Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing the Children of the Red King universe from Jenny Nimmo for amusement purposes with the full intention of giving them back afterward. I am in no way making any profit or gain from using them.
Manfred's Mustache Mayhem is written for and dedicated to my wonderful friend, Prince of Cardboard. Without her, I never would have realized Manfred had a mustache.
Manfred's Mustache Mayhem
Chapter III
It was just another day for Manfred: scaring unsuspecting bystanders witless, yelling at whomever he saw fit, and stroking his wispy mustache in a way he thought was menacing. You know, the usual. He was making the most of his free time by lurking in the shadows and freaking out whoever passed by. It was a past time he was introduced to by Asa on a particularly slow day.
Unknown to Manfred, Joshua Tilpin was looking for him on the other side of the school.
"Manfred where are you?" he whined. "I need your help!"
He grew frustrated when no answer met his plea, but then an idea struck him.
"If I can draw objects to me, can I do the same with people?" Joshua wondered aloud.
Joshua scrunched up his face in concentration and to the casual observer, it looked as if he was trying to lay an egg.
At that moment, Manfred felt a sudden force pull him out of his hidey-hole. His sudden appearance caused several people to curse loudly and caused Charlie Bone to let out a high-pitched squeal of fright. Manfred was speeding past everything like a bullet, his body parallel to the ground. Unfortunately for him, Joshua's "magnetic" abilities were pulling Manfred in a straight line towards Joshua. And even more unfortunately for Manfred, Joshua was standing on the other side of Bloor's. And many walls and doors and large objects were between them.
After being slammed into a wall so hard he created a hole in it, Manfred blindly tried to grab at anything to hold onto. He reached out and closed his hands on the first thing they found. Next thing you know, Manfred and Billy Raven were zipping past, the latter screaming like a maniac. Wouldn't you be if one minute you were on the toilet and then you were suddenly grabbed and sent flying through the air?
The unlucky duo ran people over, pulverized many walls and doors, traumatized Ezekiel Bloor, caused many damages, interrupted an art class, got paint everywhere, and generally caused pandemonium.
Once the two finally stopped at their destination, Billy promptly passed out.
"You're here! It worked!" Joshua cheered.
Manfred turned towards him, shaking with fury and pain, "THAT WAS YOU!?"
"Yup!" Joshua beamed, rocking back and forth happily. "I was looking for you because I needed your help but then I couldn't find you so I tried to draw you towards me and it worked!"
"Now what was it you needed me for?" Manfred was barely restraining himself from strangling the boy.
"Well…" Joshua began. "You took so long to get here that I sort of forgot."
"WHAT!?"
Joshua looked up at Manfred's furious face and gasped, "You have a mustache!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Manfred said dryly.
"I never noticed it before. You can barely see it," he said, peering critically at his facial hair. "Why don't you just shave it off?"
"Well I—" Manfred began, forgetting his anger.
"I know! Since I dragged you all the way over here, I'll do it for you!" Joshua screwed up his face in concentration.
Suddenly Manfred yelped loudly and his mustache stuck itself lopsidedly to Joshua's forehead.
"You're welcome!" Joshua smiled before skipping off.
The Word of the Awesome: Not much was changed in this chapter. Just fixed up a sentence or two here and there to make it sound better.