Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As I talk to my mother, I hear the wheels of the old trains outside creaking as they came and went. The train station was busy that day, but I had no idea why. I was thankful I wasn't outside anymore, though. It felt like the temperature was 96 outside and the line was so long! I thought I was going to be late, but I wasn't, thankfully.

"I didn't think you would leave home so early," my Mom said to me. I could hear the sadness in her voice.

She's right. My two older brothers, Sam and Anthony, moved out when they were 18 and going to college. I'm only 14.

"...Me neither," I replied.

I actually meant that. I sent in an application to move to Redwood only a month ago and they somehow ended up accepting it last week. I thought it would've taken years, since almost everyone I know wants to move to Redwood. It's a popular tourist destination, but they barely have any room for people to move there, as they want to keep the village as natural as possible. I love it when towns want to be natural and not urbanized. I prefer natural and rural towns over urbanized towns

"Riley, please send me letters when you can," Mom desperately begged as she got my long, black hair out of my eyes.

"I... I will," I stuttered quietly. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

That's when my mom broke down and started crying. All I could do was hug her. I wasn't embarrassed. Instead, I felt bad for her. She wasn't prepared for me to leave at all, and neither was I. She was acting the same way when she found about about my dad's death. She cried for days on end. She wouldn't speak to me and my brothers or do anything. We had to take care of ourselves. I was as devastated as my mother, but I had to help Sam and Anthony, so I kept going.

"S-sorry," she said after she calmed down a bit. She wiped the tears from her brown eyes.

"You're okay," I responded. Then, the intercom went off.

"Attention. The train for Redwood is now boarding. Eek eek."

This was it. In a few moments, I was going to be out on my own with nobody to support but myself, and my neighbors. I was so excited, but I was also nervous. I had never been on my own before. I was only 14 and I was already moving out. I started to think about what the town will be like before I was interrupted by Mom.

"I love you," she quietly said, "Go to the train now." She sounded emotionless when she said those last words.

I gave her a hug and a kiss. I started remembering all of the memories I had of me and my mom. Going to theme parks, baking cake together when I was really young, all of those sweet memories that I cherish.

"I love you, too," I replied. I was almost started to cry. I walked up to the train before I could, however. I scanned my ticket and went inside the crowded train. I was squished by animal fur and could barely see anything, but I still could see my mother waving at me.

"I'll miss you!" she screamed just before the doors closed.

I looked at her and waved goodbye. Her eyes were full of tears again. I started to feel bad for her again. I wished she could come with me, but she couldn't because of her job. Once the train had departed, I looked around.

Looking at all of these strangers, I realized I was on my own.

Chapter Text

The train was crowded with mostly animals, but I did notice a human mother and boy near the front. I grew up in a town that was pretty diverse, so I was surprised to see only two humans. I looked for a seat and, surprisingly, I found a seat by a white wolf. She looked very pretty, with blue eyes and a blue dress. I always wished I looked like that. I was always teased because of my long, black hair. Remembering those moments made me wish that I had trimmed it more often. After a while, and a long conversation with my mom, I began to appreciate my hair. I got it trimmed a little bit and now I'm satisfied. As I looked at the wolf, however, I wished my hair was white. Her fur looked so beautiful.

"May I sit here?" I ask the wolf. She looked away from her book that she was reading and looked at me.

"Nobody's coming to sit here, so yes, you may," she replied. She then went back to reading her book, almost like I ran off all of the sudden.

"Thanks," I said as I sit down.

"You're welcome," the wolf responded with a glimmer in her eye, "My name is Whitney. It's nice to meet you.

"Nice to meet you as well," I said, "I'm Riley."

"Are you moving to Redwood?" Whitney asked.

"Oh, yes," I said.

Whitney chuckled. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she thought I was joking. It was the same reaction my mom had when she heard the news.

"What a surprise," she said while chuckling, "I'm moving to Redwood as well."

I was surprised. When I was filling out an application, they said that there was only one house available. I guessed they must have sold a house to Whitney before I got my acceptance letter.

We then talked about what we were going to do when we got to Redwood. Whitney said she was going to go shopping and lay down on the beach. She never said that she was going to do any work. I, on the other hand, said that I was going to hang out with neighbors and do some work around the village, and also shop. I always liked shopping at small stores, which the town was full of.

The train stopped at the city's train station, our only stop. A lot of animals got off and a lot of animals got on. It was almost like they were replacing each other. The last animal to board the train was a blue and white cat with creepy, red eyes. He walked down the aisle and came towards us. I felt frightened, even though it was just a cat. He looked like a psychopath.

"Hi there," the cat said, "Can I sit with you two?"

I look at Whitney. She just nodded. She seemed to be a bit frightened by him as well.

"Sure," I responded. I wished I took it back during that moment. Now, this psychopathic cat is going to sit with us. He probably had a knife in his pocket!

The cat sat in the now empty seat in front of us. It was pretty creepy to have him staring right at us. I thought that I was going to get murdered. I always trusted everyone, but not this cat for some reason.

"My name is Rover," he said while sounding like he was plotting to kill us, "What's your names?"

"Riley."

"Whitney."

"Those are cute names," Rover said. He chuckled. Yep, I was going to die. Whitney rolled her eyes when he said that, but she didn't say anything. She didn't suspect anything.

"I'm going to Redwood to meet with my friend, Ryan," he said, "He's the mayor."

"It must be cool to be friends with the mayor," I said. "You're going to kill him?" I thought to myself.

"It is," he responded with excitement in his voice, "I get secret access to most of his house." He then gave us a curious look.

"You two are the ones moving to Redwood today, right?" he asked. I kind of died down on idea that he's a psychopath.

"Yep," I respond, "I can't wait to live there!"

"I am moving there, too," Whitney said.

"That's great!" Rover responded, "I hope you two have a great time."

"Riley, look!" Whitney said to me while pointing at the window. I look out and I could see a few buildings in the distance, but it was mostly trees.

That was Redwood. It wasn't much from the distance, but it was a whole lot when you're actually there.

"Looks like we're almost there," Rover said while looking out the window with us. I was getting more and more excited as we were getting closer and closer. My new town was staring to get in my reach.

A minute later the train slows down and stops. We were at Redwood's train station. Me, Whitney, Rover, and a few other animals and humans got off the train. When we got off, a cute, little monkey behind the desk came running up to us.

"Welcome to Redwood! My name is Porter," he said professionally. Porter then gave all of us maps, but he stopped at Rover.

"Good to see you again, buddy," he said to him. It seemed like he knew who Rover was.

"You too," Rover responded. They shook hands before Rover said goodbye and left suddenly. The idea of him being a psychopath started to resurface.

"Oh, you two are moving here?" Porter asked me and Whitney. We both nodded.

"Well then, here are your maps," he said. He pointed to a large building on the map.

"That's the town hall," he said, "The mayor and his secretary want to meet you two there." I couldn't believe I was going to meet the mayor on the first day.

We look at the maps. I notice there's some writing by a house near the beach and a three other houses.

"Riley's House"

Out of all of the houses on the map, my house was definitely the best. It seemed to have a great view of the beach. I looked over at Whitney's map and she lived near me. I wasn't sure who lived in the other two houses, though. Actually, they could've not even been occupied.

I was getting really excited! I was so happy to meet my neighbors and do activities around town! I looked over at Whitney and she seemed to be excited as well.

I couldn't wait to meet the mayor!

Chapter Text

As I walked out of the train station and was on my way to the town hall with Whitney, I noticed how beautiful this town is. Trees alongside the path, with bushes and pink flowers next to them. Benches where you can sit down and read a book. Big and small gardens all over the place. It was like a dream!

Whitney was admiring the scenery, too, while not paying attention to anything. I couldn't blame her. She looked at me after a minute of silence.

"When I was a young wolf, my father would bring me and my mother to natural parks whenever he could. I always admired them and I wanted to live in one of them," she said to me, "Living in this town is almost a dream come true."

My mother would do similar things with me, Sam, and Anthony. We would go explore the forests around our neighborhood. My brothers loved to find large, wild animals while exploring them, while I would always look at nature, admiring it. One time, Sam and Anthony helped me get on a tree. I wasn't scared, somehow. I was embracing being up so high. I could see birds flying by and deer running around. Moments like those made me love nature.

As we got closer to the town hall, I noticed that there were some villagers running around. I saw a very adorable, purple cat playing, an elephant who looked like a teacup reading a book on a bench, and a squirrel who looked like a marshmallow writing stuff in a journal.

We got to the town hall and went inside. A cute Shih Tzu that looked like a sack of Bells noticed us and ran towards us.

"Are you Riley and Whitney?" she asked us shyly.

"Yes, I'm Riley," I responded.

"I'm Whitney," Whitney quietly responded.

"Good. It's nice to meet you," she said, "I'm Isabelle, the mayor's secretary. He should be here in a minute."

Right when she said that, a human entered the town hall. He had brown hair, with some of it on his face. He wore a long-sleeved, blue polo with a pair of jeans. I guessed he was the mayor.

"Oh," he said while looking surprised, "I'm guessing you are Riley and Whitney, right?"

"I already asked them, mayor. They are definitely Riley and Whitney," Isabelle said. She then giggled.

"Wonderful," he responded excitedly, "I'm Ryan, the mayor." He shook both of our hands. I looked at his brown eyes. I saw a glimmer in his right one. He seemed to be a nice guy.

"Our residents have been wanting to meet you two, so can I see your maps?" he asked.

We handed him our maps and he went to his desk near the back and put some things on it. While he was doing that, I looked around the town hall. There was an awards case, with trophies, medals, and award certificates. There was also a picture of a tortoise above Ryan. The website said that his name was Tortimer and he was the previous mayor. Two minutes later, Ryan came back to us.

"It seems like Porter forgot to put the map key on the map again," he said quietly with an angry tone in his voice, "Oh well. Here are your maps." He then proceeded to hand us back our maps.

"I put a map key on the map," he discussed, "It says the locations of the stores, areas, and our villager's houses. I want you to introduce yourselves to your neighbors first."

"Mayor," Isabelle said suddenly, "You're getting a call."

"Duty calls," Ryan said to us, "See you guys in a little bit." He then goes back to his desk and answers his call and we leave the town hall.

"I hope the neighbors have the same tastes as me," Whitney said to me.

"I just hope that they're nice," I replied. We look at the list of villagers on our maps.

Rosie

Tia

Marshal

Apollo

Deirdre

Zucker

Genji

Lucky

Coco

"Looks like Lucky and Coco are our neighbors," Whitney pointed out. Sure enough, they live in the same area as we do. The area the four of us lived in was in a cul-de-sac, which reminded me of back home. I wondered when I would write to my mom. She seemed so desperate for me to write letters. I thought I probably needed to get to that tomorrow.

"Let's go to our houses," Whitney said

Chapter Text

Whitney and I went to our houses. We didn't see any villagers on our way there, but that just made me more anxious to meet them.

Our houses were a mile away from the town hall. When we got there, I realized how much of a great view of the beach we had. I could see it very clearly.

"I'm going to go inside my house now," Whitney said, "I'll see you again soon."

"Bye Whitney," I said to her. She then went down to her house. I decided that I was going to introduce myself to the neighbors first. Lucky and Coco weren't home, so I decided to introduce myself to the other neighbors, then come back to the cul-de-sac and, if I hadn't met them yet and they're home, introduce myself to them.

I took a bike that was by my house and rode down the dirt path. It was easy for me to get distracted by nature, but I didn't want to hit a tree, so I kept looking around for any villagers.

The first house I saw with someone inside wasn't that far away, only a few yards. The house had some sports equipment next to it, so I assumed they must go to the gym a lot.

I stopped my bike and knocked on the door. An Asian rabbit with brown ears and paws opened the door.

"You have to be the new neighbor!" he said excitedly, "I'm Genji, the local gym instructor, though there is no gym in Redwood."

"Well, I'm Riley," I said. "Nice to meet you."

"You wanna lift some weights?" Genji asked. I don't like exercising. I would only do it if Anthony and Sam wanted me to.

"No, thanks," I said. He looked upset, but he just shrugged.

"It's nice to meet you," he said, "but I gotta get back to my almost-evening routine. See you"

He then shut the door before I could say bye. I could immediately hear K.K. House playing inside his house.

There was another house right next to his. It had a little picnic spot next to it with a lot of leftover food. I knocked on its door. A little octopus that looked like takoyaki opened it.

"Oh, hey!" he said, "I'm Zucker. It's really neat to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you as well. I'm Riley," I said to him. He then shook my hand. Already nicer than Genji.

"You wanna play with me?" Zucker asked.

"Sure," I respond, "but I can't play for long."

He then welcomed me inside his house, which looked like a street market. We then played a board game, but after a while, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Zucker said.

An elephant opened the door. It was the same teacup-looking elephant from earlier.

"Hi Tia," he said, "The new neighbor is here! Her name is Riley."

I waved hello to her.

"Nice to meet you," I said to her.

Tia looked a bit shy and only did a little wave. Zucker invited her to play, but she just wanted to hand him back a book she borrowed.

"It was good," she said, "Thanks for letting me borrow it."

"You're welcome," he replied, "Just don't spoil it, okay?"

Tia giggled, "Well, bye." She then left the house. After that, I looked at the clock.

7 o'clock.

"Sorry Zucker, but I need to go," I said to him.

"It's alright," he replied.

"Bye!" I said as I left his house. I closed the door and looked at my map to see who I need to introduce myself to.

"I haven't introduced myself to Rosie, Marshal, Apollo, Deirdre, Lucky, and Coco yet," I thought to myself.

It started to rain. I heard thunder in the distance. I didn't have an umbrella. I got soaked in what seemed like 5 seconds.

Suddenly, I hear a voice in the distance.

Chapter Text

Their voice was muffled by the rain. I couldn't hear what they said. I couldn't see anybody either.

I heard another muffled voice. This time, I could tell that they were female, as the voice sounded closer than before. I looked around and I saw silhouettes of a dog and a rabbit in the distance, walking together underneath an umbrella.

"You probably should've looked at the weather today," the rabbit said.

"I didn't know we would be out this late," the dog said.

"Hey look, there's someone in the distance."

They saw me. They then started running towards me, like I was in a horror movie.

"Do you need any help?" the rabbit asked.

Once they were close enough, I noticed how... strange they looked. The dog was all wrapped up in bandages, with a yellow eye peeking out. The rabbit was normal, except for its face.

The eyes and mouth were hollow.

They finally caught up to me after a few seconds and introduced themselves.

"Wow, you must be new here!" the dog said excitedly, "I'm Lucky."

"And I'm Coco," the rabbit said quietly.

I recognized those names and I realized that they were my neighbors, along with Whitney.

"I'm Riley," I responded, "Good to meet you two."

The rain was starting to get worse after dying down a bit. I needed to get indoors. It reminded me of one of my oldest memories. Sam and Anthony were walking me home from preschool when it started to pour down rain. Instead of going inside, my brothers started to collect rainwater with their bottles. They even lent me one and I started to collect the rain. When we got home, my mom put the bottles in the freezer turned them into ice cubes. She then started to make her homemade smoothies, which I loved.

"We should go to my place," Coco said. We then walked to her place together, all underneath one umbrella. One we got to her place, Lucky went inside.

"You can come in, too," Coco said to me. I wondered if I should. I hadn't even been in my own house yet.

"Sure," I replied.

I walked into her house and I immediately fell in love with it. The furniture was all mostly homemade, with books everywhere. Despite that, everything was neatly organized. I couldn't even find any dust!

"We should set up a fort!" Lucky shouted. Coco giggled.

"I guess I'll go get some blankets and pillows," she said. She then went upstairs to her bedroom.

While we were waiting for her, Lucky started a conversation with me.

"Do you think Redwood is pretty?" he asked.

"I think it is very pretty," I responded, "I love natural-looking towns. It's why I moved here."

Coco came back downstairs with pillows and blankets a few seconds later.

"Yay!" Lucky shouted, "Let's build a fort now!"

It took us about ten to fifteen minutes to build a fort. We also put the TV underneath it so we could watch a movie together. When it was done, I realized that the blankets and pillows were all knitted by hand.

"I'm proud of this," Coco said to us.

"Me too," Lucky said, "Let's go inside now!"

We went inside the cozy fort and turned on the TV. There were a lot of movies on, so it was hard to choose.

"Let's watch this one," Lucky said while pointing at a movie called "The Dog Next Door".

"That's a horror movie," I pointed out.

"Nevermind," he said.

"What about this one?" Coco asked while pointing at a movie called "The Survival Games".

"That has a lot of blood," Lucky said with fear in his voice.

"That doesn't mean anything compared to The Dog Next Door," I responded.

"Let's just watch it," Coco interrupted, "It's getting late."

She turned on the movie and we had only missed the first minute, which was good. After about 30 minutes or so, it goes on a commercial break.

"What do you think of it now, Lucky?" Coco asked sarcastically.

"Not as scary as I thought," he replied, "What about you, Riley?"

"I like it," I responded. All of this reminded me of when me, Sam, and Anthony would build a fort and watch movies underneath it. I was too little to make a lot of decisions, so I would always end up watching what they wanted to watch, but I didn't mind. They did get into trouble once, though, when Mom walked in and saw us watching a horror movie.

While we were talking about how good the movie was so far, a music video came on. It wasn't a big deal, since this channel does that during commercial breaks, but that's when I realized how creepy the K.K. Dirge music video was.

"This is creepy," Lucky trembled.

I look over at Coco and, despite her hollow eyes, she looked like she was about to cry.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She turned around and looked at me.

"I'm fine," she replied quietly, "It's just that the meaning of this music video is saddening for me."

The music video finishes and we go back to watching the movie for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

I woke up after sleeping for a little bit and looked around. Coco and Lucky were gone. The TV was turned off. The only sound I could hear was the crickets outside.

I got out of the fort and headed outside. It's still pouring down rain. I could see lightning striking in the distance. I could hear the thunder one second after each lightning strike.

I made my way out of the cul-de-sac and down some path. I was going in a specific direction, but I didn't know where I was going in the first place.

The lights were off in each of the houses I passed. I couldn't see any form of life in the village. I made my way towards the edge of the village, where all I could see were trees.

I walked through the thick, misty forest on no set path. I looked at nothing. I thought nothing. I was just focused on making it to my unknown destination. I walked through sticks, branches, leaves, anything that was in my way.

Minutes later, I reached my destination. It was a small graveyard, with all of the graves being mossy. I look at each of the graves. All of the names have moss covered on them. One grave caught my eye, though.

It was a newer grave, but it still had moss on it. Unlike the other graves, however, this one was dug up, like a zombie had risen from the dead and dug itself out of its own grave.

My vision was getting more and more blurry each second. I was getting dizzier and dizzier with each passing second as well. I had no idea what was happening. I didn't care, though. All I was doing was staring at the grave. It got to the point where I fell down flat on my face. I felt so much pain for some reason, but I didn't hit anything other than the wet grass.

I looked up and I saw Coco's dark, hollow eyes staring at me.

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I woke up again, but this time the TV was on and Coco and Lucky were sleeping next to me. The rain had stopped as well.

It was only a nightmare.

I looked to see what was on the TV and it was some kind of superhero movie. I turned it off and lied back down again. I started to think about that nightmare I had. Could it have meant anything?

I tried to drift off to sleep, but I had no luck. I decided to just turn back on the TV and watch that superhero movie. At that point, I found out it was a TV show, not a movie.

I actually was interested in it. I wished Coco and Lucky were awake to watch it with me. A kid fighting ghosts may spook Lucky, but he might still like it.

After I finished watching one episode, I hear a knock at the door. I looked at the clock. It was two in the morning.

"Who could be up so late?" I thought to myself.

I got up and walked towards the door and opened it, expecting it to be some kind of monster that would attack me.

Instead, it was Ryan. He looked confused at first, but he got his act together.

"Sorry to bother you so early," he said. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was tired.

"Can't sleep?" I asked him.

"No, I have too much work to do," he answered. He got his brown hair out of his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I wondered. He looked at me but stayed silent for a few moments before finally speaking.

"I saw that there was some light, so I figured Coco was still awake," he replied, "Is she still awake?"

"No, she and Lucky are sleeping. I'm only awake because of a nightmare I had."

Ryan then shrugged and looked inside the house for a few minutes, but he was silent the entire time. He then looked at me.

"Goodnight," he said. He then walked away. I looked to see where he was going. I guessed he was going to his house.

I closed the door and went back to the fort. I guess I made too much noise, though, since Lucky was awake.

"Sorry Lucky," I apologized. He looked over at me.

"It's fine," he quietly responded. He looked back at the TV. "This show is nice."

I lied back down in my little spot. I looked over at Coco, but she was still asleep, thankfully.

"I had this nightmare last night," I said quietly to Lucky.

"Was it scary?" he asked.

"I guess. I was just walking to an unknown destination. It ended up being a graveyard. I was just staring at this grave that had been dug up. I fell down, looked up, and I saw Coco staring at me."

Lucky stayed silent for a second before speaking.

"This show probably scared you," he muttered. He then went back to watching the show. I decided to try and get some sleep.

A few minutes later, I heard Lucky crying.

Chapter Text

I finally drifted off to sleep after a while. When I woke up, it was already morning. I look around and I notice Coco is gone, but I heard some noises that weren't coming from the TV, so she was probably awake. Meanwhile, Lucky was sound asleep. I was worried about him last night, but I'm glad he's okay. I look at the TV and the news was on. They were discussing the recent big racing event and who won. A horse named Victoria won the race. I decided that I need to get out of the fort and head on over to my house.

I got up and I noticed that Coco, wearing a green dress over a white shirt, was in the kitchen getting ready to cook some food. She seemed to know what she was doing. She noticed I was there and looked over at me.

"Morning," she said.

"What are you making?" I asked.

"Just my homemade pancakes," she answered, "Is Lucky awake yet?"

"Not yet."

Coco didn't seem to mind. She then went back to cooking.

"I'm going to be heading to my house soon," I said after a moment of silence.

"Do you want some pancakes first?" she asked, "I'm making one for each of us."

I never had an offer like that. My mom taught me how to cook at a young age, so I was always told to get food by myself.

"Sure, why not," I replied.

I realized how much cooking she had to do all by herself, so I decided to help.

"You need any help?" I asked her.

"Sure," she answered.

So, I helped Coco with the pancakes. She volunteered to make her and Lucky's, while I made my own. A few minutes before we finished, Lucky woke up.

"What's that smell?" he asked.

"Pancakes," Coco and I answered.

"Sweet!" Lucky said excitedly. He then decided to get his pancake toppings by himself.

Once we were done cooking, we sat down at a table near the fort and started to eat some pancakes.

"Thanks, Coco and Riley," Lucky said, but his voice was a bit muffled because it was full of food.

"Just thank Coco," I responded, "She's the one who made your pancake."

Coco blushed. "Thanks," she said to me, "Oh, and you're welcome, Lucky."

We then went back to eating. Despite having a hollow mouth, Coco seemed to eat just fine. After a bit of silence, I decided to ask Lucky a question.

"Why were you crying last night?" I asked him.

He and Coco stopped eating. He seemed to not want to answer that question, but he answered it after a minute of staying quiet and staring at the floor.

"That TV show last night got sad," he finally answered quietly. He then went back to eating. I looked over at Coco and she was staring at her food not eating it.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"I'm okay," she quietly answered while not looking at me.

We finished our meal in silence. Nobody said a word to each other.

"Thanks for allowing me to stay here," I said when I was throwing away my paper plate. Lucky and Coco just nodded.

"You two okay?" I asked. Unlike last time, Coco actually didn't just say "I'm okay".

"We're just tired, that's all," she said quietly.

"Yeah," Lucky responded. All of the sudden, Coco got out of her seat.

"Do you two want to go to Main Street and go do some shopping?" She asked us. I was going to go home, but then I checked how much Bells I had in my pockets that I had saved up before I moved here.

10,000 Bells. I thought I had only saved up 1,000. I guessed my mom must've put some extra in there.

"Sure," I responded.

"Will we go to Brewster's?" Lucky asked Coco.

"That's our first stop," she replied.

I then got my hair straightened up and we left the house. The sun was still rising. It looked so beautiful. I never saw a better sunrise. The sky was full of orange and red, with the light of the sun almost blinding me. We then started to walk out of the cul-de-sac and walk down the dirt path. We were walking through the large plaza, which had a large tree in the center when a bald eagle came running towards us from behind the tree.

"Hey Coco, Lucky, and... whatever your name is," he said.

"My name is Riley," I said, "I just moved here"

"Well, nice to meet you, kiddo," he replied, "I'm Apollo."

"Are you telling the mayor about your plans?" Coco asked. She seemed to be a bit worried.

"Just about to," Apollo answered, "I love Redwood, but I need to move on with my life."

"Are you moving out?" I asked him.

"Yes ma'am," he answered.

"Well, we are going to miss you real bad, so please write us letters," Coco begged.

Apollo chuckled. He readjusted his jacket before walking to the town hall.

"Riley, go make sure he doesn't mess anything up," Coco said all of the sudden.

"What, why," I asked her. She stayed silent for a few moments.

"Just go," she answered quietly. So, I did. I had no idea why I was doing this, but I didn't want to let her down. I looked behind me and I saw Lucky trying to help Coco, who was crying.

The town hall wasn't that far, so I was there pretty quickly. Other than Apollo, the only other villager there was Tia. She looked over at me and waved hi, but she didn't speak. After I waved hi, I looked over at Apollo and he was going inside the town hall.

I went over to the side of the town hall near a window and started spying on him. It was slightly opened, so I could hear what they were saying.

"Morning Apollo," Isabelle said when Apollo walked in.

"Can I see Ryan? It's urgent," he asked.

Isabelle then got on the phone with the mayor. She hung up a few seconds later.

"He's in that back room over there," she said to Apollo. She opened her little door so he could go through, and he went inside the backroom

I went over to find a window for the back room. All three of them had their curtains closed, but I found one that was slightly open.

"Hey Ryan," Apollo said when he entered the room. There was a bit of silence.

"Oh, nice to see you, Apollo," Ryan replied. Another moment of silence.

"So, it's going to be hard to ask this, but can I move out of Redwood?" he asked a bit quickly. There was a long moment of silence.

"Well, let me get your paper files then," Ryan muttered. I heard a drawer open and close after a few seconds.

"Alright, here are your files," Ryan muttered. Another long, quiet moment. All of the sudden, I heard a loud crack. Another crack, one after another. Finally, it was silent.

"Something wrong, mayor?" I heard Isabelle ask.

"No, just dropped a lot of things," he answered. I decided to peek in through the gap to see what was happening. I put my hand through the window and slightly opened the curtains.

I saw Ryan, covered in blood, staring at the dead, bloody body of Apollo, with an axe in his chest.

Chapter Text

I immediately ran off. I needed to get back to the plaza and tell Coco and Lucky what happened. While running, all I could think about was Apollo's dead body. I didn't even know him very much, but I felt bad. I hated Ryan for killing him.

While on my way there, I remembered the first time I saw a dead body. I was walking home from school when I heard Anthony and Sam screaming. I looked around and I saw my own father's dead body in an alley. Everything else after that was a blur.

I finally made it to the plaza. I found Coco and Lucky sitting by a bench in front of the large tree. I ran up towards them.

"What's going on?" Coco asked.

"R-Ryan, h-he," I stuttered. I couldn't even say it. Instead of being told to calm down, Coco took my hand and started walking towards the forest. Lucky tagged along with us.

"Where are we going?" he asked. Coco stayed silent.

"What are you doing?" I asked her. She stayed silent, and Lucky just shrugged. I saw her take a look at him and just nod. Then, he started crying like how he did last night.

"She's going to show her," I heard him whisper.

We made it towards the forest. We all walked through it. Coco walked through anything that was in her path. I looked around and I realized that this forest looked exactly like the one in the dream. I looked around and I saw some structures in the distance.

A graveyard. Also like the one from my dream.

We walked closer and closer to it. I felt like I was being dragged to my death. Why did I move here? Why did I leave Mom behind? Why did I leave everything behind only for all of this to happen?

Those last two questions were the same questions I asked about Sam when he left for college. I wondered why he would leave his family just to go to college for four years. I begged him to stay, but he had a conversation with me about how college can change his life. So, when it was Anthony's turn to go, around a year ago, I was prepared for it and I didn't beg him to stay. I felt bad for not begging him to stay. I sounded like I didn't care as much as I did when Sam left.

We finally made it to the graveyard. Coco let go of my hand.

"Look around," she muttered, "Find out who that monster of a mayor really is."

I looked at all of the graves. Just like in the dream, there were three rows of eight. Unlike in the dream, however, only the first seven were covered in moss. I looked at the names on the graves. I never knew anything about the people on these graves. The first one I read had the name Cupcake on it. Another one I read had the name Champ on it. I looked over at the edge of the graveyard and I saw that same grave that had been dug up from the dream. It wasn't mossy, either. I looked at the grave to see who it belonged too. I had to clean off some dust, and I was able to look at the name. I figured it would probably be someone I didn't know.

So, when I saw the name Coco written on it, I was too shocked to move. Was I reading it right? I looked over at Coco. She and Lucky were standing there being silent. Finally, Coco spoke.

"You would've found out at some point," she whispered. I looked over at Lucky. He had tears in his eye. His bandages below the eye were wet.

"What's going on?" I stuttered. I look at Coco's dark, hollow, emotionless eyes. I stumbled back a bit, almost falling in the grave.

"I never looked like this," Coco whispered while looking at her cold, clay hands, "I never wanted to." I looked over at Lucky. He whispered something to her, but I didn't hear what he said.

"Just tell me!" I screamed. I probably shouldn't have done that. That probably made her feel worse about herself. However, Coco looked right at me. At that moment, I wished everything was just a dream. I wished I could just wake up back at home with my mom. I wished I never moved here!

"The mayor murdered me. Ryan murdered me. He was behind the slaughter of all of these villagers, including me. He took away everything!" She screamed. She then fell down to the floor and starting crying. What was I supposed to say to my dead friend?

"We need to stop him," I said without thinking. Coco and Lucky both looked at me like I had said something revolutionary. Turns out, I did.

"I never even knew the mayor did any of this," Lucky said. He turned around and looked at Coco.

"But you already know about what happened to her, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I was the one who helped her out of her grave," he answered.

"Riley's right," I heard Coco mutter suddenly, "I never tried to stop him. All I did was watch. I need to stop him." She got up and looked at me and Lucky. "We need to stop him."

"How?" Lucky asked.

"We need to get him out of Redwood. We need to tell everyone when the time is right," Coco answered.

"Isn't a K.K. Slider concert happening on Saturday?" he wondered. I would be so excited for a K.K. concert if none of this was happening right now.

"Yes. Everyone will be there," Coco said. All of the sudden, we heard something from behind us. We turned around and we saw Ryan dragging Apollo's body towards the graveyard.

"Did he notice us?" I thought to myself. Unfortunately, I heard his cold-hearted voice speaking to us.

"Looks like you found out," he said. He then chuckled.

"I can't believe you would do this!" I screamed at him. Lucky was hiding behind a grave, while Coco stood in front of me. She was defending me.

"It's not like anyone will believe anything bad that you say about me," he answered. Lucky poked his head out.

"I believe her," he said. Ryan turned around and looked at him. He immediately started hiding again.

"Don't touch anyone ever again," Coco said all of the sudden. Ryan chucked. He was getting closer.

"Rules are the rules, little rabbit," he said crazily.

"You can't just kill people if they want to leave!" She said angrily.

"We have a zero percent move-out rate," he replied, "I want to keep it that way." At this point, he was right in front of us. I noticed he had a shovel in his right hand. The axe was still in Apollo's chest.

"I'll let you guys run free, but that's your only warning," he said. He then walked passed us and started to bury Apollo.

"Do something," I whispered to Coco. She immediately snuck up behind Ryan and took his shovel. All of the sudden, before she could hit him, Ryan grabbed the handle of the shovel and turned around.

"Do that again and I'll chop your head off like I should've done when you first came back," he said angrily. He then threw the shovel on the floor. He then took the axe out of Apollo's bloody body and began showing it off to her.

"The hero of the village," he teased, "Why didn't you save him?"

That's when Coco fell down to the floor and starting crying. No tears rolled down her eyes, but I knew she wasn't faking it. Lucky got up from behind the grave.

"Let's go," he said. He went towards Coco and grabbed her hand.

"Let me go!" she screamed. She tried to break free, but she couldn't. All of the sudden, she stopped crying and stood up. She looked over at Ryan.

"I'll tell everyone," she said. Lucky let go of her. She then walked towards me. He followed her.

"Come on," she muttered. After that, we all left the graveyard. I looked behind me and I saw Ryan holding the bloody axe that was in Apollo's chest. He was staring at us.

That day, I learned something. You can't always trust the people you think are supposed to be good. Sometimes, their goodness is just an illusion.

They could be someone behind the slaughters of innocent people.

Chapter Text

Coco, Lucky, and I walked out of the forest together, but we didn't say a word. I started to think about what Apollo's future would've been like. He could've gotten one of the best jobs in the world and make tons of money. He could've decided to settle down and start a family. He could've decided to travel the world and become a famous traveler.

But, all because of Ryan, he couldn't become anything.

We finally made it back to the plaza. There were a few villagers out and about, not knowing what had just happened to Apollo. Looking at the villagers, I realized I haven't seen Whitney since yesterday. Was she still unpacking? I also realized that I haven't even started to unpack.

Coco and Lucky were talking to each other quietly like they didn't want me to overhear them. I looked behind me and I saw a brown deer with white lips running towards me.

"You new here?" she asked. I nodded. I couldn't speak at that moment. I was still in a lot of shock over what happened.

"Well, I'm Deirdre," she replied, "My friend wants to meet you. She's pretty cool." I didn't want to do any introductions right now, but I didn't want to let her down. I looked back at Coco and Lucky and they were still talking.

"Sure," I said quietly.

"Great!" Deirdre said excitedly, "I'll go get her!" She then ran into a nearby garden, probably to go get her friend. All of a sudden, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked behind me and Lucky was standing there.

"Can we talk for a minute while she's getting her friend?" he asked. Was he listening to our conversation?

"What's it about?" I asked. He then motioned me to follow him. I followed him and he took me over to Coco.

"Hey Riley," she said quietly, "Can we talk to you about Ryan real quick?"

"Yeah," I answered.

"Okay, good," she said, "There's a K.K. Slider concert happening on Saturday. We should expose him there."

Expose him at a K.K. concert? Why was she being so specific?

"Why then?" I asked, "Can't we just do it now?"

"He can't kill us if we expose him in front of not only the entire village, but also K.K. himself," she answered.

"Is he going to kill us?" I muttered. She and Lucky looked at each other, then they looked back at me.

"He's been trying to get rid of me for ages now," Coco said, "Today was the final straw."

"Hey, new kid! My friend's here!"

I turned around and I saw Deirdre and a cute, purple cat running towards me. She stopped once she was in front of me and took a breather.

"This is my friend, Rosie," she said while panting.

"Hi!" Rosie said excitedly, "I can't believe you've already here! It's SO nice to meet you!" She then shook my hand rapidly.

"Nice to meet you, too," I replied, "I'm Riley!"

"Ryan, the mayor here, said that you moved in yesterday! I couldn't believe it! I wanted to meet you, but I couldn't find you," Rosie said rapidly. I got confused. Didn't Whitney also move her yesterday? I know she did since I was with her for almost the entire day.

"Have you met the other new neighbor yet?" I asked Rosie and Deirdre, "Her name is Whitney." They both looked at me confused.

"The mayor said you were the only one moving in," Deirdre said. I looked over at Coco and Lucky and they looked confused as well.

"Her name is Whitney. She's a white wolf with blue eyes. She lives in the cul-de-sac with me, Coco, and Lucky." Again, they all looked at me confused. Why did they not know she moved in with me? What was going on?

"Is she your imaginary friend?" Rosie asked.

"No," I answered, "Whitney was seen by Porter, Ryan, and even a cat on the train we rode on."

"Let's just go back to the cul-de-sac," I heard Lucky say from behind me. Did he think I was crazy?

"Fine," I muttered. Me, Coco, and proceeded to walk back to the cul-de-sac.

"We'll plan how to expose Ryan tomorrow," Coco said to me and Lucky.

"I haven't even started to unpack yet," I said. While we were on our way there, Lucky caught a bug.

"Look at what I found!" he exclaimed. He then showed us an atlas moth he had in his net.

"Those are pretty rare," Coco said. "You should donate it to Blathers."

"Who's Blathers?" I asked.

"He's an owl that runs the museum," Lucky explained. "He's afraid of bugs, but he gives all of his creatures at the museum tons of care, unlike me." He then let out a loud laugh. Coco sighed.

"The pet fish that you said you would take good care of starved," she said.

"It didn't starve!" Lucky shouted. "It died of old age!"

"Whatever floats your boat," she responded. We then went back to walking while Lucky put the bug in a container that was as big as the bug itself. When we finally made it back to the cul-de-sac, Lucky went to his house. I looked over at "Whitney's" house, but the lights were turned off. I was about to finally get inside my house when Coco said something.

"Make sure you come to my place tomorrow around ten," she said. She then went inside her own house. So, I gently opened the door of my house and opened it up.

There were already boxes in the house, as I had already had them delivered before I arrived. It had enough room for me to do all my activities. It even had a second floor, which was strange. I read on the website that you usually have to pay off your loan before you got a second floor to your home. I guess whoever lived here before I did already have paid off their loan.

"Wonder if they were killed," I thought to myself.

I then spent the rest of the day unpacking my belongings. I had unpacked almost everything and was just about to get my computer set up in my bedroom on the second floor when I got a call from the phone downstairs. I immediately ran down and picked it up.

"Hello," I said. Whoever was on the other end was silent at first. I heard something moving around.

"Help me!" I heard a female voice yell faintly. Then, the line went dead. I immediately put down the phone. Was it just a prank call? Knowing what had just happened, it probably wasn't. I was beginning to think of who was on the line, but I only had one guess.

Whitney.

I immediately began to worry about what happened to her. Was she kidnapped and being tortured?

I needed to find out. I immediately call Lucky and Coco.

"Hi Riley," I heard Lucky say with food in his mouth.

"Hey," I heard Coco's calm voice say. "What's going on?"

"Whitney isn't imaginary," I said. "She is real."

Chapter Text

I didn't go to bed that night. Instead, I decided to help Whitney or whoever needed help. While I was on the phone with Coco and Lucky, they said I needed to help, but they also said that the voice could have belonged to anyone. However, I still knew that it had to belong to Whitney.

I walked over to "her house" in the middle of the night. I only brought a flashlight. No one was awake, not even Coco and Lucky. I started thinking about the first time I was on my own in the middle of the night. I was 10 years old. My mom had sent me to summer camp. I loved everything about it, except for my cabin. The girls that were there were jerks and always made fun of my appearance and my journal I kept. I had enough of it one night and left the cabin in the middle of the night. No one was awake, like now, so I could get away easier. I went to the bathhouse and stayed there for the night. It was cold and I got no sleep, but I thought it was better than being with those girls. No one noticed that I stayed the night at the bathhouse, so I didn't get in trouble.

I finally made it to the house. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I looked through the window, but it was pitch black inside. I knocked on the door again, and this time, it opened on its own.

I went inside the house. There were still quite a lot of boxes still laying around. There was also a lot of clutter as well. The phone was laying on the floor, while books and papers were scattered all over the place. I looked around, but I saw no clues to what happened, excluding the phone.

Then, I heard a loud thump.

I looked around rapidly, but I saw nothing.

Then, I heard a muffled scream.

I began to panic and started to shake rapidly. I slowly walked around until I noticed that there were some stairs that led to a basement. I slowly walked down there and looked around, but I only saw a bookcase. I walked over to it and started to go through the books. When I got some out of the way, however, I saw that there was a door behind it.

I ran to the side of the bookcase and started to push it. Books fell down the more and more I pushed. I started to get weary. I had no idea why it was so heavy. As more books fell down, it only became slightly lighter. Finally, I was able to move the bookcase enough to open the door. So, I gently opened it.

Whitney looked at me, shocked. She began to beg for help, but her mouth was entirely duct-taped, so her voice was muffled. I tried to get the duck tape off her, with no luck. She started to turn her head back and forth, trying to show me something. I looked behind her and her wrists were tied up to a pole.

I began to untie her. I wasn't good at untying anything, so it took a while. Finally, I managed to get her untied, however, she didn't get up.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She began to point to her legs, then she pointed up. I looked up and I noticed that there was a small piece of rope tied to the top of the pole. It was broken off. Someone must have tied her up to the top of the pole and she fell down, likely when I heard the loud thud. The impact must have caused her to break her legs, but she wasn't even all that high.

I began to pick her up. She was very, very heavy, but I managed to be able to carry her. She needed help, and she needed it fast. I walked out of the basement and headed outside. It was starting to sprinkle a bit, so I needed to hurry. I looked around, hoping that someone would be there, but no one was there.

I began to leave the cul-de-sac. I knew that almost everyone would be sleeping. I walked down the dirt path and found Genji and Zucker's houses. Genji was asleep, but Zucker had his light on. I knocked on his door and he opened it up. He was in his pajamas, so I came just in time.

"Zucker, please help!" I begged. He stood still for a moment, likely because he was tired, but he looked at Whitney and started panicking.

"Lay her down!" he yelled. I put her down and Zucker started to call someone. After about 30 seconds, he hung up.

"My friend is on her way, " he said. We waited for a moment, while Zucker was failing to get his duct tape off of Whitney before there was a knock on the door. He ran over and opened it. Tia was standing there, with a first-aid kit in her hands. She was wearing a black nightgown.

"I came as soon as I could!" she said. She looked over at me and Whitney.

"I know what to do, " she said. She went over to us and started to gently take the duct tape off of her. It was slow, and a bit painful for Whitney, as she yelped a lot.

"She could have easily suffocated if her nose was covered up, " Tia explained. Finally, after about 10 minutes, she got the last of the duct tape off of her.

"Thank you, " Whitney gasped, "But my right leg is still broken."

"Don't worry, " she replied, "I know how to help."

Tia then began to put a cast that she got out of her kit on her leg.

"You'll need a lot of rest," she explained while putting the cast on. During all of this, I stayed by Whitney's side, holding her hand. After 5 minutes, Tia finished putting on the cast.

"You'll need a wheelchair," she said. Whitney let out a sigh, but then just nodded.

"Tia," I said, "Thank you." She looked over at me and smiled.

"I'm always there to help," she said. Zucker then ran up to her holding a book.

"Take this," he said. He then lent her the book.

"There was a sequel?" Tia asked while looking at the book cover.

"Yep!" he said excitedly.

"Thanks so much!" She said. She then gave him a hug. He giggled. She then looked over at Whitney and me.

"Without you," she said, "Whitney would be long gone. Thank you." She then left.

"You want to stay here?" Zucker asked Whitney curiously. Whitney just nodded. She looked traumatized.

"Yay!" Zucker excitedly said. He then looked over at me.

"You should probably be heading back home now, " he said.

"You're right," I said.

"Bye-bye!" Zucker said as I walked out of the house. Before I walked out, I looked over at Whitney.

"I hope you get better," I said. I then closed the door, went down to my house, and finally got some sleep.