Chapter 5

A loss for words

I finally had made it, I finally got to see her face to face.

But then I didn't know what to say.
I was at a loss for words.

Denny turned to see a slender Caucasian girl with long brown hair and dark brown eyes staring at him with her mouth wide open in shock.

"Wow...you're white." The words left Denny's mouth without him even thinking about it.

"Excuse me?" The girl asked, eyebrows pinched and eyes glaring.

"Oh, that's not what I meant!" Denny clapped his hand over his mouth. "I just thought you'd be a little darker."

The girl opened her mouth even wider, and her eyes seemed fiery. "Just who are you again?" She asked. Her voice showed how offended she was.

"You don't recognize me?" Denny felt disappointed. She really had forgotten all about him. "It's me, Denny."

The girl tilted her head and pondered for a moment before her eyes lit up. "From Harvest Moon?" She then shook her head. "That's impossible. Get out of my house, creep." She took a few steps away from the door and motioned to it.

"Mari, wait, I can explain."
"How do you know my name?!" Mari tensed up and her voice threatened that she would scream for help.

"Mari, I really am Denny. You sold my game, but I came back. I didn't want to leave you." Denny pleaded silently for her to give him a chance.

"Either you're a stalker, or a hallucination." Mari crossed her arms. "And I haven't been doing drugs, so, HEL-"

Denny dashed over to Mari and covered her mouth with his hand. "Stop! Just give me a chance!"

Mari struggled and tried to wriggle free, but Denny was strong and held her still.
"I'll let go if you just please don't scream." Mari stopped struggling, but her breathing was still swift with fear.

"Look," Denny said, letting go of her, "I know we're off to a bad start-"
Mari screamed at the top of her lungs. "HELP THERE'S A STALKER IN MY ROOM!"

Denny panicked and ran over to the counter, picking up Mari's 3DS.
"Jersh, you have to help me out man! Please, tell her I'm not lying!"

The screen remained the same, as if it was just a regular old game.

"Jersh, I need your help now!"
Denny could hear footsteps from upstairs hurrying down towards the room.

"Jersh, please!" Denny shoved the 3DS into Mari's face.
"Look! Look, I'm telling the truth!"

Mari stopped screaming for a moment to look at the game, and her eyes widened with astonishment.

A little text box at the bottom of the screen had popped up along with Jersh staring intently through the screen, lips moving.

The text read,

"He's telling the truth."

Mari gasped in several breaths before looking at Denny.

"Hide."

Denny dove under Mari's bed as the large woman from earlier came in: Mari's mother.

"What is it Mari? A stalker? What? Where?!" Mari's mother was obviously panicked due to her daughters screaming.

Mari quickly covered her face and pretended to cry.
"There was a spider running towards me on the floor," She lied, trying to get her mother to believe she had misheard.

"But you didn't come down fast enough and I had to kill it myself." Mari let out fake sobs as her mother embraced her.
"Sweetie, you need to learn to just kill them yourself all the time. What if the police had come?"

"I'm sorry," Mari sniffled.

Once her mother had left, Denny came out from under the bed.

"A spider? Really?"
"Hey, I have arachnophobia and I had to find something that sounded like 'stalker'." Mari shrugged.

"Anyway," Her voice trailed off as she looked back at the 3DS screen. Jersh was grinning and another text box was at the bottom of the screen reading,

"Don't forget the kiss, you promised."