“Go away, Oliver!”

Klein shouted from the downstairs bedroom near the front of the house. He wasn’t wearing his fancy Plague Doctor outfit. Just a simple surgical mask, next to his wife Emerald, who was wearing a black dress and a similar white mask. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had tears streaming down her face as she held the hand of the rickety old man who was lying on the bed.

“Dad, please… Not yet. I’m not ready yet.”

“Heh-heh… *Weeze* Emy… It’s… It’s time. Before… I can’t speak anymore. *Cough~!*”

“So you decided to work for those bastards again anyway?”

When Oliver came home later, Peridot complained at the dinner table. The two of them grew quite a bit in the past year. With the boy reaching about 155 cm and the girl still a bit taller at 160 cm. At least their skin was relatively clear thanks to the medicine bought from Klein next door. Unlike most of the teenagers around Verde that had horrible acne, lesions or rashes.

“I’ve saved up way too much ore and crystals now. We had to build a whole other shed just to store it all. I don’t want my yard to disappear and I can’t just stop Mining. It’s more than just a job to me.”

By the time they got dressed and went out to check on the situation, a ‘big crowd’ of a couple dozen people were gathered in front of a green brick house. It was right next to Verna’s place. The Herbalist Shop.

“Uncle Grun, what’s wrong? Is Myrtle okay?”

The tall and muscular man looked down at Oliver with a frown, “Myrl… Well, see for yourself.”

“Thanks for helping me out today, Peri.”

“I’m just worried about you, Ollie.” The tall blonde-haired, green eyed girl pouted, “I always knew the company was scummy, but I never thought they’d do something this evil.”

“I’m not surprised.” Oliver looked at his living room that had a few holes in the walls and floor that still needed to be fixed. At least all the blood and mud was cleaned up though. That crossbow and the bolts were given to Forest as an early birthday present.

“I just didn’t think Jessie and the others would wanna kill me… What the hell did I ever do to them, anyway?”

“They’re just jealous. Obviously.” Peridot sneered, “Jealousy can make people do crazy things…”

“Damn it!”

*Thud!*

“Mmmn! Shit!”

*Thump-thump-thump!*

“ Aaaah!”

*Paaah~!*

When he finally got home and finished a long bath, Oliver was still furious. So he set up the heavy green sandbag in the living room and started wailing on it with all his strength. Eventually he got completely exhausted and ate dinner, before heading back to bed with an upset stomach and covered in sweat. He didn’t even have the energy to think about the fact that the statue on the right side of the bed was laying on her left side.

“Goodnight, Sis…” He laid down on his left side, then the right, unable to find a comfortable position. Eventually he ended up sleeping on his back.

“Hah~! Hahahah~! Yes! I win!”

When Oliver woke up the next day, he turned over and found that Marble Mother was nowhere to be found! Even Stone Sister was still laying face-down and in the same exact position as before. Except for the slightly longer little black hairs, it was just a normal statue.

“Don’t worry, Sis. That crazy woman is gone now. You’re safe.” He patted the ‘girl’ on her cold hard back and got out of bed. Rested and excited to go work in the mines again!

“Verna’s parents won’t make another trip back to Kale Town until next week though. We’ll probably never see your Marble Mommy again. By the way, why was that specific statue so damn haunted? All the others didn’t move around nearly as much.”