Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 39

     The sun was shining brightly up in the sky early the next morning, the village trolls not yet awake as Poppy skipped happily through the forest, the young princess heading towards the spot where she had last seen Squishy, excited to spend the day with her new wolf friend...

Her joyful walk was halted however when the young girl suddenly spotted something through the corner of her eye... a small gray figure walking through the forest not far from her, the young boy picking up sticks as he passed by...

     "Branch!" she called out in excitement upon seeing her best friend, the young princess waving enthusiastically to the little gray troll who had clearly already been up for hours doing his daily chores. But... strangely... he didn't react to her call in the slightest... "Branch?"

     Poppy watched in slight confusion as the gray grump bent down, picking up yet another stick and checking it over for a few moments before finally placing it into his pile and continuing on his way...

     Why was he ignoring her? Was he still mad about the party?

     Maybe he just hadn't heard her... she was fairly far away after all...

     "Hey! Branch!" she called over to him again, making sure to get closer, but her friend still didn't answer... His ear didn't even twitch like it normally did when he heard a sound...

     Continuing his mission to seemingly find as many sticks as physically possible, Branch bent down yet again, the overly cautious and observant survivalist not seeming to even notice the pink troll that stood just to his right...

     Confused, Poppy walked up behind the gray troll who was still completely unaware of her presence, the young princess tapping her friend's shoulder to gain his attention...

     "AHHH!" Branch screamed out in surprise as he jumped, the young boy quickly spinning around into a defensive position to protect himself from whatever threat was directly behind him, all of his sticks falling right back down to the ground in his sudden panic...

     With his sudden jerky movements, Poppy jumped back just a bit, the village grump now staring right at her with wide eyes, his terror clearly reflecting off of his irises...

     "Poppy!? What the hair!?" the little gray troll yelled out in rage mixed with slight fear when he finally realized who was behind him. "Why are you sneaking up on me!?"
"I didn't!" Poppy yelled back, feeling a slight bit of fear now herself. "I called out to you, but you didn't answer!"
"What? You didn't say anything!" the little troll yelled right back at her. "You just gave me a heart attack!"

     His fear slowly beginning to fade away, Branch took a few more loud shaky breaths before finally calming down, looking to Poppy to see the concern sparkling in her eyes...

     "I... I'm sorry..." he sighed, the young boy's heart still pounding inside his chest. "I didn't mean to yell..."

Silence...

Poppy stared at Branch in complete silence, pure shock plastered on her face...

She had never heard him apologize to her before... especially not for an attitude he always gave whenever she or anyone else was around...

Looking at her best friend, the young princess could see the gray troll's sorrow painted clearly on his face, his head low and ears drooping... he truly felt bad for what he had done... even though he did nothing wrong...

"It's ok, Branch," Poppy finally assured in a calming tone as she placed a comforting hand on the village grump's shoulder, the young boy looking up to meet her kind gaze... "I'm sorry I scared you..."