When we came bursting into town, things went south almost immediately. It was a small, quaint town. But clearly well off. The houses went far up into the mountain. The part we were standing at was at the bottom, but from what I could see there was houses all the way at the top.

As townspeople got out of their houses to check us out, one of the clowns made a run towards a shop. My heart dropped immediately. He sent a rock flying through the large window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

It was as if this set off something in all the clowns. Everyone seemed to snap, become violent within seconds. As the townspeople fled, clowns trashed whatever they could, grabbed who they could.

I couldn't stand it. "Buggy," I blurted out without meaning to. He was the only one who wasn't joining in on the destruction. "You have to stop them."

"I don't have to do anything."

He was annoying me. He was so nonchalant. "You do -"

He turned on me fast. His face was almost against mine as he spoke. "We've had this conversation too many times. Must we keep having it?"

"Apparently so."

"Fine," He agreed. "But I need alcohol if I'm to go through this little song and dance again."

With that, he grabbed my hand and led me through the crowds, trying to find somewhere good to drink. We finally found a bar. It was small, serving drinks through a window, with the seating area outside.

"Hello?" Buggy yelled through the window, trying to peer in. "Seems like it's abandoned."

"I wonder why."

"If only there was some way I could fit through the window! Like, if I could say, take my body apart and put pieces through one at a time... oh wait!" Buggy pulled his head off, holding it out for me to see. "I can!"

"Very smart."

"You're such a party pooper, Betty." He put his head back on, instead just pulling off a hand and sliding it through the hole in the window. "I think I can trust him to get us a drink. Although I am blind so apologies if he picks something bad."

Him referring to his hand as if it were someone different was very weird but I didn't question it. It was the last thing I had to worry about.

His hand finally reappeared with one bottle clutched tightly between two of the fingers, while the other ones seemed to walk.

"Hm," Buggy said, taking the bottle and examining it. "Not my taste. Try again." The hand was off. "Do you want it -"

I didn't even let him finish. I snatched the bottle off of him, popped the lid and took a gulp. At first, I wasn't sure what it was. Then I realised it was beer. It was a bit bitter for my taste. I could see why Buggy didn't want it.

That didn't stop me from basically downing the entire thing by the time his hand returned with another bottle.

"That's more like it." Buggy held his bottle to me for a toast. I didn't feel much like toasting.

"What are we toasting?"

"New riches."

"And new destruction?"

He seriously considered that, then smiled widely. "Sure! To new rich and new destruction!"

With that, he clicked our bottles together. It almost made me laugh. As If the world was reading my emotions, it began to rain.

"I didn't know it rained here."

"It rains everywhere. Well, some places far less often than others but everywhere eventually."

That seemed obvious now that he had said it. It usually rained in my town when it was hot. I associated the rain with heat, not with ice and snow.

I pulled my jacket tighter, really starting to feel the cold. Buggy seemed to notice that.

"Are you cold?"

"No," I lied. "We need to talk about this town."

"Do we know?"

He stretched his arms above his head. When he did, his t-shirt (which was visible since his jacket was unzipped) pulled up so that I could see his stomach. His stomach was hairy, not overly, but I found it quite sexy.

I had to suppress the blush that was trying to spread across my face. He didn't seem to notice.

"We do. There's no reason to destroy such a beautiful place when we don't have to."

"We're not going to destroy it. Don't be so dramatic."

"I can literally see a clown setting a house on fire right behind you," I stated firmly.

"Huh?" He asked, spinning around theatrically. His coat billowed in the wind as he did.

When he turned, he saw what I meant. A purple clown was holding a lit torch, which he was holding to the wood of the house. Unfortunately for this town, the wood they used seemed to be highly flammable.

The house was up in flames in no time.

"If that isn't destruction, I don't know what is."

"Haribo!" Buggy yelled.

The purple clown turned and gave a wide smile. "Yes, sir?"

"No fire!"

The clowns smile dropped. "But I love fire!"

"Yes, but fire spreads. Before we know it, everyone will be ash. We can't gather the wealth of this town if you burn it all. Plus, I'd actually like to sleep in a house tonight. I can't do that if you burn them all down."

The purple clown seemed to get the message. He snuffed out the fire on the torch he was holding. He left the house on fire but luckily it was quite far apart from all of the other houses.

The fire ravaged the house but then died out. Leaving the house just a smoking ruin.

"There? Happy?"

"I don't think whoevers house that was will be very happy."

"They should be. They should be happy to be alive," He told me bluntly, downing the rest of his drink.

He sent his hand off to get more.

"I appreciate that you stopped him," I said suddenly. I should thank him for the little he did do for me. "At least it was just one house rather than ten."

"There we go! Some positive thinking." His hand reappeared with the next bottle. It was wine, red, and large. "We can just share this one. My hand is getting tired."

He popped the cork, then chugged some of the wine, handing it to me when he was finished. I didn't argue. I took the bottle and chugged as much as I could manage.

I wanted to be as drunk as positive. It numbed the guilt I was feeling as I watched clowns ransack the houses.

Over the next couple of hours, we drank a lot more. Me and Buggy stayed out of the destruction. At points, I forgot about it until a clown would approach Buggy with positive news.

"Captain, we found a vault. Dilly is in the  process of opening it."

"Sir, they had a lot of berry stashed in their bank!"

Etc, etc. Buggy would beam with excitement each time. I would feel worse with each bit of 'good' news his clowns brought.

After a while, day turned to night, the sky darkened. Buggy was thoroughly tipsy.

It was weird seeing him like this. Even when he drank a lot, it never seemed to affect him. He seemed incredibly wobbly on his feet, bubbly and his movements were exaggerated.

"I think it's time for bed, don't you?" He slurred out.

I smiled at him, feeling pretty tipsy myself. "Sure. Where are we sleeping?"

"I'm sure we can find a nice house."

My heart dropped. All the houses were already abandoned so it's not like we were activity kicking anyone out of their houses. But it still felt weird to sleep in someone else's house. Especially when they haven't really consented to it.

I didn't argue though. I just nodded. When Buggy went to walk, he almost fell. I had to let him lean against me as we walked. So, off we went, to look for a house to steal for the night.

🤡

hey so I want to thank everyone for being so patient with me! life has been crazy, and it means a lot that everyone here has been so nice!

my new upload schedule is 1 chapter every 2 days! I've written the next couple of chapters already so I think I can keep up with that schedule!

i hope everyone is still interested in this story because its about to get really good - some good stuff is coming up!

reads: 94.6k
published 12th November 2023