Bad End...Friends?¿

Final Decision

"Once The Blue Widower has you, then she'll come for me, because we're powerful. Our souls make her powerful."

Wirt touched his neck instinctively.
"Our...souls?"

"She thinks if she gets enough powerful souls she can come back into our world." Bill explained pulling a burgundy book off of a nearby shelf.
"That's my theory."

"Maybe it's not her.
Maybe she's just an exorcist who want to do the right thing! I too, would kick your soul to the curb if I could." Wirt reasoned.

He set the hefty book down in front of them and pointed. Wirt leaned in to read. As he scanned the page Bipper gave a commentary.

There was a sketch of a humanoid monster in the page, it was tall and bony, but the drawing was definitely far from finished, there weren't details or even a face.

"She doesn't exclusively take bad people, she takes anyone she can get her hands on. She wants the powerful people the most though, good or evil. And she will take anyone who can lead her down their road."

Wirt read through the words written in cursive on the parchment page. Ink soaked through like blood.

I've listened to many a "phycho" describe their children's experiences with this thing, I'm lucky enough to have never met it personally. That's what they say. Still I'd love to!

"Hold your tongue before she removes it from your mouth." Wirt muttered, barely paying attention to Bill's rambling, but the next question caught his attention.

"If you're too hard a target...who is that girl from the cemetery?" Bill asked, lax.

"Beatrice..." Wirt whispered,
"Is she in danger?"

Bipper hesitated a moment,
"You had better keep her far away from... y'know the
d-dolls." Wirt had never heard Bill stutter unironically, it made him uncomfortable to say the least.

The room went quiet before Wirt raised his voice.
"She isn't that kind of girl...She- She doesn't like dolls..." it was almost as if his statement was directed to himself, instead of the boy next to him, the way his voice searched for confirmation anxiously.

"Boy, it doesn't matter if you like dolls or not..." Bill swiped the thick book off of the table and shoved it into his suit jacket.

"As long as they like you."

He clearly, hadn't been so lucky. Even Bill couldn't laugh at the nightmare that was his near ending life.

Wirt shook his head slightly
"I don't talk to people. She thinks I'm dead and we should keep it that way."

"Whatever you say, kid! But if you just sit back maybe she'll be dead too!"

Wirt knew this, of course, all he wanted was to put his head over his heart!

The mind can keep you safe, but it's the heart's beating that keeps you alive.

For a moment he forgot Bill was even there with him.

"Or...perhaps...she'll choose a different target...Flynn...is that his name? He seems like he's really in his own head, spaced out." Bill used lots of hand gestures as he spoke, twisting his fingers and bending them in ways they simply shouldn't bend.

"Now it sounds like you're scheming! And his name is Finn, Dipstick."

The reality of what Bill said was beginning to sink in, and Wirt's stomach knotted.

This monster was coming for someone, but nobody could tell him who, because no one knew. If he went to protect one, he'd either be in serious danger or be letting the other die.