Epilogue

It was about a week after the hostage taking at Petunia's house. During that day, only four of the principals involved—Petunia, Giggles, Flaky and Sniffles—survived. The two most affected—Giggles and Petunia—quickly recovered their bearings. After all, they had been through worse straits. The others simply shrugged off the event. It was not an unusual even in Happy Tree Town—in fact, being killed was an expected, if unwelcome, event.

Petunia talked to Giggles about her idea of a party, and even though she had reservations about the propriety of it, Giggles agreed as long as she would host the party at her house. To Giggles, it was peculiar that they'd even want to remember what had happened, but Petunia convinced her it is to thank the others for what they've done for them.

During the course of the week, several of their party died a couple of times. However, this is par on course and expected—they died from the usual freak accidents that seem to occur regularly in their town. They would commemorate not the death, but the fact that they were taken hostage and kidnapped and were rescued. They had forgiven the raccoons, but they were not invited.

The affair as planned by the girls was solemn and dignified. It was strictly a white tie party. They agreed to invite only those who had helped them or had saved their lives during the affair. As such, they only invited Cuddles, Flippy, Flaky, Handy, Lumpy, Sniffles, Pop, and Cub. Cuddles tried to get Toothy invited, arguing that he died too, but Petunia retorted that he didn't do anything to save them. She also vetoed the other victims, like Mole, Nutty, and Mime, as they did not contribute in any way to their rescue. Giggles was hesitant to agree to Petunia's exclusion of the others, but she finally relented to her friends' wishes.

The men involved were quite perplexed by the plans of the two girls. They had no problem attending any party thrown by any of their friends, but they were puzzled by the purpose of it. Hadn't they already been thanked enough during the immediate aftermath? And what's there to thank if you got saved one day, and got killed the next day for something totally unrelated? And there were plenty of times before where such thanks was merited but there was no party or celebration to formally give it. And why not invite the others? Still, they accepted.

It was the night of the party, exactly one week after the hostage taking incident.

All the men wore tuxedos, except for Flippy who wore blue military formal dress, complete with sword. All the women wore formal dresses.

The boys were in one corner of the house chatting with each other. "Ha! You're the one to talk!" Lumpy boasted over a glass of champagne. "You might have killed the most deliberately! But I still have the highest kill count! And Splendid killed more than you, Flippy!"

"Yeah, but you died more times than me!!" Flippy rebutted, having already drank two glasses, but not yet drunk or even tipsy. "You could count in your fingers the number of times I died! Heck, you seem to die every week!"

"At least not as much as Cuddles, who dies everyday!" Lumpy answered, by now getting tipsy, but still in command of his senses.

"Hey!" Cuddles answered, who also had downed half a glass, but like Flippy, still sober. "That's an exaggeration! I only die twice a week for your information! And I don't die because of my stupidity or carelessness, unlike some blue mooses out there!"

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" Sniffles added. He was the only of the party who doesn't drink alcohol, but like the others, got carried away by the boasting going on. "This party is about the hostage kidnap situation last week! During that day, I was the only guy left alive!"

"Isn't this kind of morbid," Handy asked the others, "talking about death this way?" Having no hands, he had to drink using a straw, but haven't touched his yet, as he was planning on drinking after eating cake.

"Handy, you know it will happen, and it will happen in the most gruesome manner, yet you'll be good as new as always!" Lumpy answered. "So why not talk and laugh about it? It'll do no good to fret about it everyday!!"

"But if you have a son of your own, and you see him die on an almost daily basis," Pop opined, "then you would not talk about death this way." Pop also drinks, but like Flippy, has a cast iron stomach and could not get drunk easily. He was clearheaded and sober at this point in time.

Flippy turned serious. "Yes, but I don't think I'd want to raise a family in this town," the green bear rejoined. "I don't think I could see what you see everyday—your son die—and mostly because I fear I'll be the one who'll kill him the most."

"Yes," Cuddles added. "But you'll know that no matter what happens, your kid will be brought back to life. I'd say that it's better to raise a family here, since you would never lose a child to death, nor would your child have permanent injuries. Outside, once you die, that's it! Here, death is merely an inconvenience. It's something you'd want to avoid, like getting a cold, but it's still just an inconvenience."

"And who knows?" Handy stated. "Maybe your evil side wouldn't kill his own flesh and blood."

Giggles, Flaky, and Petunia were also talking with each other in the dining area. "That cake is beautiful," Flaky commented upon seeing a large cake in the middle of the table. "You'd think someone was having a birthday or a wedding!"

"I baked it myself!" Giggles proudly beamed. "And I'd have a large red candle just for it!"

"Speaking of red candles, I saw a box of dynamite in your room," Petunia said. "Just like that box of red candles," she said, pointing to the box of red candles besides the table. "What is up with that?"

"It's Lumpy's. After the dam broke, I went and confiscated his supply of dynamite. Those poor fish," Giggles replied. "I swear! Dynamite fishing would be the ruin of our town!"

"How'd you get it?" asked Flaky. "I don't think he'd give it to you just like that."

"Oh I took it while he was dead," Giggles replied. "I know it's not nice, but for the environment, I'm willing to be mean."

They noticed the men getting louder. "Let's go there before they become too drunk!" Giggles suggested. "I'd hate it if they pass out before we get to the main event."

"Not to mention kill themselves, and us, in the process," Flaky added.

"I swear!" Petunia said. "Sometimes they can be so immature!"

The three women then joined the men in the talking. Unlike the men, the three women are not comfortable talking about the peculiar mortality of the town in such an open, frank, and even brutal and boastful manner, so they changed topics. Giggles also took the bottle of champagne among them and put it in the table, much to the protests of the men. "Now boys, only after you've eaten the cake!" Petunia gently chided.

Meanwhile, Cub had been wandering in Giggles' house. Lumpy was supposed to look after him. With Giggles' help, Lumpy put the toddler to bed in Giggles' room. The toddler fell asleep, and Lumpy felt safe in leaving Cub alone in Giggles' bed. However, no sooner had Lumpy left than Cub suddenly opened his eyes. The toddler sat on his bed and looked around. Finding he was alone, he crawled to the edge of the bed, and somehow managed to climb down to the floor. He crawled across the floor to satisfy his curious and adventurous mind. He at first fiddled with the Giggles' slippers beside the bed but Cub quickly became bored with it and looked around for something to play with.

He decided that he wanted to go and see what was under the bed. Happily, he explored the place beneath the bed.

He saw a box and immediately climbed over its sides. He laughed as he saw what appear to be toys, but were actually the sticks of dynamites that Giggles confiscated from Lumpy. He tried to play with it, but it slipped and fell to the floor. Climbing down the box, he tried to grab it, but he inadvertently pushed it, causing it to roll away from him. He clapped his hands. That is just like the toy firetrucks he played with. He decided that his new game was to roll the dynamite in the floor like a toy car.

He was so happy with his new toy that he didn't notice, or if he did, did not care, that he rolled the dynamite outside Giggles' bedroom. He just played and laughed at his new toy. His sounds of laughter and playfulness were loud, yet could not be heard above the din of conversation, shouting, boasting, and laughing that is going on among the adults.

He stopped just besides the table when he saw another large box just like the one he saw under the bed. Another box of toys, he happily thought. Holding the stick of dynamite in his mouth, he climbed on the box of red candles. He clapped his hands and laughed. Letting go of the original "toy", he picked up a red candle.

Lumpy was on the couch on the living room when he caught a glimpse of Cub at the candle box. He gasped silently. "Excuse me," he said as he rushed to the table to get Cub from the box of candles. "Bad Cub!" Lumpy scolded, though not loud enough to be heard by the others. "Bad Cub!"

"Looks like Lumpy couldn't wait to stuff himself silly!" Sniffles shouted as he saw Lumpy ran towards the dinner table.

"Cub! I thought you put him to bed!" Pop—seeing Cub being picked up by Lumpy—shouted as he ran towards the blue moose and his son.

"Looks like Cub doesn't like to left out of the adults' party," Giggles giggled, as Pop grabbed his son from Lumpy.

"I knew I shouldn't have left my son with such an idiot like—" Pop bitterly said before being cut off by Cuddles, who tried to pour oil on troubled waters.

"Let's eat! I'm hungry," Cuddles shouted, coming between them, pointedly ignoring the two, and staring at the food.

It did the trick for Lumpy, whose attention immediately focused upon the delicious cake that Giggled prepared. "Yes! Food! Hungry! Me!"

"Wait!" Giggles shouted, joining them. "Before we eat, we have to light the candle!"

Giggles decided that it was time to begin the real ceremony before things got out of hand with the alcohol. "Ladies and Gentlemen, friends, and colleagues, thank you for attending our party. This party is to thank all those who intentionally helped us, and saved our lives during the kidnap-hostage situation last week."

"Yes, but they died several times since, so wouldn't it be beside the point?" Handy whispered to Flippy. "You even killed the two girls two days ago during one of your flip outs!"

"I know," Flippy replied. "But let's humor them."

"Thank you for saving us, for literally giving their lives! Even though we know this is not true, still, figuratively, I'd say that if it weren't for you, we would not be here today!" Giggles said, not noticing the hushed whisperings among her audience.

"Yeah!" Handy shouted. "Instead, us guys aren't here today for dying while saving you that day!"

The room burst into laughter at Handy's remark.

"Seriously!" Petunia motioned, "Dying is common, and expected, but being kidnapped and taken hostage is not. If you die, you return the next day good as new. However, if you were kidnapped, if you weren't rescued or released or killed, you remained kidnapped the next day."

"And now, for the list of honors!" Giggles announced.

"Finally," Sniffles said.

"First of all, we'd like to thank Handy," Petunia said. "For recognizing the peril that we were in the moment he saw Lifty and I walking in the park."

"Nah, I knew you two really were on a date!" Handy interrupted, prompting laughs among the others.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted," Petunia said, glaring at the handless carpenter, "He followed us to make sure the rest of you always knew where we were. Please give a round of applause to Handy!"

The others clapped their hands.

"Next!" the skunk continued, "I'd like to thank Pop, for saving my life!"

"Yeah, from Lumpy!" Handy snickered.

"Hey!" Lumpy retorted.

"Will you please shut up, Handy!" Petunia growled. "He pulled me out of harm's way when Lumpy's car—"

"That's my car!" Sniffles corrected.

"Sniffles' car—thank you for the correction, Sniffles—and ensured I lived till the end of the day," Petunia finished. "He then accompanied Lumpy in the pursuit of Lifty in order to ensure that he did not call Shifty."

"It was nothing," Pop replied, accepting the resulting applause from the others.

"The next one goes to Flaky," Giggles declared. "For saving me from being hanged, and held me, even when she's not strong enough, until help arrived."

"And let's not forget," Petunia added. "She was the one who brought Flippy and Cuddles in!"

Flaky just blushed as the others applauded.

"I'd like to thank Cuddles for—" Petunia began, but was at a loss for words. "Giggles, what exactly did Cuddles do again? Aside from dying, that is."

"Hey I got hit in the head by Shifty!" Cuddles protested.

"Cuddles showed us how much he cared for me!" Giggles answered, "and was the one who first attacked Shifty!"

The others applauded, while some snickered while clapping.

"The next one is Flippy!" Petunia announced.

"He was the sweet one who told Flaky and Cuddles to go to my house instead of following Petunia!" Giggles added. "He—what's the right word?—punished Shifty, and saved his sweetheart Flaky."

"Too bad he got himself killed in the process," Sniffles shouted, but applauded with the others nonetheless.

Flippy acknowledged the applause while looking at a blushing Flaky.

"Lumpy is next!" Giggles introduced. "Even though he accidentally killed Cuddles—"

"It was Pop's fault!" Lumpy protested. "If he hadn't thrown that lighted match—"

"What do you mean it's my fault?!" Pop answered. "If you had checked your car better before you went driving off, then maybe you'd know that your break is not working!"

"Will you two please stop it?!" Giggles shouted. There was silence. "Thank you. Now, Lumpy, who during that day was sheriff, lent his helping hand to Petunia and I. He essentially saved Petunia from the clutches of that raccoon. He gave chase to Lifty to ensure that he won't call his brother."

Lumpy bowed as everyone, including Pop, applauded him.

"Last but not least," Giggles said, "we'd like to thank Sniffles."

Petunia took the floor. "Thank you Giggles. Sniffles is the one who first gave me hope when all hope seems lost. He was the one who first learned of our problem, the one who made sure Lifty and Shifty would get not a single cent of my money, the one who accompanied me to my home after being rescued, and the one who stayed to keep me company afterwards. Without him, I don't how that day would have ended! Thank you. You're so kind, so brave, so intelligent, for doing what is needed under pressure! His words were a breath of fresh air, his actions the actions of a true hero."

The anteater was taken aback by the extravagance of the praises heaped upon him, but though he was a bit embarrassed, he in his mind thought that he fully deserved all of it, and proudly soaked it all up.

The others smiled a knowing at Sniffles and Petunia. "Looks like someone has a new girlfriend," Handy teased.

Sniffles was oblivious to his friends' insinuations, and thought they were referring to someone else. "Yes," he replied, "but Flaky and Flippy have been together for a long time. It's about time they make it official."

The others laughed at Sniffles, but Sniffles interpreted the laugh as being directed at Flippy and Flaky, so he laughed along. To his friends, it was obvious by Petunia's actions during the week after the incident that she likes Sniffles more than as a friend, and she repeatedly gave hints to the anteater during the week. Sniffles, however, was too absorbed with the solution to the antidote to Kryptonut, or with his other experiments, that he was oblivious to Petunia's attentions, and instead, interpreted her hints at its face value, to the frustration of the blue skunk. Even when hanging out with his friends, his mind always returns to his projects, and he never paid more attention to Petunia than he usually did.

"As I was saying," Petunia loudly said, "the handsome intelligent anteater acted in a cool, professional manner. You have my eternal gratitude."

Sniffles bowed as the others applauded him.

"Now that that was taken care of," Giggles announced, taking the floor, "we'll proceed to this night's main event. Petunia and I will put a red candle in the middle of the cake, and all of you will light it using this giant torch. Petunia and I will then blow it as a sign of our gratitude."

"Just like a birthday cake," Flippy observed.

"Yes, just like a birthday cake," Petunia replied as she gave the guys a long torch. "Now, all of you grab hold of this torch, one hand each."

"Yes," Giggles continued as she took Cub from Pop. "Pop should go in front on the left, followed by Sniffles and Lumpy. On the right, Cuddles should be in front, followed by Flaky, and then by Handy. Flippy should hold the end of the torch."

Unfortunately, Handy could not hold the torch at his designated spot because he has no hands. He put on his frustrated look and complained. "How am I supposed to hold the torch?"

"Oh, sorry," Giggles answered. "You could switch places with Flippy and bite the end."

Flippy and Handy did as suggested. All the boys were now in place. Giggles turned off the light, after which Petunia, who was standing besides the box of red candles, grabbed one candle in the dark. In her excitement, she did not notice that the 'candle' felt different. She placed it in the middle of the cake—she had practiced putting a candle in the middle of the cake in the dark during the week of preparation. She then lit her lighter, and waited for Giggles to come near her. Both girls then clasped the lighter, and together, lighted the torch.

The boys looked at the torch in admiration, before jointly lighting the 'candle.'

They were at first confused as they gathered around the cake when the 'candle' did not illuminate the room as much as it should.

"I've heard of bulbs that are a bit dim but a candle?" Lumpy remarked. "It's the perfect candle for the Mole."

"That's no candle!!" Flippy gasped. "That's dynamite!"

Before anyone could react or move away from the table, it exploded. Everyone was around the table, and everyone was killed that night. All killed accidentally by everyone. Thus, Petunia had her first kill, and Cub, his second.

The End

Note: That's it. It's finished.

To deadliving, I agree. In fact, without the dying in the most horrific way, it wouldn't be HTF at all.

To Kitten630—I think I got it right this time—at least most of the other characters died along with Lifty and Shifty, right? And the racoons didn't die in this chapter!!

Evil Flippy is your pet bear? Well, hope he's not hungry!!

To Today4U-Tomorrow4Me, thank you for the kind words. I try to keep the characterizations as close to the show as possible, though I sometimes added something for dramatic effect.

To Easymac, a key is nothing. At least it's made of metal. In Easy for you to Sleigh, he carved Shifty with a—Christmas cookie!!! Yes, I think he could if chose to, kill people with cards.

To Sinclair16, here is the bonus chapter! Unfortunately, it was already done when I received your review. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and your review. I really appreciate it.