Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 32

That night, after a whole month of rehabilitation, Branch was finally released from the hospital, the little gray troll finally able to go home...

The village grump walked slowly through the village, heading determinedly towards his bunker, the little troll limping slightly as he looked sadly down at the card Poppy had given him... the card he had secretly kept and was now holding in his big gray hands...

'Branch! You're invited!' the tiny piece of paper read in over the top colored writing, tiny elaborate scrapbook versions of him and Poppy glued perfectly right to the front of it...

  The young boy sighed in disappointment, not even bothering to open the folded up piece of paper as he looked sadly at the beautiful card in his hands... He didn't really want to know what the invitation was for... it would only make him regret not going even more than he already did...

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Finally, the village grump arrived at his super secret, heavily fortified, Bergen proof survival bunker, the young boy riding down his elevator as he continued gazing at the card Poppy had made just for him...

'What is wrong with me...' he couldn't help but think as the elevator descended farther and farther into his underground home...

With a small click, the elevator finally came to a stop on the bottom floor of the bunker, Branch immediately flicking a switch on the wall to turn on the light and eliminate the darkness now surrounding him...

"Welcome home!" a shout suddenly rung out through what was supposed to be his empty bunker, the little gray troll jumping back as he let out a short scream of fear and surprise...

To his horror... Branch quickly realized that everyone from the village was down in his bunker... his fortress of solitude... his home!

"Wha... what the hair is going on in here!?" he shouted out in surprised anger, quickly stuffing the invitation into his hair, desperately hoping no one had seen it in his hands before he had the chance to do so...

Just then, Poppy came skipping over to her best friend, the biggest smile ever plastered on her face...

"I threw you a welcome home party," she informed excitedly, seeming rather proud of herself. "It's what the invitation I gave you was for."

"You... you broke into my bunker!?" Branch yelled, looking around in complete panic to see all the village trolls running around his home, several very young trollings jumping through his bear traps as if it were some sort of fun game while the adults were eating up all of his hard earned rations...

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" a group of trolls chanted loudly as they gathered around a yellow elder who was currently chugging down one of Branch's sweat jars...

"N... no! You... you all need to leave right now!" he demanded, panicking about what would happen if they were to stay any longer...

"Come on, Branch. It's a party! For you!" Poppy exclaimed, pulling the village grump aside so that he would stop yelling at the guests. "Besides... it's your fault... You're the one who taught me how to pick locks."
"Yeah! So you could escape if you were ever captured!" Branch yelled angrily as he glared right at the young princess. "Not to break into my home!"

Don't get him wrong... Branch actually felt quite honored that Poppy had gone through all this trouble just for him... especially since the birthday party she had thrown in his honor hadn't turned out too well... But for all the trolls to be down in his quiet intentionally secluded area all at once... it was just too much for the self appointed hermit to handle...