloise groaned. Not another one of these religious whack jobs. Heloise had been kidnapped by people like this before, monsters who had been tricked into thinking that some Earth-bound god wanted them to help open a portal to other divinities or something, and that the only way to do so was to sacrifice her body to them on a bloody alter. She had escaped always escaped before, if only just barely, but she wasn't in the mood to go through this again.

Mermitrude suddenly came to a stop in the middle of the road and, with one hand still wrapped around Heloise's arm, began to lift up a pothole in the ground. Heloise fought back wildly, but to no avail. This woman was REALLY strong.

The girl began hitting, kicking, and biting at the woman, amazed that no one was around to see any of this. She sighed, feeling stupid and weak next to Mermitrude, who was still trying to get the pothole open. Heloise, seeing her struggle, slammed her foot onto the lid, crushing Mermitrude's fingers and reclosing the pothole.

Mermitrude sighed and turned back to Heloise. "You really don't remember me, do you?"

Heloise took a step back in shock. Mermitrude flicked her crushed fingers, popping the lid off the pothole with ease. She grabbed Heloise by the waist and held her over the entrance of the hole. "We're going down this way. I know a shortcut."

More Later

"Hey, Jimbo!" Beezy skipped down the steps of the factory happily, arms spread out to his friend and ready for a hug.

Jimmy smiled and set his bike down. "Hey Beezy! Sorry I took so long, but it was kinda hard getting in- GACK!"

Beezy ran straight into the blond and grabbed him around the neck lovingly. "Oh, Jimmy, I missed you so much! You have no idea how horrible it is to hang out with Heloise! She's so annoying!" The teen began to cry into Jimmy's shirt.

Jimmy chuckled and forced Beezy to let go of his throat. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad. Where is Heloise?"

"She was just with me a few minutes ago…"

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To be continued.

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NOTE (From on the road!): Right now I'm on vacation and I have just found a computer with internet connection. I don't have much time to check for reviews or messages, but I thought that I might as well alert everyone that if they are exptecting a reply on anythig, they won't get one. I'm not sure how much longer I will be gone, but I will post as soon as I get back. :)