Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 14

     "Wolves... wolves... wolves..." Branch muttered softly to himself as he looked carefully through all the bookshelves he had down in his bunker, searching for anything that could possibly explain even remotely what was happening to him...

     "Come on!" he shouted out, throwing yet another predator book across the room, frustrated by the fact he couldn't find anything useful... just the same old facts he already knew!

     He needed to know what was going on with him! His life literally depended on it!

     "Ugh!" he groaned in defeat when realizing he had already gone through every book he owned, the little gray troll plopping down onto his bed in sorrow as he began involuntarily scratching once again...

     The itch had now spread from his stomach, heading directly up to his right arm...

     Terrified of what he might see... Branch slowly looked down, groaning in pure agonizing despair when he saw more fur starting to sprout from his body...

     "No, no, no, no, no!" he cried out, breaking down into tears as he pulled roughly at his hair which also seemed to be growing exponentially. "This... this can't be happening!"

     This couldn't be true. Could it? Could... could he really be a... a... wolf? A blood thirsty monster who lived for nothing other than devouring it's victims?

     No... he refused to except it... he wouldn't hurt anyone else... he just couldn't...

     Thinking hard about what to do, Branch finally dried his tears away, coming up with a plan... not a brilliant plan... but a plan nonetheless...

     Maybe he could visit the troll village library... They had all kinds of books there after all. They had to have at least one explaining what was happening to him... right?

     Determined to fix himself, Branch stood, ready to head to the library to find some answers...

     But just as he was about to take his first step forwards... the gray troll quickly stopped himself, remembering what he currently looked like... a monster...

     He couldn't go out looking like this! He would be captured within a matter of seconds! Or worse... k... killed...

     "Oh god..." he muttered softly to himself, feeling sick to his stomach all of a sudden . "What am I gonna do..."

     'Ok... new plan!' he thought to himself, beginning to pace anxiously back and forth. 'I could just lock lock myself down in the bunker for the rest of my life!'

     Brilliant!

     But he quickly dismissed the idea from his head...

     'No... that wouldn't work...' he continued in thought. 'I only have enough food down here to last me ten years... eleven if I'm willing to store and drink my own sweat... which I totally am! But then what would I do after that? Starve to death?'

     Another reason that wasn't an option that he would never admit in a million years...  he'd never see Poppy again... there's no way he'd be able to live without her... it was just simply out of the question... he needed a new plan...

     Slowly, his gaze turned to look into his closet, his eyes lighting up and a small smile coming to his face as he realized what to do...

     Much to the gray troll's delight, as he looked into the closet... he saw a black hoodie...

     Perfect...

—————

     At the troll village library, Branch sat at a secluded table in the back of the building, a large stack of books about wolves piled up on the table in front of him.

     Unfortunately... none of said books revealed anything about a troll transforming into a wolf... let alone how to stop it from happening...

     And... just to make the situation he was in even worse... the little gray troll was overly hot and sweaty in his thick hoodie, feeling as if he were about to pass out from heat exhaustion...

     But he certainly couldn't just take it off... no... it was the only way he had to hide his fur. He couldn't let anyone see what he was turning into... no one could know...

     What could possibly be more unbearable then the heat, you might be asking... well that would be the itching that was now all over his body!

     "Ugh!" he groaned out in pure discomfort, slamming his head roughly down onto the table which he sat at. Why wouldn't this just stop!?

     "Branch?"

     The gray troll flinched at the sudden voice as he jumped, looking up to see none other than Poppy standing in front of him with a worried look plastered on her face...

     "Poppy?" he questioned in confusion, unknowingly scratching at his neck. "What are you doing here?"

     "Are you ok, Branch?" the young princess asked in concern, not answering her best friend's question in the slightest. "You seem stressed..."
"Y... yeah. I... I'm... fine," Branch said, unwittingly shutting his eyes as he began to scratch harder at his neck, the itch getting worse and worse by the second...
"What's wrong with your neck?"

     Branch froze at the question, suddenly realizing what he was doing...

     Stealthily, hoping the pink troll in front of him wouldn't notice, the village grump rubbed his neck, his eyes widening in horror as he felt pieces of fur beginning to poke out of his gray skin...

     Quickly, he pulled his hood up over his head so that Poppy wouldn't see what was happening, before smiling innocently at her, hoping she wouldn't question his odd behavior...

     Unfortunately though... he wasn't that lucky...

     Poppy raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking to Branch in concern...

     "Just... a little chilly," he lied his fake smile growing larger to try and convince the love of his life he was telling her the truth...

     "Chilly?" Poppy questioned, totally unconvinced. "But Branch... it's 98 degrees today..."

     Branch wiped the sweat from his face before beginning to scratch his arm again, unable to stop himself from doing so...

     "Are you sick?" the young princess finally asked after a moment of pure confusion...

     "Sick? Uh... Yeah. Yeah, I'm sick," he lied, pretending to sneeze and then cough. "Super sick... you might not want to get too close... in fact... you should probably leave. Like right now!"

     Instead of leaving like Branch had suggested... Poppy suddenly cocked her head, squinting her eyes at the gray troll in front of her.

     "What's on your cheek?" she asked in confusion.

     At the sound of that question, Branch quickly felt his cheek, his heart sinking when he felt the rash that would inevitably spawn even more fur...

     Quickly, he covered his face with one hand, then grabbed his stack of books with the other before running right out of the library without another word...

     The princess watched after him in a mixture of concern and confusion as he quickly left her sight, the door of the library slamming shut behind him...