//------------------------------// // Dad? // Story: Making the Best of it...Again // by Flame6666 //------------------------------// Making the Best of it...Again Dad? Jessica went wide eyed as she looked at the man standing next to the tree. "D-dad?" The man looked at her in confusion. "Dad? No I'm not your dad, I have no kids," the man said, walking over to Jessica. "You wouldn't happen to know where we are, would ya?" Jessica shook her head. "No... I was just in my bed sleeping and then I was here." "Well this is great, stuck in the middle of a forest with a little girl and no way of knowing where we are." The man put his hand up to his chin and looked deep in thought. A cold wind started to blow past them and he said, "Well first things first, we need to find somewhere out of this cold." He looked up to the night sky and continued, "Come on, lets go this way." The man walked past Jessica and she followed the familiar man though the harsh woods. The trek was not easy. Every few yards the man would trip, stumble, get whacked in the face by a low branch, and the darkness of the forest wasn't making it any easier for him. Jessica, on the other hand, was faring a lot better than the man. He looked like he was about to go into a fit of anger when they found a hollowed out tree that was just big enough for only him to get into. The man looked over to Jessica and told her, "Get in, this is probably the best place we'll find." Jessica shook her head. "But what about you?" "Listen, I'll be fine, I'm built for the cold." He shook his stomach to get the point across. "You get in there and try to stay warm, I don't need a sick little girl to be weighing us down." "I'm not a little girl, I'm ten!" Jessica yelled at him "Fine, I don't need a ten year old little girl getting sick on me, so get in the tree and please don't yell anymore. You might get a wolf or a bear coming after us." Jessica put a hand over her mouth and her eyes got wide when she realized that she’d yelled. She nodded her head and went into the hollowed out tree, curling up into the fetal position to stay warm. She closed her eyes and then felt something touch her arm. She looked and saw that the man had taken off his jacket and was handing it over to her. "Here, you'll be warmer in this." Jessica nodded, took the jacket and used it like a blanket and fell asleep. It looked almost midday when Jessica got up. She crawled out from under the tree and saw that the man was still asleep, so she got his jacket and placed it over him, thinking, This man... he looks so much like my dad. The only real differences is that he is fat and looks a lot younger. Am I dreaming? God, I hope I am. She proceeded to pinch her arm, and as she feared, it hurt. "Nope, not dreaming," she said aloud and the sleeping man started to get up. He turned around and looked at Jessica. "Good morning, did you sleep well?" he said while dusting off some of the dirt on him. "Yeah... and thanks for the jacket," Jessica said, looking away. "No problem." The man got up to look around but almost fell right back down, holding his stomach. "Crap, I'm starving. Come on, we should look for some food." Jessica nodded and the man put back on his jacket and his bags. Once ready, they left their tree shelter and started looking for stuff to eat. Everything that looked like food to them the man said no to. "Sorry, but it was a stupid idea to look for food out in a forest. I don't know what we can eat and what not to eat," he said to Jessica "But why nooooot, I'm so hungry." Jessica pouted "Let me put it this way, if you eat that, you could die, your choice," he said bluntly Jessica's eyes got wide as she let his words sink into her and realized that it’s better to be hungry than to die in some unknown forest. They continued to walk, with pain in their stomachs, when they heard the sound of someone singing! "LALALA I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL MUSTACHE LALALA!" The two looked at each other and ran to the singing voice. They could see a raging river past the trees, but once they got there the singing stopped and no one was in view. "What! But... but I heard SOMEONE... I know I did." A single tear went down the man's face, swiftly followed by more. Seeing the man cry, Jessica started up too. She then noticed that the water starting to bulge on its surface, like something big was about to come out. Just then a giant purple sea serpent burst from the water, saying, or rather singing "MUUUUSTAAAAACHE!" The man's face became white as a sheet upon seeing this sea serpent, as did Jessica's. The man fell back saying, "No...no...no no no no no this CAN’T BE HAPPENING IT CAN’T BE!" He looked like he was started to go into a panic attack, shifting into the fetal position. Jessica ran back into the forest and hid behind the closest tree. "Why the hell is there a dragon in a river!?" she said in a panicked voice. The sea serpent saw this and approached these foreign creatures, "Uhm... hello, you there, are you OK?" the serpent got closer to try to comfort the new creatures, but the man, not in his right mind, crawled away from the serpent yelling, "BACK, BACK, GET AWAY, YOU DAMN MONSTER!" The sea serpent jerked back and tears started to creep down his face, "I-I'm not a m-monster! I-I'm... beautiful" he wept. Sobbing heavily, he cried, "I'M HIDEOUS, I'M DISGUSTING, I-I-I sniff... I'M UGLY!!!" and laid his head down by the side of the still raging river. The man, hearing the serpent’s sobbing, cautiously lifted his head to look, and said something under his breath that Jessica couldn't hear. The man looked over to Jessica and motioned her to come over here. Jessica slowly walked over to him and asked, "What?" "I need you to play along, OK?" The man stood up, took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and asked the sea serpent, " Uhm... excuse me, I'm sorry if I made you cry. Uhm... i-is there any way I can help?" "Sniff... No. I-I'm hideous. You can't help with that. Sniff." "Uhm... I didn't mean to call you monster. The thing is, I have bad eyes and I thought you were going to eat me. Although from a closer look... you look amazing!!!" "I-I sniff I do?" The man looked over at Jessica and gestured for her to say something. "Ooh uhm... y-yes you do! That wavy head of hair, those nice looking purple scales, and that mustache is amazing," Jessica said, flattering him. "You’re - sniff - you’re right. I do I DOOOO HAVE A MANLY MUUUUUSTAAAACHE!" the sea serpent sprang up to life "Thank you SOOOO MUCH for the compliment! Now if I may ask what IS your name sir and MADAME? I am STEVEN... Steven Magnet and it is SOOO nice to meet you! "My name is Jessica, nice to meet you Steven," she said in a cheery tone The man, looking a little nervous, said, "Uhm... m-my name is Anthony and i-it’s nice to meet you, Steven. Uh... I'm sorry to cut this short but, can you help us out?" Jessica looked at the man in shock. "He has the same name as my dad? There is no way that can just be a coincidence an-" Her thoughts were cut short by Steven. "SURE, what do you need friend?" "You see, we've been lost in this forest since last night and I have no idea which way to get out of here." "Is that all? I would be MORE than happy to help you SIR ANTHONY! All you have to do is cross this river and head straight that way and you can't miss the town! Here I'll even help you cross." Steven brought up his tail and gestured for Anthony and Jessica to climb on. Anthony cautiously did so, Jessica following suit, and Steven gently put them down on the other side, "And there you are, Sir Anthony! Now just head that way and you'll come across the town." "Thank you Steven... i-if I ever come back this way I'll say Hi. So, see you later?" Anthony turned and started walking in the direction that the sea serpent Steven pointed him in. Jessica stood there looking at the Steven. "Thanks for all your help, Steven." Steven smiled. "It was no problem at all, Lady Jessica. Now, you might want to hurry or else Sir Anthony is going to leave you behind." Jessica looked behind her and saw Anthony far ahead. "Ooh right." She ran to catch up to Anthony and turned around back to Steven. "See you around, Steven!!" she yelled. "Yes, see you later my FRIENDS and I hope that our paths may cross again SOMEDAY!!" Steven was waving at Anthony and Jessica until they were out of sight. After about 15 to 20 minutes of walking, it was back to the same routine as last night; every few yards Anthony would trip, stumble, or get whacked in the face by a low branch. This time around though, Jessica was joining him, but even worse than a few cuts and bruises, she twisted her ankle and couldn't walk anymore. Anthony heard her fall and went over to see what happened. "What’s wrong, are you hurt?" Jessica started to tear up. "M-my ankle h-huuurts." "Crap... OK here, get on my back." Anthony turned his back to her, ready for her to get on. "B-but-" Jessica was cut off. "No buts Missy, you’re hurt and you can't walk, so the only option is for you to get on," Anthony said with authority. Jessica nodded in defeat and hooked her hands around Anthony's neck, clinging tightly. The two walked like this for a while, then out of the blue Anthony started to speak, "Jessica right?" she nodded. "OK Jessica, I need to tell you something before we get to the town. After seeing our friend Steven, I found out where we are." "Where are we?" she asked. "Well... have you ever heard of the show My Little Pony?" Jessica nodded nervously. "Well... how can I say this... we are in the show now..." "What do you mean?" "We are in the show My Little Pony. As in, we will most likely start seeing colorful talking ponies that can do magic and fly and-" Anthony was cut off "You’re kidding me right?" Jessica said, flatly. "Nope... now here comes the important part. You can not tell them about how they are in a show in our world." "Why not? I hate the show, maybe if I tell them the show will never exist." "And then we will not exist. We are trapped in a fictional world and if this world was never made then we would not be here, but instead be in limbo or something.” "Fine. I won’t tell them..." Jessica pouted "Good, now with that settled, how about we get out of here?" Anthony continued to walk. It wasn't much longer before they found the edge of the forest. Once Anthony saw the treeline, he ran, almost dropping Jessica along the way. When they got out of the forest, Anthony's strength gave out and he dropped to his knees, followed by the rest of his body. He laid there motionless and Jessica got off him and started to panic. "Hey are you OK?" She shook him a little. "Anthony? Hey, get up." She shook him, some more. "Dad... I said get up... please." Jessica started to cry and yelled, "HEY! ANYONE! PLEASE HELP US! PLEASE!"