It was dinner time. King Dedede guzzled his food like a vacuum cleaner. I stared at my plate and didn't eat a thing. I wasn't hungry.
"You gonna eat that?" asked the king. I shook my head and pushed my full plate across the table towards him. He grabbed it and began shovelling with delight. I didn't eat any dessert either, even though it was my favourite, chocolate ice cream sundae. King Dedede polished that off for me too. "How come you're so miserable, Erika?"
I looked up. Did he really have no clue? Still, I was glad he asked. I wanted to talk to someone, even if the king wasn't the ideal someone.
"I'm worried about Escargoon, Sire," I confessed. "Do you think he'll ever wake up?"
"Course he'll wake up." I don't think he was really listening, he was too busy eating, but hearing this made me feel a little better.
"That monster is still in Cappy Town somewhere," I continued. "We have to catch it before someone else gets hurt."
"That's your problem."
"H-Huh?!"
"You ordered that monster. You capture it."
"By myself?!"
"You can take a couple Waddle Dees with you."
I was going to need more than a couple of Waddle Dees to catch a killer monster. I lay awake all night thinking about it.
-x-
The next morning I decided to visit Tiff and Tuff. Kirby was there too. He greeted me with a happy 'poyo'.
"Morning, Kirby." I patted him on the head and sighed. Kirby was always so cheerful. Any other day this would have cheered me up, but I was feeling so miserable it was like a grey rain cloud was following me everywhere, drenching me in guilt.
Tiff noticed this. "Is something wrong, Erika?"
I sighed again. "You know that monster that nearly killed me yesterday?"
"What about it?" Tuff asked.
"King Dedede's expecting me to capture it." I began to panic at the thought. "I can't capture it! What if it beats me up again? What if it really does kill me?!"
"Don't worry, Erika. We'll do everything we can to help," said Tiff.
"We'd better get it fast, before it starts hurting people," added Tuff.
"Poyo poyo!" Kirby cheered.
They were all giving me a warm hearted smile. I felt my eyes fill with tears. I didn't deserve their kindness.
"Erika?" Tiff whispered. "Are you OK?"
"Tiff... maybe I should tell you something..."
"What is it?"
"It's about the monster."
"Dedede's monster?"
"I-It's not-"
I was interrupted by Tiff and Tuff's father bursting into the room, making me jump.
"Ah, you must be Erika!" he said to me. "Tiff and Tuff were telling me all about you yesterday."
"H-Hi," I squeaked.
"My name is Sir Ebrum. It's a pleasure to make your aquaintance, Erika."
I stayed silent, not knowing what to say.
"Dad, I think you're scaring her," said Tuff.
"No he's not," I said quickly. "Nice to meet you too, Sir Ebrum."
"Are you all going out to play?"
"We're hunting a monster," said Tuff, punching an imaginary Cream Puff. "We'll catch it and save Cappy Town, then we'll be heroes!"
So us three heroes set off to Cappy Town to begin our hunt. We searched high and low, near and far, in bushes and trees, behind buildings and in alleyways. By noon we had found nothing except a chocolate bar wrapper, three bottle tops, and a headache.
"This is hopeless," Tuff grumbled, hurling a bottle top at the ground in frustation. It bounced away and into a bush. "What now?"
"We could ask Chief Bookem," Tiff suggested. "Maybe he's seen Cream Puff."
"Yeah," I agreed, "let's do that."
We headed to the police station and asked Chief Bookem if he'd seen a floating fluffy monster.
"A monster?" the Chief repeated. "Is the king up to his old tricks again?"
"Er, not quite." I rubbed the back of my head guiltily. "Have you seen it?"
"Can't say I have. Sorry, kids. I'll keep a close eye out for it though. Could you describe it for me?" He opened a notepad and took a pencil out of his pocket.
"It's round and fluffy. Cream coloured with big eyes. It's about the size of someone's head."
Chief Bookem nodded and jotted down my descripton. Then he closed the notepad with a snap. "I'll warn the rest of Cappy Town straight away. You kids tell me if you see it again."
"Sure thing, Chief," said Tuff. With that, the four of us made our way back to the castle, giving up on our search.
"I hope someone finds the monster soon," said Tiff worriedly. "It could only be a matter of time before someone gets hurt."
"Or worse," Tuff added.
"Oh, that reminds me," I said. "I have to... er... I've got a few errands to run for the king in Cappy Town. You three go back without me."
"Do you want any help?" asked Tiff.
"No thanks." I began to run back towards town, calling: "I'll see you guys later, OK?"
I ran as quickly as I could to the hospital. The errand I had to run was non-existant; I was actually going to check on Escargoon. As much as I had told myself throughout the day not to, I couldn't stand waiting anymore. I had to see if he was recovering alright.
I burst through the door of the hospital and ran straight to the room where Escargoon was. Well, was supposed to be. When I finally arrived... he was gone.
I shook my head in disbelief. I kept telling myself this couldn't be happening. Was he really... gone?
I crept to his bedside and stared, as if I could conjure him out of thin air. But he didn't come back. Escargoon was dead.
I dropped to my knees, buried my head in his pillow and began to cry.
"Erika!" Doctor Yabui came into the room. "Whatever are you crying for?"
"I've killed him!" I sobbed. "He's dead! Escargoon's dead!"
The doctor laughed. "I don't think he's dead."
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "Huh?"
"When I came to check on him this morning, he had disappeared."
"Y-You mean he's recovered? And he went home?"
"I think so, yes."
Upon hearing this, I pushed past Doctor Yabui and ran as fast as my little feet would carry me, out of the building and all the way back to the castle. I didn't stop. I didn't rest. I just kept on running, my feet pounding against the ground so hard it practically echoed. I was getting tired, but I still wouldn't stop. I wasn't going to slow down. I had to speed up. My chest was tight, my breathing was raspy, my feet ached, but I had to keep running-
CRASH!
All of a sudden I went flying backwards and hit the ground with a bump. I closed my eyes and began to breathe heavily. I was exhausted. I heard groaning, then someone getting up and approaching me. Oops. I must've ran into them.
"Watch where you're going, kid!"
I gasped. I knew that voice.