Here's "Skeletons in the Water Closet"—a little than two months later than I promised, for which I apologize (there's been a host of factors at play, like you might've seen over at "Operation: T.E.E.T.H." of Codename: Genderbent Kids Next Door—procrastination, getting sidetracked, an Internet outage last September where I live, varying (and often long and late) shifts at my seasonal job, getting sick and recovering from an illness, and getting used to my new general posting schedule in the wrong way—but I promise I'll cut back on the procrastination and distractions for when I write the next chapter!). Anyway, it's based on the final segment of the first episode of Grim & Evil (which has "Meet the Reaper" and "Evil Con Carne" as well), which marks the first appearances of Billy's parents Gladys and Harold (or, in this case, their counterparts Glenn and Harriet) and his Aunt Sis (or in this case Billie's Uncle Sisko), and shows the point where things definitely get a lot weirder! With all that being said, let's get this show on the road!
It was a pleasant morning in Endsville—the sun was shining a bright vivid yellow, the sky was colored like an Easter egg, a few clouds meandered here and there, birds chirping happily, the fresh smell of soil flying inside the houses by a breeze as soft and cool as silk, and the general sense of calm that spread around the air for everyone in town. That is, except a few people who would experience an especially weird and frightening turn of events that would lead to a big change in how their lives were conducted.
Billie's father Glenn had woken up bright and early that morning to take care of doing some housework, happy to be with his family and experience the bright day with them at his side. He'd put on his favorite outfit—a purple polo shirt with short sleeves, a matching pair of pants, and a pair of red dress shoes—to match this good mood, and he'd made certain to keep them in tip-top condition for this joyful experience. He began humming a merry tune to himself, thinking about all the fun times they would have together on this day, especially since they were all free to do what they wanted without the demanding constraints elsewhere on the calendar. He also walked happily to the closet full of cleaning supplies with a spring in his step, his footsteps fluttering daintily like a tap dancer on the stage without the distinct sound in their shoes, lost in his happy fantasies about the laughter and smiles they'd share at breakfast and throughout the day. But little did he know that an unfortunate mishap would ruin his day and kickstart everyone's involvement with the supernatural, intentional or unintentional.
He grabbed a spray bottle and a rag from the closet, ready to exile all the dirt he could find on their precious knickknacks and other treasures laying around the house. He then went back to the room he shared with his wife Harriet, who was still asleep, looked around the space, his vision sharp like an eagle looking for its prey, and carefully analyzed each and every treasure that was lying around. Most of them were clean, some of them had a little grime clinging to their surfaces, and there was one picture in particular that was mostly obscured by the dust and dirt sticking to its surface—a picture of the family happily standing together, whose occupants were desperate to see the outside world through their seemingly elated faces. Hearing this, Glenn skipped over to the nightstand, moving carefully to avoid disrupting Harriet in her sleep, and applied his spraying weapon to the surface, agitating the dirt with the rag to facilitate the operation. "Clean that right up," he said, shining the glass surface and making the photo's inhabitants genuinely happy again.
Meanwhile, Harriet was snoring loudly, also looking forward to the happy day but not really feeling the urge to get up this early and see the sunrise outside. She continued sleeping, still engrossed in her sweet dreams of her and her family's fun time together, but Glenn was undeterred. He sprayed her with his spray bottle, hoping to get her to share in his happiness, but the jet of particles just felt like a nice comfy breeze brushing across her face. "Time to get up, Harriet," he said, poking her with his finger.
"Yeah..." Harriet responded, trying to get a full sentence out, but her sleepiness overpowered her and pulled her back into snoring the early morning away as her husband left the room to check on Billie and do some vacuuming in the hallways.
When he finished his vacuuming, Glenn took some laundry and walked down the hallway, hoping to get his daughter excited for the early hours of the morning. He arrived at the door, anticipating the huge smile on her face when he told her about all the fun things they had planned for today. "Billie, time to wake up," he said, knocking on the door, but there was no response. "Honey?" he asked, knocking again, but again, no answer from Billie. A flurry of confusion gripping his mind, he opened the door to his daughter's room and walked through the doorway, creating an escape route for the light in the hallway to creep up onto her bed. "Good morning," Glenn said, trying to sound excited despite a pang of worry gripping his chest, but once again there was no response.
However, some weird snoring noises came from Billie's bed, which awakened a new question in Glenn's mind. My daughter doesn't usually snore this loud or deep, he thought, his eyes wandering across the room like those of a traveler without a map to guide them. I'm not really sure what's going on with her. I sure hope nothing bad happened to her last night, because I don't know what Harriet and I would do if it did. Oh well, let's go over there and see what's happening.
Glenn made his way over to Billie's bed, carefully navigating his steps around the various things—clothes, books, toys, video games, and more—that littered the floor. "I just can't understand how a little girl can make such a mess," he said when he arrived, still trying to hide his worry and confusion under a mask of excitement for the day to come, and indicating the mess with his left hand, "and then sleep the day away." He thought about that for a moment, hesitating for a bit as he turned toward daughter's window. "Rise and shine, Sleepenstein!" he shouted as he opened it, hoping this would give him the giant and excited smile he was anticipating he would see from her when she woke up.
But instead, he got an annoyed and groggy voice creeping out from under the covers, warning him of all the chaos that would soon follow. "Do you realize what time it is?" it said, cuing two skeleton hands to come out from under there and reveal their owner poking her head out at the person who had disturbed her sleep.
Glenn gasped in horror at this sight, throwing the laundry in the air and letting out a loud screech. "AAAAAHHHHH!" he screamed, his body shaking rapidly like an overloaded washing machine on triple extra high speed.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Grim screeched in response, her bones similarly tingling.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Glenn yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Grim shouted back, pulling the covers further back to reveal the rest of her body down to her pelvis and then covering herself up to the bottom of her nasal cavity.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Glenn screamed, his arms flailing rapidly as he fled the room in hyperdrive terror to tell Harriet about the scary sight he'd just seen.
"What the heck just happened?" Grim said in a perplexed and exasperated tone, sitting up and placing her head on her head to soothe her headache.
"Oh, that was just my dad," Billie responded, emerging from the covers wearing her pink pajamas and a flame of untidy red hair. "He's funny," she continued, giggling at the chaos the screaming had caused.
"Yeah, a real hoot," Grim responded, unamused at her dimwitted red-haired "best friend's" comment, and starting to anticipate the further chaos this encounter would cause.
"H-HARRIIEEEEET!" Glenn screamed in panic, running toward the kitchen, where his wife was reading the newspaper, an electric sensation zapping through his body as he tried to tell her about Grim.
"What? What is it?" Harriet asked in shock, her eyes widening as she looked up from the entertainment section of the news.
"M-m-my..." Glenn began, but the storm of pandemonium in his mind obstructed the rest of his words.
"Glenn?" Harriet responded, prying for a straight answer, but Glenn kept wailing unintelligibly and succumbing to the panic's electric effects. "Glenn!" she yelled again, this time breaking the electrocution and somewhat stabilizing her husband's stress levels. "Now, slowly," she continued, holding out her hand like a traffic cop, "what the heck are you trying to say?!"
"B-B-B-B-B-B-Billie!" Glenn wailed, tears spilling from his eyes as he held his hands into fists and tried to keep still.
"Yes?" Harriet continued, digging deeper into Glenn's mental mine.
"Our daughter!" Glenn spit out tearfully, holding his hands out as if confusedly shrugging his shoulders.
"Yes?" Harriet asked again, a smile forming on her face as she cocked her head to the left, knowing they were getting somewhere.
"Our daughter has turned into a big, spooky skeleton!" Glenn yelled, throwing his hands up to the sky and then burying his eyes as the waterworks increased their pressure.
Harriet got out of her chair to comfort her husband, ready to get to the root of the problem. "Our poor skeleton daughter, Billie?!" she said in a genuinely sympathetic and mock-panicky voice as she hugged Glenn, and then moved in front of him valiantly like a knight protecting the residents of their village, holding her left hand in a fist in front of her and grabbing her husband's left hand with her right. "Let us go to him," she continued, turning back to Glenn, and then dashing off with him in tow toward their daughter's room.
While the valiant duo were making their way toward the highest room in the tallest tower of the castle they had stormed (obviously, they were actually running up one flight of stairs, but the intent was still there), Grim was trying on various robes, which she had stored inside Billie's messy closet. She held her usual black robe in one hand, and a dark gray one in the other, looking at which one would suit her best for the day. She liked both of them a lot, and each had its own aspects that fit well with this crazy day's aesthetics, but she still wasn't sure which one suited better. She stood by the closet, still completely naked, weighing the pros and cons of wearing each robe as she looked back and forth at each one.
However, the door suddenly flung open, knocking her into the closet. Billie's parents had arrived to look for their skeletized daughter. Harriet walked inside the room, tears streaming from her eyes and running down her fat black-haired head, standing bravely despite her mental turmoil as Glenn stayed behind and held out his hands to defend himself against any threats prepared to befall him. "Oh, Billie!" Harriet said, looking around the room to find any sign of a skeleton in the closet, literal or figuratively, as a couple tears hit her white T-shirt with orange sleeves. "Let me see what's become of you!" But what they saw shocked them beyond many words, further clouding their investigation.
"Wha...?" they said together, looking at the completely normal sight that awaited them. Billie was sitting up in her bed, wearing her pink pajamas, a huge smile on her face, a stand-up lion's mane of red hair flying in all directions over her face and beyond, and she was waving happily at them in anticipation of all the fun times she would have that day.
"Morning, Mom!" Billie said, the butterflies in her heart reaching new heights as the smile stretched wider.
Harriet gasped at this. "Wait a sec," she said, pointing her left finger at the red-haired girl. "Skin...and hair...and..." She turned toward Glenn, who was still freezing in terror at the sight that would soon await them. "A skeleton?" she chuckled, her husband's nerves bouncing off of her brain.
"But I j...but I j…I saw...I-" Glenn stammered, trying to get his words out to explain the truth.
"Did someone forget to take their medicine today?" Harriet interrupted, staring at him in a jocular and vindicative manner (eliciting an annoyed look with hands on his hips in return), then turning her attention back to the room. "Skeleton. Sheesh!" she continued, grabbing the doorknob and preparing to leave.
"But I...I-" Glenn continued stammering, but Harriet closed the door and pushed him to come along with her to deal with other matters.
Billie got out of bed, a twinge of concern gripping her heart, and walked toward the closet to check on the fallen Reaper who was buried under the heap of clothing. "You OK, Grim?" she asked, hoping Grim hadn't broken any of her bones from either one of the impacts that had thrown off her morning.
Grim emerged from the pile, both exasperated and unamused at this question. "Is your house always this fun in the morning?" she responded, stonily staring at the girl standing before her.
"Nah," Billie responded, brushing off her concerns. "Sometimes mom and dad are a little freaky." She twirled her left index finger around, hoping this would keep her day exciting.
"Well, if anyone needs me," Grim said, fully emerging and carrying a towel as she dismissively walked to the bathroom, "I'll be in the shower." She closed the door briskly, hoping nothing and no one would disturb her. But just before she turned on the water, she heard footsteps coming toward the door. Glenn had arrived, holding a stack of clean towels in his right hand to restock the room.
He put his hand to his left ear, hoping to get a response from his daughter or whoever was standing in there, but all he heard was the sound of someone turning on the faucet and redirecting the water to the showerhead. "Billie?" he asked, smiling with concealed nervousness as he leaned toward the door. "Daddy has some fresh towels for you," he continued in his excited singsong tone, turning the doorknob and moving it forward. But an even scarier sight awaited him as he opened the door, and it was beckoning him to come inside the ghastly bubble of no return.
A skeleton's silhouette was standing inside the tub, wearing a shower cap scrubbing its thoracic curve with a wooden brush. It whistled a happy tune, smiling about all the spooky weirdness that awaited it, and hoping it wouldn't end up in the same awkward situation its owner had found herself in the morning. Oblivious to the curiosity of the human standing outside the curtain, she continued whistling and scrubbing her bones shiny clean, excited for all the fun times that would come that day (and some of the adventures she would have with her two "best friends" later on). However, Glenn, curious about the scene happening inside the tub, walked up to the tub, hoping his daughter hadn't turned into the big spooky skeleton he had told Harriet about earlier. He grabbed the curtain and pulled it back, hoping this skeleton was just a hallucination.
Unfortunately for Glenn, Grim was standing right there in the (noncorporeal) flesh, happily minding her own business scrubbing her bones (and unintentionally chipping away at Billie's father's ability to stay calm in this tense situation). She moved around as if she were a dancing animatronic character, her bones clacking a musical tune that matched her humming, the water shining on her bones like diamonds on an elegant wedding dress, and her body tingling in an excited manner that matched all the fun she was looking forward to having that day. Those feelings reciprocated in Glenn (albeit in a much more scary manner), who began shaking in terror at the horrifying sight that occupied his field of vision. He clung onto the curtain for dear life, hoping to keep his soul intact, and screamed at the top of his lungs again, praying for his life to be spared. Grim screamed as well, dropping her brush and covering herself with the curtain that Glenn released in his terror, worrying she had been exposed once again. Glenn ran out of the room to alert Harriet about this new sight, hoping she would believe his suspicions this time.
Billie poked her head in the doorway a few seconds later, wearing a yellow pair of headphones. "Are you finished in there yet?" she asked Grim, taking off these headphones. "I got to go!"
Grim hesitated to answer, her body still shaking violently at the incident still fresh in her mind. "I feel so..." she began, painfully trying to avoid the subject but powerless to stop the urge in her mind, "so violated." She went back into the shower and grabbed her brush, hoping she wouldn't be disturbed for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, Harriet was in the family room, watching her favorite TV show and hoping for her favorite episodes to come on next. She leaned forward toward the screen to get a closer look as the theme song played, anticipating these titles to reach the screen, and keeping her ears open for these titles to be called out. However, before she could get any clues, she heard her husband screaming her name across the hallway, snapping her out of her trance. "HARRIEEEET!" Glenn yelled, bursting into the room with his hands above his head. "BIG...NAKED..." he continued, pointing to the bathroom door. "BATHROOM!" He jumped in the air in fright, trembling as if he were being electrocuted.
"What is it?" Harriet responded, shrugging her shoulders. "Spit it out!"
"Big, scary," Glenn began explaining as he covered his ears and frantically fidgeted with his fingers, "NAKED SKELETONS!" He covered his eyes in fright, his skin experiencing a painful crawling sensation as he worried about the terrible fates that could potentially befall their daughter in the bathroom.
"Naked skeletons?!" Harriet said, her eyes widening in shock. She looked to her right, a little skeptical of her husband's claims, but still deep in thought about how to solve this predicament. She looked toward the wall, imagining herself face-to-face with the big spooky skeleton who had supposedly abducted Billie from their home, and then thought back to the safety classes she had taken in school. After a few seconds, a thought sprung into her head, harkening her back to the time she had to demonstrate what to do in case of a dangerous intruder in her home, and inserting the skeleton in the place of that intruder. "I'd better get the flail," she said as she walked up from off the couch, a bit resigned but determined to root out the cause of her husband's nervousness and get their happy day back.
When Harriet had gotten the flail from the wall, Glenn directed her to the bathroom where Grim had been showering, hoping for a sign of their daughter's safety. They bravely walked toward the bathroom, their footsteps pounding on the floor as if signaling battle to begin, Harriet in command with Glenn forming the rear of the battalion. They stopped in front of the door, preparing to storm the dungeon to free the red-haired prisoner who had been taken from their side earlier, and reminding themselves of the happiness they would experience once their battle was finally won. But little did they know they would be in for another bone-chilling surprise awaiting them, which would open the door to another world of fear and turmoil waiting inside the very room they had prioritized for their attack.
"Ah-ha!" Harriet shouted, grabbing the doorknob and turning it to the side to unlock whatever sacred secrets awaited her and her cowering husband's eyes. But what they saw was their daughter, Billie, happily dressed and sitting on the toilet as if nothing scary had happened before now.
"Hi, Mom," the red-haired girl said, waving at her parents as she grinned widely from ear to ear.
"Uh, hi, Billie," Harriet replied nervously, smiling as she put the flail behind her back. Realizing she had been led into what she assumed was the same trap as earlier, her expression quickly changed to a skeptical one as she looked back at Glenn. "More skeletons, huh?" she challenged, her voice an arrow flying through layers of cardboard armor as its wearer trembled in terror at the monster hiding out of their sight. Billie just giggled at that, flushing the toilet as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Harriet was walking a horror-frozen Glenn to their room, supporting him as he silently relayed his fears to her. Her hamlike hands held her husband's back as if supporting a wobbling ladder leaning against an uneven surface, her feet hit the ground stalwart like those of a soldier carrying their fallen comrade to the medics' tent, her jet-black hair shone hopefully like a full moon in a starless night sky, and her concerned eyes hung down slightly as if they were bent camera lenses with trouble opening when the machines turned on. "Now, now, it's going to be all right, dear," she said, helping the spooked Glenn climb into their bed in hopes that it would melt his worried expression off of his face. "Rest is what you need." She held out her hands in concern before tucking her husband in.
"Rest is what I need…" Glenn repeated, still shaken up about Grim and Billie running around in their house.
"You've been overworking yourself lately," Harriet began to explain as Billie walked past the doorway, holding out her right hand. "You're starting to hallucinate." She pointed her finger at her brain and tapped it a few times, failing to notice Grim walking not far behind their daughter. "It's all in your head."
Glenn screamed at this statement, desperate to see Billie safe from that big spooky skeleton walking around the house. "A-A-All in my head…" he stammered, trying to calm his nerves and sleep the stress off. "All in my head…all in my-"
Just then, the doorbell rang, causing him to scream in fright. "That's just the doorbell," his wife reassured him, going off to answer the front door.
"It's all in my head, all in my head…" Glenn continued, worrying about what could potentially happen if their skeleton problem wasn't stopped as soon as possible.
At the same time, Harriet was almost at the front door, secretly hoping no one was trying to aggravate her husband's "halluciations" while he was trying to rest. She walked with a happy stride to mask this, wondering if Glenn would find that "big spooky skeleton" standing there should he ever get out of bed and try to check on Billie, and opened the front door as soon as she reached it, hoping no one was there for any unwanted soliciting. When she pulled it open, she found Manny standing there with his hands behind his back, having heard all the commotion and getting ready to see what there was to do despite these circumstances. "Hello, Mrs...Billie's mom," he began, showing a slightly concerned expression toward the overweight woman standing in front of him. "Can Billie...play?"
"Sure. She's in the kitchen," Harriet responded, directing the pink shirt-wearing boy toward the kitchen where Billie and Grim were seated at the table.
Billie was eating a bowl of her favorite cereal while Grim was sipping tea and reading the obituaries in the newspaper, both enjoying themselves and hoping nothing else frightening would upturn their day, when Manny entered the kitchen. The blond-haired boy walked up to Billie's seat, hoping to join in on whatever thrilling and terrifying fun she and Grim had planned out for the day. "Hi, Manny," she said, chewing a huge spoonful of cereal.
"Sounds like your dad's seen Grim," Manny said, giving him a thumbs-up. "So, what's up for today?"
"Hide-and-seek! Hide-and-seek!" Billie responded, punching the table twice.
"Not...quite...what I had in mind," said Manny irritatedly, thinking back to the times it was impossible to find his friend.
"Come on, Grim!" Billie yelled as she continued punching the table, undeterred by Manny's lack of interest, causing her spoon to fall off. "Hide-and-seek! Hide-and-seek!"
"Sure, I'm game," Grim responded, irritatedly resigning herself to whatever her "best friends" had planned for her to do.
"OK, we'll play," Manny said, also resigning himself to Billie's idea of fun for the day. "But on one condition," he insisted, pointing his right index finger up to the ceiling. "Not it."
"Oh, oh, oh! Not it!" Billie yelled, waving her hands in the air.
Grim spit her tea all over the newspaper when she heard both of her "best friends'" words. "Oh, come on, now!" she said, annoyed at having to be "it."
"Come, Billie," Manny commanded his best friend, snapping his fingers at her, "let's hide." Billie jumped out of her seat, excited for all the fun they would have playing hide-and-seek. "Grim, count to fifty."
"Oh, crud!" Grim yelled, slamming the newspaper down on the table.
Meanwhile, Glenn was still in bed, his brain on high alert for any threats potentially befalling Billie despite his attempts to calm his ever-painfully crawling nerves all around his body, and his heart rate higher than ever. "It's all in my head," he repeated, trying to distract himself from the scary skeletons running around in his mental world and get his happiness back on track for the day. "It's all in my head. It's all in my head!" He imagined some scary germs crawling around the house, trying to snatch Billie away from him and Harriet, and attempting to infect her with their contagious tentacles and viral arms. But the germs... he thought as this scenario played in his head many times on repeat. They're real. Yeah. Real germs. Yeah. A thought of skulls and scythes invaded his brain, harkening him back to the sightings of Grim he had managed to capture that morning. Maybe the skeletons... his train of thought continued, trying to process how else his day they're real, too. Oh, so real! He imagined Billie being abducted by that big spooky skeleton to be used for whatever nefarious schemes the latter had possibly thought up. And my poor baby! She's in danger! She needs her daddy! He got out of bed to confront his fears head-on, regardless of what Harriet said about Grim being one of his halluciations or the nerves in his body antsily releasing their tension to keep him tethered to the covers. "I've got to save her!" he said bravely, forming his hands into fists. "Yeah! Billie!" He walked out of the room to save his daughter from the "big spooky skeleton" who had supposedly abducted her from the household and bring peace and happiness back to the family's atmosphere for that day once and for all.
At the same time, Grim was in the bathroom, having finished her exhausting counting to the number fifty and begun her search for her two "best friends." She looked in the shower, but there was no one there. She opened the cupboard under the sink. No kids there. She even looked in the towel closet, but still no Billie or Manny. "Hello?" the Reaper asked, opening the toilet lid. No answer. "Hmmm..." she said, closing the lid, "where the Dickens are they?" She spent a few moments pondering over this, going over the possible rooms they could be. The kitchen obviously wasn't the right answer, because that's where the game had started. Neither was the master bedroom, because Glenn might catch sight of her again and it would mess up Billie's father's nerves even more. She wasn't sure about the living room either, because Harriet was back to watching TV and she didn't want to disrupt this peace. Then she suddenly thought of the place where she had first seen Glenn that morning. "Ah!" she yelled, quickly making her way over there.
She burst into the room, performing a quick visual check. I don't think Billie is hiding in the closet, she thought, analyzing the possible hiding places, because that's where she saw me when her parents entered the room. She thought of maybe going under the bed, but that was where Billie was sitting earlier. The dresser popped into her head, but that was the place where Billie had gotten her clothes for the day. I have some doubts about this place, Grim thought, but let's look there anyway. She ran there, ready to profane her two "best friends'" secret location to the world the minute she opened her dresser drawer. "Gotcha!" she yelled, placing her hands on the knobs and pulling it open for all the world to see.
But she only saw underwear and socks inside, with no sign of either kid anywhere. She heard a mocking series of squeaks from above the cloth, and she looked up to investigate the source. From inside her cage on top of the dresser, Ms. Snuggles was laughing and pointing at Grim, satisfied at the humor the skeleton's misfortune had brought her. "Oh, shut up," the Reaper admonished, closing the drawer to continue her search.
Meanwhile, Glenn entered the living room, looking for his daughter. "Billie?" he called, turning his head to the right. He thought he saw a shadow sneaking up on him, but when he turned to see its source, it had disappeared. "Bil-?" he asked again, hoping his "hallucinations" hadn't turned out to be true, and sweating like a waterfall down the top of his head. "Honey?" he said, turning his head to the left. No one (human or skeleton or otherwise) there.
Then suddenly, he heard someone laugh and something moving at one side of the curtains. Fearful it could be that "big spooky skeleton" he kept trying to warn Harriet about, he ran to the table and and grabbed a Salty Dog figure, ready to take on the threat despite his fear beating his heart at a speed twice as fast as blast beats on a drumset. "B-B-B-B-B-Billie…?" he stammered, hoping his daughter was safe from whatever danger she could be in under there. He ran closer and closer, his head sweating more and more profusely, his heart beating faster and faster, as he rushed to rescue Billie from the supposed skeleton hiding behind there. But what he saw shocked him, albeit in a much more positive way.
He saw Billie standing on top of Manny's head, both completely fine and happy (though Manny was much less demonstrative) to join in the fun they had all planned. "Aw, Dad!" the red-haired girl complained, putting her hands on her hips. "You ruined our good hiding spot!"
"My baby!" he burst out, hugging and kissing Billie multiple times as he dropped the Salty Dog figure on the floor, relieved that the skeleton he had warned Harriet about apparently wasn't real after all.
"Yes, yes, it's good to see you, too, Mr...Billie's dad," Manny said, unamused, as Glenn continued swinging his daughter around in his arms.
"Oh, Billie, Billie, Billie, Billie, Billie!" Glenn burst out, elatedly hugging Billie tighter and happily swinging her around some more. "No hideous germs or spooky skeletons could tear you from my arms!"
But suddenly, a scary silhouette snuck up on them, looking for the two kids. "Excuse me," a deep Jamaican-accented voice said as the finger tapped Glenn's shoulder, "have you seen two...?" The figure turned out to be Grim, who had been looking all over Billie's room without any luck (enduring Ms. Snuggles' taunts all the while) and was just about to start working on the living room to finish her search, which shattered Glenn's happiness (causing him to drop his daughter on the floor). "Ah, there you rascals are," the Reaper said, satisfied at having found them. She hoped Glenn would share in her excitement, but that was not to happen.
Billie's father freaked out at the scary sight, having seen what he thought was the "big spooky skeleton" threatening his daughter's safety. He ran around in circles in the living room, trying to shake her off, but no matter how fast he ran or how many circles he completed, the Reaper couldn't seem to catch a break at this. He screamed for Harriet again, struggling to form a coherent sentence, but his wife was probably dismissing it as another hallucination again. "Oh, come on!" Grim said, unamused at this turn of events, as Billie and Manny shook their heads. "At least I have clothes on this time."
About forty minutes later, Billie's Uncle Sisko had arrived in his car at his younger sister's request, ready to lend a hand to his nervous brother-in-law and help him calm his nerves. He stalwartly sat in the driver's seat, waiting for Harriet and Glenn to come out of the house, humming to himself while he did this. Like his brother-in-law, his peaceful morning had been interrupted when he had heard of "big spooky skeletons" supposedly running around to steal his niece away from her parents, and he was eager to resolve the root of the problem as soon as reasonably possible.
Harriet brought Glenn out the front door, supporting him like a brave soldier helping their fallen comrade toward a troop transport vehicle like she had did when she took him to the bed. Glenn was still frozen in terror, the crawling sensation under his skin reluctant to move toward a place of "hallucination" dismissals again, as he looked all around for the "big spooky skeleton" who had secretly followed them out the door. They reached the car in relief, Glenn's foot reluctantly stepping inside the vehicle as his wife held the door open for him. "Buckle him in, Harriet," Sisko said when Glenn was fully inside. "I don't want him freaking out while I drive."
"Sure, Sisko," Harriet said, calmly strapping Glenn into the front seat.
"We'll, we're off," Sisko responded, ready to help Glenn calm his nerves and get rid of any "big spooky skeletons" still running around in his head.
"Mom," Billie asked worriedly when her mother exhaustedly closed Glenn's door, "why is Dad going away to visit Uncle Sisko?"
"Well, Billie," Harriet started to explain, putting on a smile to mask her hurt at seeing her husband having to leave their house, "you see, Daddy has..." She put a reassuring hand on Billie's head to try to relieve their worries about this, but to little to no avail. "We'll, he's...uh..."
"Your dad's cracked up, you goon," Manny interrupted, dissatisfied with Harriet's explanation and Billie's slowness at the situation at hand.
"Oh, wow, rad!" Billie said excitedly, waving her hands in the air.
"Daddy's just going away to rest for a while," Harriet broke the sad news as Uncle Sisko started the engine and drove away to his house, tears welling up in her eyes about the potentially painful process her husband would have to go through to get back to his normal joyful self again. After a few seconds, the car was out of their sight, ready to conquer the psychological problems of its passengers.
"Bye, sweetheart!" Harriet yelled after her husband, waving her right hand with "excitement" to mask her hurt at the situation. "Bye! Bye! See ya!"
"Bye! Bye, Daddy! Bye, Dad!" Billie joined in, excited to hear what the journey had for them.
"Yeah, bye," Manny added apathetically, "Whatever. Bye, bye."
Grim stood in the window, satisfied at having gotten the panic obstacle out of the way and ready to move on with her day. She stood in the window, ready to say her eerie goodbyes and looking forward to having more spooky fun with him (that is, once he saw her past the "naked skeleton" she previously was), a tingle of excitement shaking her bones like electricity zapping through a power line. Glenn saw her doing this, also feeling an electric sensation throughout her body as he screamed and frantically punched the window of her side of Uncle Sisko's car, but no one seemed ready to help him out and run away from the "big spooky skeleton" facing him right now as they continued to wave him and his brother-in-law goodbye for the day.
"Bye!" Harriet yelled after her husband, wishing him a good counseling treatment with her brother.
"Bye, Daddy!" Billie shouted, joining her mother and her best friend in waving after her terrifiedly screaming father and wishing him a better life afterwards.
Grim, on the other hand, was satisfied with the terrifying fun the day had brought her, happily anticipating the fun that would come with whatever other supernatural adventures were ahead on the road. She laughed evilly as she did a thumbs-up, looking back at the house and its occupants, and thinking of ways she could continue messing around with the residents of the mortal realm, which would slowly unfold as time went on. After all, she was the Reaper, and she had the power over death, so what more fun could messing with people's souls bring?
The next chapter, "Opposite Day," will be up within the next 4-8 weeks. Like I might've said in the same Genderbent KND chapter I mentioned earlier, I'm using a method where I write the dialogue (and some of the actions) first to finish the skeleton, then put the rest of the meat on the turkey by writing a little of it each day, in order to get it done faster. Be on the lookout for when it goes up!