Bake Me A Pie

Poppy Partridge.

Julie and Frank had been friends since they moved in. They had sleep overs, competitions, went out hunting for fireflies. So when Frank disappeared without a trace, Julie was devastated. She couldn't believe what happened to her dear friend.

Frank's husband, Eddie, was beside himself with grief. The police investigated, but they couldn't find any leads. Frank had simply vanished.

Julie sat at Eddie's table, careful not to sit in the seat that Frank always sat in when she came over. Eddie Invited her over for a cup of tea, she couldn't say no.

Julie wanted to do whatever she could to help Eddie, having tea was a good way to clear her mind.

Julie was so confused and upset. Wally would be so mad at her.

"Who cares what he thinks."

"Huh?"

Julie froze. "Nothing just talking to myself." She excused and had instant relief as Eddie didn't judge it.

Julie didn't know what to do. She wanted to talk to Eddie about what she had seen, but she didn't want to break his heart any further. She couldn't tell him about Wally's strange behavior and how weird he was acting last night. Shes his toy to play with.

"Eddie?" Julie said when he finished sipping his tea. "Can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure," Eddie said "What's going on?"

"I wanted to ask you about Frank. Do you have any idea where he might be?"

Eddie shook his head, tears in his eyes. "No, I don't. I've been worried sick about them. Ever since they offered to go walk you home he didn't come back. We had a fight about it."

Julie couldn't help but sulk, she was part of the reason Frank was missing in the first place. Wally is right, he always is.

Eddie sniffled. "It was stupid."

Julie almost cried herself, but she held it together. "Thank you, Eddie. I'm going to keep looking for them. And if you think of anything else, please let me know."

"I will," Eddie said, hugging her tightly. "Thank you for trying to help, Julie."

Julie and Eddie chatted for a while before she finally left his house. If she was going to figure out why Frank went missing she has to talk to someone else important.

"What are you doing?" Julie heard a voice that scared her. She jumped a little before she realized it was Wally. "Hi Darling." Julie responded quickly as possible. Wally caressed her face with a smile on his face. "We have dinner tonight." He reminded. "I can't make it." Julie said which made Wally's smile go down. "That's fine." He said. "Wally please."

"It's fine if you don't love me Julie." Wally shrugged before walking off leaving the demon puppet in shock.

"You okay there Joyful?" She heard a booming voice behind her. Poppy. "I'm fine, don't worry about me." Julie smiled at the big bird. Poppy didn't buy it. "How about we have some nice cupcakes.?"

"Delightful."

-

Julie knew that if she wanted to solve the mystery of Frank's disappearance, she needed to talk to their friends. So, she set out to interview everyone she knew who had been close to Frank. Her first stop was Poppy.

Julie was spinning around in the blue rolling chair while Poppy made a fresh batch of cupcakes for them.

"Have you seen Frank?" Julie said as she stopped spinning waiting for an answer. Poppy stopped mixing the dough and sighed. "No, not in a while now you mentioned it. The neighborhood is falling apart and I can't stand it." Poppy huffed as she started to resume her dough.