The Forest's best Friend

Tw: drug use, depression (although not too bad) This is a story about Maple and not a custom episodes

Maple woke up to his alarm at 6 am like he always did. He quickly snapped out of bed and stretched out, stepping all over a pile of clothes that had been accumulating for who knows how long. He stumbled around along the pathways between stuff that had been building up in his house and made his way to the kitchen. The house was nearly pitch black because of how early it was, but Maple was so used to the layout of his house that he could have closed his eyes and still arrived at the kitchen to make the same cup of coffee that he had every single day. He got into the fridge and pulled out the ingredients to make some ham and cheese sandwiches, making them so effortlessly that he whistled to himself. His eating disorder starting closing in, but he simply pulled an extra piece of ham out and started chewing on it as he finished brewing his coffee. He put his sandwiches into bags and shoved them in the pockets of his work vest which he quickly slipped on and then poured all of his coffee into his large mug which he sealed with a lid. He took a few sips as he put his boots on and then stepped out of the house.

He hopped into the truck which, apart from the driver’s seat, was just absolutely covered in dirt and junk that just built up and never went anywhere. He went to work, he has had various jobs all around, but today he was hired to repair the roof of an old factory that was barely still in operation. He arrived and unlike usual there wasn’t anyone to greet him and tell him his duties, he simply found a note describing the few issues, as well as a key to the factory. He sighed and took the key, getting to work. He was guaranteed 8 hours of pay regardless of how long it took him as he assessed the job and quickly figured out what he needed to do. Maple was completely alone and left to his own devices in the building, the only things he had were the sounds of his tool and the sticks and sandwiches he had in his pockets to chew on. It took him about 5 hours before he was already done and able to clock out, leaving him off work a lot earlier than most of the people he tried to spend time with.

He drove back home after an easy day’s work and walked into his messy house. All of the cardboard from when he unpackaged his new grill was still tucked away behind the couch, tons of wrappers covered the table and the floor was as dusty as a pyramid. He let out a sigh as he bit the stick he was chewing on in half. He looked around his house, looking at every little thing he could do to clean up, but it was so hard to get started… Eventually he walked over to the kitchen and dug out a weed vape from his stash and puffed on it a few times as he pulled out his phone to check around.

He texted Petunia, but she didn’t respond for a bit, so she then texted Giggles and Flaky. Giggles also didn’t respond, but Flaky eventually started responding after a bit. “Hey Maple! Sorry but I’m out with Petunia and Giggles, we went out on a trip yesterday and won’t be back for a bit.” Maple sighed a bit as he looked over at a calendar on the wall. His birthday was tomorrow and the people who he really wanted to come were gonna be busy. He just went over to his couch and thought about it while puffing a bit more on the weed pen. Eventually with one more sigh he pulled out his credit card and started ordering himself something online. It was a long isolated day for him, minutes felt like hours until it finally got late enough that it’d be appropriate for him to sleep. He got off the couch and looked around, seeing mountains of things he didn’t do today… oh well… he could always clean the house tomorrow… He brushed his teeth, showered, and then went to bed, setting his alarm for 6 am.

Maple woke up to his alarm at 6 am like he always did. He quickly snapped out of bed and stretched out, stepping all over a pile of clothes that had been accumulating for who knows how long. He stumbled around along the pathways between stuff that had been building up in his house and made his way to the kitchen. The house was nearly pitch black because of how early it was, but Maple was so used to the layout of his house that he could have closed his eyes and still arrived at the kitchen to make the same cup of coffee that he had every single day. He didn’t have any work today, so no sandwiches this time. He peeled a piece of cardboard off of the almost empty box of coffee packets and started chewing on it while he waited for the cup to brew. He checked his phone with two texts. Petunia had responded at night explaining that she was out of town with Flaky and Giggles and that they wouldn’t be in town until later today, but they’d be pretty tired from the trip. Giggles had responded with a similar message, but she added in a happy birthday at the end. It brought a smile to his face, atleast someone remembered in the end. But it quickly faded as every other contact he had didnt have a message for him. He sighed as he poured out his coffee and started to sip away at it.

He looked around at all of the things he could do to improve the house, making a list of what would be an easy task to knock out first, but after a bit of thinking he got a notification and checked it out. It was confirmation that his order was ready for pickup. He stretched out again as he finished off his coffee and grabbed a pack of gum he had stashed in a drawer. He popped a piece in his mouth as he put on his boots and went out to his truck. He drove off to a more run down area until he arrived at the spot. He got out of his drunk and walked up to a window on the side of a building, he pulled out his id and slipped it through the window. A minute passed before the window opened and a small package with his id on it was handed over before the window was closed again. He didn’t feel good about this way of making life fun, but people are supposed to celebrate when it’s their birthday right? Maple walks back into his truck and drives off. —- Maple eventually arrived at his little parking space just off the side of the highway. He grabbed his package and then dug an old fire axe out of the backseat, just Incase. He stepped out and started walking along the trail to his cabin. It was a dead silent walk. There weren’t birds chirping or critters scuttling amongst the leaves. Even the wind seemed to have died down today, leaving Maple all to his thoughts and without any sound to distract himself. He walked up to his cabin door and unlocked it before stepping inside. He looked around at this cabin, it was probably the most proud thing he had in his life. He had put so much work into it and it was always so much fun finding new projects to do to improve it more and more. But Maple couldn’t help but feel empty at the sight of the cabin. It was so much better than his house, there wasn’t anything out of place, the walls and the roof were expertly crafted, it seemed fully completed. He checked the time and saw that it was 5 pm now. He hasn’t gotten a text from anyone, though it’s not like many people knew that today was his birthday. He was new in town and none of the residents really knew him too well. He decided it was time to try and force the day to be fun.

He cracked open the package and took out a small bag of mushrooms, he quickly gobbled them down and went off to have a shower. Once done, he grabbed some snacks and some drinks and got on his couch, playing some music from a speaker as he laid back and let the hallucinogens kick in. The changing of the brightness and shadows around the house started to morph into various sights and things that Maple started making out. At first he saw random objects while looking closely, but eventually they turned into familiar figures. Maple saw the trio all standing next to each other, all smiling, and all just happy to have each other. He smiled for a bit, but eventually his smile would fade as he looked away to get them off his mind, but as he looked around he saw more shapes in a different blotch of darkness. He saw piles of clothes that he never picked up. He saw dishes left out on the counter that he kept forgetting to wash. He saw a stain on the wall that he never wiped off since it was always covered by the garbage can anyway…

After a bit he shut his eyes as some tears started forming in them. But the lack of visual stimuli only caused the mushrooms to make the bits of light that got through grow into shapes, he kept seeing all of his neighbours, all in their own ways, but they were never once focused on him. It was around 9 pm now and as his substance of choice started waning, he heard some noises coming from outside. He looked over and slowly got up, stretching out before walking up to the door and making sure it was locked. But as he turned away with a renewed sense of safety, something stepped onto his porch and then there was a knock at the door. Who the hell was outside of his door? He walked up and peered out through the window, and saw nothing but a bright pink bowtie. He quickly unlocked the door and opened it up, having quite the dumbfounded look on his face. “Giggles?!?” He said in complete disbelief as he looked down at her polite smile. He looked around. “What are you doing here? And where are the others?” Giggles had a backpack on but besides that she seemed completely normal. “Oh! Flaky was already really tired so I didn’t want to force her on another car ride…” She stepped inside and set her back on the counter. “And Tunie had already started cleaning the house and you know… once she starts she never really stops…” She chuckled a bit to herself. Maple just kept watching the open doorway for a bit, but eventually closed it and locked it back up, turning to Giggles with that dumbfounded face still on. “But you’re here? It’s already like 9 or something… your poor beauty sleep…” Giggles pulled out a sleeping bag. “Oh! Well I decided I would probably just spend the night, if you don’t mind…” He walks into the kitchen behind Giggles, looking around to see if he had anything to offer her. “Well of course you can… any of you guys can whenever you want…” He gives up his search so he walks over, leaning against the counter beside her while crossing his arms.

He thought for a moment about what to say, but Giggles suddenly pulled out a wrapped box and an envelope from her backpack, offering it to Maple with a big grin on her face. Maple is taken back as he slowly takes it from her, setting the box aside as he Unwraps the envelope and pulls out a card. On the front it said ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAPLE!’ Along with it was a picture of the front of the rink he built and in front of the entrance was cut out photos of everyone in town. He opened it up and saw little notes from everyone in their respective colours and I mean everyone. Maple progressively grew a larger and larger grin as he kept reading more and more notes from everyone. A single tear came to his eye as he looked over at Giggles, who was stood as she usually was, a nice polite grin on while she held her hands together in front of her. He looked for a moment and while basically reading his mind, she brought her arms up. He quickly gave her a big hug, holding it for sometime. Eventually the hug broke and he looked over and started unwrapping the present. He discovered after the first layer that it was two presents together. The first box was a large box of high quality black pens. He took them out and had a bit of a confused look, but he shrugged it off and set them down as he unwrapped the next thing. It was a day planner, with a full years calendar along with extra room at the back for notes and the like. Giggles chimed in as Maple explored this day planner.

“You’ve been complaining a bit about how you feel overwhelmed with things to do.” She puts a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I thought maybe if you started writing down what you did every day it might make it easier to take long term projects!” Maple thought about it. The more he did, the more he saw what she was saying and agreed with her. “Huh… That’s a… pretty good idea actually… sure! I’ll give it a crack!” He grins and Giggles returns back to her idle posture. Maple looks around the kitchen. “Can I get you anything?” He says as he tries to re establish a calm mood. Giggles looks around. Getting a little bit of a smile. “Well, I brought my own but I wouldn’t mind sharing a joint.” Maple cracks a grin, and scoots over to his stash, quickly getting to work on one. “You wanna put on a movie or something? I don’t have much for entertainment for someone like you I’m afraid…” Giggles thought about it for a moment. “A movie sounds good to me.” She walks up to Maple and swipes his joint, pulling out a lighter and taking a nice long drag from it, he watched for a moment before he walked over to the living room and turned the TV on. He flipped through whatever he had saved, nothing really that Giggles would love. “Let’s see… I have horror movies… a few comedies… a few shows…” He turns over to Giggles who coughed out a bit. “A comedy seems fine, whatever you wanna watch.” She walks over to his couch and offers him the joint as she sits down on the edge of the couch. He takes it and sits down on the other end, taking out his stick as he takes a hit off of the joint.

The two sat together for a bit, mostly quiet as they just passed the joint back and forth every so often. Maple kept looking over at Giggles who seemed to be content with whatever Maple had put on, Giggles never once looked over at Maple, or if she did he never really noticed. Eventually the blunt ran out and he put the garbage on the table, the movement making him realise just how tired he was. He grabbed a stick off of the table and put it in his mouth as he looked over at Giggles. He analysed how long the couch was and figured he had enough room to lay down if he scrunched his legs a little bit. He slowly laid down and she quickly noticed what he was up to. She just got up and pulled his legs straight out, getting an embarrassed face from Maple. “No, don’t worry! You can stay sitting-.” Giggles chuckled and stepped up to him, petting him on the head a bit. “I’d rather you be comfortable, you’re already up past your bedtime. He gave a bedazzled look. “Pfft, it’s only like 10…” Giggles looked over at the microwave clock and chuckled, Maple did too. It was 1 am now. He had been sitting on the couch with Giggles for almost 2 and a half hours. He smiled a bit. “Right… hehe… have a good night Giggles…” He grabbed a pillow and tucked it under his head, fully relaxing on the couch. A little while later he felt Giggles suddenly lean against him as she snuggled up beside him, she was quite a bit shorter than him so her head was around his neck level. His eyes widened as he looked down at Giggles. “Uhh… Giggles? What are you…?” She moved around a bit until she rested the side of her head on her arms, she was so adorable. “Just getting comfy, sorry.” Maple held his arm up. “Giggles… you’re in a relationship- I dont-.” Giggles just chuckled a bit to herself, which shut him up. “They’d do the same if they weren’t too embarrassed to admit it, Maple.” He blinked a bit, thinking about that real good. Eventually he decided that Giggles was gonna have her way no matter what, so he wrapped his arm around her and snuggled her closely as he fully relaxed himself. She was so soft, it was almost like cuddling a plushie. He tried to hang onto consciousness but a mix of the weed and the adorable thing curled up next to him made it impossible, he only lasted a few minutes at best before he fell asleep. Not long later, Giggles would fall asleep as well as the movie came to an end. The end