Bonnie's Touch

"CURSES!"

The following day dawned under blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds. Across the rolling plains covered in vibrant green grass, a sparse number of humble farmhouses marked the horizon. These modest homes belonged to easygoing farmers who lived simple, unassuming lives, caring for animals and cultivating crops. The air hung still and quiet but for the occasional bleating of sheep or distant crow of a rooster. Simplicity reigned, and serenity cloaked the Nadirian countryside.

At Elizabeth's small farmstead, stood Elizabeth's small farmhouse. Within the house, Bonnie stood shirtless in front of a bathroom mirror, his skin adorned with multiple stitches. He stared deeply at himself, fixating a contemplative gaze on the oddity of his appearance. He held his face in his hands, fingers tracing the stitches that crisscrossed over his skin. His vibrant eyes wandered down to the stitches on his hands, silently acknowledging the uncanny marks that traced his entire body…

After getting cleaned up, he stepped outside the house, standing clad in brown bib overalls over a white shirt and black rubber boots. The land stretched out before him, and a patchwork of dirty crops and spoiled soil defined the scenery. Weeds competed with struggling plants for space, and the air hung heavy with neglect, for this was the only farm out of the others that lacked much quality. Grabbing a hose, he watered past the cows to a row of wheat, moistening it for a few seconds. Growing impatient, a cheeky smile spread across his face, and abandoning the hose, he rushed over and grabbed spoiled wheat heads in both hands. To his delight, they bloomed after the yellow glow emanated from his touch. Laughing wildly, he scampered about energetically, healing every withered crop with a single touch before falling over himself in reckless abandon…

Meanwhile, Elizabeth stomped toward a ranch with four gossiping old farmers, her fists clenched and her eyes lit with fire. As she approached, they giggled and whispered about the sight of her, oblivious to her building fury. 

"Hi Elizabeth!" they chorused mockingly amidst snickers. 

Lost in their childish jokes, they failed to notice Elizabeth's hands fixed firmly on her hips, her eyes glaring daggers as she awaited their attention. 

She cut in sharply, "My posters, what happened to 'em?" 

The old men paused their antics, regarding Elizabeth with dumb confusion. After exchanging blank looks, the man in the middle spoke up with a stutter, "P-P-P-Posters?" 

"The missin posters I put up everywhere, found most of 'em torn up and scattered, the rest no longer where I put 'em. Know anythin about that?" 

Another round of exchanged glances preceded uncontrollable giggling. "Y-Yer m-m-missin posters went m-m-m-missin?" the man managed between laughs. 

The others joined his hysterics as Elizabeth stared them down, her patience thinning. 

The farmer finally punctuated his amusement, "Well, m-maybe you should make missin posters for yer missin posters!" 

Their raucous laughter continued as Elizabeth silently fumed. Finally, she rushed forward, landing a foot squarely on the man's knee before stomping off, leaving him in agony while the rest cackled carelessly and made jokes about her fear of harmless insects.

Back at the farm, Bonnie continued his antics, blissfully unaware. Hearing an odd noise, he casually meandered through the tall maize to investigate. There he discovered a small, animated plastic bag accompanied by two tiny figures and an ear of corn underneath. Two voices seemed to argue over positioning as they awkwardly shuffled through the crops, breaking some of the stalks. 

"Go left—no, left, ya dolt!" a male voice whispered angrily under an Irish accent. 

"I am goin left! That's yer right!" a female voice fired back with the same accent. 

Bonnie watched the odd spectacle with curiosity. 

"Curses!" the female voice cursed. "Now someone's definitely gonna see us!"

"You fool, if anyone sees us, we'll simply obliterate their stinkin bodies—it ain't that hard," her companion calmly threatened.

Oblivious, they bumped right into Bonnie's waiting hands. He lifted the bag, and what was revealed were two angry little beings resembling young adult humans, both barely bigger than the ear of corn they clutched. The pair were ghostly pale with messy black hair—the male's short and disheveled, and the female's in double buns. Both wore tattered black outfits—his, a long sleeved buttoned-up shirt tucked under button-fly shorts, and hers a simple mini dress. Both stood barefoot, marks of dirt very evident over their little feet. But most striking of their appearance were the dirty blindfolds tied over their eyes, speckled with reddish stains. The stitches circling their skin reminded Bonnie of his own. 

"Heya, folks," he greeted the odd pair with his usual cordiality.

"We ain't gonna surrender!" the male shouted with a hostile point of the finger. "Don't think we've given up without a fight, ya hear!" 

The female added fiercely, "If ya even think of layin yer filthy hand on us, our master will blow you AND yer family ta bits!" 

Unbeknownst to them, their backs were turned to Bonnie, and their hostility was directed at empty air. 

With a calm demeanor, he redirected them, "Behind ya, folks," and whirling around, the pair continued their tirade unfazed. Studying their dirty blindfolds, he asked, "Are you two blind?" and in a flash, he grabbed them both into his hands before adding with a whisper, "I can fix that, ya know," his eyes wild and his face morphing into a demented grin. 

The tiny pair screamed in terror, biting into his hands with sheer vigor and forcing him to calmly wriggle them away. Examining his unharmed palms with confusion, he noted his touch had no effect on their blindness. 

"Curses!" cursed the female. "Now we've definitely blown it. Ya just couldn't keep yer mouth shut, could ya Rodri?" 

Panicked at being exposed, transparent wings suddenly emerged from their backs, and after the male clutched the corn, they both took to the air like butterflies. Bonnie watched, amazed, as they careened into each other before crashing into the fields. 

Just then, Elizabeth arrived inside the farmhouse, noticing Bonnie's pursuit of little airborne figures heading up the hills through the window. She stood perplexed at the sighting of the situation, before removing her hoodie and racing after him. 

"Why are you runnin—I mean, flyin—away?" Bonnie called after them. 

"Well, maybe 'cause you're chasin us, you vermin!" the female retorted.

"There's plenty more corn at the farm, ya know. These hills only head straight into the woods… Can you guys even see where you're goin?"

Glancing in the direction of their pursuer's voice, the female said to her companion, "Rodri, it don't seem like he's gonna stop anytime soon. What should we do?"

"I think we're gonna hav'ta take him out ourselves, Anna," Rodri responded gravely. 

Weaving through the trees, they tried losing Bonnie. After losing sight of the two, he pleaded for them to cease their hiding. 

"I just wanna offer ya some more corn, you see. You both seemed so desperate for it—tryin to steal it while under a bag and all. Don't worry, I'll only chop-off yer hands after you've had a meal… Oh, c'mon, I was just jokin. Don't you guys know about dark humor?"

Suddenly, a distant scream rang out—a girl's voice that Bonnie instantly recognized. Charging towards the sound urgently, he discovered Elizabeth paralyzed before a drooling grizzly! Seeing her frozen in fear, he called for her, but she seemed oblivious, her trembling hand outstretched. As Bonnie slowly approached, the bear grew aggressive. Behind him, Rodri and Anna reappeared, bickering over positioning the corn between them. With synchronized precision, they placed their hands on the corn, and in an instant, a plume of smoke billowed forth, sending Rodri and Anna's little bodies tumbling away. Appearing beneath the smoke was a formidable cannon, which loomed ominously still on the ground while a matchbox sat beside it. 

"Light the touch hole and blow him up already!" Anna commanded Rodri while she lay on the ground flat on her chest. 

On all fours and blindly searching with his hands, Rodri exclaimed, "Where… where is the matchbox?!" 

Upon catching wind of their argument, Bonnie's eyes sparkled with the glimmer of an idea. 

Slowly and awkwardly shifting around, he swiftly paddled his feet toward the cannon and instructed Elizabeth, "T-Try not to move a muscle until I signal, okay? Take some slow and heavy breaths. We're gonna get home safe today, I swear it!" 

He swiftly snatched the matchbox from the ground and positioned himself behind the cannon, darting his eyes around the mechanism in an attempt to decipher Rodri and Anna's earlier outbursts and leverage that knowledge to his advantage. After gaining some kind of understanding, he yelled for Elizabeth to get behind him for cover, and as she began her cautious dash toward him, the bear's predatory instincts were finally triggered, resulting in a mighty roar and its lumbering advance. Bonnie, in the blink of an eye, ignited the cannon's touch hole with the lit matchstick. He then grabbed Elizabeth's hand, scooped up Rodri and Anna, and dashed away. The cannon roared to life, sending a cannonball hurtling toward the Bear, propelling it into the distant horizon. 

. . . 

Later, at Elizabeth's farmhouse, Rodri and Anna sat on the couch beside her, their faces stuffed with corn. As they ate ravenously, Elizabeth watched them patiently while she held a basket of corn in both hands. Pausing, Anna lifted her head to glare sightlessly at Elizabeth. 

"I can feel yer gaze, lady!" she snapped. 

"Ya know, both of you share similarities with Bonnie," Elizabeth began. "The only difference being yer small bodies being able to take off like flies. Does that mean there's more of ya'll out there?" 

Through a mouthful and a curl of the upper lip, Rodri mumbled, "Who'sh Bonnie?" 

Handing them more corn, Elizabeth explained, "He's the guy who saved us earlier—despite you two tryin to kill him with that weird machine. You owe him yer gratitude—and an apology!" 

"Hmph, I don't apologize ta no one!" Anna huffed, crossing her arms.

"We're the ones who saved him!" Rodri protested as he filled his mouth with another bite. "We made that weapon. He just used it without even askin! I Don't see him here thankin us!" 

"What's a...weapon?" Elizabeth humbly asked. 

"The grandest of inventions, of course," Rodri said. "Whatever item or object, dull of life and personality, that we touch with our hands simultaneously, will turn into just that—and it grants ya the luxury of easily destroyin yer filthy enemies!" 

"Some weapons can annihilate entire landscapes!" Anna added with sadistic glee. 

Elizabeth wasn't too sure of what they were talking about, but allowed the thought to pass her mind like a fleeting shadow. She handed over some more corn.

"So, are you guys visitors? I mean, people rarely ever decide to visit the 'borin countryside,' so… Why are you two all the way out here anyways?" 

"We're lookin for our master," Anna replied, shoving corn in her mouth. 

"And who's yer master?" 

At that, the two sat in a lifeless silence before giving a dismal attempt at answering the question. 

"Well...he's...uhh, our master, and…" Rodri stammered, casually taking another large bite of corn as he tried gathering his thoughts. 

"He's the...you know… Who is he again?" Anna added, her voice trailing off in uncertainty, and her brow furrowing in thought. 

Elizabeth, too, then took a bite of corn, and the three sat in dead silence, and as they sat, the sounds of corn being munched echoed across the room. 

. . . 

Meanwhile, in the woods, the wounded bear wheezed painfully amidst the thorns. Its face was broken on one half, revealing bits of its internal structure, and the metal cannonball lingered dead still between its penetrated torso, which bled profusely onto the forest floor. Bonnie appeared, slowly stepping over the trail of blood and offering a casual greeting before apologizing for being the cause of its injuries.

"Sorry 'bout that. I wasn't expecting it to be that bad, but you were gonna eat my friends, you see."

He approached and gently placed his hand on the bear's bloody wounds. As a soft glow emanated from his touch, the bear's injuries began to regenerate rapidly, and the cannonball slowly rolled out from its destroyed torso. Bonnie maintained his hands on the bear until it was fully healed, and at last, the bear rose to its feet, towering over Bonnie, who nervously stepped backward from it. With a great yawn, the bear lumbered away, leaving Bonnie with a slight drop of the shoulder, a soft smile of relief, and some blood-stained clothes.

CHAPTER 3 of 'Bonnie's Touch' ends