Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 9

     Poppy dragged Branch all the way to the edge of the clearing where the mega awesome party was currently being held in the gray troll's honor, the music playing so loud, it actually made the survivalist's eardrums rattle...

     "This is it!" Poppy exclaimed, gesturing to all the exciting things set up for the miraculous night.

     Branch looked around the area, unable to stop himself from marveling at the tremendous sight... everything looked so... so... fun...

The young princess smiled at the look of wonder on her friend's face before gently grabbing onto his hand...

     With a silent gasp, Branch looked down at their hands touching, his gaze slowly moving up to look at the young princess' face, her eyes sparkling beautifully in the moonlight...

     Oh frosting...

     "You haven't seen anything yet," Poppy explained with a smile. "Like you said... your birthday isn't technically till 10:00... so in..." She looked down at her hug watch for a split second before turning her gaze quickly back up to her best friend. "One minute is when the real magic happens!"

     She smiled, letting go of Branch's hand as she began to skip forwards.

     "I just gotta make an announcement and then we can get this party started!" she shouted out, heading deeper into the crowd. "Come on, Branch! I want you right beside me on stage when I introduce the first surprise!"

     He smiled slightly, about to take his first step forwards when suddenly... a sharp pain rung through his brain, causing him to squint as he covered his ears tightly with his hands, his smile quickly fading away...

     Did the music just get louder?

     No... no one else was seeming to react to the drastic volume change that had just blown out the survivalist's eardrums... so what was going on?

     Skipping joyfully through the crowed, Poppy turned back to Branch to see how he was reacting to this tremendous occasion, her smile fading into a look of confusion when she noticed that her best friend was still standing at the edge of the party with a look of pure pain covering his face, his hands tightly clasping his ears...

     "Branch?" she questioned, slowly walking back over to him. "Are you ok? What's wrong?"

     "N... nothing..." he lied in a shaky voice, his eyes shut tight, not wanting the troll he cared so much about to know he was hurting... "I... I'm f... fine..."

     He tried to uncover his ears, thinking he could just block out the noice ringing painfully through them, but the music only seemed to grow louder, causing a quick uncontainable scream to escape his mouth as he quickly covered his ears right back up...

     "Branch... tell me the truth..." Poppy insisted in a worried tone, placing a gentle hand on the gray troll's shoulder... "What's wrong..."

     He looked up at her, his face scrunched up in pure undeniable pain...

     "It... the... the music..." he finally explained. "It... it's too... too loud..."

     "Ok..." Poppy nodded, giving him a small reassuring smile. "I'll tell Dj to turn it down... I'll be right back..."

     Without even a second of hesitation, Poppy ran off towards the dance floor, heading straight toward Dj and her Wooferbug...

     "Ugh..." Branch groaned softly, stumbling back a bit...

     He was feeling rather under the weather all of a sudden... his heart racing, and head aching... what was wrong with him?

     And of course... just to make the situation worse... it was then that the other trolls at the party began to notice the village grump standing at the edge of the clearing...

     "He actually came?" one troll whispered, Branch's ears somehow picking up the almost silent words. "Great... guess the fun's over... the party popper is here..." whispered another. "Why didn't he just stay in his fear hole like every other year?"

     Branch tried desperately to block out the voices but just like the music surrounding him... they only seemed to get louder and louder by the second...

     His stomach... ow... his stomach hurt so bad... it felt like he was about to puke...

     Quickly, Branch turned, running off towards his underground home, trying desperately to get to the bathroom on time...

     He just felt so sick all of a sudden... his vision blurring dramatically as he ran quickly through the forest...

     The sound beginning to fade off into the distance... the survivalist uncovered his ears, his head so dizzy he was beginning to wobble...

     Slowly, he was forced to stop running, coming to a complete halt as he looked around his surroundings, the whole world seeming to be spinning around him as he panted heavily in pure utter pain...

     "Branch!?" he suddenly heard from somewhere far behind him... it was Poppy... he'd know that voice anywhere... "Branch!? Where'd you go!?"

     He needed help... there was something wrong... very... very wrong... he needed to get to her... she could save him...

     Taking a singular shaky step towards the worried voice, Branch suddenly collapsed to the ground, his brain throbbing inside his skull...

     "Ugh..." he groaned, trying with all his might to get back up... to rise back up to his feet...

     But it was no use... he was too weak... too dizzy... too tired... "Po... Pop..." he tried to call out to her, but his voice was low and completely unnoticeable... "Ow..."

     He winced in pain, his eyes squinting almost completely shut as he clutched at his stomach tightly... He couldn't breathe... why couldn't he breathe!?

     "Branch!? Come on, Branch! Answer me!"

     Her voice was getting farther away... she was going the wrong direction...

     "Po... Pop... py..." he muttered in a silent whisper, his eyes slowly blinking shut as the world around him fell into complete darkness...