The Puppeteer (BillDip)

Chapter 12

I woke up with a start, the morning dew dampening my shredded t-shirt and jeans. I wasn't in pain anymore, the gaping wound no longer adorning my chest, no blood in sight. A man in a black and gold tuxedo perched gracefully on a rock beside me, twirling a cane between his slender fingers. He was back, finally.

"Morning, sunshine!" He grinned, speaking in a perky, sing-song manner as he gazed down at me. I scrambled to my feet clumsily as I noticed how embarrassingly taller he was than me. He adjusted my hat, my muddy brown hair waving in the light breeze.

"Bill!" I gleefully hugged his waist, almost knocking him over. Words couldn't explain how happy I was, that after all this time, I could feel Bills body against mine in reality.

"Woah, Pinetree!" He chuckled after I could bear to let him out of my protective grasp. "Calm down! I know I'm delightful, but don't you think you're going a little overboard?"

"But-"

"Me too," he nodded knowingly, having me all figured out, as usual.

We wandered through the woods until, eventually, we reached the shack, always on the lookout for creatures that might see Bill and attack us. Finally, we stood on the porch of the tourist trap, listening to the faint hustle indoors. We looked fearfully at each other for a moment, wondering if we should even go inside together. With him. I pushed all the negative thoughts out of my brain, and focused on the warms smiles of the people on the other side. They could learn to understand.

"Now, Bill," I began to give him a pep talk. "Act natural. Nobody can know you're here, and you're back again. Especially Ford, he'll destroy you and you know it. Just stay away from him, okay? We need this to go down well. I don't know what I'd do if they found out what happened and tried to take you away from me."

He gave me a thumbs up. "No worries, Pinetree!"

I smiled nervously before pushing open the entrance to the gift shop. Wendy was leaning back carelessly on her chair as Soos was in progress of a big tour. Bill lingered in the archway, waiting for me to tell him the coast was clear. However, as soon as I gave the signal, everybody seemed to gravitate in our direction, as if they could sense his dark aura.

"Hey Dip! Who's your friend?" Wendy looked up from her magazine and flashed me the grin that used to make me melt inside. Not anymore.

"Uh... nobody, no one in particular... bye now!" I panicked, taking Bill by the hand, leading him to safety in the living room. She frowned, and tried to call to me, but I wouldn't stop running. I had to keep him out of trouble.

"Smooth," Bill cooed sarcastically as we raced upstairs, to mine and Mabel's room in the attic. I sighed, and let go of his ivory wrist once we made it. We walked in, attempting to appear unsuspicious, which, of course, made us look obviously guilty. Mabel wasn't facing us, and hadn't even noticed our arrival. She was sitting on her bed, flipping through her diary, the one she used to write in every day. That is, every day before she collapsed.  

"Hey... brobro..." she spoke my nickname, but with none of her usual colour and vibrance. "Is that Bill? My diary says something about him you might want to see."

I grabbed her book from beneath her, and began to read the entry, astonished...

***

Dun Dun dunnnnnn! Cliffhangers are awesome! So what did Mabel write in her diary before she lost her memory? You won't see this coming (okay, you probably will, but play along, k?)! Love you guys,
Em xx