Trolls: All This Time

Chapter 15

branch returned to poppy's bedroom, holding a few flashlights in his arms.

fear flushed through poppy's body as she felt her eyes fill, the tears begging to come streaming down. everything was happening so fast, and she could feel her tensions rising and her anxiety beginning to consume her.

"poppy.." branch whispered, rushing over to her and grabbing her hand. "it's okay."

"make it stop," she pleaded. every possible thing that could go wrong today, was.

"make what stop?"

"the storm, the darkness. all of it. just..make it stop."

poppy began to feel very overwhelmed and fear crushed her high spirits. normally, she could overcome stuff like this, but not today. today was, for some reason, different.

he turned on all of the flashlights he had in his hands and placed them all over her room, providing a dim light surrounding her. it wasn't much, but it was definitely better than the pitch black they were previously in.

"thank you.." she mumbled, bringing her legs to her chest. "i'm sorry."

"it's not your fault." branch wrapped his arms around poppy and pulled her into a warm, loving hug to let her know he was with her.

"i need to check on the village."

"i will do it." he made his way over to the emergency megaphone every troll had in their pods. they had never been used before, but the storm was only getting worse and didn't show any signs of stopping.

"is everyone okay? how are your pods holding up?" branch yelled into the megaphone as he looked over at poppy, making sure she was staying put and letting him help her.

the village replied all at once.

"everything is okay so far!"

"when will this storm be over?"

"i hope our pods hold up!"

"how is queen poppy doing?"

"we have a few extra flashlights if anyone needs some!"

"don't leave your pods," branch instructed. "once this storm cools down, we will all gather in the bunker. until then, stay in your pods and hope for the best."

stepping away from the megaphone, he made his way to the kitchen and began baking a cupcake for poppy to help keep her calm. her favorite; vanilla with strawberry icing and yellow sprinkles in the shape of a star.

thunder rumbled from outside of the pink pod, causing everything inside to shake.

a few moments later, a bright light flashed through the walls that seemed far too close for comfort.

looking outside, branch saw what no troll ever wanted to see.

one of the pods were on the ground, burning up in flames.

"poppy!" branch screamed, rushing over to her. "poppy!"

"what's wrong?" the pink troll scrambled to pick herself off the bed and ran over to him.

"come with me!" branch grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the pod, running toward the flames.

poppy gasped at the sight. she couldn't believe her eyes.

satin and chenille's pod.

a small whimper fell from her mouth as she ran closer and closer to it, searching everywhere for her friends.

a hand grabbed her and pulled her back, away from the burning pod and hugged her tightly. tears formed in poppy's eyes for the second time within 10 minutes as she buried her face into branch's chest. he hugged her tightly and pulled her away from the fire. getting her as far away from it as possible.

the rain slowly began to put it out and relief filled over branch. every once in a while poppy would pull herself off of him to look back over at the damage, but she quickly would turn away and hug branch even tighter than she had before, fear overwhelming her once again.

"where are they?!" biggie asked, worryingly. satin and chenille were no where to be found, which could be a good or a bad sign.

on one hand, that could mean they might have not been in their pod when it caught on fire. however, on the other hand, they could be stuck in the fire, unable to escape.

"guys!" two familiar voices shrieked, coming from the woods.

relief flushed over everyone surrounding the burning pod as they saw their two friends, satin and chenille approach them.

"oh my god," poppy whimpered, escaping from branch's arms and running over to them, hugging them so tight they probably couldn't even breathe.

"what happened to our pod?" satin asked fearfully. deep down, she already knew the answer, but she hoped that someone would tell her different.

"it was struck..by lightning," branch said, crushing her hopes. "i'm really sorry..."

"it's not your fault," chenille interrupted.

"you guys can stay with me until this all blows over." biggie approached them and gave the two trolls a big hug.

branch sighed, grabbing poppy's hand. "come to my bunker, with us."

biggie shook his head. "mr dinkles is still in my pod."

"so bring him with you."

"he has separation anxiety. he's too attached to my pod to leave."

"satin? chenille?"

they shook their heads. "it'll all blow over soon. besides," chenille whispered to branch, looking over at the big blue troll, "biggie can get scared when he's alone."

nodding, branch smiled softly. "stay safe." he led poppy to his bunker, keeping her close to him in case anything were to happen in this dangerous storm.

"hurry," poppy shivered. she rubbed her arms and clenched her teeth.

"okay," he said, speeding up to get her out of the deadly storm as quickly and as safely as possible, wanting nothing more than to get inside of his safe, dry bunker.

thunder struck again and the entire ground shook, sending poppy and branch off the ground for a split second.

the storm was only getting worse as time went on.

and it definitely didn't show any signs of stopping.

"hurry," she repeated. "get us out of here. please."