Wally Darling - An ANGST story

Birds

Barnaby's POV:

Frank had told me about these sounds in the woods Eddie speaks of earlier this week, and I was curious as to if Eddie was speaking the truth. This led me to join his antics. 

He leads me into the woods, and the first thing I notice is an odd smell. It's weak, meaning it's from far, but not far enough to be from the neighboring town. Odd.

Eddie makes quick work of searching the near area, as I get a better grasp on the scent. The cause of it isn't too far from here, though it would be quite a stroll to get there. I'm more worried about the smell; it's horrible. 

"Eddie!" I shout. This gets his attention from behind a tree. "I think this scent might be what you're looking for."Eddie looks excited. "But before we go, could I get nose plugs? That smell is gonna be real nasty when we get over there."

Eddie's excitement seems unfazed. He digs through his mail bag, and pulls a pair out for me. "I am ready for anything." he says smugly.

I got to know a lot about Eddie during our walk.He grew up on a farm like me, but had a bigger family. He's also the one who gave Frank the binoculars: I seriously thought about fighting him then and there. "You are so lucky I'm not Howdy," I told him. "Then you'd be in real trouble."
We had a good laugh at that, but I was cut short by a faint sound in the direction we were going.

"Did you hear that?" I whisper, stopping to see if I could hear it again. Eddie's face contorts into a surprised smile, almost childlike. "No, but did you hear something?"he asks.

"Yeah, almost a mumble." I respond.

he... he he         he...

"I heard it again!" I exclaim. "but it sounds like a... laugh?"

We continued walking, our pace a bit speedier with our ever-growing curiosity. The scent burned in my lungs as we entered a small clearing, now being able to decipher the mumbles into words... Well kind of.

"He moves, aaaaaaaa, he *hic* gooooe- OOF"

Eddie runs over, and gasps at what he sees. I go to take a look, and gasp along with him.

There lies a Wally, with an empty bottle of Bacardi, laughing his ass off to what should have been a really painful fall. Wally then opens his eyes, looks directly at me and says "Wow, youuuuuuu are so hot." He continues to laugh as I feel my face slowly heating up. Hot?
I look at Eddie, who was holding in a laugh of his own. "it's not funny!" I whisper-yell, picking up Wally. I threw him over my shoulder; he's still giggling as we walk through the woods back home.

During our walk, we are completely silent, listening to Wally ramble. Eddie still looks as though he's on the verge of laughing. Clearly he's understanding what he's saying a lot more than me. 

We make it to neighborhood, to hear Frank frantically calling for Eddie around the neighborhood.

"Frank! Frank I'm here!" Eddie yells back. It didn't take Frank long to sprint to Eddie, Julie trailing behind him. He rambles on about 'You should tell me where you're going!' and 'I was so worried!' His rant gets cut short, Frank's eyebrows furrowed. "What is that smell?"

Before I can answer, Eddie pulls Frank away from the situation. "How about we go home? I want to make more cookies!" He then mouths to me, 'Take him to your house' with a wink at the end. Eddie's going to be a pain in my tail later.

At Barnaby's House: (I'm lazy and can't make transitions)

'How do you deal with a drunk?' I ask myself, pacing the floor as Wally throws himself on the couch, quite literally. My mom used to drink, but only socially. I don't remember her ever getting drunk. What would she do?

I pick up the phone and call her. It takes her two rings to answer. "Ms. Beagle's residence."  "Hi mom," I responded, both hands clutching the phone. It's as though I can feel her eyes narrowing through the phone. "What's going on?" she says, her tone making a surprising switch. "It's not my fault, I swear! But I wanted to ask you-" "What did you wanna ask?" she asks, though I was about to tell her.

"How do you deal with a drunk person?"

My mom gasps through the phone. "Don't you tell me you've been drinking! I can barely handle you puffing the pipe!" She yells, the last words sounding as though she were going to cry. "I haven't been drinking, my friend has." I tell her.  "And I don't know what to do." I sounded desperate in my opinion, and I was.

She lets out a sigh of relief before responding. "Water. Your friend needs to drink water first.  Then get them some shut eye.  Is this your friends first time?"

"Yes."

"I thought so. Keep a garbage pail near the bed at all times; they might need to throw up. Get more water, get some food, they need to eat. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"And if I catch you with booze in you... *insert menacing chuckle*"

"Got it."

"Goodbye honey!" she says. 

"Goodbye mom!"

After hanging up the phone, I find Wally to not be in the living room. I check the kitchen. He wasn't there, but I get him a bowl of water and a straw for when I do find him. My bathroom doors are open, so he's not there either. I go to my bedroom to find Wally, trying to balance himself off the side of my bed. Wally notices me, falling over after not looking at the bedside. "You need to get to bed." I say, picking him up easily and putting him on my bed. He's slurring corny pickup lines as I set down the water bowl on his lap. He stares at the water blank-mindedly before giving me a smug look. He tries to hold the bowl a bit higher. He almost spills it, so I put a paw under the bowl, though I do believe the straw is long enough. He then dips his head down, licking the water in the bowl, keeping his smug eyes on mine. 

I rip my hands off the bowl, it spilling all over him. I'm not mad, but that caught me way off guard. He can't even drink with his mouth for dot's sake! 

I look back up to him, to find him staring back at me. His eyes bore into my soul as I realize why he was upset. His hair flops over his shoulder, contrary to its usual up-do curl. 

"Wally, I am so sorry," I say, reaching my hand out to grab the bowl. He smacks my hand with a "don't touch me!" 

Now I'm on the side of the room, holding a wounded hand as I get death stared at by Wally. 

I move to the door in case I need to run. "Wally, you need to go to bed."

His eyes narrow more, though I never thought they could. Wally responds, "I'm wet!"

"Well-" I stop myself. Arguing isn't going to get me anywhere, I already have a bruise on my hand. "How about this? I'll get you dry clothes, and do your hair tomorrow, and you go to bed." Wally thinks for a moment. "I'll do it." he says seriously.

So I went to find him some clothes, and of course, since he sleeps here so often there's already some pajamas here for him. He changed into them, and finally went under the covers.

Goodnight...

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Hello again, everybody! I wanted to come up here and apologize for being gone so long, I was working things out, and getting my own mental health worked out. This book tends to hit close to home, seeing as it has my fears, being a trans and autistic person myself, and during the period of time I was away, I bettered myself, and got my mental health in check. I love seeing your comments, There hasn't been one I haven't read, and most of this chapter was written before my break, so it'll still be the same. I know where I want this story to go, and I'll be writing more. Have a good day or night.