CHAPTER THREEEEE! Hopefully I submitted this one a little sooner than usual. I didn't really feel like writing any stories today, mostly because I recently took a look at certain online comic featuring a MandyxGrim relationship that was created by a certain artist (not going to mention any names). Needless to say I was stunned, sickened, and really freaked out, but I just watched two straight hours of the real show so I think I'm back on track. Enough of dat, here is the next installment to the story.
A Grim Apprenticeship
Chapter 3: Mandy the Homicidal Maniac
Billy skipped joyfully through the streets of Endsville, dodging moving vehicles and pedestrians that passed him by. Mandy followed far behind him with her head down. She didn't want to be seen in public with the idiot ahead of her.
Billy stopped suddenly in front of a crosswalk on the street. He brought out his Grim Reaper list and smacked it against his nose, once again attempting to read it.
"Where are you taking us, Billy?" Mandy asked, still aggravated from before.
"The next house is supposed to be between the supermarket and the hardware store." Billy said as he lifted his head above the paper in his hands.
Both buildings stood in front of them, but there was no house between either building, there was only a dirty alleyway. Despite this, Billy showed no sign of concern as he ran giggling across the street, ignoring the flashing 'don't walk' sign. Cars on the road tried to swerve out of Billy's way, crashing into buildings and colliding with each other. Billy made it safely to the other side, oblivious to the smoldering wreckage behind him. Mandy paid no attention to the crying pleas of the injured drivers that lay scattered around her as she crossed the street, which was littered with broken glass and metal. Mandy gently raised her finger, bringing a oncoming car to an abrupt halt, allowing her to continue walking towards the other sidewalk.
The alleyway they walked into was drenched in mold and contaminated water. Huge rats swarmed over the garbage bag that lay strewn over the filthy concrete floor.
"Anybody home?" Billy shouted as a rat crawled up his robe.
Mandy looked around the alley with disgust, "What kind of miserably person would live in a-"
She was interrupted by a coarse voice, "You folks got a lot o' nerve comin' in here and disturbin' me just after I moved into my new house." The voice belonged to a ragged looking hobo with a bucket on his head who had just emerged from a filth-covered cardboard box.
Mandy wasn't entirely sure why, but the hobo made her feel nervous and uneasy. He looked very familiar, but she couldn't remember exactly where she had seen him before. She started to sweat profusely as she stared at the strange hobo, who stared right back at her with a curious expression.
Billy looked at Mandy's face, then at the hobo, "Have you two met before?" He asked in a happy voice, clueless as to what was going on.
Mandy appeared to wake from her trance, "I wouldn't know a scumbag like this." She said as her evil persona returned. "Alright, you bum. Time to steal to soul…" Her voice sounded more ominous than usual.
"I knews it! I knews you darn gremlins was tryin' to take my soul! The people at the post office wouldn't believe me!" The hobo yelled as he crawled out of the cardboard box and stood up.
Mandy swung her scythe at the hobo, creating a flash of red light. The hobo stepped backwards as if he had been struck by something. He looked stunned as he backed up into the wall and then slowly slid down it until he landed on the floor in a heap. Both his eyes turned a cloudy gray and his body went limp. Billy looked on in disbelief with his mouth hung open.
A blue mist surrounded the hobo and spread throughout the alley. A ghostly figure began to rise from the hobo's body, reaching higher into the air until it formed his transparent soul.
Mandy looked enraged as she lifted her scythe once more. In an act of pure hatred she swung her scythe at the head of the hobo's soul, cleanly slicing it off. The head tumbled down and rolled along the damp floor. The soul's body started to evaporate, leaving only the head behind.
"You killed the hobo!" Billy screamed. "Say it ain't so, Mandy. So it ain't so!" He fell face first onto the ground and started to cry.
"What's that thing whining' 'bout?" The head asked in irritation. It could obviously still speak.
Mandy's fit of rage appeared to be over and she stepped forward to pick up the severed head, " He's not necessarily dead, Billy. His soul's head is still alive, but I don't think he can move on to the afterlife. Too bad." She said cynically.
Billy calmed down and blew his nose with the sleeve of his robe.
"Now put this in a garbage bag where it belongs. It's starting to make me sick." Mandy said as she tossed the head to Billy, who dropped it.
Billy struggled to get a hold on the severed head, which tried to bite his fingers off each time he reached for it. Billy left the head on the slippery ground for a moment as he plunged his hands deep into the pile of overflowing garbage bags next to him. He pulled out the one he thought had the most rats in it and carefully shoved what was left of the hobo's soul inside the bag before they all walked out of the alley.
"I'll get you good for nothin' gremlins if it's the last thing I do! Then all the people who laughed at me will be sorry! Oh, they'll be sorry! I'LL MAKE THEM ALL PAY!" The hobo head screamed from inside the bag just before he started to laugh insanely.
"Tell that thing to shut up." Mandy ordered, almost wishing that she had left the head for the rats.
Billy did what he was told and punched the garbage bag, silencing the babbling hobo.
"Was that guy even on the list?" Mandy asked as she looked back at Billy.
Billy smiled stupidly and shrugged his shoulders, "I can barely read, I JUST LIKES TO SEE HOBOS" He loudly exclaimed.
Mandy thought about slapping Billy again, but she decided it wasn't worth it.
"You can pick someone to reap who isn't on the list too, Mandy! How about your parents?" Billy suggested.
Mandy stopped walking and thought about it for a moment, "They have been unusually happy lately…" She said as she considered the possibility of reaping her parent's souls. "I better not, though. They promised they'd buy me a flamethrower if I stopped watching them while they sleep…ever night." There was an awkward silence after she had finished speaking.
Billy looked a little uneasy, "Well, uh… I guess we should look at the…list." He stammered as he searched his robe pocket.
Mandy stopped him, "Wait a second, Billy. I never said I didn't have some other people in mind." She said darkly as she started to walk in the direction of their suburban neighborhood.
(And so, the two reapers went on a number of horrible and bizarre encounters, which I honestly don't feel like writing about. Few were spared from the wrath of Mandy's scythe as she mercilessly cut down the souls of her enemies and collected their remains. Billy ate a squirrel as well, but that's a different story. Anyway, time to get back to this story.)
Mandy's room was unusually peaceful for once. It's pink walls and design seemed odd for a child like Mandy, but it was in fact her room. The peaceful silence was shattered when both reapers marched inside with the spoils of the day. Mandy rested her scythe against her bed while Billy dragged the garbage bag of 'soul heads', which was now full, to the center of the room.
"Gee Mandy, I've never seen a house explode like that before! How did you do it?" Billy asked excitedly, referring to one of the events that had happened within the last two hours or so.
"It's just something I learned a couple of years ago." Mandy replied coolly.
"I like to kill things!" Billy exclaimed as he dropped the bag on the floor.
"Me too Billy, me too." She said in a low voice. "Now put those severed heads in my closet." She pointed towards the large white doors in the back of the room.
Billy struggled to pull the heavy bag towards the closet. When he finally got there he opened the closet doors, revealing a mound of severed heads already hidden in the corner. Billy didn't seem to notice them as he emptied the contents of the bag, which included the heads of Mindy and General Skarr, among others. Billy wasn't bothered by the what was left of the screaming souls, and he emptied the rest of the garbage bag with an idiotic smile on his face. His expression changed when he finally did notice the other pile of severed heads in the corner.
"Hey Mandy, there's more heads in your closet than there were in the plastic bag..." Billy pointed out as his tiny mind tried to make sense of it all.
"What's your point?" Mandy asked in a hostile voice.
Mandy's stare made Billy nervous, and he started to sweat under his robe (or he wet himself, one or the other). He looked back at one of the severed heads and his blissful stupidity returned.
"Oooh, so that's what happened to our mailman!" He shouted as he pointed to one of the heads.
"I think you've seen enough." Mandy said before she pushed Billy out of the way and slammed the closet doors shut. "Let's go, Billy." She started to drag him towards the door.
"I'll never forget you, talking hobo head!" Billy shouted as they left the room.
Strange, cryptic noises could still be heard coming from Mandy's closet even while they walked through the hallway.
"So Mandy, what do we do now!" Billy asked anxiously as they walked down the stairs.
Mandy ran her finger alone the blade of her scythe, making sure it was still sharp enough, "I think we have some more work to do, Billy. I'm starting to like this job." She said quietly as she walked out the door.
Hooraaaay, it's over! Just like the last chapter, this one is shorter than I intended it to be, but I still think it holds up on its own. This has nothing to do with anything, but I just noticed something really weird while watching Grim Adventures: Mandy has been called 'sweet cheeks' on at least two occasions. This is strange not only because Mandy is often described as well, not really good looking in the show, but also because she is called sweet cheeks by animals on both occasions. The first time is in the episode , Hog Wild, when an alligator calls her that and the second time a rat calls her that in the episode Dad Day Afternoon. The fact that only animals find Mandy attractive seems bizarre to me (it could also explain why wolves tried to raise her when she was born.) Yeah, just felt like sharing that with you (I need to take up some space because this chapter is a little short). Thanks for reading and reviewing, the next chapter should be submitted soon. That wasn't so bad, was it? It probably killed some time, right? Since you're reading this, why not read and review my other story: Mandy's Addiction! It's not that bad, really. I mean, I think it's okay. COME ON! I SET A GOAL TO GET TEN REVIEWS FOR THAT STORY AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED! It's really not that bad a story, honestly.
Please?