The Unwanted Kid
For as long as Anne could remember, she had always been unwanted.
Her parents hadn’t wanted her, or maybe they did, but they couldn’t keep her. She didn’t know.
She was only a year old when her parents had left her at St Joseph’s Children’s Home, leaving her to live out her childhood and possibly her teen years in the faulty foster care system.
During her seven years of living at the home, she’d been unwanted by both the staff and the other children. To the caretakers and staff, she was nothing but a nuisance- a troublemaker.
She was a very hyperactive child- too much energy, they always said.
Anne was always running around the children’s home or the playground behind the home, always looking for something to do or someone to play with, sometimes resorting to just running circles around things or entertaining herself with random toys or things she found.
She’d also explore the many rooms of the children’s home, looking for anything interesting to entertain her. Her exploring more often than not was unsuccessful, with Anne never finding anything new or interesting and getting yelled at by the caretakers for snooping- but she still liked exploring rooms just for the fun of it.
Another reason why she was so unliked by the caretakers and other kids was because besides being constantly full of energy, she was also very impatient, and was quick to get angry.
Oh boy, could she get angry.
Whenever someone teased her or did anything to upset her, she would get unbelievably angry- to the point of getting into violent physical fights with other kids.
She tried to control her anger- but no one gave her help or advice on how to control it.
Instead of being helped, she was punished by being denied dinner or recess or by being kept in a solitary room for a day, and was always left to her own devices when it came to actually learning to manage her temper.
Despite the fact that she was basically considered nothing but a burden- something everyone was annoyed by and tried to avoid- she tried to stay positive.
She did have two friends- the first being Domino, a stray cat that lived near the home that would play with Anne and let her pet and hold her.
The other friend was Maggie, another little girl living at the children’s home.
Maggie had started being Anne’s friend after seeing her beat up Jamie, an older kid, after he’d thrown a piece of gum into her wild afro of hair- which had lead to Anne getting a huge chunk of her hair cut off by one of the caretakers- who had done a really, REALLY bad job and had ended up shaving her whole head, which had lead Anne to getting made fun of even more, which had also led to Anne fighting the kids that made fun of her and getting into even more trouble, as well as Anne having to wear an old beanie hat till her hair had grown back.
Despite Anne ending up punished and bald, Maggie had been impressed, impressed enough that she offered to be Anne’s friend. They got into all kinds of fun and trouble together- raiding the kitchen for midnight snacks after everyone had gone to bed, seeing who could climb the highest on the trees near the home, pranking the caretakers and other kids, or playing truth or dare.
Truth or dare was their favorite game.
In fact, they spent the majority of their days playing it.
Their dares ranged from silly and innocent to dangerous and possibly deadly; Jumping off the swingset while in mid air, drinking expired milk, drawing on some poor,unsuspecting kid’s face with a sharpie as they slept, dye their hair green using cheap tempera paint, smoking a cigarette they’d found on the street, stealing money from a caretaker’s purse… the possibilities were endless.
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On this particular day, as Anne and Maggie sat on the swings, twisting the rusted old chains so they could spin around, laughing as they spun and swung about, Maggie decided that she wanted to play truth or dare yet again.
”Hey Anne, truth or dare?” The redhead asked, stopping her swing.
Anne looked up, her unruly chestnut locks obscuring her eyes a bit.
”Dare!!” She replied.
Maggie thought for a moment, looking around the playground, then at the home.
”.....You know where the warden’s office is?”
”Yeeeeeah…” Anne said,eyes narrowing.”What are you thinkin?”
Maggie smiled wide, the large gap between her front teeth visible.
”I dare you to go into Mrs. Dean’s office and steal something outta there!”
Anne’s eyes widened.
Mrs. Dean was the warden of the children’s home, and the warden wasn’t someone anyone at the home EVER wanted to mess with.
The caretakers you could mess with- the worst you’d get was a slap on the back of the head or across your face and your dinner taken away.
But the warden… One wrong move, and she’d make sure you NEVER got adopted or even put up for a foster family, and you’d be stuck in the hell box that was the children's home until you turned eighteen.
At least that’s what the older kids and caretakers all said.
Anne really did want a family. She wanted to be with people who wanted her and made her feel wanted. She didn’t want to be an unwanted kid for the rest of her life.
She didn’t care if Maggie had dared her, she couldn’t risk the possibility of being an unwanted kid forever.
”.....Can you…..Choose another dare please?” Anne asked quietly.
”Chicken!!” Maggie said loudly, a smirk forming on her freckled little face.
”I am not!!” Anne yelled, gripping the swing chains.
”Then why don’t you take the dare?” Maggie asked, raising an eyebrow as she twisted the swing chains.
”Because……..” she hesitated, trying to think of an excuse.
”Well…..what would I even steal? And how would we even get in?!?”
“We get in with this!” Maggie reached into the pocket of her hoodie, pulling out a key.
”Spare key. Stole it out of Ms. James’s purse when she wasn’t lookin’. As for what you’d steal, steal anything! Anything that’s there!”
Anne thought for a moment, then sighed. She was scared of what would happen if Mrs. Dean or someone else caught her.
But…
She didn’t wanna look like a coward in front of her only friend.
”Fine.” She said, grabbing the key from Maggie’s hand.
”I’ll steal something, but only to prove that I’m not a chicken.”
Maggie smiled and got off the swing.”Well let's go then! We have a few minutes till recess ends!”
Anne jumped off her swing and ran inside, Maggie following her. She got to the door of the Warden’s office, feeling anxious. Maggie got behind her,smirking.
”Chiiiiikeeeeen! Youre a chicken! Cluck cluck cluuuuuck!” She whispered as Anne glared at her, her face going red.
”Am Not!” She yelled at her, Maggie backing up a bit.
Anne turned, shoving the key into the lock and unlocking the door, slowly walking inside.
Maggie watched from the doorway, waiting to see what Anne chose to steal.
The Warden’s office didn’t have much in it. The only things in the room were a big desk, a mint green filing cabinet, a wheeled office chair, and a bookshelf.
The desk had a few picture frames on it, along with a few papers, a now empty mug that had once contained coffee, and a plastic cup that held numerous pens and pencils.
Anne decided to steal a pencil, as it was small and wouldn’t be easily noticed if it was gone. She walked over to the desk, reaching out to grab a pencil out of the cup of pens and pencils, when her eyes wandered over to the bookshelf, her curiosity getting the best of her as she saw the many objects on the shelves.
The top shelf of the bookshelf was packed full of big, heavy looking books, and the middle shelf of the bookshelf had a few smaller books, along with a few binders that were stuffed with numerous papers.
On the very bottom shelf of the bookshelf, however, there were no books or binders.
Instead, there were a few small, random objects.
A small resin peacock statue, two white bookends that were shaped to look like cow heads, a light green vase that held a few small fake flowers, and a small, black and gold box that had some sort of design on the lid.
It was the box that caught Anne’s interest, making her forget all about stealing the pencil.
That looks cool! Anne thought, going over to the bookshelf and slowly getting the box, holding it and examining it further.
The design on it depicted a frog, and beside the frog was three gemstones- two clear and one bright blue.
”Psst! Recess is almost over, hurry up!” Maggie whispered, looking down the hall to see if anyone was coming.
Anne looked down at the box. What if there was something inside? Something small that she could steal, something Mrs. Dean wouldn’t notice if it was gone?
Slowly, Anne opened the box, looking inside.
A sudden flash of bright light blinded Anne, a gust of strong, cold wind hitting her at full force, sending her stumbling back, the ground suddenly vanishing and sending her falling down, the world around her melting away into the bright white light.
Anne screamed as she fell through the bright white void, closing her eyes and begging to land somewhere, to feel safe and stable again.
Her wish was soon answered as the light suddenly vanished, Anne suddenly feeling a hard, cold, wet impact against her back.
She took a few moments to process where she was, slowly opening her eyes and looking around.
She was in some big forest, lying on the cold, wet ground. She laid there for a few minutes, trying to register where she was and what had just happened. She realized that the box was still in her hands, being clutched so tightly that she wondered if she could accidentally break it.
"H-Hello? Is anyone here?Hello?" Anne called out, trying to see if there was anyone with her.
She slowly got up, the sound of raindrops falling onto the ground and leaves filling her ears as she scanned her surroundings.
The forest she was currently in was huge- the trees as tall as skyscrapers, with large bushes dotted with brightly colored berries and mushrooms of various colors, shapes and sizes surrounding the tree’s bases.
Rain was falling from the treetop obscured sky, making the leaves of the bushes and trees shiny and the ground wet and slick with mud.
Anne had absolutely no idea what this place was.
Anne looked down at the box. The box had brought her there.
Maybe it could take her back?
She knelt down, holding the box in front of her and slowly opening it…
Nothing.
Nothing happened.
She was still here, in the cold, wet forest.
Anne sighed, closing the box and standing up.
She started walking around, studying everything that she saw.
Every tree, leaf, rock,mushroom, flower, every little bug and creature that crawled around the ground or on the trunk of a tree...everything.
She’d cower and freeze every time she heard a sudden noise, and wondered if there were any monsters that would try and eat her, but after being sure that there were no big, scary monsters following her, she began to explore the area a bit more with less fear and hesitation.
The rain that had been falling steadily had gotten heavier, Anne shivering and slowing down a bit as pellets of icy cold liquid fell upon her skin.
She was soaking wet and icy cold, and she needed to find shelter, but she had yet to see a way out of the forest.
She continued walking along, hoping that she’d eventually find an exit out of the forest…If there even was a world outside of the forest.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After a half an hour more of walking, Anne saw some light emanating from an archway made up from fallen trees just a few feet away from her.
An exit.
She started running towards it, getting closer and closer till she was running right out of the forest, the cold,muddy earth beneath her feet being replaced by soft, wet grass as she now found herself in a wide, grassy field, rain falling down from a silver sky.
A few feet away, Anne could see a dirt road. Maybe it’d lead to somewhere she could take shelter?
Hopefully, if she encountered anyone along the way, they’d be friendly.
She slowly walked over to the road, looking left and right, then getting onto the road, deciding to head left.
She started walking, looking around for any signs to direct her towards any towns or other places she could go and seek shelter.
After walking for a bit, she came upon an old looking wooden sign that read “WARTWOOD” with an arrow pointing for her to keep going ahead.
Wartwood?
Maybe it was a town. Funny name for a town though.
She kept walking, wondering if the people- or, whatever lived in Wartwood, would be nice enough to let her stay there and take shelter for a little while, at least until she figured out how to get the music box to work and send her back home.
She started walking further down the road, shivering as the cold and the dampness of her rain-soaked clothes got to her more and more.
Eventually, Anne began to see something in the distance, prompting her to pick up her pace and walk faster, the objects in the distance getting closer and becoming more and more visible.
There were houses in the distance.
It must be Wartwood!
She slowly made her way closer to the houses, coming upon a bridge that led to the entrance of the town. Anne looked around, noticing that the town was surrounded by sap green water, the faint buzzing of insects barely audible as the sound of the rain falling onto the ground, leaves of the trees and water almost drowning them out.
She walked slowly across the bridge, trying not to slip on the wet, smooth and slightly slimy wood, and soon found herself back on the ground, now inside the town.
It was a small, medieval looking town, with no signs of modern technology in sight. What struck Anne as odd was that the houses in the town didn’t look like houses at all.
Well, they did, but they didn’t look like any houses Anne had ever seen before.
The houses appeared to have been made out of giant mushrooms, with doors and windows on the mushroom stems and chimneys poking out from the mushroom caps. There were a few normal looking houses, made of wood with thatched roofs, but they still looked kinda funny. One house appeared to have been fashioned from the trunk of a fallen tree.
There was also a statue in the middle of the town.
A very peculiar looking statue.
It was the statue of a frog, but the frog was standing up on it’s back legs, decked out in some kind of armor and holding a sword. It reminded Anne of a cartoon character she’d seen on the children’s home television once.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Anne called out.
The village was seemingly abandoned- no one was outside, she couldn’t see any lights or any indication that anyone lived there.
Maybe she’d entered a ghost town-
”What are you?!?” A small voice suddenly asked from behind Anne.
Anne turned and then looked down to see a small, round, bright pink ball-shaped creature right behind her.
It was the size of a basketball, with a funny looking tail, wearing a pilot’s hat, staring up at her with big, wide eyes that were full of surprise and curiosity.
Anne screamed and jumped back, slipping in some mud and falling onto her back with a loud “OOOF!”
The pink creature jumped back, then inched a bit closer as Anne stared at it fearfully.
"Hey... Hey." The small pink creature said, holding it’s stubby arms out in front of it in an attempt to show the human girl that they meant no harm to her.
”I-I'm not gonna hurt you!”
"W-what are you?!" Anne shouted back at him, the creature jumping back a bit more.
“I’m....I'm Sprig....I’m a tadpole...What are you?” The creature asked, looking at Anne with both caution and curiosity, keeping his distance. The strange, bigger creature in front of him didn’t seem very threatening, but Hop Pop always said to be wary of anything he didn’t know.
"A-anne. I'm Anne, I'm a-a human." Anne replied shakily.
“Human? What’s that?” Sprig asked, inching closer.
"Its...like me. Are there no other humans here?" Anne asked, alarmed that there were no other humans or familiar looking creatures around.
“Not that I know of, everyone here is a frog, or an axolotl, or a toad, but toads only come around here to collect taxes, and be mean, and take away your stuff if you don’t pay your taxes.” He said.
Anne slowly stood up, the box still gripped tightly in her hands.
Sprig looked down, eyeing the strange box.
”What's that thing?”
Anne looked down at the box, holding it up for him to see.
“This? This is actually what brought me here! I opened it up and it brought me here somehow, and now it wont take me back.”
She wondered if it even could send her home, or if she was permanently stuck in this strange world.
“Oh…..” Sprig said, unsure of what else to say.
There was an awkward silence between the two for a few seconds, neither knowing what to say, till Anne decided to speak and break the silence.
"So…There's really only frogs here?" She asked, her initial fear subsiding as her interest in this strange new world began to grow.
“Yeah, frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, but I don’t know any humans. Hop Pop never said anything about them.” He said, looking Anne up and down, a bit weirded out by her appearance.
The dry looking skin, a bush of hair, weird flat face with the bump in the middle, small eyes, the long, gangly legs…
She was so strange looking! He hoped Hop Pop wouldn’t be too freaked out by her.
"That's kinda cool!" Anne said, getting just a bit excited at the prospect of seeing some walking, talking frogs and toads.
”I guess so. Hey, since you don’t know if the box can send you home yet, maybe you can stay with me and Hop Pop at my house!”
“Really? Okay!!” Anne smiled, relieved that she now had somewhere to take shelter.
“Okay! Come on! I’ll lead the way!” Sprig said, turning and bouncing up and down and making his way further into town.
Anne laughed, Sprig’s bouncing looked so funny! She walked behind him, the box still in her hands.
“So, who’s Hop Pop?” She asked, watching the young tadpole bounce up and down in front of her.
“He's my grandpa! He owns a vegetable farm, and we also have a cowapillar that we milk sometimes! I help him pick the vegetables and run the vegetable stand in the market. Hey, maybe you can help out too!”
“Okay!”
Anne had never been to a farm before, maybe it’d be fun to work on one.
“So what’s Hop Pop like?”
“Eh, he’s just a normal grandpa. Grumpy, old-fashioned, sleeps a lot, you know. But he’s also really smart too, he knows all kinds of stuff, like how to grow corn, how to file cowapillar horns so they aren't so sharp and dangerous, how to deliver baby cowapillars and snails, how to fish, how to tell different seeds from one another...He just knows a lot of stuff! Maybe he’ll know how to fix it and send you back home!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! So...What’s it like where you’re from?” Sprig asked.
“Oh...It’s kinda like here I guess…” Anne didn’t really have many good things to say about home…
“Cool- Oh! Here we are!”
Anne looked up, seeing a huge stone farmhouse. It was round, had what looked like two stories to it, and had an enormous, hollowed log as a chimney, with a wooden sign with the letter P hanging from it. Patches of moss covered numerous parts of the house, and a clothesline hung from the left side of the house, one end attached to a metal hook on the side of the house while the other end was tied to a huge cat-tail.
A huge pond, it’s surface dotted with lily pads, lay behind the house, and in front of the house was a large vegetable garden, rows of lettuce, carrots, cabbages, turnips, radishes, potatoes and broccoli growing behind an old, rickety looking wooden fence.
A small frog-scarecrow stood guard in front of the vegetable garden, smiling crookedly as it’s dirty white button eyes stared out in front of it.
“I helped make that scarecrow with Hop Pop last year!! His name’s Sam.” Sprig said, pointing to the scarecrow and bouncing happily.
“And that’s where Bessie lives, but she’s sleeping and Hop Pop said that Bessie needs her sleep, so you can meet her later once she wakes up.” Sprig pointed to a large wooden shed to the right of the house.
Anne was still taking it all in. It all looked like something out of a fairy tale.
”.....Can we go inside?” Anne asked softly, slowly walking towards the house.
“Sure! Come on!” Sprig bounced towards the house, opening the front door and bouncing inside, Anne following slowly and closing the door.
The living room was dark inside, the house appearing to have no inside lights or light sources apart from the large window in front of the house. Anne heard loud, nasally snoring to her right, and turned to see an old orange frog, who was about as big as Anne was, maybe a bit taller.
He was sound asleep, snoring loudly, sitting on a sofa with a blanket covering his legs and an open book laying on his lap.
“Aw dangit, Hop Pop’s asleep AGAIN.” Sprig huffed.
“Now we gotta wait for him to wake up so you can meet him. I try and wake him up. but he never wakes up...”
“....That’s okay…” Anne said, eyeing the old frog.
He was so…old and gross looking and wrinkly.
Sprig turned, going over to a small table just in front of them. A small basket sat on the table, a small, pale green orb that was roughly as big as Sprig resting inside it, wrapped in a soft blanket.
”Oh, and this is my little sibling! They haven’t hatched yet, but they will soon!” Sprig said, pointing at the orb.
Anne came closer, looking at the orb.
“Hatched? You guys come from eggs?” She asked.
“Yeah, do you?” Sprig asked.
“No…I don’t think so…” Anne didn’t really know where human babies came from, but she didn’t think that they came from eggs.
Anne slowly reached out, poking the egg lightly with her finger, recoiling as soon as the cool, jelly-like surface made contact with the pad of her finger.
“EEEGH! It feels weird!!”
“Really?”
“It’s like….cold jello…” Anne shuddered.
”What's jello?” Sprig asked, cocking his head to the side.
“It’s like...jello! It’s this jelly stuff that comes in cups. Back at the children’s home we got cherry, lemon or lime, but cherry’s the best-”
Anne was interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach, which suddenly made Anne realize how hungry she was.
“Oh, are you hungry?” Sprig asked.
“Yeah…” Anne wondered how much time had passed. Would it be dinner time by now in her world? Or was it still recess time in her world?
“C’mon! We can get some snacks from the kitchen!!” Sprig bounced over into the kitchen, Anne following.
She went over to the large kitchen table, pulling up a chair and sitting in it, placing the box on the table. She suddenly realized that the gems were all colorless now, even though one of them had been bright blue prior to her being transported.
How’d it lose its color?
Why did it lose its color?
Had all three gems once been colored yet were now colorless?
Her thoughts were soon interrupted by Sprig plopping a plate down in front of her, three large, flat cookies on the plate.
“Here you go!!” Sprig said, jumping up onto a chair next to her, smiling.
Anne smiled back, grabbing one of the cookies.
“Thanks- EEW!”
Anne quickly dropped the cookie, looking absolutely disgusted.
What she had initially thought to be raisins in the cookies were actually very plump flies.
”What’s wrong??” Sprig asked, looking alarmed by her reaction to the cookie.
”There's FLIES in it!!!” Anne pointed down at the cookie, nose wrinkled in disgust.
”Well, yeah, Of course they do! Don’t you eat flies?”
“NO!! No I don’t!!! I HATE flies!! I hate all bugs!! I am NOT eating bugs!!”
“Oh...Well, we kinda….eat bugs..a lot.” Sprig said, rubbing the back of his neck, feeling a bit awkward.
Anne’s eyes widened in horror.
”...Only bugs…?”
“Well, we eat vegetables too...and we have fruits...fish if you can catch them...Buuuut…We mostly eat bugs.”
Anne groaned, despairing over the thought of eating bugs.
“...Try one, maybe you’ll like them! Hop Pop always says that!!”
Sprig slowly pushed the plate towards her, Anne scooting back.
”No way!!”
“Come on! Just a little bite!!” Sprig looked up at her with big, pleading eyes.
”.....No.” Anne crossed her arms, pushing the plate away.
Sprig sighed, looking a bit sad as he took the plate of cookies and bounced back to the kitchen.
”Well…maybe...if you don’t want the cookies…..you can give these a try?”
He bounced back over to the table, plopping a tray of what looked like some kind of buns covered in whitish frosting in front of Anne.
“Let me guess, these have bugs in them too?” Anne asked flatly, eyeing the buns.
”Yeah...they’re beetle buns...but the beetle bits are really small, and it’s got really sweet frosting on them, so that might help with the beetle taste. Wanna try these? Please?” Sprig asked, looking up at Anne.
Anne was about to say no, but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, a loud growl was emitted from her stomach, and the pain of hunger struck her stomach, making it feel as if it was trying to eat itself.
She groaned, eyeing the frosted beetle buns. Slowly and hesitantly, she took one from the tray.
Maybe if she just...closed her eyes...and pretended that it had chocolate chips or raisins in it instead of beetle bits….it’d somehow taste good.
She inhaled, closing her eyes, opening her mouth, and taking a small bite of the bun.
It…
Actually, it wasn't bad.
Not bad at all.
Maybe it was just because it was slathered in sugary glaze, but it actually tasted okay.
Anne slowly ate it, pleasantly surprised. A delighted smile spread across Sprig’s face.
“You like them?”
Anne nodded in response, finishing her first bun and grabbing another, crumbs and smears of icing surrounding her mouth.
Sprig bounced up and down on his chair happily. “Great!! Our neighbor Mrs. Croaker made those for us cuz we gave her an extra cabbage last time she bought stuff from our stand. Oh, and since you like the beetle buns, maybe you’ll actually like the cookies!!”
Sprig bounced back into the kitchen and retrieved the plate of cookies, placing them in front of Anne.
Anne took one, eyeing it, then taking a bite.
Once again, she was pleasantly surprised by the taste. The flies felt a bit like raisins, and the taste wasn’t all that bad, the sugar and spices in the cookie overpowering any buggy taste the flies had in them.
Sprig was jumping happily in his chair, incredibly happy that his friend had now warmed up to some of his favorite treats. He grabbed a cookie and jumped off his chair, heading towards the kitchen.
“Hold on, we might have some cowapillar milk left from this morning-”
“Sprig? Sprig? Where are ya boy?” An old male voice called from the living room.
Anne and Sprig both turned to the living room entrance, hearing the sofa creak as Hop Pop finally arose from his nap.
"Oh! I'm here Hop Pop!" Sprig said, taking a bite of his cookie.
Hop Pop walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.
”Are you eating the cookies? Frog damnit Sprig, I thought I told you not to eat cookies before dinner!”
He opened his eyes and glared at Sprig, opening his mouth to further scold the tadpole when he caught sight of Anne, who was eating another cookie.
He froze in place, his mouth agape…and then screamed.
”WHAT IN TARNATION IS THAT THING???” He screamed, pointing at Anne, his arm trembling as he pointed at the young human girl, who jumped and stared at Hop Pop with wide eyes, frightened by the sudden scream.
"Oh, this is Anne! She’s a human! I found her outside." Sprig said happily, bouncing over to Anne.
“SPRIG KEEP AWAY FROM IT!! IT COULD BE DANGEROUS!!!”
The old frog bolted over to Sprig, grabbinhg him and jumping back, looking at Anne with pure terror as he hugged his grandson tightly to his chest.
Anne shrunk back a bit, startled and a bit confused by the old frog’s terrified reaction.
"No Hop Pop! It’s okay! She’s friendly!” Sprig said, wriggling out of his grandfather’s protective hold and jumping down to the floor.
“F- FRIENDLY?! Boy, I don't care if it’s friendly, stay the frog hell away from it! It could be dangerous! It might just be actin’ nice to lure ya in and eat ya!!” He yelled, getting in front of Sprig, shielding him from the strange bipedal creature that was currently sitting at his kitchen table.
“Hop Pop she’s not dangerous!” Sprig said, getting a bit annoyed by his grandfather’s overprotectiveness.
"Yeah...I'm friendly…don't worry." Anne said softly, getting out of her chair and slowly walking over to Hop Pop.
“It speaks!” Hop Pop yelped, jumping back as Sprig bounced over to Anne.
”Yeah! She speaks, and she hasn’t tried to eat me at all since I first met her, plus she likes Beetle buns!”
Hop Pop was trembling slightly less, but still stared at Anne with fear and suspicion.
”How do we know you aren’t an intelligent amphibivore trying to trick us into trusting you so you can eat us when we least expect it?” The old frog asked, looking Anne up and down, trying to see if she had sharp teeth or claws.
“Hop Pop she's not! If she was, she'd have eaten me the moment she saw me, right?” Sprig said.
Hop Pop took a moment to consider this, then looked at the strange, small, gangly looking creature in front of him.
She didn’t seem to pose a threat, nor did she seem like she was going to attack them at any moment.
She sounded and acted like a child.
Maybe she was just some defenseless young creature who didn’t want to eat them and was just looking for shelter.
Hop Pop sighed, looking at Anne.
”Does your kind eat frogs? Be honest.” The old frog said sternly.
“No…” Anne said. She didn't eat frogs, although she’d heard of other people eating frogs...
Hop Pop’s eyes wandered over to the kitchen table, his eyes immediately landing on the box.
”What’s that?” He asked, pointing over to the box.
Anne looked over to the box, slowly going over and picking it up.
”Oh, this is what brought me here from my world! I tried to go back but it won’t let me…”
” We thought you could fix it so she could go back home!” Sprig said, smiling up at Hop Pop.
Hop Pop slowly took the box from Anne, studying it, slowly opening it up and looking around at the inside before closing it and setting it down on the kitchen table, sighing.
”Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but I can’t fix this. At least not right now. I don’t even know if I really know what this thing is….”
Anne felt a surge of panic course through her. It couldn’t be fixed soon, that meant she might not get to go back to her world, possibly for a very long time.
How long was she gonna have to stay in this strange new world?
How long would it take for the box to get fixed?
Would she be in big trouble once she got back to the children’s home for being gone for so long?
Either way, she felt anxious knowing that she wasn’t gonna be getting back to her world anytime soon.
Sprig looked up at Anne, seeing the worry on her face, slowly bouncing closer to her and patting her hand in an attempt to reassure his strange looking new friend.
“It’ll be okay Anne...we’ll find a way to fix the box soon, then you can go home!” The tadpole said, smiling up at her.
Anne looked down at him, then looked away, beginning to think about who and what she’d left behind back in her world.
Would Maggie get into trouble for daring her to steal the box?
Would Maggie get in trouble for her going missing?
Who would give Domino her daily pets and playtime?
She couldn’t just leave Maggie and Domino!!
She thought a bit more, trying to think of who would be there for them now that she wasn’t there.
Maggie had been friendly with some of the kids at the children’s home, and she’d seen her playing with other kids during recess.
Maggie had other friends…
Friends that might be better friends with her than Anne was….
Domino was a really friendly cat, she probably had other little girls who petted her and played with her.
Maybe they wouldn’t miss her that much.
Maybe no one back in her world would miss her.
She didn’t have parents, and she wasn’t really that happy at the children’s home.
She…...really didn’t have much to go home for.
She looked up at Hop Pop.
”.....Can I stay here?” She asked.
The old Frog’s eyes widened.
“Y-you mean here? In our house?”
“CAN SHE?!?” Sprig asked excitedly, bouncing up and down, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.
“I won’t cause you any trouble, I just don’t know where to go, and since I don’t know when I’ll get home…” Anne said, looking down.
”W- well, I mean, I can’t just throw you out on the streets, but...Anne...that’s your name right? The frogs that live here aren’t very…um...open minded…if they see you here they might not react all that well…and I don’t want anyone gettin’ hurt…”
“I’ll just stay in the house or in the yard! I promise!” Anne said, getting closer.
”Please…..”
“Please Hop Pop!! She’s my friend!!” Sprig said, grabbing onto Hop Pop’s sleeve and looking up with big, wide eyes that begged for him to agree to letting his strange new friend stay.
Hop Pop thought for a minute, looking at the two youngsters, considering every risk and possibility that could come from him letting the strange creature stay, then considering what would happen to the creature if he didn’t let her stay with them.
After a few minutes of thinking the situation over, Hop Pop let out a long sigh.
”...As long as you stay in the house, and as long as no one gets eaten...you can stay…”
Anne smiled as Sprig bounced high enough to touch the ceiling.
”YAHOOO!! ANNE CAN STAY!!”
”HEY! Careful how high you bounce boy-“ Hop Pop started, freezing up as he suddenly felt the human child wrap her arms around him and hug him tightly.
”Thank you!!!” She said, beaming up at him with gratitude.
Hop Pop slowly relaxed, giving her a slight smile.
”Well,you’re welcome...”
”C’mon Anne! I’ll show you my room!” Sprig said as he happily bounced upstairs to his room.
”C’mon!”
Anne followed, smiling as she followed her new amphibian friend onto his room, leaving Hop Pop alone in the kitchen.
Hop Pop watched them go upstairs with worry in his eyes, wondering what the future would bring now that he’d just welcomed this strange, inamphibian child into his home.
”....Now what am I gonna do with those kids ...?”