the thmgau rewrite

A Girl Named Natalie

The next morning, Leslie awoke in their own apartment. This was normal, considering they fell asleep in their apartment. What wasn't normal was the necklace, which they seemed to have forgotten to take off.

"Oh! Silly me!" it chuckled. "Guess I'll take this off now."

Leslie attempted to take the necklace off. It did not budge. It tried everything it could think of: using scissors, burning it, yanking it.. but it still didn't come off.

"That's strange." they mumbled to themself. If the necklace didn't come off for Leslie, chances are it didn't come off for any of their friends either. One glance at their phone would confirm that. They had over 50 notifications from the night before.

Cherry: this stupid necklace wont come off :/
Nora: wdym it wont come off
Cherry: it won't come off what more do i need to say
Kalani: mine isnt coming off either 🤼‍♂️
Juniper: same
Juniper: wonder if it has to do with that magic book we found yesterday
Cherry: i swear if we get cursed by these things im gonna be so mad
Cherry: im trying to get a bachelors degree i dont have time for curses

Leslie yawned, turning their phone off. "Oh, well. Might as well get ready for the day."

It entered the living room, flipping on the TV as it started preparing breakfast. They usually liked to listen to the news while waking up, so typically their TV was always set on the news.

As Leslie was whisking the eggs (it was making an omelette), the news reporter on the TV started speaking.

"Good morning, Cincinnati! Today we have a peculiar story for you: the disappearance of many citizens. Over the past two days, a few hundred people have gone missing. Investigators have been looking into it, but they haven't found anything yet."

Missing people? This piqued Leslie's interests. They poured the whisked eggs onto the pan as they looked at the TV.

"& it's not just people, too. Bananas from the local supermarkets have also been reported as stolen. Some people have reported that they've seen a couple of the missing people with the bananas, but nobody can be too sure if they're related or not."

Bananas being stolen? Now this was just getting confusing to Leslie.

But then it thought back to the day before. Leslie & its friends had gone to that new banana restaurant for breakfast. The restaurant HAD to be related to the banana thefts... probably. Maybe it was all a coincidence, but nonetheless, Leslie was determined to figure it out.

They had to get to class first, though. They were a college student, after all.

-

Leslie walked into the seminar room approximately 15 minutes early. They thought 9 AM was way too early for a class to start, but it's not like Leslie had any control of that.

Despite only being 15 minutes early, Leslie was one of only two people there. Another girl (who just so happened to sit next to Leslie) was there too. From what Leslie's overheard from attendance, this girl's name was Natalie. Leslie & Natalie usually didn't talk much, for they were too entranced by whatever they were doing in class. They were both in the school play, though, but that's really the only time they had interacted outside of class.

"Hey." Natalie said, reaching for her bag.
"Oh, uh.. hi!" Leslie waved.
"Cool necklace."
"Thanks! I, uh.. got it from a friend."
"Neat.. Do they come in purple?"
"Uh... I don't know. I'd.. have to ask."
"I see."

Natalie took a book out of her bag & placed it on her desk. Leslie got a look at it. It was the exact same book that they found yesterday.

"Nice scythes, by the way. They look badass." Natalie grinned.