CHAPTER 19

Her bike wasn't fond of the extra strain on its chassis from bigger wheels, puffier tires and stronger shocks. But where Poppy was going she'd need all of the support she could get. She rode to the end of the bus route, past the factory she spent almost a year at, then further. Soon the road got bumpier, potholes everywhere. After that the road gave away altogether, and Poppy flew right past a line of parked cars with people in hiking gear preparing for treks up the mountain. Hanover sat right up against a mountain, in the foothills of the Appalachians. Hiking was popular, and while Poppy had done it when her family first moved down here it was never her favorite. She should probably feel a little worn out biking uphill like this, but she doesn't feel any fatigue. It's like her and the bike were one unit, working together to get to the same destination. It wasn't one carrying the other, they went to see it together.

The trail was rough, and Poppy barely made it over the roots. She had never walked this route, let alone biked it, this was all very stupid. She had never felt so alive. Eventually, the deep forest opened up to a field, beautiful as it was steep. It showed the slope of the mountain, and Poppy decided to take a break. She packed a sandwich to eat and which reaching for it noticed the box for the bike seat in her sidebag. She forgot to pick it up, Fig must have put it in there while she was working on the bike. What the hell, might as well check out the seat. Though it was funny that Fig didn't just install it.

She undoes the bow, and opens the box to reveal.. not a bike seat. She looks at what's inside, then pulls out a note to its side. It was signed by everyone from the fan club, and written out by Amora it seems.

"Dearest Poppy. We heard through the grapevine that the show was getting downscaled a little. That's ok! Thanks for not quitting on us altogether, you really do mean a lot to us. I'm sorry for being so pushy when you called, I wasn't doing too well without you either. I probably relied on you too much, got a bit too parasocial. I understand if you don't wanna date, or see me, or think of me ever again. I'm writing this after everyone's signed it, so im running out of space. Just know that there will always be people who love you, even if it's not the world.

Amora."

Bless her, she means well. She folded the note back up and put it back in the box. The thing inside is something for her to deal with when she got home. She pedaled on, through rocky paths and over small puddles that almost made her slip. She was wearing all the needed protective gear but a fall would still be brutal here. In time, she reached her destination, right as the sun began to go down. Crap, how long had she spent resting? It's not worth it to worry, she told herself, enjoy this moment.

She parked her bike and walked to the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley. Her town was tiny below, streets winding around the hills and over streams. She could see her house, the radio stations studios, the bike shop, the train station. She could even see her college, though it was a little distant, sequestered deep in a holler. But that wasn't what she was here to see. She turned around and gazed at the broadcast tower that stretched high above her. Cables from down the mountain fed it power, she had biked under a lot of them on the way here. If she really looked she could follow the lines from WSUN to the tower, a direct connection to the transmitter.

She walks up to the fence guarding the power transformer, this tower uses 30 megawatts of pure direct current to send out the dulcet tones of Leaflands finest to everyone in a 50 square mile radius. She can almost hear the buzzing of power going through the lines. It's exhilarating, somehow. She knows how this works, she's spent enough time around equipment like it.

She takes the wrapper from her sandwich out of her bag, tin foil. She throws it at something nonessential, and a ball of light shoots out. It's gone in a second, but Poppy can still see it in her vision. She looks out at the valley one more time, gets on her bike and starts going down the hill. She can make it to where the streetlights end before she really needs them. The wind blows through her hair, and her antlers catch any tree limbs that might hit her face. They're long, starting to branch, healthy. They won't last long, just until the end of the season when she'll shed them, but for now she's gonna let them grow out.

When she finally hits pavement she pedals like hell, picking up heaps of speed. She uses her headlight to weave between the potholes and into the part of town that backs into a small college. The area is alive with activity, animals from the day and night comingling after a local football win. The town is alive, and so is Poppy. And the best part is she's not being made a spectacle. She's just another one in the crowd. She has her friends and her community, but she can still be a nobody for a little while. She walks into the warm light of a bar and enjoys the sensation of living in such a wonderful place at such an incredible time.

That night, she dreams of a door at the end of a long corridor. She opens it and a forest waits outside, leaves just starting to change into their fall colors. A city bus waits at a stop, perched on the end of a paved road. She walks up to it and sees the driver is someone she recognizes vaguely. It's the armadillo bartender, she thinks.

"You getting on or not?"

"Depends, where are you going?"

"Hanover city hall, with stops at the library and east quarter street depot."

"Sounds like a pretty drive, count me in."

The doors close softly behind her as she gets on. The bus is packed with every kind of animal, and in the very back a single open seat remains. People are standing, but the seat is still open. She makes her way to the back, nobody paying her any attention, and sits down. Just another face on the bus, yeah, but one with her own little community behind her.



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