Winter

Monday 8:13AM

"Mordecai could see the anger in his friend's eyes, he didn't understand what had gotten into him, but he knew that he needed to do something, he had to get to the bottom of this, before someone else got hurt."

The next morning, Mordecai woke up and sat on the side of his bed. He glanced over at Rigby's trampoline and noticed that Rigby wasn't there. Mordecai decided he'd look for him, eventually he found Rigby, outside the house, shovelling some snow by himself. "Hey Dude, why are you out here?" Mordecai asked, walking over to his friend. Rigby didn't respond, he just continued shovelling the snow. "Dude?" Mordecai asked, tapping his friend's shoulder. "Leave me alone, don't you have work to do?" Rigby pointed over to another snow-shovel, a couple of feet away.

"I know that, but you usually…" Mordecai began. "Just don't worry, I'll do it myself." Rigby groaned, picking up the other shovel and throwing it a few metres away in anger. "What's your deal?" Mordecai asked, beginning to get frustrated. "Why are you so pissed all of a sudden?" Mordecai questioned. Rigby finished shovelling the show into a large pile and looked over at Mordecai, who was looking back at him. "Just move out of the way." Rigby said, pushing Mordecai out of the way, knocking him over.

That did it. That was the last straw, Mordecai got up off of the ground and grabbed his friend's shoulders, then picked him up. "Let go of me!" Rigby demanded, throwing a few punches at Mordecai's face. "Not until you tell me what the hell your problem is!" Mordecai shouted, holding Rigby up to his height. "I don't need to tell you." Rigby said, throwing a few more punches. "Yes you do, we're friends." Mordecai tried to reason with him. "I warned you." Rigby plainly said, punching Mordecai in the nose, knocking him over.

Rigby laid over Mordecai and began to punch him continuously. This wasn't Rigby, something was making him do this, and he would never hit his best friend. Rigby continued to punch his friend, who was laying on the snow, paralysed as Rigby kept throwing punches. A few minutes later, Pops came out the front door of the house and noticed what was going on. Pops ran into the house and called Benson outside, showing him what was happening.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Benson shouted, trying to pull Rigby off of Mordecai's motionless body. Rigby didn't reply, he just kept punching. Benson grabbed Rigby's shoulders and pulled him off of Mordecai. "I warned him." Rigby plainly said, beginning to walk away. Benson was going to stop him, but decided to leave him and help Mordecai instead. "Mordecai? You alright?" Benson asked. Benson knew he wasn't alright, it was a stupid question.

Mordecai began to sit up, not speaking or moving for a few seconds. "What happened?" Pops asked, kneeling next to Benson. "He went absolutely berserk…" Mordecai replied, wiping some blood off of his beak. "What caused this?" Benson asked. "I questioned him about what his problem was, I picked him up and tried to shake the answer out of him, then he punched me in the face, knocking me over. He kept punching me…and didn't stop until you guys came out." Mordecai explained, standing up.

"Jesus." Benson sighed. "I got to admit, that little bastard can fight well." Mordecai chuckled. Benson looked at Mordecai and noticed something that he had never seen from Mordecai. Mordecai was actually crying, multiple tears were forming under his eyes. "How could he do this…?" Pops asked. "Something's wrong with him…" Mordecai sighed. "Do you know what it is?" Benson questioned. "No, otherwise I wouldn't have questioned him." Mordecai sighed. "Well, what are you going to do now?" Benson asked. "I'm gonna go talk with a couple of friends." Mordecai nodded. Benson and Pops nodded back and watched Mordecai walk off.

"Wait, what do we do if Rigby shows up again?" Benson asked. "Just act like nothing happened." Mordecai replied, turning a corner and leaving their sight. Benson and Pops nodded at each other and walked over to the house. Mordecai got out his cell phone and dialled a number. "Hello?" The voice on the phone answered. "It's me, can we talk?" Mordecai asked. "Sure, meet me at the Coffee Shop." The voice replied, hanging up.

Mordecai put his cell phone in his pocket and began to walk to the Coffee Shop.

Meanwhile, Rigby was walking along an empty street, shivering. He left his hoodie at the house, so he was freezing. "Stupid Mordecai, why can't he just fuck off…?" Rigby muttered to himself. Rigby noticed the coffee shop and walked over to it, opening the closing the door behind him. The bell above the door rang a quick tune as he entered. Rigby walked over to the counter and ordered a coffee, before sitting at a nearby table.

Rigby thanked the waitress for his coffee when it arrived and began to drink it. He looked over to the left side of the coffee shop, where he noticed Mordecai was sitting with another two men, engaged in conversation. Rigby finished his coffee and walked over. Mordecai looked over at Rigby and sighed, drinking some more of his coffee. "Hey Rigs." One of the men greeted, with a little disappointment in his voice. "Hey Jeremy." Rigby replied, with equal enthusiasm. The other man just ignored Rigby, looking at his coffee. "It's nice to see you too…Chad." Rigby sighed, sitting next to Mordecai.

Mordecai moved along, so he didn't have to sit next to his friend. "So, what did you want?" Mordecai asked, avoiding contact with Rigby. "Just wondering what conversation was so interesting that I couldn't be involved in." Rigby replied, looking over at Jeremy and Chad. "I'm surprised Mordecai let you sit here after the stunt you pulled earlier." Jeremy crossed his arms. "Whatever, I warned him." Rigby replied, crossing his arms aswell. "There's still no excuse for what you did." Chad sighed.

"Whatever." Rigby groaned. "And who do you think you are, telling assholes like this about private things." Rigby threatened Mordecai. Jeremy intervened, stopping any more fights from happening. "Stop, just leave him alone." Jeremy ordered. "Whatever." Rigby sighed, sitting back down in his seat. Mordecai got up off his seat and walked over to Jeremy. "I'm gonna head back to the park, before Benson snaps at me." Mordecai said. Jeremy nodded and watched Mordecai leave the coffee shop.

"What's your deal, Rigby? Why are you suddenly an asshole?" Chad asked. "Guess I just needed a change in life." Rigby shrugged. "By beating up your best friend?" Jeremy asked. "I did warn him." Rigby smiled. "What's wrong with you? What's changed?" Chad asked. "Let's just say I had some help." Rigby chuckled. "Whatever, I'd be surprised if Mordecai would ever want to speak to you again." Jeremy replied, getting off his seat. "Not like I care if he does." Rigby grinned.

Chad just sighed and followed Jeremy out the door of the Coffee Shop. Rigby left the coffee shop soon after, while Mordecai went back to the house. "

Sorry I'm back late Benson." Mordecai said, opening the door of the house. "Its fine, today is your day off anyway." Benson replied. "It is? I would've like to know that earlier." Mordecai sighed. "Sorry. Well, did you have any luck with Rigby?" Benson asked. "No, I asked Jeremy and Chad to help, but it didn't work out. I just came back to ask if there's any work to do." Mordecai rubbed his beak, still bleeding from earlier.

"Don't, just head upstairs and rest." Benson suggested. "But I…" Mordecai argued. "No arguing, go rest or you're fired!" Benson ordered, pointing to the stairs. "Fine." Mordecai sighed, walking up the stairs. Mordecai opened the door into his room and closed it behind him. He leant against the door and sat on the floor, putting his head into his knees. Trying not to cry. "Damn Rigby…something's wrong with you…" Mordecai muttered. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Mordecai? You in there?" A voice called. Mordecai stood up and opened the door, it was just HFG. "Hey, um…recognize this?" HFG asked, showing Mordecai a familiar blue and white hoodie. "This is Rigby's…" Mordecai commented. "Where did you find it?" Mordecai asked, taking the hoodie out of HFG's hand. "It was on the ground behind the snack bar." HFG replied. "Why is there blood on this…?" Mordecai asked. "Not sure. But, that's not all. It's been torn, plus there's some weird green liquid in the pockets of it." HFG pointed to the pockets.

"How would you know? Did you search his pockets for money or something?" Mordecai glared at HFG. "No…I wouldn't do that…no…" HFG rubbed his forehead. Mordecai just stared at him. "Maybe….it possible I had a small look…" HFG sighed. "Come in." Mordecai opened the door a bit more. HFG went through the door and sat on Mordecai's bed. "Let's investigate this hoodie, shall we?" Mordecai asked, putting the hoodie on the bed.

HFG nodded in agreement and glanced at the hoodie. Mordecai put his hand in the hoodie's pocket and pulled out a little bit of green liquid. "That's disgusting." Mordecai sighed. HFG handed over a small, empty jar to Mordecai. Mordecai put the green liquid inside the jar. "Is the blood Rigby's?" HFG asked. "You're guess is as good as mine." Mordecai shrugged.

A few minutes later, HFG and Mordecai left the room and walked into the kitchen, and gasped as he noticed Muscle Man lying on the table. "Muscle Man?" HFG asked. "He's bleeding." HFG pointed to his face. "Muscle Man, what happened?" Mordecai asked. "That…raccoon…fucking beat me up." Muscle Man groaned. "Rigby did this…?" HFG asked. "Yeah…little bastard took me by surprise." Muscle Man groaned, sitting on the side of the table, then stood up.

"How did he do it…?" Mordecai asked. "He surprised me and pinned me against the fridge, I got a few good punches in, but he still got me good…" Muscle Man sighed, leaning against the counter. "What's wrong with him!?" HFG demanded. "I don't know…" Mordecai began, before he heard a door slam upstairs. "I'll be back in a second." Mordecai said, walking upstairs. He opened the door to his room and saw Rigby lying on his trampoline.

"Rigby…?" Mordecai asked, trying to get his attention. "Rigby…we need to talk…please…" Mordecai walked over to the trampoline and put his hand on Rigby's shoulder, then turned him over so he could see his face.

Mordecai looked at Rigby's face and backed off a little, Mordecai was actually frightened of his best friend. He glanced back over at Rigby's face and glanced at it for a good minute, Rigby stared back at him, and Mordecai looked away, then sighed.

Mordecai saw the anger in his friend's eyes, he didn't understand what had gotten into him, but he knew that he needed to do something, he had to get to the bottom of this, before someone else got hurt.

Chapter Three is finished. There you go. What's gotten into Rigby? How will his friendship with Mordecai be affected by this? And what is the green liquid that was in Rigby's hoodie? Find out in Chapter three, of Winter.