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The Library (Fan Fiction)

Celestia

TaylorGS
Crew

Doting Dabbler

Offline

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:41 pm

Chapter 1 – The Internet Friend
---
I always thought that I’d forever be indebted to a jolly and chubby guy with a white beard. You know, that old man who flies around on a sleigh of reindeer and gives presents to the little kids, but is really an icon for mass marketing schemes. That guy. He was my savior.

No, I never met him. But he made December my most favorite month of the year. I was a big fan of his, though for different reasons than the norm.

Around the start of November, the adults would remind us about this saint named Santa Claus who would reward us with presents if we were good. So the kids would behave... for the most part. They would even leave me alone, until Christmas day, which was nice.

That was the day of the annual orphanage open house event. The adults passed out presents to the children they thought were good enough. (These presents, by the way, were the items donated by charities throughout the year.) That was what the older children looked forward to by their pre-teen years because by then, adoption had become a distant dream.

Of course, things change. The older kids eventually figured out that the whole Santa Claus thing was just a hoax.

Who could blame the adults though for encouraging the charade? Miro was crazy at that time of year with the sales, and the adults wanted time off from their jobs. They had families. They wanted to spend time with them at this time of year, not orphans.

Head Girl was the one who figured out the saint was a fictional character last year, and she let slip of the fact to the clique of older kids at the orphanage. So now they were able to continue their bullying into the last months of the year, as long as they were subtle about it. There were many “accidents” which involved me tripping into a pile of dishes or knocking over something and making a mess.

I had learned that there was no point in telling one of the adults what was going on. They got paid their fixed salary. They were content. What was one child to them?

I had food and shelter, the essentials of life. Time had passed since summer, and I was used to once again, how life had always been in the orphanage. But that summer was the last straw, giving this little seed its first crack, yearning to see some sunlight. All that was needed now was the catalyst—the trigger. That came one fateful day before November.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

October 31st was one of the worst days of the year. It was the last day the kids could pull pranks on me as openly and not be punished, which they took full advantage of.

At lunch, I had knocked over a vat of soup, but unexpectedly, the timing caused the soup to spew all over the floor and Head Girl. Needless to say, I cleaned up the entire mess, as well as a mountain of dishes, as punishment. I was given a sandwich made with the moldy cheese for lunch when I finished.

It had taken so long to clean up that it was 5:50. I downed my dinner on the way to the teacher’s office. She was strict and distant, but at least didn’t play things completely by the book like the other adults. If I wasn’t one of her most favorite students, I wouldn’t have been able to use her prized laptop for a little bit. That was the one thing I had to look forward to each day.

Before I knocked, I shook off any crumbs on my clothes; I didn’t want to make a mess in the room. I timidly knocked on the door. It creaked open to reveal the room—bookshelves of binders and papers that obscured the desk—and I slowly entered.

By the desk, the teacher said, “I didn’t think you were coming today. After what you did at lunch, I don’t know if you should even use the computer.”

“I-I’m sorry,” I mumbled. I’d lost count how many times I apologized this year, let alone today.

I wasn’t paying attention to what she said. It was the same thing she said as always, but with different words. Eventually she stopped talking and said, “Five minutes.”

No time was wasted flicking the laptop on. As soon as it booted up, the internet window popped up on the Miro town web site. There were some interesting headlines, a mixed bag of the usual: the pumpkin bakeoff; the costume contest; a missing teenage report.

However, I didn’t have time to read any of that stuff with a few minutes. Besides, who cared what was going on in Miro? I typed in the URL address for a forum which I had stumbled upon a few months back. A long post awaited me in a private thread from my friend.

Tangy_Orangey @ 4:11 PM
Looksus is exciting today because everyone has been waiting for Halloween.
We all will dress up in dark cloaks with pumpkins on our heads and try to get
a lot of candy! What are you going to do? ^^

That sounded like it would be quite the event and possibly a lot of fun. Sometimes, I wondered if Tangy—her nickname—was exaggerating. Like, there was a week in September when she was ecstatic over a sport fair in which she claimed that almost everyone in her town participated in.

I typed a short response.

AmberLuce @ 5:52 PM
I got the second volume of Clashing Fates from the library. I’m reading it tonight.

I wondered what I’d do on the laptop next with my time left. There were the message boards that I could browse, but there wouldn’t be much time to find a thread worth posting on.

However, when I went to the next page, I got a notice saying that Tangy had responded to the thread. So quickly! That could only mean that she was online.

Tangy_Orangey @ 5:54 PM
Wow your online right now! ^^
Im glad that you finally get to read it! But still you should do something
special today. Doesn't your town do something special on holidays?

I almost typed, What is so great about the last day of October?, but saying that could lead to explaining why I didn’t like October, possibly leading to the fact that I lived in an orphanage, which I was trying to forget while I was online.

AmberLuce @ 5:57 PM
Just because the last day of October is called “Halloween” doesn’t mean that
everyone in Miro's going to waltz out of their houses onto the cold streets and
run around wearing pumpkins. Well, there's a baking contest or something
going on today...

I tapped the refresh button every few seconds, waiting impatiently for her response.

I tried to visualize in my mind’s eye what Tangy might be doing at that very moment. I pictured a girl about my age, give or take a year, sitting in front of a computer in a well furnished room—possibly her bedroom. She might have blonde, flowing hair, that went some length past her shoulders, and her blue eyes would be looking at the monitor, waiting. Or she could be an imaginary person inside of the computer. It didn’t really matter, either way, but it was more fun to imagine.

Tangy_Orangey @ 5:59 PM
Why dont you go to that, Tay? Baking sounds fun! It might be my next hobby...
Its almost 6! gtg!

I sighed when I saw her log off. Then again, it was six o'clock. The teacher looked up over her files, and I reluctantly logged myself off as well.

I really did wish I could go to some kind of event in town, but I was practically trapped inside this building. But I really did have a book to read. I wandered back to the bunkroom upstairs. The room was deserted, of course. Everyone was outside playing. That was fine because it would be nice and quiet in my little corner of the world.

Surprisingly, the book was where I left it under my pillow. Something was missing though. My treasure. The red scarf. It was not there. Gone.

Panic fluttered up my throat, but I tried to hold it down and thought back to the last time I had the scarf. It was yesterday. I wore the scarf around all day. Then at night, I folded it and put it under my pillow. So someone took it. That was the only explanation. Head Girl must be behind this. Ten times out of nine, it was.

She probably took it to wear for herself since it was starting to get cold. If that were the case, I would probably never be able to wear the scarf again. I absentmindedly twirled my bangs around with my index finger while lost in thought. Yes, if that were the case, then I would have to take the scarf back and then hide it somewhere really safe. Like under a floorboard or something.

It was the only memento I ever had of my very, very first friend. At least, I associated that scarf with memories I had buried. Either way, I didn't want to lose that item too.

With a rationale established for the missing scarf and a skeleton of a plan forming, I was able to file the thought away for later. Tonight I would let the subject weigh on my mind. Thinking could be done when the lights were off. Reading could not.

Chapter 2 – Red, Everywhere
---
It was midnight.

Actually, it was fairly close to midnight. Sometime before then. Everyone had fallen asleep, but I was wide awake with the lost scarf on my mind. It was missing, probably stolen. I needed to somehow recover it and then hide it someplace safer than under my pillow.

That explained why I was up so late, not why I was standing downstairs.

I figured maybe I could sneak onto the laptop and make a post on the forum to Tangy. It wasn’t like there was anyone else that I could talk to who might understand. Before Tangy, I had Tr—no. There was never someone. No one, no one, no one.

So I could give Tangy a description of my plight, lightly smudging a detail here or there. I hadn’t told her very much about myself, just my real name. She hadn’t told me much about herself either though, just that everyone calls her Tangy. So she didn’t know that I lived in an orphanage; she probably just thought that I was a normal kid like her. But maybe someday, I would tell her more about myself, and I’d learn more about her.

The air was freezing, even though it was inside, so I wore my jacket. I tried the door and was startled to find it unlocked. I was anticipating that I'd have to pick the lock, not that I was complaining. It normally would’ve taken me an hour, at best, to get the door open, if I really had to. Lock picking wasn't exactly my forte.

I tiptoed inside the room. The laptop was left on the desk, where it usually sat for charging, only it was not charging. Warily, I held the laptop up to check that the cord wasn’t underneath. The charger cord was not there. Another missing item. “More Head Girl mischief?” I wondered.

Then I froze. The door was unlocked. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. She wouldn't happen to be awake at this hour, would she?

It occurred to me that I was just standing in the middle of the room holding the laptop. What if Head Girl was awake and what if she came into the room?

But I had to go on the forum. I would post my scarf dilemma quickly so that when Tangy went on in the morning, she would see my post. Maybe I could sneak online later on that afternoon. Yes, that would be a good plan.

About when I decided this, a tremor shook the orphanage, and I nearly was knocked off my feet. I peered out of the room down the hall. Everything looked okay at first, until I caught a whiff of a particular odor. Monotone alarms went off, and the top most air in the hallway became a cloudy dark grey. Smoke! The orphanage was on fire!

The adults were shouting, running about the building to rouse the sleeping children from the bunkrooms. They were leading the little ones, blind from sleep, to outside as quickly as possible. No one seemed to notice me.

I hacked hoarsely. I was still standing rooted to my spot when my brain finally kicked into action. I had to get out of there! I could now hear the flames eating away at the ceiling upstairs. I must have been directly under the source of the fire. A portion of the ceiling that was in flames crashed down, and the blaze began to spread.

I stumbled through the thick smog out of the nearest door I could find in the chaos to outside. There was no more time for thought, just survival and surviving. After reaching outside, I kept on going and going and going down the street until my heart was no longer thumping in my ears.

I was about a block away from the partially burning orphanage when I turned around to look at the sight. Outside stood a crowd of people—the orphans and adults. From behind me, sirens wailed, steadily growing louder. The fire truck. I got out of the street just in time for it to whiz by me.

The abrupt wind the vehicle kicked up reminded me how cold it was outside. I loosened my grip on the laptop I was clutching close, as if I had been shielding it from harm when I ran. Half of myself said that I should follow after the truck and rejoin the group of orphans who stood by the adults. They would be finding shelter someplace for the night, and then in the morning, the adults would figure out what to do.

But I was too tired from the event that just the mere thought of going back the distance I’d come from seemed crazy. Kind of like swimming across a lake and reaching the other side exhausted.

Circumventing the sewage drain, I took went up the concrete steps by the nearest building, the public library of Miro. I dropped against the wall, huddling in a corner by the double doors. I took my jacket off and used it as a small blanket.

Tomorrow, I told myself, I would find out where the orphanage shelter would be. But my conscience knew that was a lie I fed myself so I would sleep, believing that there was supposedly a plan.

The reality was, this seed had cracked. This seed was ready to for sun. This seed would not and could not turn back now.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

At some point, my conscience stirred to a slight awareness. I was not asleep, but not fully awake either. It was the cold that had stirred me. I didn’t feel my jacket anymore, but I was too tired to feel around for it. In a few minutes, I would probably just seep back into my slumber anyway.

Then I felt something furry, something warm, something heavy near my chest where my hands rested. Its rhythmically slow and constant purr lulled me back to sleep until morning.

~ COMMENTARY ~
---
I've been writing my AC fanfic for a while on ACC [Animal Crossing Community]. I'm rewriting/revising some of the beginning to clean it up more. If there's a few interested readers here, I'll update Celestia here, as well as ACC. Anyways, thank you for reading!

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:49 am

[old Chapter 3 picture]

Chapter 3 – Looking for Looksus
---
Every morning, the first thing I did was yawn and stretch. It was like my way of telling the world, "Good morning!" And so that was the first thing I tried to do when I woke up.

But before I had even gotten a chance to raise my arms an inch in my yawning stretch, I stopped. I had brushed my hand against something furry. I stiffly pulled myself up a bit so that I could peer at what it was that I had touched on my tummy.

It was a cat.

A blue and white cat, if anyone would believe it, wearing a checkered shirt custom-made to fit. He looked up at me with a content look, as if he had done something praiseworthy. There was something about the cat I noticed though after a good minute of staring back at him. There was no collar.

"I guess that makes him a runaway too," I thought.

Then I caught myself. I had said "runaway too." I never formally declared myself a runaway, yet here I was. I could be a runaway too, if I wanted. I mean, I'd gotten the running part down; now I just had to actually run away to someplace.

"I'm going to move into a friend's town," I told the blue cat, and as an afterthought, added, "I wish there's some way I could let her know though."

The blue cat raced ahead of me into the distinctive building of a train station, ignoring the "no pets allowed" sign. While the street was deserted, the inside of the train station was just the opposite. People loitered around small shops on the entranceway while others walked purposefully. The blue cat skillfully navigated through the maze of feet and bulging bags. I tried to keep up, while trying to not attract any attention.

Because I was so focused on the cat's direction, I paid little attention to my own. The result was running into a woman in a waitress uniform outside of a shop. She forced a smile, and asked me if I needed help. I looked left and right, avoiding her gaze. My clothes were pretty ragged; maybe she'd realize that I was a runaway or something. I was also trying to find that blue cat. Of course, he was nowhere to be found.

“If you were about to ask me how to use the Wi-Fi, this instruction sheet should self-explanatory,” she said.

The woman thrust a half sheet of paper in front of my face, and after I took it, hustled off, disappearing into the crowd.

I looked the leaflet for Pastel Café. It explained about Pastel Café’s new Wi-Fi service; Wi-Fi meant internet… which meant I now had a way to contact Tangy. “That cat knew what I was looking for,” I thought, bewildered.

I retreated to a small table in a corner of the café and read the directions before booting the laptop up. Once the laptop was on, I would only have a handful of minutes to use the nearly dead laptop to go online. There would be no time to waste.

I pressed the power button. It was go time. About two minutes later, I was rapidly typing up a message to Tangy. After every few lines, I submitted my message through the quick post box. Worst case scenario, it’d be better for her to get some of my message than none of it.

AmberLuce @ 12:11 AM
This might be sudden, but the place I lived at burned down last night.

AmberLuce @ 12:11 AM
I'm looking for somewhere to live. I thought of your town first,

AmberLuce @ 12:12 AM
so I'm going to see if I can find a train to get to Looksus.

AmberLuce @ 12:13 AM
I’m catching the train soon. See if you can meet me when I get there?

Mid-post of the fifth message, I saw my shocked reflection on the black laptop screen turned to a deflated expression. There were other things I still had to type! Like what I looked like, for starters. And then I realized that I didn’t even know her real name, just her nickname.

But there was no time for idling. I could only keep moving forward with my plan. I had a train to catch before someone realized that I was gone.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

I must have spent at least an hour running around, trying to find out which train went to Looksus, and I was about ready to give up. The employees started to eye me with suspicion of gave me looks that told me that I was a head case. So when I noticed that there were security officers in the train station, I tried to duck out of their sight and blend with the crowd.

It felt like I had to get to Looksus, and if I kept trying, I'd be able to somehow get there. I hoped that telling that to myself over and over would help my battered moral, but it only made the situation seem even more hopeless as I aimlessly wandered up one corridor and down another. I was looking for a sign of some sort.

That's why I came to a sudden halt and rubbed my eyes when I saw what probably was the long-awaited sign and stared. It was not a blue cat though.

Instead of seeing a contiguous wall next to me, a huge chunk of it was missing, as if a giant had taken a bite out of it. Out of the makeshift open doorway, I could see one of the passenger cars of a train a mere hand's length away.

It didn’t seem strange that the passing crowd of people totally ignored this sight, but rather that the guy standing by the car’s open door wore a very cartoony monkey suit. The getup was even complete with a vest and a nametag that read "Porter."

"Does this train go to Look-sus?" The words came out of my mouth without thinking.

The monkey man looked confused for a moment before he said, "Oh, you must mean Looksus," he said, pronouncing the ‘Look’ part as the name ‘Luke.’ "This train will take you there, but there's a toll if you plan on moving from here to there."

My heart sank. "You mean money?" I chided myself for asking such a stupid question.

He looked surprised, if it was possible for a man in a suit to look surprised. "I never said anything about money. I only meant that it was not free."

"What's the toll then?" I asked, exasperated.

The monkey man looked me over and after a while, he said, "The laptop will do."

I didn’t even have to think it over. I handed the dead laptop to him.

He stepped aside. "Welcome aboard the Crossing Express. We shall be leaving shortly."

I took one furtive glance back before boarding the train, checking to see if the secret police were going to pull a net over my head. But the people in the corridor continued going about their way without paying any attention to me. Feeling assured, I stepped through the space in the wall into the passenger car. There was something strange afoot, and I wasn’t able to place my finger on it until Porter—if that really was his name—slid the car door shut.

"It's empty," I said, confused, but relieved at the lack of people. "Don't you get more passengers?"

"Usually not," he said.

An awkward air hung between us. The monkey man excused himself and went to an adjoining car, and I just stood there, processing the last twelve hours.

I started to explore the train car when a triumphant whistle blew and the train softly jolted to a start. A searing bright light flooded in through the open windows, and I shielded my eyes to avoid being momentarily blinded. I ran to the window by the nearest seat and squished my nose up to the glass to peer out. An olive green landscape filled with trees dotted the view as it sped by. It was such a breathtaking sight and foreign. I had never seen so much green without a trace of concrete anywhere.

I stared out of the window for some time, until my paranoia kicked in. I saw that the car in front of this one was the only other passenger car, and the back door led to a small balcony outside. And there was the shadow of someone on that balcony, talking on a cell phone. What if they had tracked me down and were letting the orphanage know that I had been found? I needed to find someplace to hide.

I wildly surveyed the train car again. Across the aisle, I noticed that there was a storage rack filled with blankets for the passenger. Looking up for the first time, I saw the same identical rack of sheets. At that same time, I heard the rear doorknob turn. I snatched one of the blankets overhead and threw it over myself and let myself fall on my side. I curled up in a ball to occupy the entire seat. The blanket covered my vision, but at the very least, no one could see my face. It was the best I could improvise on, and hopefully it would do.

The door opened and light footsteps walked in.

Chapter 4 – Rover
---
The footsteps stopped by my seat. I felt the person’s eyes looking at the blanket. So my hiding place was very conspicuous.

Instead of my blanket being yanked though, he asked, "Hey, do you mind if I sit here? I won't drool or anything, you know!"

I figured him to be a boy old enough to go to college, but not quite an adult yet. He probably wasn't part of the secret police squad that I imagined was after me. Still, I kept my mouth shut, hoping that he would go away. But it was not meant to be. I heard him waddle over to the seat right across from me and felt his eyes resting on my hiding place.

"Are you really asleep?" he asked, probably with a goofy grin over his face. Silence. "The weather is nice today, don’t you think?” More silence. “The stocks are looking up.”

It was as if he was having a conversation with an imaginary friend. Of course, it was nothing but conversation openers, but I was determined to not say a peep. I was doing well in this regard until he asked that one question.

“What’s your name?”

"Tay," I replied automatically.

I grimaced. I had said something. I couldn’t help it; it was a habit to answer that particular question promptly. But now that I had said something, he was going to yap and yap.

He laughed. "Did you pick that name for yourself or something? Well, it is a cute name for a cute girl!"

Indignantly I said, "Well, what's your name?"

"Rover," he said proudly. "I chose it myself because I never stay in one place for too long." He paused purposefully before switching subject. "Did you hear the news this morning?"

When it occurred to me that he was expecting a response, I replied with an, "Um, no..?"

"An orphanage in Miro caught fire last night," Rover said with interest.

A knot tightened in my stomach. I didn’t really think he would start talking about the orphanage. Since he had brought up the subject though, I edged in the thought on my mind. "Were all of them safe?"

"Mostly," Rover said. "There was one girl with third degree burns around her neck who was rushed to the hospital."

"Who?"

"I don’t know her name, but I remember what she looked like," Rover said. "She had long blonde wavy and struck me as an animal hater."

I thought to myself, "That sounds like it could have been Head Girl.” Even though she had been so horrible to me all these years, I was torn between rejoicing and feeling some sympathy. But then I remembered that because of her, I didn’t have my red scarf anymore. No sympathy for her.

"Anyway, the Rafferty family adopted her." After a pause, he asked, "Why do you ask?"

I was too panicked to tell if the question dripped with danger or just curiosity. "Just trying to make conversation," I said quickly.

"Tay, you need to lighten up." He laughed again. "So where're you going?"

"Looksus."

"Looksus, huh?” Then as if he had a great idea, he said, “Hey, do you need a house?"

The absurdity of his question made me want to scoff. Playing along, I said, "Yeah, I really could use one of those."

The scruff of cloth and feet softly landing on the ground alerted me Rover stood up. "Good, I didn't even have to convince you. Well, I'll be back in a flash; I need to set everything up for you."

When he had walked out to the balcony, I poked my head out from under the sheet. I saw Rover's fuzzy silhouette through the window shade talking on his cell phone. Snatches of the conversation made it into the train car. My heart went out to whoever was on the other end of the line putting up with Rover's antics.

I went back and forth in my head on whether or not I would hide back under the sheet when he came back in. While it seemed like I wouldn't have to worry about being dragged back to the orphanage anymore, I still decided to keep myself hidden from his view because I wasn’t sure if I could really trust him. What did he have to gain by helping me?

So when Rover came back into the compartment, he saw a person hiding under a sheet, just like when he left. But he also heard loud snores coming from under the blanket. Rover said something quietly to himself before walking into the adjoining passenger car.

Relief passed through me when I heard the door open, and as soon as the door shut, I crawled out from the sheet. The first thing I saw was a parting gift Rover left on the seat across from me. It was a beat-up cloth pouch that contained two things. The first was a short note from Rover.

You definitely aren't royalty. In
fact, you look so pitiful! Here's a
little something for ya.

The rest of the pouch's contents were a few shiny gold-colored coins. Confusion was my first reaction. What would I need these coins for? Then I felt guilty. The money must be for the house. I had thought of him as a bad guy, when he was just looking out for me. I had to apologize and thank him.

I approached the door to the other passenger car, slid the door open, and stepped inside.

It was empty.

I sank into the seat nearest to the door. If he wasn't here, the only other place he could be would be the very front of the train, with the conductor. Until the train arrived at Looksus, I debated with myself on whether or not I should go to the conductor's car. Three hours later, I was still sitting in the passenger car, weighing the decision in my mind.

It wasn’t until the sound of padded footsteps that I looked up.

Porter had entered the compartment, and he took his time walking down the aisle. He stopped by my seat and stood there absent-mindedly for a few seconds before speaking into the loud speaker system via microphone. "We will be arriving in Looksus shortly. Please gather your bags and prepare to disembark." Porter tucked the microphone back to its unseen hiding spot and continued to stand by my seat.

How come he just standing there? And why by my seat? The disquieting quietness got to me, and my next thought slipped through my mouth.

"Why is he wearing that..?"

I caught myself mid-thought when I realized I had spoken aloud. I almost had said, 'Why is he wearing a monkey suit?'

"Did you say something?" Porter quickly asked.

"Um, I was just saying, I, um, wondered why you made an announcement over the speaker system if the train's so, um, empty."

"Routine," he said with a smile. “I make an announcement even if the cars are empty.”

I looked at him, awestruck by how much he seemed to enjoy his job. I always thought jobs were a thing to be loathed. At least, that's how it seemed to be with the adults in the orphanage.

After a while, I realized he was looking at me too. No, studying was the more accurate way to put it. I broke the gaze, looking down at Rover's little pouch in my hands, mentally chiding myself. 'The monkey man must think I'm really rude!'

He tried to renew our conversation. "I heard you are moving. From Miro to Looksus?" I gave a small nod after both sentences. "That will be a tough move. You’ll be starting a new life there, meeting new people, and learning things that you didn’t know before."

I looked back up at him, trying to decipher his newest riddle. The train was starting to slow down. "Is it because I'm going to live on my own? Or maybe cause Looksus isn't a big city?"

He shook his head at every one of my guesses, even though some of them probably were true.

An amused Porter said with reassurance, "You'll see." The train came to a complete stop. He slid the door to outside open and said, "Farewell, miss."

"Bye... mister," I said before making the hop from the car to the brick platform outside.

TaylorGS
Crew

Doting Dabbler

Offline

TaylorGS
Crew

Doting Dabbler

Offline

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 1:18 pm

Chapter 5 – Tangy, Like Citrus
---
Immediately, I noticed that the train platform was completely outside--there was no sign of a building in sight! It was nothing but trees with an abundance of fruit, browned grass, and an occasional flower here and there. The air had an unusual quality to it too--cleanliness. A gentle wind whispered in my ear, letting my hair flow freely in the breeze. Looking straight ahead at the cobblestone path that lead into town, I thought to myself, “Looksus seems to be a nice, quiet country town.”

Of course, first impressions are quick to change.

On the path, a pair of clothed animals walked towards where I was. Walking. On two legs. Chatting. With each other. In English! They registered vaguely as an orange cat and a raccoon, although they were as tall as the monkey man was and each had a similar cartoony appearance.

The raccoon was talking to the cat. "Calm down; she should be here any moment," he said. His words only seemed to excite the cat even further though.

"I really really really can't wait, mee-ow!" The cat exclaimed. Then she turned her head to look at the station. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers, and she pointed straight at me. "OHMIGOSH!!! There she is, there she is! HI TAY!!!"

She ran towards me, her paws flailing in a waving motion with a huge grin on her orange-like head while I stood petrified to the spot. The world seemed to drop into a slow, drunken daze. As if to add the finishing touches to my arriving at the blurred line of insanity, the train whistled before it started to chug away. Reality no longer made sense; the ground was slipping.

No, it wasn't slipping. I was falling; my world became black. I heard a vague gasp and cry that might have been made out of concern... or it could have been the whispering wind. Instead of hitting the ground, a feathery touch was there, embracing my fall...

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Voices gently washed over me as I regained consciousness. There were three voices: a voice filled with timid concern, one of sharp sarcasm, and the third of a rambling entrepreneur. I remained still to get a bearing of what was going on. Besides, they were talking about me.

"Your most noteworthy contribution thus far has been frightening her upon arrival," chirped the voice with thick sarcasm. It sounded like she was a stone’s throw away.

"I didn't mean to," said the timid voice, which registered in my head as that orange cat, who apparently was my internet friend. It sounded like she was close to my side.

The third voice commented, "From what I heard, it would be expected to be a shock for a girl like her. It was a lucky thing that you were able to catch Tay when she fainted, hmm?"

"It was just a lucky coincidence that I was even there." The snappy speaker muttered, before starting to walk away. "I am leaving it up to you to keep her out of trouble, Tangy."

I barely raised my eyelids, as to take a peek at who was talking, while still pretending to be asleep. I could barely see an orange cat near me, and there was that raccoon I had seen earlier standing by a window. As the door opened, I saw the silhouette of a black bird. Even though her words were harsh, she had an air of sadness about her. And then the door slammed shut before the orange cat could finish her reply.

“I’ll try my...best.”

"It has been a while since she had that change of countenance," mumbled the raccoon. "She must feel pressured to find the Guardian for her Link." Then he said to the cat, “When Tay wakes up, bring her over to Acre B-3. I need to show her the two houses I have for sale. My shop should not be left closed for long, hmm?" The entrepreneur then made his exit through the door.

As soon as he left, she said softly, "Tay... Tay, are you awake?"

I mumbled a, “Mm-hmm,” before I rolled off the pineapple-styled bed to my feet. Now that my eyes were completely open, I scanned the room and its curious objects. The bed was the center of the room. There was an apple-shaped clock and TV with fruit-based chairs and tables on the other side of the room.

And then I zoned in on the orange cat in front of me with her eyes that were dancing, but at the same time, full of concern. A life-like large green leaf hung loosely over her forehead like an accessory, and her lack of whiskers was made up in freckles. Her face reminded me of a tangerine.

As I studied her, the old picture I had created of her in my head from the time I knew her over the forum deteriorated. The previous image of a giggly middle school girl with long blonde hair was shattered and replaced with that of the cat in front of me. Not like anything was wrong with how she really looked like, but it definitely wasn’t what I had expected. I would have guessed first that she didn’t really exist before guessing that she was a cat. After all, it seemed that most of my friends turned out to be figments of my imagination.

"Tay, it’s... really you?" the orange cat asked. She sounded nervous and excited, as if she was unsure if this was real or not.

To avoid staring at her tangerine-like head, I looked down at my shoes, hoping to find that I was on top of a trap door that would lead out of this place. Instead, I was standing on a carpet covered in an orange slice pattern design. It ought as well have been her face there.

“Y-yeah, that’s me... Tangy,” I said. “And your real name is really...?”

“It’s Tangy,” grinned the cat.

“I thought that was your nickname,” I said.

“Nope, it’s my name,” the cat said. “Everyone really does call me that.”

... which was why I had originally thought that was her nickname.

"C'mon, Tay!” Tangy said. Without warning, she grabbed my hand and started to make for the door. “We gotta pick you out a house to buy, mee-ow!"

I pulled my hand away, as soon as it touched her fur. “I can walk myself!”

“O-okay,” Tangy said. Her ears drooped a little.

“You just startled me, that’s all,” I said, hoping that would do for an apology. “Um, let’s just get going?”

Tangy happily talked and rambled while were walking, but I wasn’t paying attention to what she said. There was so much that had happened within the first few minutes of being in this place, and my brain was going ninety miles an hour trying to process it all.

For instance, I compared that blue and white cat that I had followed in Miro to Tangy. Tangy was a cat, but she was not exactly like the cats in Miro. There was a difference, but I wasn’t able to put my finger on it exactly until I saw a blue squirrel sleeping under a tree near a purple cat in a patch of tulips. The epiphany hit me—all the animals here were proportionally about the same size. All the animals—even me—were the about the same height. But in Miro, squirrels and cats were noticeably smaller than me. Here, it was like everything had a cartoony appearance.

I had to know if there were any other people in this town other than me—humans. Something that was normal.

"Hey, ummm... Tangy?"

"Yes, Tay?" She asked with a mixture of excitement and apprehensiveness.

"Do only uh... animals live in Looksus?" Unintentionally, I stressed the word animals.

There was a small amount of hesitation in her response. "Well, there the two who work in the library. And there’re two others that live in Acre B-3, if they count, but I don't see them much,” Tangy said before drifting off.

After passing over a bridge, we soon came upon four houses. A message board was erected in the middle of a loopy cobblestone path that connected to the doorstep of each of the four houses. The raccoon from earlier stood there waiting.

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