Kenchanting || Ken

UnKenventional

Ken wasn't there.

As soon as Penny arrived back at their home she knocked twice to let him know she was there as she always did, but when she opened the door he was nowhere to be found.

Worry filled her and she began to search around Barbieland, desperate to find him. She asked a few Barbies and Kens that she passed but her search came up empty.

It seemed no one knew where he was.

In a way, this was her fault. She shouldn't have pressed it.

She looked around, she'd been so focused on finding Ken that she didn't notice she'd ventured out into an area of Barbieland she'd never explored before. She walked slowly trying to figure out where she was when she saw a house on a hill.

Weird. 

All of the Barbies' houses were located off the main street, which twisted and turned to spell out 'Barbieland'. Above it was a huge area of trees and grass until it reached the ocean. Underneath Barbie Way was the businesses and further down was the beach they always spent time at. 

Penny looked down at the ground, making sure she was still on Barbie Way. The pink, plastic asphalt that filled her vision proved to her she was. The house must've been far off of one of the letters spelled out with the street.

Glancing behind her she noted that there were two other dreamhouses she could see, but they were quite a ways away. All the dreamhouses seemed to be quite packed together. She wondered if there was a reason this one was so far off from the others.

She turned her attention back towards the house and noticed someone coming down from it. It was Midge.

"Hi, Midge!" Penny called, standing in front of the gate.

Midge jumped a little at the sudden greeting before noticing it was Penny.

"Oh hi, Penny! How are you?" She replied, wondering why Penny was out this far.

"I'm good, thanks for asking." Penny beamed. "How are you?"

"I'm good as well," Midge replied, still making her way down the long wavy staircase. "I was just visiting with some people."

"Oh cool! Who's house is this?"

Midge reached the bottom of the stairs and the gates swung open automatically, causing Penny to take a few steps back.

"It's one of the Barbie's dreamhouses. I was talking to her, but Ken came in and said he had to talk with her."

"Ken?" Penny perked up a little at that. "Do you happen to know which Ken?"

Midge looked up and thought for a bit before answering, "Yeah, it's traditional Barbie's Ken. It's been a while since I've seen him. I'm not even sure if we've ever talked."

Penny moved quickly at that and walked past Midge while rambling, "Thank you, Midge! We need to hang out more often. I'll stop by your place sometime when you're there if that's okay. Okay? I'll see you later. I have to talk to him. Have a good day!"

Midge watched as Penny quickly stepped up the stairs and smiled to herself. Penny seemed really concerned. She was a good person. Ken was lucky to have someone who cared about him so much.

Penny sped up the twisted stairs. When she was a little more than halfway up she saw Ken and a Barbie with choppy short multicolored hair and marker on her face standing across from one another in conversation. She went up the last few steps and stood at the edge of the entrance.

It took Penny a little to process what she was seeing. Ken stood confused, while a Barbie she'd never seen before was laughing loudly in front of him and struggling to catch her breath.