𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚓𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚝 // 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚒𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚝

𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢/𝚗 𝚘𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝?

A girl blinked, her eyes adjusting to the light coming from a small town.

"Anne, are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It'll be fine," a girl with brown hair answered, walking up ahead. "Stop worrying so much! It'll be a breeze!"

"The last 'good idea' we had, we sorta got zapped to another world with some freaky music box," I sarcastically muttered, adjusting my backpack and jogging after Anne. "This place looks like my 5th grade shoebox project," I laughed.

"Kind of," Anne responded, her eyes scanning the path. "Ooh! There's someone!"

I squinted, staring at the figure. "Anne! That's literally an unknown creature with a hat," I said, pushing through the bushes to keep up with my friend.

"It'll be a sinch, trust me," Anne said, standing up.

She's gonna scare the fuck out of that poor... frog? And are those leaves in her hair?

The teal frog shivered, clutching its accordion in fear. Jesus Anne, at least use your flashlight!

Anne stood up, looking down at the frog, who looked scared out of his mind. "No, no no no!" the frog wailed. It turned on its feet and ran off.

I rolled my eyes and yanked her back. "ANNE!"

"I was trying to ask it for help!" She defended, throwing her hand towards the path.

"IT'S A GODDAMN FROG!" I shouted, then sighed. "Well, it's probably scared out of it's mind now. Let's go back."

—

A small town bustled with activity. Shopkeepers prepared items, frogs mingled and played games.

A small family arrived, guiding a snail to a space.

An old orange frog turned around. "All right kids. I'm gonna do a little shopping," he said. "You watch the cart."

A pink frog jumped up on the cart with enthusiasm. "You got it Hop Pop! I'll defend this cart with my LIIIIIIIIIFE!"

"Sprig, I was talking to Polly," Hop Pop said, pointing his hand towards a purple tadpole.

"What? Polly's a baby," Sprig complained.

Polly glared. "You're a baby!"

"Polly's got more responsibility in her little flipper than you have in your entire body," Hop Pop remarked, narrowing his eyes and holding up a pinky finger.

"Ridiculous," Sprig countered. "What makes you think I'm irresponsible?"

"Oh, gee," Hop Pop sarcastically said. "Let me think. You blew up my soup, you broke my bedroom wall by riding a cowapillar into it, and you left the lights on last night!"

"Ok, so yesterday was a bad day," Sprig shrugged.

Hop Pop hopped off the cart. "Polly, make sure Sprig stays in the cart," he said, walking into the store.

"Wish there was a way to prove I'm not such a goof-up," Sprig sighed. His attention was diverted when a teal frog with a hat ran screaming into the town from the woods.

"Monster!" The teal frog wailed. "Th-There's a monster in the woods! I seen it! I seen it!

As a crowd surrounded the frog, a toad wearing fancy clothes spoke. "Now, simmer down Wally. Just tell us what you saw."

"Oh, it was horrifying," Wally explained. "It had a huge head, a weird stubby bump right in the middle of it's face, and long spindly legs!" As he explained, he made a recreation of the creature out of sticks and leaves.