!!THIS IS PART 2 OF A SERIES. READ PART ONE HERE!!

  Apparently, you guys wanted a part two of my weird writing. :| Here it is! There will be a part 3 with the last couple ideas within the next month!

  People whose ideas I used in this chapter (not in order): BlueBoyBuilds, spookyshxdow, cybergrass, ThatOneIdiotNamedGhoul, Cirxett, ajthepeach (mentioned), and WelcomeToPMC. The remaining ideas will be used in Part 3.

  Enjoy the Madness!

  Zinnia Barnett stood in front of her new HOA Mediator’s office. In reality, it was just a small cardboard stand set up on her lawn. Clearly the HOA didn’t have a lot of spare cash. She had just moved to the neighborhood last week and accidentally signed a form to make her a member of the HOA.


  Last week, she had attended her first HOA meeting. There, she had met a cast of wonderous characters, including a wizard who wanted to get revenge over his ex-wife after she threatened to sue him for pushing her off of a cliff.


  Zinnia shook her head. Where had Mr. Maxia even found a cliff to push Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tubewoman off? She set down her coffee cup on the cardboard stand, pulling over a little chair. It was another sunny day in the neighborhood. Her neighbors were gardening, a man in a white van was talking to some children, the birds were singing, a tall old man was walking towards her, a cloud was- wait.


  Zinnia looked back at the approaching figure. His straggly frame peeked over the top of the flimsy stand. His face looked like a basset-hound, sunburnt and wrinkly. He squinted down at her. “Heylo. Yous’s the new Mediditator?” he asked.


  Zinnia nodded unsurely. This man was intimidating. “What can I do for you?” She smiled politely and shoved down her initial unease.


  The man scratched his shoulder. “Me neighb’r been stayin’ up ‘til wee hours. I keep hearin’ strange-like noises and cacklin’. I haven’t sleeped well in weeks,” he complained. Zinnia analyzed the man. She now noticed the eyebags and wrinkles marking the man’s face. Zinnia frowned. Why would someone be cackling at 3am? Only psychopaths and people plotting evil things did that.


  “I’m sorry. Who is your neighbor?” Zinnia asked. It would be a good idea to keep an eye on whoever lived in that house. The man paused, thinking.


  “I don’t know his’s name, but he wears this odd pointy hat and has this long-like robe,” he drawled. Wait… Zinnia knew someone with that description. Was his neighbor Mr. Maxia?


  “I’ll look into it. Thanks for speaking to me about it! I’m Zinnia, by the way,” she said.


  “Nice to meet ya. My name’s Elijah,” Elijah said, tipping an imaginary hat at Zinnia and galumphing away.


  Zinnia leaned back on her stool and grabbed her coffee cup. Hopefully she had a little break before the next- someone coughed. Sighing, she set her coffee down yet again and looked around for her customer. No-one was there. Was it just a hallucination?


  “We’re down here,” a voice said. Zinnia leaned over the stand and saw… an army of vacuums? Specifically the Roomba kind.


  “What the heck?” Zinnia exclaimed. There must have been at least 100 Roombas.


  “Hello. We are the Oompa Roombas. We are here to make sure you are not harming Elijah. Please confirm you only want to help,” one of the Roombas said. How was it speaking?


  “Uh… I’m just going to investigate his noisy neighbor?” Zinnia said unsurely. She looked back at her coffee. Perhaps the milk she had put in was spoilt?


  “Thank you for your confirmation. Have a good day,” the lead Oompa Roomba stated. The hoard of vacuums turned as one and glided off.

  Zinnia grabbed her coffee cup and sniffed it. Smells fine. A couple families strolled down the street, chatting casually with each other. One of them spotted her sitting at the stand and pulled the rest of the group over to Zinnia.


  “Hello there!” one of the people said. Zinnia stared tiredly at the group. A black-haired woman, a red-haired man, and two black-haired children.


  “Hey. What can I do for you,” she said tiredly. Why had she not read the housing contract all the way through? Why did the HOA even have a clause in the contract that gave people a place on the HOA board?


  “My name is Kira, this is my husband Myrddin, and these are our two children: Greg and Fiona.” Zinnia nodded and introduced herself to them.


  “A couple of days ago, Greg and Fiona were given candy by a cackling old man. Ever since, they have been plagued with nightmares.” Kira said solemnly. Zinnia frowned. The two children can’t have been over 10 years old.


  “What kinds of nightmares?” Zinnia questioned. Perhaps the timing of the two events was a coincidence?


  “Greg dreamt of teaming up with a titan-dog-thing called King and taking over the world. Fiona dreamt that the head of an axolotl with stick-legs mind-controlled her,” Kira recounted. Zinnia took a sip of her coffee. What kind of a sick person would give nightmares like those to children?


  “Do you know who the man was?” Zinnia questioned.


  “I think his name is Mr. Magio or something. He’s a wizard that lives a few doors down from us,” Myrddin answered.
  Probably Mr. Maxia. “Okay, thanks for telling me. I’ll look into it,” Zinnia said.


  As the family walked away, Zinnia grabbed a spare piece of cardboard and scribbled ‘CLOSED’ on it. She then set the sign on the temporary stand.


  At this point, Zinnia was done with all of the problems Mr. Maxia was causing for her. She was going to try and find his house and talk to him. Zinnia set off down the street, waving to her neighbors.


  She didn’t know where Mr. Maxia’s house was, but surely one of the community members could point her in the right direction. Zinnia walked further and further down the sidewalk, entering a part of the neighborhood she hadn’t been to before.


  On one side of the street, Zinnia spotted a blonde lady yelling at a short, square-framed man. Zinnia approached them carefully. She had no idea what situation she was walking into.


  “Hello there?” she asked, looking at the two people. The stocky man had sickly yellow skin. The taller woman turned towards Zinnia, her face as dark as a teenager’s search history.


  “What do you want? Can’t you see you are interrupting something?” The woman yelled. She stomped her foot on the concrete in frustration.
  
  Zinnia raised her hands placatingly. “I’m the HOA mediator. I can help with your issues.”


  The short man looked relieved. “Yes please! I’m Bob and this is Barbera, Ken’s wife,” he said. Aha. Ken was the last HOA mediator before he ‘betrayed’ them to work as a therapist. He ran a reality tv show, ‘I’m Just Me,’ starring him and celebrities, most notably Mario Superi.


  “Why are you guys arguing?” Zinnia questioned. The two people were standing in the driveway of a pinkish-reddish house.


  Barbera frowned. “Well after Ken left the HOA, they gave our house away for free! And this idiot took it. How could he? Even though Ken and I have another multi-million dollar mansion, how could Bob take this house from us?” Barbera was screaming at this point. Zinnia stepped farther away from the crazy woman.


  “Bob I’d recommend dialing HOA Security Department,” Zinnia advised. This HOA was weird. It had roles normal HOAs didn’t have. There wasn’t much she could do in this situation.


  Zinnia sped-walked away from the pair. She needed to ask someone for directions to Mr. Maxia’s house. There! A suspicious man in sunglasses and a trench coat was walking in the middle of the street. “Hey!” Zinnia called out. The man turned towards her.


  “Hello. You’re Zinnia Barnett, right? I could actually use a little help,” the man said.


  “How can I help?” Zinnia asked.


  “I’m a PSA Agent, you can call me Bennett. My agency has been investigating a Mr. Maxia for attempted homicide, among other things.”


  Zinnia smiled. “I’m also investigating Mr. Maxia. Perhaps we can work together?”


  Bennett nodded. “Follow me and keep it quiet.” The two of them snuck down the street towards the mysterious Mr. Maxia’s mansion.

  Have a good timezone! Don't forget to drink water >:|