Valerie had been out with her friends many times before. This time was different. All the other times were for her friends, like the time Rave needed a new razor or Alfred needed a new shirt or the time Kathy wanted something sweet. Kathy was her female friend of the three. She was the craziest and she liked doing daring things.
This time, she was going to town for herself. Well, not really for herself, but for Alan. Valerie wanted to get him some more toys. He had the same ones for a while now and they were getting a little run down. Valerie wanted to surprise him with some new toys. She asked Rave to come with her because the last time she went out without Malphus, she had gotten kidnapped by his old assistant.
Chances were slim that that'd happen again considering he was locked up and most likely dead, but Valerie was still paranoid. She had every right to be, after all, she was made fat just to be starved back to being skinny in about 2 or 3 months. Practically everybody's nightmare.
"Want some help picking out the toys. Boys are quick picky regarding toys." Rave chuckled.
"I think I know exactly what to get him. Plus we need a bed for Alice and some food for her too." Valerie said not remembering that she didn't tell Rave she had a cat.
"Alice? You got a new kid?" Rave asked confused.
"Oh! No, no, no, no, no! Alice is my cat. I found her in the blueberry bushes with Marry." Rave pursed his lips.
"What were you doing in the blueberry bushes with Mary?" Rave asked, dead serious.
"Well, she invited me out to go berry picking with her. I think she's just heavily misunderstood, she wasn't very jerky when we hung out." Valerie admitted to see any playfulness Rave had left leave. He always liked to joke around so seeing him this serious was frightening for Valerie.
"You should stay away from Mary, she- she has a bad reputation and I don't want people catching you two together. She isn't a good person. She's devious." Rave said and Valerie slightly nodded in agreement.
She knew Mary wasn't a very good person the second she found out about the rumors she had spread. She hadn't done anything to Mary and actually had been nice enough to let her into the ball when they were younger. She couldn't find the exact reason why she'd done it.
Truth be told, she still wanted to be friends with Mary, despite everything that goes on between the two.
The carriage Malphus let them borrow came to a stop. Rave got down and helped Valerie out.
"I'm gonna buy some fruit. I'll wait here for you to come back when I finish." Rave said and walked down the street. He wasn't as serious now, but he wasn't as playful as he usually is.
Valerie brushed it off and walked into the store. She went to the pets section first and bought some cat food and a cat bed. Then she went to the veggie aisle to get some carrots.
It took her a while to find carrots that weren't moldy or small. She wanted fresh carrots for Arlo, or at least fresh enough to not be considered poison.
She remembered how serious Rave looked when she was talking about Mary. Had something happened between the two? How bad can someone be to make a man like Rave made at them?
Maybe it really was best to stay away, Rave never lied to her or did anything to hurt her so why shouldn't she believe him? Minutes later she found a few non-moldy normal-sized carrots. It was good enough, it was Malphus' pet, after all, he'd make sure Arlo was well fed.
After that, she went to the toys section and saw an old woman trying to reach a toy on the very top shelf.
"Ah, oh dear, could you please help me to get this toy?" The woman asked. She was as crinkly and old as the store itself.
"Yes miss, I will," Valerie said, trying to be polite as possible.
The woman stepped back as Valerie approached the toy. As soon as she touched it she felt something hard bash against her head.
The next thing she knew she was sitting in a dark room with her land and legs tied together and a gag in her mouth.
She tried to recall how she ended up there but the last thing she could remember was getting carrots for Arlo in the store.
A few minutes later everything started to hurt and Valerie didn't want to be bothered with the pain while trying to figure out where she was, so she went back to sleep.