Here it is the first chapter to my Billy and Mandy story that no one will read because this section is dead.
The Sun bore through the window and pink drapes of Mandy's bedroom, casting the inside of her room in a soft pink light. The light of day had stirred the ten year old girl to wake, as summer vacation had only just started a week ago and she was still used to waking up before dawn. Mandy sat up in bed and yawned, still in the process of waking up. The possibilities of an empty summer day raced through her mind, she had an entire day to do whatever she wanted.
Fighting the urge to lie back down and sleep a little longer, Mandy crawled out of Bed and began to dress. She threw on her customary pink dress and black shoes and then donned her black head band that somehow managed to hold her hairstyle together. Satisfied that she looked presentable, Mandy left her room for her kitchen.
Mandy found her mother in the kitchen sipping a cup of coffee. Upon seeing her morbid and terrifying daughter Claire stood at attention. "Good, morning Mandy."
Mandy walked past her mother and sat down at the kitchen table. "Mother I require breakfast, coffee black, pancakes, bacon extra crispy."
Claire nervously turned away from her daughter and began hurriedly assembling Mandy's breakfast. While Mandy quite enjoyed the respect her parents afforded her she often grew tired of the obvious fear they displayed in front of her. She wondered why her parents couldn't be more like Billy and Grim who had long since learned that if they simply obeyed her they would usually have nothing to worry about.
With her breakfast finished Mandy decided to go to Billy's house, where Grim usually stayed. Perhaps Grim would find something interesting for them to do or at the very least Mandy could entertain herself by bludgeoning Billy with something.
Mandy opened her front door and was immediately hit by a wall of oppressive heat; the full force of summer had found Endsville. The short walk to Billy's house proved to be torture as the air was still and the sun was high in the sky, raining down heat on the streets and sidewalks of Endsville. When Mandy reached Billy's house she flung his front door open without bothering to knock to avoid the heat, not that she usually asked for permission to enter Billy's house.
Inside Billy's home Mandy found Grim as usual sitting on the couch watching T.V. Mandy joined the Grim Reaper on the couch without exchanging a word. Grim appeared to be completely absorbed by a soap opera. Although Mandy never laughed or smiled that didn't mean she couldn't see the humor in a supernatural being that was tens of thousands of years old being completely enthralled by a poorly written soap opera.
Mandy grew tired of the show almost immediately and turned towards Grim. "Grim, where's Billy?"
Unable to tear himself away from the T.V screen the reaper spoke. "Hush child can't you see dat I'm trying to watch my show."
Mandy crossed her arms and pouted in contempt. No one was allowed to ignore her not even the personification of death. Hopping off the couch Mandy moved to the side of the television and found its power cord; she grabbed the slack in the cord and lifted it up so that it was visible to Grim. The Reaper immediately understood the girl's threat. "Please, Mandy don't unplug it! Dat imbecile is up in his room trying to hatch a dragon egg."
Mandy raised an eyebrow "A dragon egg?"
"Yeah da boy thinks it's a chicken egg. I didn't tell him da truth because I thought he would leave me in peace to watch me stories, unlike you."
Mandy's normal apathetic frown shifted to one of anger. "Grim" she growled her voice conveying her rage and annoyance with him.
"Cool your jets girl. Dat eggs been in my trunk for thousands of years. The chances it will hatch are one in a billion."
Only seconds after Grim stopped speaking a thunderous crash was heard from upstairs followed by the sound of Billy screaming. Mandy glared at Grim again. "One in a billion huh?"
Grim returned a nervous smile, hoping the blonde girl wouldn't do anything drastic. Bad things always happened to him whenever harm came to Billy and he was found to be at fault.
The sound of Billy clumsily walking downstairs drew their attention. The boy's clothes were singed and still leaving small trails of smoke behind him. His baseball cap that never left his head was still on fire, but Billy appeared oblivious to it.
"Oh, hi Mandy!" Billy shouted with a big stupid grin on his face.
"Hey, Billy." Replied Mandy nonchalantly as if her friend wasn't on fire.
Billy turned his attention to the Grim Reaper. "Grim, my chicken flew away."
"I know mon." said Grim as he used his bony fingers to snuff out the flame on his hat.
With her arms still crossed Mandy spoke, her voice was only slightly judgmental. "Billy, that wasn't a chicken and for the record, chickens can't fly."
A distorted look of confusion appeared on Billy's face, he seemed to be in deep thought or whatever the Billy equivalent of it was. Suddenly the stupid smirk returned to his face. "Sure that was chicken, it hatched from an egg didn't it? I was gonna name her Becky but she burnt my room down and flew away."
Grim reached a fleshless hand up to his chin. "I wonder where dat chicken ended up anyway."
Mandy commented calmly. "Who cares as long as it's out of our hair."
As if it somehow knew they were speaking about it, Becky the dragon crashed into Billy's house. The head of the dragon that had reached full size in minutes crashed through the wall behind Billy's couch, .missing the group only by a couple of feet. The dragon let out a deafening roar that was followed by a torrent of fire. Almost immediately the temperature in the room became unbearable and all three ran outside through Billy's front door.
Standing on the sidewalk in front of Billy's home, the group of three watched as Becky burnt the house down. Grim spoke first. "So anyone want to go to the mall?"
Both Billy and Mandy replied in the positive and the trio began walking in the direction of the mall lead by Mandy.
Mandy felt up to going to the mall but she began to question the wisdom of letting a dragon roam free in her and Billy's neighborhood. Halting her forward movement without warning, Mandy felt Billy's large nose collide with the back of her head, as the foolish boy hadn't responded fast enough. This annoyed the blonde girl, but she decided to ignore Billy's stupid mistake as she had more pressing matters to deal with. Mandy turned around to face Grim.
"Grim, you're not coming."
"What?" the reaper interjected.
"Some ones got to stay behind and deal with the dragon."
Grim's bony face displayed his frustration. "Why do I have to take care of dat monster?"
"First off this mess isn't my fault and secondly Billy couldn't kill a dragon if he wanted to."
Billy chimed in, his cheery tone contrasted with his two friends. "I could never hurt Becky, she's my bestest pet ever."
"See grim like I said. Come on Billy let go to the mall." Billy and Mandy left Grim to his task; he could be heard mumbling under his breath as the pair walked away.
The two children walked to the Endsville mall together doing their best to ignore the brutal heat of day. Mandy noticed that the usually talkative Billy was being quiet for once. The heat appeared to be getting to him as he had his tongue hanging out of his mouth and was panting like a dog. In the absence of any "conversation" with Billy, Mandy's thoughts began to wander. Slowly her mind began to fixate on the fact that this walk with Billy was the first time she had been alone with him in what felt like years. She had know Billy for years before they had met and enslaved Grim, but lately they had grown so used to Grim's presence that times where they were alone together had become rare.
When Mandy was much younger and before she had Grim, she had hated lazy summer days like this because it meant that she would be stuck with Billy all day. As time went by and wretched school years came and went she found that in many ways Billy's company was superior to that of any of the other children in Endsville. Billy never cowered and ran away from her like most of the children and even some of the adults of Endsville. He never complained about how much she hit and abused him. He never tried to cover up for the fact that he was a boring person by blabbing on about what music he liked. Best of all Billy rarely if ever questioned her authority or dared to offer his own opinion on something. Mandy realized that in terms of obedience Billy was the best soldier she had. Sure, Grim was sworn to be their best friend forever and was infinitely more intelligent than Billy, but Mandy knew him. Grim would betray her if the stakes were high enough. Mandy doubted that Billy could even comprehend going against her. It was because of this that whenever Mandy fantasized about ruling the world, she always envisioned a place for him in her empire. Mandy reasoned, why waste such a loyal confidant or at least that was the excuse she gave herself.
The massive building that was the Endsville shopping mall loomed before the two children as they crossed onto its parking lot. The lot was a massive expanse in its own right, black pavement stretched as far as the eye could see. Much to her dismay Mandy saw that the lot was full of hundreds of cars, meaning the mall would be crowded inside. Mandy despised most if not everyone she had ever met, which meant that the crowds of people inside would dampen any enjoyment she would get from her venture.
Upon entering the shopping mall, Billy and Mandy were greeted by the modern marvel that was industrial air conditioning. The feeling of relief from the summer heat was shared by the two children, though only one of them showed any sign of it. Given the chance to cool off, Billy returned to his normal energetic and talkative ways. "So, Mandy where are we gonna go first? Cause I think we should go to the arcade…no wait lets go buy socks, let's go buy socks!"
With her usual frown fixed to her face, Mandy responded, her demeanor the polar opposite of her companion. "Were going to the food court."
"Ooh, so we can eat greasy mall food?" The blonde nodded her head up and down once in response, it being one of the more pleasant ways she ever communicated with him.
While Billy true to his word began to devour vast quantities of greasy fast food, Mandy had only a cold drink when she sat down across from him at a small table in the food court. Mandy watched Billy stuff his face in quiet amusement; watching Billy trying to eat was interesting to her in a morbid kind of way, like watching a car crash. This continued for some time till Mandy found the spectacle turn from being darkly interesting to just plain repulsive, like most things Billy did.
With his mouth still full, Billy was incapable of amusing Mandy by saying something stupid. Instead Mandy turned to one of her favorite pastimes; people watching and then thinking of brutal insults for said people. A few low life nerds drew her disdain till Mandy noticed a disturbing trend amongst the people in the mall. Nearly everyone at the mall had come with someone else. One after another she counted couples of one boy and one girl. Contempt filled Mandy's heart at the sight of it; she had always found personal and romantic relationships to be disgusting distractions that made you weak. The age of the couples ranged from middle aged people that reminded her of her parents to children no older than her and Billy.
Rather disturbingly Mandy realized that to the uniformed, it probably looked like she and Billy were a couple since they were seated together. The thought of her and Billy together like that made her shudder. Mandy thought of herself as the heartless future dictator of Earth. She had no need for relationships like that, especially with someone as stupid as Billy.
The irony was that as much as she hated the idea of her and Billy being a couple, there were people that thought they were. Grim especially liked to tease Mandy whenever she went and rescued Billy from whatever stupid trouble he got himself in. Mandy knew that Grim did it mostly to get back at her for treating him like a slave all the time but he really did seem to believe she had feelings Billy. She hated Grim for that; Mandy wondered why Grim didn't understand, it wasn't that she liked Billy like that it was just that she felt responsible for him. Like a puppy that's too stupid not to chase cars, Billy had to be constantly supervised so that he didn't kill himself.
Grim wasn't the only one that thought of her and Billy as an item. Despite the fact that they were only in grade school there were already numerous rumors about Mandy and Billy floating around. Most if not all of these rumors stemmed from Mindy, who even after several years still hadn't gotten over that Mandy had rejected her friendship.
"Hey, losers." A high pitched and snobby voice called out to Billy and Mandy. As if the universe was plotting against her, Mandy saw Mindy approaching their table. The red headed girl always showed up at the worst times.
Mindy's presence immediately put Mandy in a bad mood even for her. Although Mandy usually bested Mindy in the game of wits, that didn't mean she wanted anything to do with the girl, especially when it was just her and Billy. Without Grim or Irwin around Mindy became particularly vicious about the couple jokes.
Mindy stood by their table with a devilish grin on her face. "So, Mandy I see that you're here with your boy toy."
Unwilling to give her the satisfaction, Mandy concealed the rage she felt and kept her normal scowl fixed upon her face. "He's not my boy toy he's my slave."
In a mocking tone Mindy replied. "Oh, I'm sure he is and in case you couldn't tell that was sarcasm."
Rather than respond with an insult, Mandy decided to prove Mindy that Billy really was her slave.
Mandy slapped the back of Billy's head causing the contents of his mouth to spill out onto the table. "Ewww" shouted Mindy reactively.
"Billy say hello to Mindy." Billy turned to face the red headed girl. "Hey, Cindy!"
Mindy's mischievous grin turned into an expression of rage. She was the egotistical type, incapable of taking any slight against her name. "It's Mindy" she replied to Billy; her voice was tinged with annoyance.
"Dids you say your name was Wendy?"
"No, its Mindy!" she shouted.
"Oh, ok your name is Kenny."
"No, my name is Mindy!" By the third time she had corrected Billy, Mindy was screaming as loud as she could. This caused everyone in the food court to look over at the source of the noise. When Mindy finally realized that she had made a public spectacle of herself she simply gave up and walked away.
Though Mandy had been surprised by Mindy's public meltdown, it was pleasantly so. Billy had annoyed Mindy so much that she had completely flipped out. If she hadn't known better Mandy could have sworn Billy had planned that, then again…
"Hey Mandy" Billy asked, drawing the blonde to look at the boy seated across from her. "Did you see? I made Mindy go away."
Mandy was stunned he had just said Mindy which meant that he had known her name the whole time, he was just screwing with her. Maybe her big nosed compatriot wasn't as stupid as he let on. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but good job Billy."
Mandy thought her last sentence over, she couldn't remember a time she had ever complimented Billy before without being facetious.
With her drink finished and Billy seemingly finished his meal as well, Mandy decided to leave the mall before Mindy came back. Mandy stood up from the small table and began to walk away without speaking a word to Billy. Billy, as Mandy expected fell in behind her like a puppy.
The return trip home proved even worse than the one to the mall. It was mid afternoon and the heat of the day had only intensified. Despite her wishes Mandy felt her body begin to sweat. It annoyed her as she found that particular bodily function disgusting and perspiration went against the cold and detached look she strove for.
Billy and Mandy found Grim sitting on the curb in front of Billy's house or what was left of it. The house was reduced to a frame of burnt timber. Standing up to greet the children, the Reaper walked over to them with his scythe in his hands, sunlight bounced off the blade making the supernatural weapon look even more ominous than usual. "I killed da dragon, but da boy's home is done for."
Mandy eyed Grim suspiciously. "How do I know that you really killed the dragon?"
The Reaper sighed in annoyance before her reached into his robe and pulled out the severed head that once belonged to Becky. The skull was large, too large Mandy noticed, to have fit in Grim's robe but then again none of Grim's possessions obeyed the laws of physics.
Billy caught sight of Grim's trophy and fell to his knees sobbing. "Becky, no!. I loveds you, I loveds you so much!"
The boy cried on for some time showing greater concern for losing the dragon that had tried to kill him than losing his house and all of his possession.
Mandy and Grim watched Billy sob uncontrollably. "If I didn't already know how dumb da boy was, I would say this heat is getting to him. You know what, he's not da only one. Please Mandy can we go to your house and get out from under da sun."
Mandy spoke her voice full of disgust. "Why would I let… hold on"
Mandy stopped midsentence to slap Billy which put an end to his sobbing. "Why would I let you idiots inside my house?"
"Well da place me and Billy usually stay in is umm, well you know." Grim gestured to the smoldering wreck behind him.
"Then you shouldn't have let Billy" house burn down."
Excusing himself Grim replied. "I'm da Grim reaper, not a firefighter."
"Then you should have called the fire department."
"Oh, come on Mandy you know that they stopped taking 911 calls from this neighborhood a long time ago."
Mandy let out an annoyed growl before she spoke. "Fine, I suppose I can't let an idiot and the Grim Reaper wander the streets all night. Come on morons." Billy as usual tailed behind Mandy as soon as she began to move.
"Oh boy a sleepover I can't wait!"
Mandy lead Billy and Grim to her front door and opened it with a care she hadn't extended to Billy's house. Immediately to her left Mandy saw her parents sitting on the couch watching T.V. Calmly strolling up to them, Mandy stood before Phillip and Claire blocking their view of the screen. "Mother, Father I need this room."
"Sure thing Mandy." Her father sputtered. The frightened couple stood up and walked away holding each other. Mandy glared at them till they left the room.
"Peons" she muttered casually.
The trio sat on Mandy's couch and watched Horror movies in silence. Mandy was seated in the middle with Grim to her left and Billy to her right. While Grim and Mandy found the movie entertaining enough, Mandy noticed Billy begin to fidget in his seat. Mandy did her best to ignore the idiot but his fidgeting had only intensified and he began to moan in exasperation. "Billy, what's your problem?"
"I'm bored cant we play a game or somethin?"
Mandy let out an annoyed sigh; she knew that once Billy's feeble attention span ran out there was little chance of getting him to shut up. "What kind of game?"
"I know how bouts Risk?"
"Are you sure Billy? Cause even when you and Grim team up against me you idiots still lose."
Overhearing the slight against him, Grim spoke up. "Hey, we can beat you. No one's invincible."
Grim, I'm thirty seven and o against you losers." "Yeah, well today's da day you lose." Mandy stared at the Reaper and spoke her voice as cold as ever. "I never lose."
Only fifteen minutes in and Billy and Grim's situation was teetering on the brink of disaster. Mandy had taken the initiative early and launched an offensive that had driven the combined forces of Billy and Grim out of Western Europe. Though they still had significant forces in Eastern Europe; Mandy sensed that Her victory was inevitable.
"Ready to give in Boys?"
Grim glared back at Mandy, his voice was full of childish indignation. "Were not beat yet we still have armies in the Ukraine."
Mandy folded her arms and replied "The Ukraine is weak."
"Hey!" Billy cried out. "I come from Ukraine you can't say Ukraine is weak."
"Billy, you were born in America."
"Oh, Yeah." Said the redhead as he lifted his cap and scratched the top of his head.
As she had predicted, Mandy's victory was quick and absolute. This wasn't isolated to just Risk either. Out of foolish pride Grim and Billy (mostly Grim) challenged Mandy to any game they could find. Chess, checkers, poke, no matter the game the outcome was the same. This continued for some time till the sun went down and grim grew tired of losing.
The trio returned to watching T.V around 8:30 at night. Mandy had remembered hearing that the television premier of Exploding Penguins 4 Avian shaped charge would come on at 9:00 pm and she was determined to watch it. Having returned to their previous seating arrangement, the group waited for the nine o clock hour in relative silence until Grim's cell phone rang. The phone played a cheery ring tone that was unsuited to its owner. Grim pulled the under worldly device from his robe and answered it. Billy and Mandy listened in on the Reapers call, judging by his vice he was not happy and the look on his fleshless face confirmed it.
A little while later Grim put his phone away and stood up. "I gotta go to work kids. You mortals never pick a convenient time to die."
Ordinarily Mandy would have been irritated to have one of her slaves leave but Grim's attempts to best her at every game he could find had annoyed her. Grim left out the front door and closed it behind him. For the second time that day Mandy found herself alone with Billy, she felt strangely content with that fact.
Mandy assessed the situation and decided now was the time to gather what she and Billy needed to sleep tonight, before the movie started. "Billy, I'm going to get some things from my room, don't follow me."
"Okay Mandy."
Past experiences involving stink bombs had taught Mandy that Billy was capable of destroying entire Rooms in seconds; because of this Mandy made it a policy to never let Billy in her room ever again. In her room Mandy changed out of her usual daytime clothes into pajamas she was willing to be seen in. Next Mandy grabbed her sleeping bag plus the childish Dinobinoids sleeping bag that Billy never remembered to take home with him.
Billy greeted Mandy with a smile when she returned from her room. Evidently in the two minutes she had been gone he had missed her. Mandy threw the Dinobinoids themed bag at Billy and then set her own up in front of her couch so that she could lie down and look up at her massive Television set. Shortly after Billy did the same to the left of Mandy putting him a little closer to her than she would have liked.
The movie finally started and the two kids watched the screen, captivated by the exploding birds. Every time a penguin went off it was followed by the sound if Billy laughing; the spectacle was hilarious to Billy. Mandy on the other hand never laughed, she just liked watching explosions.
Though one would find it hard to believe, Exploding Penguins four was a feature length movie that consisted of nothing but exploding penguins. Since the movie was being broadcast on basic cable that meant there would be commercials, lot of commercials. Each commercial break there was an awkward silence between the children as Grim wasn't there with them. Mandy was far too stoic to show it but lying next to Billy with nothing else to occupy her mind put her in a nervous mood. Judging by the way Billy's had returned he was feeling it too.
The awkwardness of the situation made each commercial break feel even longer, eventually it got to the point that the red head blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Mandy, do you remember when you were a cheerleader?"
The question surprised Mandy, that particular episode was something she had tried to forget. She enjoyed being the football coach in proxy but the title head cheerleader and the outfit that came with it was something she despised. Rather than show weakness and admit that she had hated that incident, Mandy spoke of the one positive it brought her. "I remember Mindy hated me more than ever because of it."
"Yeah, she was just jealous because you were better than her; you were prettier than her too."
Mandy was shocked, did Billy really just say what she thought he did. Against her will Mandy felt her face flush and her heart flutter. The awkward silence returned but Mandy hardly noticed. She was lost in her thoughts. Judging by Billy's jovial voice he hadn't noticed the significance of what he had just said; never the less Billy's compliment had affected her. This alarmed Mandy as she had always thought that she was above being flattered. Irwin always showered her compliments in a feeble attempt to get her to warm up to him, but they never worked. Why would Billy doing the same actually have an effect of her?
The commercials came to an end and the movie resumed. This put a damper on the awkwardness of the situation for Mandy. The problem was another commercial break was inevitable and she would be thrown back into the same situation.
Rather than pay attention to the movie, Mandy thought inwardly. Billy said something stupid but she hadn't made him pay for it. She wondered why, perhaps it was because Billy's compliment had simply blindsided her and she was too shocked to respond. That sounded plausible but when she thought about it, Billy had done plenty of stupid things in the past, neither of which she could have predicted and yet she had always punished him anyway. Though it sickened her greatly the only good explanation was that she had liked Billy telling her that she was pretty.
Mandy pondered over hitting Billy now, but she realized that too much time had passed since he complimented her. Billy wouldn't be able to connect the pain to what he had said. Plus there was a strange desire in her to just let it slide; this desire seemed to exist outside of any logic.
The sound of Billy laughing finally brought Mandy's attention back to the movie. A penguin exploded only to have his replacement waddle into frame, the replacement penguin wore a bandoleer covered in ammunition and grenades. The penguin adjacent to the replacement blew up launching the grenade laden penguin into the air before he too exploded raining grenades and other explosives onto all the penguins beneath him. Mandy had questioned just how creative the fourth movie in the series could be, evidently her doubts were unfounded.
The penguin based chaos continued a little while longer but eventually another commercial break came. Mandy was thrown back into another awkward silence with Billy. She wondered if Billy felt the same, Billy usually never cared for or upheld societal norms; it was one of the few things Mandy almost respected him for. Still he wasn't speaking which was odd for him and he was still fidgeting like before.
Mandy contemplated saying or doing something to alleviate the situation but couldn't think of what. Slowly Mandy turned her head to the left to look at Billy but a particularly loud and obnoxious commercial drew her focus back to the screen. "Hey, kids do you like clowns?"
The screen flashed with images of clowns, causing Billy to let out a high pitched scream and fling himself at Mandy. Billy clung to her desperately as terror caused him to seek comfort from his friend. "Billy you have three seconds to let go of me before…"
"Then you're going to love clowns on ice!" The television showed a figure skater dressed as a clown jump into the air, spin round three times and then land smoothly. This time it was Mandy who felt an uncontrollable terror wash over her. Mandy wrapped her arms around Billy without thought and the two friends held each other in desperation as their personal fears had merged into a mutual phobia.
The commercial came to an end but the two kids continued to cling to each other. Slowly Mandy calmed down and came to her senses. It finally dawned on her that she had Billy in her arms and that she had sought comfort in his presence. Mandy let go of Billy in disgust and then gave him a hard shove sending him a feet to her left.
"Stay over there Billy." As expected the awkward silence returned only this time it was ten times worse.
The situation had grown so uncomfortable that Mandy gave up on watching the movie and turned the T.V off. The room was cast in darkness and Mandy curled up in her sleeping bag in an attempt to sleep. As Mandy had feared, sleep didn't come; her thoughts were racing with what had just happened between her and Billy. First of all there was the nonchalant manner in which he had complimented her and how against her wishes she had appreciated it. Then there was the clowns on ice incident; the pair had clung to each other in pure terror. What really worried Mandy was that after the commercial had ended and her fear had subsided she had held onto him for a couple seconds longer anyway. It disgusted her greatly but she had found their embrace to be oddly pleasant.
"Mandy" she heard Billy call out to her.
"What?" Mandy replied sounding every bit as annoyed as she was.
"I'm still scared."
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
"Can I sleep next to you?"
"What!"
"Well at home Grim or Milkshakes always sleeps next to me."
"Billy just be quiet and go to sleep, you'll be fine."
"But it's dark and I'm alone."
"You're not alone you idiot your five feet away from me."
"Yeah, but I can't see or feel you and its really dark." Billy's voice was pathetic and nearly drew sympathy from Mandy but the events of the night had angered her.
Mandy did her best to ignore Billy and silence filled the room for about three seconds before Billy spoke again. "Please, please, please, Mandy."
"No!"
"Pretty please with yogurt on top."
"Pleeezzuh Mandy." Mandy was angry with him but she knew how much energy Billy could have, he wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
"Fine, you can move closer but if you touch me I'll rip your nose off."
In the darkness Mandy could hear Billy shuffle over closer to her. Though her eyes were useless to her, Mandy could sense Billy coming closer. Eventually Billy stopped moving and lay down to sleep. Mandy guessed that he had moved as close to her as possible without actually touching her. His proximity irritated her but since he had technically still obeyed her, she decided to let it go and just go to sleep.
An obnoxiously hard knock woke Mandy forcing her to answer her front door. The light of morning was blinding at first but eventually Mandy's eyes adjusted enough to see Billy's father Harold, standing at her doorstep. Since Harold was only a larger, slightly less stupid version of his son the stupid exuberance he showed knocking on someone's door made sense. "Hey, Mandy is Billy here?"
In a sleep deprived daze Mandy could only nod her head up and down in response. Mandy walked back over in front of her couch where Billy was still sleeping. "Get up Billy, your dads here."
There was no response from Billy who continued sleeping peacefully. Rather than try to speak to him again, Mandy gave Billy a hard kick to the stomach. This time Billy woke up; rolling over onto his stomach and then raising himself onto his hands and knees, Billy let a couple hacking coughs before he looked up at Mandy. "Hey Mandy!"
Mandy pointed in the direction of her front door and spoke. "Your dad is here." Billy stood up and approached his father.
"Hi, dad."
"Hey son, are you ready to go?"
"Go where?" Billy asked.
"Oh didn't I tell you? The navy reinstated my SEAL team. Were moving to the west coast." "Moving?" Billy asked his voice nothing but a pathetic whimper.
She had heard the words, but that didn't mean she believed them. She had fantasized about being free from Billy when she was younger but now that she knew better, now that she had grown used to him, she didn't want it. Deep inside Mandy something snapped, an emotion she had never felt before was turned loose. She didn't know what to call it; she didn't know what to do. All Mandy could manage was to look at the boy who had lived next to her all her life and wonder if this was the last time she would ever see him. Billy turned round to face his friend; there were already tears in his eyes. Without Warning Billy wrapped his arms around her and began to sob uncontrollably.
"Mandy, I don't want to go!"
In the past Mandy had usually tolerated Billy's touch for a few seconds before hitting him. Now, no matter how much she wished it, Mandy found that she couldn't push him away. Mandy stood still allowing Billy to hold on to her, She felt that she should say something but nothing came to her lips, instead she raised her arms up and ever so softly brought them in contact with Billy's back. Billy's hold on her only tightened, though he was an idiot Billy knew her better than anyone, he knew that Mandy's awkwardly soft hug spoke volumes. Mandy's never gave affection to anyone ever, so for Billy to feel her hug him back meant everything to the red head. Billy and Mandy clung to each other in a morbid silence that was shattered by the honking of a cars horn.
"Come on Billy and Harold, hurry up!"
Gladys was waiting outside for them. Billy's mother was eager to finally get away from Mandy and Grim. Mandy hated Gladys more than ever now. Billy backed away from Mandy breaking their embrace. Though he was still sniffling Billy looked Mandy in the eyes and spoke. "Good bye Mandy."
Mandy wanted to speak, she even knew what to say, but when she tried no words came out. Strangely, speaking had become one of the hardest things she had ever tried. Billy flashed her a smile as if he knew what was going on in her head and then left her house. Mandy followed him out to her front yard and watched him climb into the back seat of his parent's car. As the sedan pulled away from their neighborhood, Mandy saw Billy turn round inside and take one last look at her. Finally now that it was too late, she felt free to speak. "Good bye Billy."
In case anyone cares and they aren't as obsessed with Billy and Mandy as much as I am. I can back up some of the more ridiculous parts of this story. The idea of Mandy being scared sounds absurd but in Attack of the clowns its stated that Mandy is afraid of professional figure skaters. And in dream mutt its mentioned that Billy's dad used to be a Navy SEAL. Sorry about the Seinfeld reference, it kinda just happened.