Her Beast

Chapter 6: Festival

The day that Zoey had been dreading, finally arrived.

Luckily she was working today so she could be distracted for a few hours. It helped that Ann was working too.

Ann was twenty-six and was married to Richard, who owned the hardware shop down the road from the café. They both didn't make a lot of money, but you could tell they were happy nonetheless.

As soon as Zoey walked into the cafe, Ann greeted her.

"Hey Zoey, are you excited about the festival?" Ann asked with her big doe eyes.

"I would be if it weren't for Amber dragging me out to find the Beast," Zoey huffed.

"Oh, I didn't realize Amber was in town!" Ann beamed while she nodded.

"Anyway, Zoey, I used to go look for the Beast when I was in high school. It was a lot of fun, and we never found anything. You should be excited, but make sure you bring a boy," She winked.

If only Zoey could be excited. Ann didn't understand what she had been going through lately and how going out to find the thing that haunted her thoughts and dreams terrified her.

Zoey put a smile on her face and told her Ann was right. She changed the subject, and they talked about Ann and her husband.

"You know how I've been bothering Richard since we got married to have a baby, but he always said we were too poor as we spent so much money on fixing up the store."

Richard's store has been owned by his family for many generations. It was an old store and was slowly falling apart. About a year ago, they spent a lot of money getting new products and doing repairs on the entire store.

"Last night, though, he said he's been getting way more business with the big snowstorm that's supposed to becoming in a couple weeks, and he finally agreed that we should have a baby!"

A large grin covered both of their faces, "Ann! That's so great! I'm so happy for you!" Ann would be such a great mom, and Zoey knew she wanted to be one so bad since more than half of their conversations were about her wanting a baby.

"Thank you! I'm so happy. This is how it happened-."

"Ah! Spare me the details,"

she gasped and slapped Zoey's arm.

"I wasn't going to tell you about that! I do have to say it was way better than all the other times," Ann explained with twinkling eyes, and Zoey slapped her hands over her ears.

"That right there is what I didn't want to hear!"

The day ended quickly as all the shops in town closed at 6 so everyone would be able to attend.

The town was buzzing with excitement for the harvest moon festival. You could feel it in the air.

Zoey took the time to walk to Ambers house as she lived nearby to the cafe. It was a brilliant autumn day. Maybe the last for the season.

Ambers house came into view and as soon  as she knocked, she was pulled inside.

Amber and Jen giggled michiviosuly. Zoey sent them a questioning glance noticing Jen was hiding something behind her back.

"What's going on?" Zoey asked while folding her arms. They shared a glance and nodded at each other.

"We're dressing up for the festival. We have a costume for you, and you have to wear it."