[DeadAlice]

The rent was up and Hellen needed money. However, she would have to do a bounty alone this time. Maurice is sick and they didn’t have any leftover money in their accounts. Maurice would only be a burden to take along, so she made him rest in bed at home. Not to mention the mission Hellen was taking on was in one of the world’s mysterious places, Whisper Forest, Maurice would probably shit himself and be too scary to be any use to her.

[DeadAlice]

On a freshly printed piece of paper the information about the mission was carefully layout. Hellen held the paper lightly in order to keep the paper looking neat for the time being. She sat at her desk in her room and read over the mission.

Mission Information -
Target: Dr. James Linger, famous scientist, explores the nature of plantlife
Location: Whisper Forest
Time of Disappearance: Late May, no further information
Requested by: Gabby Linger, Dr. James Linger’s 27 year old daughter
Bounty: $1.2 Million for Dr. James Linger      
Status Needed: Alive
Other Information: Dr. James Linger was in a party of six, three of the local tribesmen acting as guilders, Henry Cowell acting as an assistant to Dr. James Linger and Vein Gray acting as bodyguard for Dr. James Linger
The three tribesmen were found badly injured and were taken to local healer. Vein Gray was found staked to a tree through the heart, Henry Cowell has also gone missing however no missing persons report has been filled.
Attachment to Bounty: Images of Dr. James Linger, Henry Cowell, Vein Gray and three locals, Crime scene photos, photos of items found, D.N.A evidence of a Dr. James Linger.

[DeadAlice]

Hellen looked over the all the photos and evidence, all she needed to go was catch the guy who napped Dr. Linger and Henry Cowell and return them home, easy. However, Hellen was prepared for anything, she didn’t know exactly the whole story and carelessly thinking would cause trouble. She needed to travel to Whisper Forest. If anything goes wrong she would just contact the guild for help, but she already knew that she wasn’t going to ask for help because she could handle herself. She had not been on a solo mission for months and she needed the down time. Nothing against Maurice she just needed to kick ass without being held back.

[DeadAlice]

Hellen packed all the necessities that she’d need for a long time trip. She put everything in Bronze and left without another word to anyone, she was ready. Hellen had Bronze’s tank filled and oil checked, she worried for her little car wouldn’t be able to handle the trip, but she knew that her car was a trooper and could handle himself. Despite that she took it slow, she wasn’t in a huge rush, Raz had already told her that she didn’t have to pay the rent this month and could wait until the month of next month to pay him back. However, she had never been late with sending in the rent and she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. Her pride won’t let her.

[DeadAlice]

Hellen’s hair blew in the breeze, she traveled on the highway and the sun was setting bright pastel orange, red and blue had filled the sky. The sun’s heat was slowly disappearing and the night’s cold air came to replace it. She enjoyed the night’s sky, she thought back to her childhood on her family’s island. The sky was always clear and the stars were bright. Her mother would hold her in her lap and sing a lullaby to her while her father sat close by.

[DeadAlice]

She missed her parents, but leaving was best for her and they knew it too. Though she longed to return home she also began to enjoy the outside world and all the pain and happiness that’s been brought to her by fate. She couldn’t live in a world that was supposed to protect her all her life. She needed the life lessons and experience to help better herself. Had she known how much money affects daily life she’d would have asked her father about better understanding its value.

[DeadAlice]

Hellen had stopped at a rest stop, she needed to pee and put food into her system. She had four days to get to the ship that she was supposed to board to get to Whisper Forest. So, she needed all the energy in order to keep herself awake for the long drive ahead. She could gain all the hours lost by sleeping on the ship. Raz had packed Hellen easy food to take with her for her drive.

[DeadAlice]

Simple snacks that could fill her up during the day while she drove. When, she got back on the road she opened up a bag of her favorite candy: gummy bears and enjoyed each one of them while listening to the radio, “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” was playing. Perfect travel music she thought. The night’s sky was beginning to overflow with the sun’s rays as it slowly appeared over the horizon. Hellen had finished a box of cheez-its and was ready to get out of the car and walk off some unneeded calories and she could take this time to get some coffee and read off her mission again to piece together anything that seemed to fit together like a puzzle piece.

[DeadAlice]

A large town called “Lion’s Den” was the next stop she’d make. Hellen drove down the streets looking for a coffee shop that she could stop at. She had found one on a busy road with ribbons being hung from the vintage street lights. She looked around to find what the occasion was. She saw a bright yellow sign with large black letters spelling “Meet Jack the Lion! The city’s own real Lion!”

[DeadAlice]

Hellen’s eyebrows rose, “A lion huh?”
She parked in the parking lot of the coffee shop and entered in from the back door. There was a line of four and all eyes found their way to Hellen. She wondered if something was on her face or if she smelt weird. But, her thoughts were interrupted by two twin boys that rushed to her with amazement in their eyes.

[DeadAlice]

“You have such red hair! Are you some kind of witch!?” Hellen blinked at the children with cofussment. She did not understand what they meant, her hair was indeed a dark radiant red, but most people just think that she had it dyed.
“A witch? I’m nothing of the sort,” she answered honestly she looked at them dumbfounded.
“I’m so sorry!” A lady that looked to be in her mid-thirties was rushing over to the children, she grabbed their ears pulled.

[DeadAlice]

In insync they said “Ow! We’re sorry!”
The woman had short blonde hair and was wearing a apron with the coffee’s shop name.
“I’m sorry about my rude children,” she said rapidly and comfortably.
Something was off about this town it wasn’t the children of course, but something seemed different.
“I grieve no ill-will towards your children."

[DeadAlice]

"They were simply curious and I find no harm in what they said,” Hellen replied simply, she watched as the lady’s expression changed with relief she must have worried that Hellen would have been very upset with what her boys had said and was unsure of the consequences.
“Thank you! They don’t know what they were saying,” she said while she shook her head at the boys that held their heads low. “They truly are nice boys, I promise,” she finished with a kind smile.  
“I believe you ma’am,” Hellen answered with a smile, she had been practicing in the mirror weeks before she signed herself up for a mission. Many people complained about misunderstanding her emotions, well expect for Raz, and she felt it was time to work harder on expressing herself to others.

[DeadAlice]

The smile must have passed off because the woman returned it.
“I’m Megan, my husband and I run this shop and these are two and only kids, the one on the right is Jason and the one on the left is Ozzie” she gestured towards her two young twins with short dirty blonde hair and bright wide green eyes. They nodded their heads while they hid behind their mother.
“Though you’ll probably won’t remember which is which,” she said. She put her hands on the their backs.

[DeadAlice]

Hellen smiled at them, “it’s pleased to meet you, my name is Hellen.” A bell rung and Megan turned towards the kitchen rushed over to her husband that had finished make baking some kind of pastre.
“Please sit down Hellen, I’ll get you our special for today,” she said as she hurried off to her husband.
“Meg we have customers dear.”
“I know-I know, but your children Ron were causing trouble.”