My first Bubbline fic. I hope you guys enjoy!
It was the first cold day of autumn. The air was crisp and dry, winds blowing freshly fallen leaves askew. Bonnibel B. Gum stepped out of her small red Volvo car, shivering as the first breeze of whipping wind hit her. Taking a step onto the concrete driveway, she slammed her car's door shut, locked it, and busily hurried inside, her heels click-click-clicking on the ground.
Once inside, the girl had a chance to breathe. Sighing, she plopped down onto her couch and rubbed her temples.
"I need an aspirin..." she groaned to herself.
Bonnibel was 19 years of age, just having graduated high school the year before. She lived in a small apartment located just a few minutes away from the nearby city, Oon. Yawning, Bonnibel pulled out her phone and unlocked the device.
"Thirty-six unread messages?" she whispered to herself. "Finn..."
Her fingers scrambled to open the messages.
-Hey.
-I had fun today.
-I hope you did too.
-I really hope I didn't make you uncomfortable.
-I'm sorry if I did.
-You're such a cool gal to hang with!
-Totally awesome!
-Hello?
-Are you there?
-Did I scare you away?
-Dammit...
-Peebs?
-Well um...
-Uncle Jake misses you
-The old man hasn't stopped barking about you since you left.
-And uh... I do too.
-Yeah.
-Fionna won't stop teasing me
-Gosh Fionna shut up.
-Go gossip with Cake or something.
-Hehe. I don't know why I was indirectly speaking to her by texting you.
-Sorry.
-So... you there?
-Have I ever told you how pretty you are?
-Well you are.
-I bet you hear that a lot.
-HEY BON THIS IS FIONNA
-FINN IS SO FREAKIN' STARSTRUCK OVER YOU
-IT'S MAD CRAZY!
-HE ALWAYS TALKS ABOUT YOU AND TALKS ABOUT HOW HEjfhgjhtgiBUIFB9U8
-I'm sorry!
-Fionna took my phone
-Jesus
-I'll quit bugging you now. Talk to you later.
-...
-... ilu
Bonnibel smiled a bit sadly to herself. She had spent the day with Finn, whom she had met via his older sister Fionna. Bonnibel and Fionna went to high school together, and when Bonnibel met Finn, it was apparent he was head-over-heels for her. However, Finn was four years younger than Bonnibel, and although his maturity level was somewhat higher than most boys his age, Bonnibel couldn't reciprocate his feelings. She just couldn't see them as anything more than friends. Part of her was guilty that she continued to "lead him on", but another part told her that she wasn't leading him on, and he just needed to accept the fact that they were just friends.
Bonnibel texted the younger boy back:
-Sorry for the late reply, just got home.
Standing up, Bonnibel began to walk to her bedroom, taking off her heels in the process. She opened the door and came face-to-face with a large mirror resting on the wall behind her dresser drawer. Bonni inspected herself in the mirror. Her pale pink hair was resting on her shoulders, but her bangs were in her eyes. Moving the rosy bangs aside, she inspected the dark mascara on her eyelashes. She gave herself a thin-lipped smile, satisfied that the mascara brought out her light blue irises. Deciding she liked the look, she kept the makeup on, shedding her clothes in exchange for more comfortable ones, pink sweats and a plain white t-shirt. Bonni adored the color pink. She remembered the day she first dyed her hair pink, without her parent's permission. They had come home from dinner with co-workers and nearly had a conniption screaming and yelling and fussing at their now-pink-haired 15 year old daughter. Bonnibel laughed at the memory, but her smile quickly faded into a frown. She missed her parents a lot, but...
Bonnibel swallowed. She didn't want to think about them anymore. Thinking about the relationship between her and her parents always left Bonni feeling as if she'd been punched in the chest.
Shaking her head to get her mind off the subject, she wandered into the living room and sat back down on her couch again, picking up an old book that lay on the coffee table. She opened it, scanning the yellowed pages. Nothing in the book caught her interest, so she placed it back onto the table, the book settling with a light 'thud'. Silence settled like smoke around Bonnibel, the apartment still. Bonnibel hung her head and succumbed to a sick feeling in her gut- loneliness Bonni got lonely a lot. A young girl, barely an adult, living on her own in a small apartment. Bonni liked to be alone. But she definitely didn't like being lonely.
A sharp beeping sound from her phone jolted her from her thoughts. Looking down at the screen, an alert read: "(1)New Text Message". It was undoubtedly from Finn. Feeling a little less isolated, she read the message.
-It's fine. So have you gotten news from that job you applied to?
Bonnibel, having no means to pay for herself or the apartment other than Finn and Fionna's uncle and aunt, who gave her cash when she needed it(Even after Bonnibel had begged and pleaded them not to waste their money on her), had applied to be a waitress at the local diner. It wasn't much, but Bonni figured it would at least pay the rent. Pursing her lips together, she replied to Finn:
-I haven't gotten an email. Do you think these sort of things come in the mail?
It wasn't long before Finn replied:
-Dunno, man. Maybe you should check.
Bonnibel shrugged to herself, figuring it was worth a try. She stood up, grabbing the box keys off the table, slipped a jacket on, put on tennis shoes and made her way out the apartment.
The sun was setting behind the city skyline, night slowly creeping its way overhead. Streaks of orange, purple and dark blue scarred the sky. If the wind hadn't been biting at Bonnibel's nose and ears, she might have stayed to watch the moon rise. But alas, she had a box to check. She made her way to the front of the apartment complex, where the cluster of mailboxes stood. She traces the cold, gray metal with her finger until she found hers- 28B. Sliding the key into the hole, she quickly unlocked it, snapping the door open. Inside was a white envelope of the sort. Bonnibel felt her heart leap as a wide grin spread on her face, yanking the envelope out and tearing it open, not even bothering to read the sender info.
"Congratulations! You've been entered in a chance to win a 'free' cruise to the Bahamas! (Requires fee of 8 payments of 25 dollars port tax, apply now by filling out this survey)"
Bonnibel's grin slowly faded as she let the phony letter flutter to the ground. Anger and irritation welled up in her. Bonnibel kicked the letter into the gutter, spitting on the ground in rage.
"I don't have TIME for this!" She wailed to herself, pulling at her pink locks. "Oh my GOD!"
Deciding she needed a breather, she walked the opposite way of the apartment complex. She walked for a while until the complex was just a pile of red bricks in the distance. Bonnibel breathed crisp air in through her nose, letting out fiery, angry breaths through her mouth.
"Damnit... I really, really need this job..." Bonnibel's anger had turned into desperation, and tears formed at the corners of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away.
"No, Bon. You're a big girl. You can just apply for more. You can't give up now." she reminded herself out loud. "Not after-"
A soft groaning noise in the distance cut her off. The noise was followed by the sound of coughing. Bonnibel's head whipped around, looking for the source of the sound.
"Hello..?" Bonnibel bit her tongue, half worried that someone had followed her. "Who's there?"
Bonnibel began to search. She was on a gravel road, thick vegetation to her left, and a small field of grass to her right, with a small shed in the middle of the field. More coughing came, but softer this time. This time, Bonni could pinpoint its origin to the shed.
"Who's there?!" Bonni repeated as she approached the shed, her fists clenched. More groaning, even softer, was all that could be heard coming from the shed. Bonnibel huffed as she took a stance, kicking the door open, raising her readied fists to a fighting position.
Moments passed, but no one had come out of the shed. Lowering her fists, Bonnibel stepped into the dark shed.
"Is anyone in here...?" Bonnibel repeated. No answer. Bonnibel pulled out her phone as a light source, shining it on the dim walls and floor.
Gasping, Bonnibel stepped back. Lying in front of her was a woman, who didn't look much older than she was, with messy black hair. She was thin and looked fragile, and her clothes were ragged and torn. She was covered in scrapes, her nose was bleeding and there were endless cuts on her face and arms where dried blood could be seen on her ghostly pale skin.
Bonnibel kneeled down, facing the girl and shaking her shoulders, but she did not stir.
She didn't even appear to be breathing.