Other than the encounter with Daphne and Matteo, yesterday was a pretty good day for Polly. There was no crime to stop besides the attempted purse snatcher. Today was a little different. There had been no crime at all to stop today. So Polly was with her friends at the arcade. She and Filbert watched as Megan and Henry played each other in air hockey. Polly loved to play but not Filbert and Henry so much. This was because Megan was the air hockey champion of the group and always won. They tried time after time to beat her but it was always the same result. At this point, Filbert thought it was pointless to play but Polly always convinced him that I was just for fun.

Megan scored the last point for the win. "The champ remains undefeated!"

Henry sighs with a smile. "I should've known."

"Polly, you're up next!" Megan told the blonde.

"Don't do it, Polly," Filbert said, "It's not worth it."

"Trying is always worth it," Polly said, taking Henry's spot. "Especially when it's fun."

"If you say so," Filbert sighed. He gave a small smile a few seconds later. "Guess you leave me no choice but to cheer you on."

"Avenge me, Polly!" Henry said.

Polly laughed. "I'll try."

"No love for the champ?" Megan asked in mock anger. She then laughs and grins. "That's fine because she's going to keep her streak anyway."

Polly grins back at her. "Don't be so sure."

"Hmph," Megan said, hitting the puck toward Polly.

Polly hits the puck back toward her. The two of them go back and forth. Polly was the second best at the game behind Megan. Despite losing to her each time, Polly always loved to play. She came close to beating Megan and ending her reign many times, but Megan always found a way to win. Polly still loved to play however just for the fun of it.

After some more back and forth, Polly was able to get the first score of the game. Filbert and Henry cheered.

"Way to go, Polly!" Filbert said.

Megan rolls her eyes at him. "Don't get too excited. This has happened before."

She sends the puck at Polly again. Polly sends it back to her. Megan tries to get it, but the puck lands in her goal.

"Holy shit!" Filbert's eyes went wide. "Polly's already two points ahead of you. Think this might be the end for you, champ!"

Megan growled a bit and the game continued on. Filbert and Henry watch as the puck gets going to both sides. Eventually, Megan can get a couple of points as Polly is able to get a couple more. The two of them are soon tied five to five.

"So Henry, how are things going at the station?" Megan asked, sending the puck to Polly again.

"Good if a bit slow," Henry chuckled. "Not much has really been going on recently."

"I'd say that thanks to you and our masked friend here," Megan smirks at Polly.

"I wouldn't say it was just us," Polly said, scoring another point.

"It literally was," Filbert says as she crosses his arms. "Without you two, the other officers wouldn't have even bothered with Cortez. They like everyone else in the town were too busy thinking that she was this saint."

"I hate to agree with them but they got a point," Henry said. "I'm the only one at the who gathered any evidence of what Laura was up to. But it was thanks to you helping me get more that we were able to put her away for good."

He feels his phone go ring and takes it out of his pocket to answer it. "Hello?" He listens to the voice on the other end. "What?!"

Filbert raises sn eyebrow as Polly and Megan both stop playing their game and look at each other.

"Henry," Polly said. "What is it?"

Henry gets off the phone and looks at the three. "It's Matteo. He's in the hospital."

"What happened?" Polly asked.

"He was attacked," Henry said. "They say he's in pretty bad shape. When they asked who did it, he said he couldn't see but he knows it was some kind of animal."

"Maybe a rapid dog got in the place?" Filbert suggested.

NN

Later at the hospital, Daphne walked back into Matteo's room after leaving to get some food from the cafeteria. She looked at her boyfriend, and once again, like earlier, was on the verge of tears.

Matteo was in a full-body cast. He could still speak but he had trouble doing so. When she discovered him, he was on the ground, bleeding all over, and had all kinds of marks on his body.

His eyes suddenly shot open. He was shaking in absolutely terror. "G-Get away from me! Stop! No! Noooo!

"Babe, babe!" Daphne said. "It's okay! You're at the hospital!"

"Daphne?" Matteo asked, looking at her. "D-Did they catch it? Did they catch the monster?!"

Daphne looked at him and shook her head. "Not yet. But they're working on it. Are you sure you didn't get a good look at it?"

"It was too dark," Matteo said, a couple of tears coming from his eyes. "I-I thought was gonna die..."

Hearing that, Daphne put her hands in her hands and started sobbing. How could this have happened to her Matteo?

"Matteo," A voice said. It came from the darkness of the room. Polly walked out. "I'm glad to see that you're still alive."

"What are you doing here?!" Daphne snapped at Polly

"Get out!"

"I'm sorry Daphne, but I came to see if Matteo knew anything about what happened him," Polly said. "I see now that he doesn't."

"No shit!" Daphne yelled. "Now get out!"

"P-Please..." Matteo said. "J-Just get o-out. Can't you see that I'm in pain?"

"Yes I can see that," Polly said. "That's why I'm here. Because I want to help. I'm going to find whatever did this to you."

"Someone better!" Daphne screamed, tears still coming out of her eyes, only now they were angry. "He didn't deserve this! This is probably your fault! That's why you want to help because you know this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you! Bad shit always happens when you're around!"

Matteo went to say something but all he could do was groan in pain at that moment, bt he was most likely going to her with her.

"I'm really sorry for what happened to you, Matteo," Polly said, ignoring Daphne. "Like I said, I'm going to find out who did this."

She then left the room, not before turning out to take one last look at Matteo's condition and Daphne crying beside him.

NN

Dolly had a good night's sleep. After what happened yesterday she really needed it. She woke up in a really good mood and the breakfast she had only served to better that mood. She spent most of the day working on some new art pieces like the one she was currently finishing up, which she had to say, was her favorite art piece from today.

The painting was of Matteo being loaded into an ambulance. Coopy was once again next to her and tilted his head at the painting. He reached an arm out towards it but Dolly stopped him.

"No Coopy, you can't touch it yet," Dolly smiled at her cat. "I don't blame you for wanting to though. It is beautiful, isn't it?"

Coopy looked up at her. Fred walked up to the artist.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Ms. Dolly, I've made some PB and J sandwiches for lunch," he said, "Would you like them now?"

Dolly looked at him with a smile. "Those sound great, Fred." She then thought about some thing and stopped him as he prepared to leave. "Bring some of that leftover steak too."

Fred nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Dolly ran her hand on Coopy's back as he purred.

"I've been letting a certain someone go hungry," Dolly told Coopy. "That doesn't seem fair to do that to him, huh? Don't worry, he's going to get his award in a second."

Fred soon came back with the food. Dolly got up and took the steak.

"I'll take this," Dolly said. "I'm going to give it to someone who's really earned it."

She walked off with Coopy following behind her. She stopped at a door. It was the door to the basement. The artist opened the door and made her way into the dark basement, the stairs creaking at ever step.

Soon, Dolly was all the way down and she looked straight into the darkness.

"Ethan," Dolly called out. "I've got something for you."

She walked close and set the plate down. A few seconds later, the same pair of eyes that stared at Matteo appeared in the darkness. They looked down at the food and something finally came out.

It was a big drawn cat monster. It looked at the food and at Dolly again.

"It's okay, Ethan," Dolly smiled at the monster. "Go ahead.

The big cat pounced toward his food and started eating. Coopy looked on, meowing at the sight. Ethan meowed back and went back to eating.

Dolly watched as the bigger cat ate hungrily and as she did so imagined what Matteo must've gone through. It brought a smirk to her face. She walked up to Ethan and petted him as he continued to chow down.

"I'm very proud of you for taking care of that mean man for me," Dolly told Ethan. "You are a very good cat."

Coopy jumped on her shoulder. He meowed. Dolly chuckled and started to let his head.

"Yes, you're a good cat too," Dolly said. As she was showing her affection for her cats, Polly came to her mind. She knew that her friend would want to know what happened and would probably be looking into it. The artist wondered if maybe she should send Ethan after Daphne. After a few moments of contemplating, she decided against it. What happened to Matteo was enough for now. She was sure Daphne was suffering even more than he was seeing her boyfriend in the state she was in.

She noticed that Ethan had finished eating and was heading back into the darkness. She called out to him. "Ethan!"

The cat stopped and turned to her.

"Going back in the dark so soon?" Dolly asked. "I guess you don't wanna play with this."

She took out a big ball of yarn and showed it to him. Ethan's eyes yet wide as Coopy started reaching for it.

Dolly laughed. "Have fun boys." She threw the yarn down and watched as the two cats started playing with it.

The artist sat at the bottom of the stairs and continued watching them. They were both so adorable. The thought came to her to get a sketchpad and draw the two of them playing. But then the thought of Polly seeing the painting when she was over and putting the dots together came to her head. She couldn't let Polly know about Ethan yet. Not until she was ready. Not until Polly realized that people like Matteo and Daphne needed to be taught a lesson.

Dolly really wanted to draw the scene in front of her though. So she decided that she would just draw another car Coopy's size playing with them.

"I'll be back you two," Dolly told the cats, heading up the stairs, the creaking sounds returning.

NN

Later on, Polly was on her laptop, trying to find out what Matteo may have encountered. She was looking up if there were anyone strange encounters and even sightings in town of some kind of big creature. So far she came up with nothing.

"Still looking for stuff that'll lead you to what attacked Matteo?" Filbert asked, walking into the room.

Pollt turned to him and nodded. "Yeah. I don't know what attacked Matteo, but it has to be stopped before it hurts anyone else."

Filbert sat on Polly's bed and sighed. "Just what we needed. We finally got rid of Laura Cortez and now some kind of freaky creature is on the loose."

He groaned in annoyance before continuing, "I may not like the guy, but what happened to him was awful."

Polly nodded. "No one deserves that." She turned back to her laptop. "There's gotta be something here."

"Why not try going on patrol?" Filbert asked. "Maybe you'll whatever did this roaming the streets or something."

"I think it might have a good hiding spot," Polly said. "Otherwise it would've been caught by now."

"You don't think...she had something to do with this do you?" Filbert asked Polly. "Cortez? Are we sure this isn't one last grand plot of hers."

"It could be," Polly said. "I wouldn't put it past her to have people who are out still working for her. But why attack Matteo specifically?"

"Didn't you say that Daphne was blaming you for this when you came back?" Filbert asked. "Maybe that's what she wants. She wants the whole town to blame you after whatever this thing is attacks more victims."

"Makes sense but I'm still not convinced his heard," Polly replied. "Something just tells me that this is something else."

"Seems like you're gonna be in here for a while," Filbert said. "Want me to make you a couple of sandwiches?"

"If you want," Polly said.

"I'll get to that then," Filbert started walking out of the door and then stopped, turning his head back around. "Did you talk to Dolly today?"

"Dolly!" Polly says in realization. "I've been so busy with this that I haven't!" She turns back to Filbert and takes out her phone. "I'm going to do that right now and see how she's doing."

"You know, maybe you can invite her to the Halloween Party," Filbert suggested.

"That would be fun, but I don't know," Polly said. "There's going to be a lot of people there and I'm not sure Dolly would like that."

"That's the thing though," Filbert said. "There's going to be some many people there that no one's gonna really notice each other. Everyone's going to be in costume and doing their own things. Plus, if she's comfortable and decides to come, it would be the perfect place for her to meet Henry and Megan."

Polly was about to respond when she got a text on her phone. "Dolly wants to know if I want to hang out." She sends a text back to her and then gets up, closing her Lao top.

"Wait, you're leaving?" Filbert asked. "But what about the monster and you're sandwiches?"

"I'll look more into it when I get back," Polly replied. "Plus, you can still make those sandwiches if you want. I'll take one to Dolly." She giggles.

Filbert sighs and shakes his head with a smile. "Fine. Two sandwiches for the road coming right up."

NN

Sometime later, Polly had arrived at Dolly's house and the two of them were eating the sandwiches that Filbert made.

"Is there anything that cousin of yours can't make that's delicious?" Dolly asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Filbert, make something bad?" Polly laughs at the very thought. "I think that's impossible."

Dolly laughs as well. "Seems like it."

Polly finishes her sandwich and looks at Dolly, contemplating if she should bring what she is going to right now, but she decides it can't hurt. "So I don't know if you heard but that guy from the park, Matteo, was attacked last night."

Dolly plays the part. She raises an eyebrow as if she were confused by the news. "He was attacked? By who?"

"Not by who," Polly says. "By what. He says he was attacked by some kind of creature."

"Some kind of creature?" Dolly looked at her. That was certainly one way to describe Ethan. He was a very adorable creature, one who did a very good thing last night. Though as Dolly suspected, Polly didn't seem to agree with it. "Maybe he did something to it."

Polly looked at her. "Huh?"

"You know what a jerk that guy is," Dolly said. "Who's to say whatever creature attacked him wasn't being held captive. He could've been torturing it for all we know."

Polly couldn't completely rule what Dolly was saying out. After all, she still didn't know the kind of creature that did this. Then again, it had to have been big to do the damage it did to Matteo. There was also the fact that Matteo's place was completely trashed when she checked it out earlier. Why would the creature do that instead of just leaving if it being tortured had been the case?

"I'm not sure about that," Polly said.

"Just something to just to give some thought too," Dolly said. She then gave a fake look of concern. "So...have you seen him? Matteo, I mean. I know we got into it when I saw him but if he really is innocent I hope he wasn't hurt too badly."

Polly gave Dolly a small smile, one that faded seconds later. "He's fine but he's in a body cast. The way Daphne was crying it..." She turned away from Dolly. "It was awful."

Dolly practically wanted to throw up seeing how upset Polly was over a couple of people who treated her so badly. If anything she should be celebrating. They both should be celebrating together with more sandwiches, maybe a couple of glasses of wine. Matteo for what he deserved. He was in a hospital bed in complete suffering. Daphne got what she deserved. She got to watch that suffering, both knowing she wasn't there to help her boyfriend and even if she had been, she would've suffered a similar or even worse fate than him. This should've been a good time for Dolly and her friend but here she was pretending to actually care about Matteo's well-being. It made her feel disgusted.

She put a hand on Polly's shoulder. "I'm sure everything will work out." She said. "For now, how about we talk about something else?" She smirks. "Halloween is coming up, you know."

"That reminds me," Polly's eyes went back to Dolly with a warm smile. "There's this big Halloween party in town coming up. Me, Filbert, and the others are going. I wanted to see if you would go with us."

"Big party, huh?" Dolly asked, putting a hand on her chin as she started thinking to herself.

"I know there's gonna be a lot of people there but they won't even be paying attention to us," Polly said, "It's Halloween. They'll be too busy having their own fun. Plus, we'll all be in costume and won't that be fun? And you get to meet-"

"Yes," Dolly said.

Polly looked at her. "Huh?"

"Yes," Dolly grinned at her. "I'll go to the Halloween party with you. After how well things went with Filbert, I would love to meet your friends."

Polly hugged her, happy to hear the answer. "I'm sure glad to hear that. You guys will love each other."

Dolly hugs Polly back. Changing the subject worked. Polly was now thinking about the Halloween party and the fact that Dolly herself was attending.

The artist always loved Halloween. It was her favorite holiday. What would make this one the best yet is that it felt like Christmas had come early. She had been given an amazing gift. Someone who could truly understand her and what she went through. Dolly's mind went to all kinds of things that they could end up doing at the party together and just the whole holiday in general. She found herself really excited for the time to come.

Dolly broke the hug and said, "Since we're talking about Halloween, how about we watch a couple of monster movies?"

Polly laughed. "Wouldn't be Halloween without those, right?"

"Exactly," Dolly smirked at her. She grabbed the remote and put one of her favorites on. "Fred!"

Fred walked into the room, "What can I do for you Ms. Dolly?"

"Mind making us some popcorn?" Dolly asked.

"Of course not, Ms. Dolly," Fred said. "I'll have it ready for you two in no time."

He made his way back to the kitchen. The two women turned their attention to the movie.

"This one's one of my favorites," Dolly told Polly.

"I don't think I've seen this one," Polly said.

"You're gonna love it," Dolly replied.

Polly chuckled. "Got any favorites from this movie?"

"What else?" Dolly responded. "The monster. The monsters and slashers are always the best parts of horror movies."

The movie showed a scene of a monster grabbing a man and ripping him apart. The two women he was protecting cried out in horror.

Dolly laughed. "Don't you just love it?"

Polly blinked at the scene and looked back at Dolly, surprised to see how funny she found the scene. "It's certainly an interesting movie so far."

Fred soon came back with the popcorn and handed it to Dolly. The two women ate as they continued watching the movie with Dolly enjoying everything death and gory scene.