Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 24

"Branch! Branch! Branch! Branch! Branch, are you in there!?" Poppy shouted out at the top of her lungs, crying hard as she banged roughly on the rock outside the village grump's fear bunker. "Please, Branch! Open the door! I need to talk to you!"

     But unfortunately... there was no answer... no sounds coming from inside the underground home at all... not even the light groan from the village grump that always followed the young princess' knock...

He... he wasn't home? But... then... where could he be? It was the middle of the night... there was no way he was out in the forest collecting supplies... it was far too dangerous.

Now that she thought about it... she actually hadn't seen the survivalist in a few weeks. Not since before they captured the wolf...

Her eyes widened as she gasped in realization, a terrifying thought popping into her head...

What if... no... it couldn't be. That wolf wouldn't hurt a fly... Would it?

She couldn't help but picture the night she first met the wild beast, remembering how he had the slightest bit of blood on him... could that of been from...

Panicking, Poppy's eyes widened in horror at the thought...

"No..." the young princess muttered in a soft whisper, her heart racing and breath picking up dramatically at all the horrible thoughts swirling through her mind. Could Branch really be... be... "No! Smidge!" she shouted out in horror, quickly turning to run off back towards the village to find her friend for help. "Smidge! I need you! Smidge!!!!"

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'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'

The desperate sound rattled through the tiny yellow troll's pod, causing her to groan softly as she slowly began waking up from her peaceful slumber...

'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'

"Hugh... wha..." Smidge questioned in a confused and tired mumble, slowly sitting up in her bed as she rubbed her eyes to try and wake herself up. "Who's there?"

'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'

The pounding knock continued on her front door, only becoming louder and more desperate...

"Hold on!" Smidge groaned in slight frustration. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"

'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'

Putting on her bunny slippers, Smidge climbed out of bed before beginning to shuffle sleepily towards the door, letting out a big yawn as she reached for the handle...

"What do you wan..." the tiny troll began to yell in her deep voice as she swung open her door in pure rage, but she froze, cocking her head slightly in confusion when she saw Poppy standing on her doorstep, the young princess' eyes flooded with tears. "Poppy!?" Smidge questioned in concern. "What happened!?"

"It's Branch!" Poppy cried out in fear. "He's not at home, and I'm worried... I'm worried that..." She paused, not wanting to finish that particular sentence... "Have... sniff... have you seen him?"

"I'm sorry, Poppy..." Smidge said in a sympathetic tone. "I haven't seen him in a few weeks. The last I saw... he was heading into the forest wearing a thick hoodie for some reason..."

Poppy felt her heart shatter inside her chest at the sound of those words, more tears falling from her eyes and sliding down her cheeks.

The black hoodie... she had seen him wearing that the day before the wolf hunt... had he really been missing for that long? And no one even cared...

"Don't worry, Poppy," Smidge assured, using her hair to reach her best friend's eye level as she placed both her tiny hands on the young princess' shoulders... "I'm sure he's fine. He is a paranoid safety nerd after all..."

Poppy nodded, knowing her friend was right, but still... she couldn't help but worry...

"I'll help you find him," Smidge informed, seeing that Poppy was still sad. "And I'm sure the rest of the snack pack will help as well..."

With a small smile, Poppy nodded, looking at the tiny yellow troll with a thankful gaze.

"Thank you, Smidge..." she muttered softly, wiping the tears from her pink eyes.
"Of course," Smidge assured with a smile. "Now... let's go get the others..."