//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: The Contingency Plan // Story: The Party Girl // by Godslittleprincess //------------------------------// After Chrysalis, Tirek, and their entourages left the woods, the two clan leaders left Base and his friends under Pharynx’s watch and went straight to Gloriosa and Timber’s house. Inside, Timber sat alone at the kitchen table with a cup of birch tea. Gloriosa was still out with the rest of the town helping the postman and his family rebuild, which was completely unlike her, at least, in Timber’s mind. When did his sister start caring about outsiders or even their own neighbors for that matter? In fact, when did she start caring about something other than the feud or the nursery? Timber was pondering these questions when he heard a knock from the front door. Timber got up and answered it, finding Lord Tirek and Lady Chrysalis standing on his porch. “May I help you?” Timber asked. “Actually,” Lord Tirek replied, smirking wickedly, “Lady Chrysalis and I were under the impression that we could help you, but let’s not discuss it out here in public, shall we?” Taking the hint, Timber let the two clan leaders into his house and led them towards the dining table, setting two mugs of tea before them. “So, now that we’re alone,” Timber continued, “what brings the two of you over? If you’re looking for my sister, I’m afraid she’s out.” “Helping the rest of the town help the postman I bet,” Lady Chrysalis scoffed. “Goodness! Has everyone in this town gone mad?” That’s what Timber had asked himself after Twilight decided not to run away from home with him. His sister’s sudden change of heart further intensified that question. Sure, everyone is happy and getting along now, but what’s going to happen when the peace ends and everyone just devolves back into feuding again? “We’re not here for your sister,” Tirek replied. “We’re actually here for you.” Lord Tirek reached into his coat, pulled out a large sack of coins, and set it on the table in front of Timber. “I believe this would be more than sufficient for you to start a whole new life far, far away from here, would it?” Tirek insinuated. “What’s the catch?” Timber questioned, narrowing his eyes. “My, aren’t you clever?” Lady Chrysalis praised disingenuously. “You must be so smart to know not to expect any kindness for free, and yes, I’m afraid ours does come with a price.” “But compared to what we’re giving you, it’s nothing, just a paltry little sum,” Tirek added. “In fact,” Chrysalis continued, “what we’re asking of you could end up benefiting you as well.” “I’m listening,” Timber replied, taking a seat across from the leaders. Lady Chrysalis smirked and said, “I’m sure you’re already familiar with those two boys staying with the postman’s family. Well, are you?” Timber sighed and rolled his eyes affirmatively. “Of course, you are,” Lord Tirek declared. “If it weren’t for the older one, that pink mountain girl wouldn’t have come here and spread her madness all over the town. Furthermore, I heard that he has gotten quite close to the postman’s daughter, but no one cares about that. It’s not as if you were hoping to catch her eye as well.” The scowl that slowly formed on Timber’s face told the old lord and lady otherwise. “Oh my!” Lady Chrysalis intoned in mock surprise. “You had your eye on her? And he had the audacity to steal her right from under you? After all, you saw her first.” “So, we’re in agreement then?” Tirek continued. “All of us want that boy, his brother, and anyone who has anything to do with him gone, correct?” “I would assume so.” Chrysalis smirked at Timber in a hinting manner. Timber frowned slightly but ultimately nodded in agreement. “Good,” Tirek declared taking a pistol out of his coat pocket and setting it in front of Timber. “I hope you know what to do with that, son.” Timber’s eyes widened as he looked from the clan leaders to the pistol and back again. “Wait,” he cried. “You want me to,” he ran his index finger across his neck in a slicing motion, “Flash in exchange for—?,” and then, he gestured at the sack of coins. “I mean, I know we all want him out of the picture, but is this really necessary? And why do I have to be the one to do it?” “Because if you don’t,” Chrysalis insinuated, “we have a counteroffer.” “My, I wonder just how flammable your family’s nursery and that old, beat-up spruce in your yard are,” Tirek added. “It would be incredibly unfortunate if they both met the same fate as the schoolhouse and the post office, now, wouldn’t it?” Timber’s eyes widened in shock as Tirek’s threat unveiled itself. “That’s your deal?” Timber exclaimed. “Either I kill someone, or you destroy the one thing left in this world that my sister loves?” “And you’ll be stuck in this backwater town surrounded by idiots and crazy people with no chance of ever leaving,” Chrysalis continued, slowly sliding the coin sack away from Timber. “Don’t forget about that part of the deal. That’s important. So, what’s it going to be?” Timber regretted ever agreeing to that offer as he sat inside the barrel that the clan leaders had discreetly placed on board Cranky Doodle’s ferry. His legs were killing him from being bent and pressed against his body for so long. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come out yet, not until he was sure he had the opportunity to get the drop on everyone onboard. “Okay, Timber,” he thought to himself, reaching for the pistol in his coat pocket, “no pressure. You just have to come out at the exact right time and kill everyone on board. I mean, sure, it’s wrong, but if you don’t do it, the sister who has never once cared about your happiness loses everything she loves, and we can’t have that, can we?” Meanwhile, elsewhere on Cranky’s ferry, Flash was leaning against the side of the boat with a dejected frown on his face as he looked back towards Griepsburg, which, by now, was nothing but a smudge on the horizon. His brother stood next to him, also frowning dejectedly, while he looked towards the floor. Their friends stood nearby just watching them in varying degrees of empathy and confusion. “So,” Micro spoke finally breaking the silence, “I’m guessing this wasn’t how you two wanted to leave Griepsburg.” Flash’s only reply was to silently shake his head no. “You didn’t want to leave at all, didn’t you?” Sandal added, knowingly. “I, we,” Flash struggled, unsure how to explain to his friends his and Base’s plans. “All we wanted to do was find out what happened to you guys and the others on the ship. Beyond that, we had no idea what we wanted to do. Maybe we were planning on leaving once upon a time, but then, you guys showed up, and the place and the people who lived there ended up growing on us, and no, I guess not.” “I wonder how Postman Night Light and his family are going to feel when they wake up and find us gone,” Base stated sadly. Flash didn’t answer but cast his eyes downward towards his distorted reflection in the water. The two brothers sighed simultaneously in their shared heartache for the family they had come to think of as their own. Meanwhile, Pip and Button looked at each other, frowning as they tried to think up a way to cheer up their friends. Being the son of a shantyman, Pip did the only thing he could think to do at a time like this. “We’ll man the good capstan, and run her around,” Pip began to sing. “Away, Rio!” “We'll haul up the anchor from out of the sound,” Button began to sing along with him. “For we're bound for the Rio Grande,” everyone else soon joined in. Even Flash and Base couldn’t help but sing along. “And it’s away, Rio! Away, Rio!” “So fare-ye-well, my pretty young girl,” Pip sang by himself. “And we're bound for the Rio Grande!” everyone else responded. At the mention of the “pretty young girl,” Flash’s face suddenly dropped as the bespectacled face of a certain girl came to the forefront of his mind. Poor Twilight! She was just starting to let other people get close to her, and he just had to take off like this. Flash could only hope that—. “AAAH!” Flash cried out as a bullet embedded itself into his shoulder blade, interrupting his thoughts and his companions’ singing. “Flash!” Base shouted, seeing his brother injured. Everyone turned towards the direction the shot had come from. About 5 yards away from them stood Timber Spruce with his head turned the other way pointing a pistol at them. “Timber?” Flash exclaimed incredulously. Timber turned his head towards Flash’s voice and locked eyes with him. Timber’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped when he realized just what he had done and what had happened. “Shoot!” Timber cursed, dropping the pistol and running to the other side of the boat. Flash and the boys ran after him, yelling for him to stop. As soon as Timber reached the other side of the boat, he realized that he had no place to go but one. In an act of frantic desperation, Timber climbed over the side of the boat and jumped into the ocean. However, as soon as he splashed into the icy water, Timber made yet another important realization. “Help!” Timber cried as he struggled to keep his head above the water. “I can’t swim!” Flash stared at where Timber fell in shock while Base covered his face with his right hand in utter embarrassment. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, Flash took off his coat and jumped into the water. Within five minutes, he had pulled himself and Timber back onto the boat.