Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 39

     Branch nodded with a small smile, about to tell the love of his life that it wasn't her fault... but quickly realized what he was doing, the little troll shaking his head to snap out of his trance, reminding himself that he couldn't get too close to the young princess... it wasn't safe for her...

     "Y... yeah..." he finally muttered softly, quickly regaining his grumpy demeanor. "Whatever... can I just get back to my foraging now?"

     Without even waiting for a response, Branch turned away from the young princess, once again beginning to pick up sticks to bring home to his survival bunker...

     Poppy sighed, watching her friend completely ignoring her, the young boy limping slightly as he walked away...

     "Branch?" she questioned, stopping for a moment to wait for a reply. Nothing... "B... Branch?" But still... he didn't reply, the survivalist bending down to pick up yet another stick. "Branch!"

     The little gray troll jumped at the sudden shout, finally turning back to Poppy.

     "What!? What do you want!?" he finally yelled in reply, glaring angrily at the young princess.

     "Why do you keep ignoring me!?" Poppy yelled in response, seeming rather angry herself. "What are you talking about!? I'm not ignoring you!" Branch yelled back. "And why are you yelling at me!"
"You're yelling at me!"
"You yelled first!"
"After you ignored me!"
"I didn't ignore you!"

     Panting heavily in pure rage, the two angry trolls glared at each other, neither one of them looking away from the other...

     Finally, Poppy sighed, her firm glare slowly fading away as she continued looking at Branch who's facial expression had also softened...

     With a sigh... Branch was the one who broke the stare off, the young boy turning away from the pink troll in despair...

     "I... I'm sorry, Branch..." the young princess finally apologized in a soft tone, lowering her head in shame. "I shouldn't of yelled... I just..." She paused looking back up to her friend only to see he was wasn't even listening to her... "Branch?"

     Silence...

     Why did he keep ignoring her!?

     "Come on, Branch..." she sighed, looking to the gray troll as if begging him to reply. "I'm trying to apologize. Will you please just look at me?"

     No response...

     "Branch?"

     Nothing...

     Ok... something was definitely wrong...

     Confused and slightly worried, the young princess looked her best friend up and down for a short moment before her gaze finally settled on his injured ear which was facing her, dried blood still visible in his ear canal...

     Poppy gasped at the thought that had just popped into her head, the young girl's eyes widening in realization...

     "Branch?" she said again, reaching out to place a hand on the gray troll's shoulder...

     Finally catching his attention, Branch turned back to Poppy, looking at her as he waited for the young princess to speak...

     "Will... will you do me a favor?" she finally asked softly, her eyes beginning to sparkle with tears...

     "Depends on the favor," Branch answered dryly, crossing his arms to try and sell that he didn't care about this troll in the slightest... A complete lie... but he couldn't let her know that...

     "Can you just... cover your good ear for me..." Poppy asked, gazing straight into her best friend's crystal blue eyes. "The one that wasn't shot..."
"What?" Branch questioned, raising an eyebrow in complete confusion. "Why?"

     She sighed yet again, looking away for a just moment before quickly turning back to him...

     "Please, Branch..." she begged. "Just cover your ear..."

     Branch rolled his eyes, not seeing the point of this, but did as he was told, covering his good ear before looking back to Poppy...

     "Ok..." Poppy sighed. "Now... I just want to know... can you hear me right now?"

     Branch's eyes widened in terror as he saw Poppy's mouth begin to move like she was currently speaking to him, but surprisingly... no words came out... at-least... not that he could hear...

     Stunned, Branch stared at Poppy wide eyed as she looked right back at him in concern...

     "Talk... talk louder!" he finally shouted to her in slight panic.

     The young boy hadn't meant to shout his words, but not being able to hear his own voice made him louder than he thought...

     He watched as Poppy's mouth began to move yet again, the young princess looking as if she were shouting at him, but still... there was no sound...

     Was she messing with him? No... why would she do that? This had to be real...

     "Louder!" Branch demanded, tears beginning to emerge from his crystal blue eyes as he stared at the pink troll in front of him in fear...

     Poppy yelled her words as loud as she possibly could, the entire village surly able to hear her shouts... But the survivalist... he still couldn't hear a thing she was saying through his injured ear...

     "Oh god..." the young boy finally mumbled softly in realization, removing his hand from his good ear as he began to pace anxiously back and forth, trying so hard to figure out what to do about the situation he had unfortunately found himself in...

     "What did I say?" Poppy asked, hoping with all her heart that her best friend had heard her...

     "I... I have no idea..." he admitted softly, looking back to her with a sorrowful expression...

     Poppy's heart seemed to shatter at the sound of those words, the young princess looking to the little gray troll in fear...

     "Come on, Branch..." she said, her voice filled with worry for her best friend, the pink troll quickly grabbing hold of the village grump's arm before he could refuse her help. "I'm bringing you to a doctor..."

     Not fighting the pull of the terrified princess, Branch followed his secret crush off towards the hospital, fear seeming to grip his heart as the two trolls ran through the forest...