This Heavy Heart

Roll Out the Party Things!

Woohoo! Things are moving along, aren't they? Time to check on the party setup and see how that's going! 😃
——————————
"A good friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have."

Irish Proverb
——————————
Lou let himself sink back into the couch with a sigh. Where should he start? It seemed like his entire life was an endless stream of misery and inner despair.

"I suppose ..." The blonde prototype stopped, took a deep breath and then continued.

"It all started at the beginning ..."

--------
10 minutes earlier, in the town square ...

"Can you lift it a little bit higher, Mandy?" The bespectacled girl sighed through a mouthful of pegs as she nodded. She strained to lift the heavy banner she was holding against an Uglyville house.

Mandy wobbled slightly, clinging to the ladder that she was standing on. She managed to lift it a few inches above her head, before stopping and fixing it to the building with one of the pegs in her mouth.

"It's as high as I can manage, Moxy. What about you?" she asked her friend. Moxy grinned and nodded.

"Yep, me too!" She pegged the banner up on her side as well. The result was slightly lopsided, but it still looked good! Giggling, Moxy jumped off her ladder onto the banner, and slid down it to the ground.

"WEEEEEEEEEEE!" Mandy chuckled at Moxy's enthusiasm before climbing down HER ladder and walking over to the pink UglyDoll.

"That excited, huh, Moxy?" she asked. Moxy nodded eagerly in response as she got up.

"Yep! I'm so excited for this party that I can't stop BEING EXCITED!!"

The little pink 'ball of energy' doll started bouncing up and down in anticipation. There was a familiar chuckle from behind them.

"Well, that's good to know!" The duo turned and saw Ox smiling at them. "I see that you've finished the main banner. It looks good!"

The three dolls looked up at the banner. It portrayed a rather splodgy image of Lou's face, done in dripping paint. Moxy beamed.

"I made it myself!" she said happily. "Do you think that he'll like it?" Mandy exchanged a look with Ox. They didn't know if Lou still liked everything to be pristine and perfect, yet Moxy's thoughtfulness was sincere and kind.

"I'm sure that he will, and appreciate the sentiment, Moxy", Ox replied. "To be honest, I'm glad that you're enthusiastic about his party, and not bearing him an open grudge anymore." The pink doll's grin lessened and became slightly more serious.

"Well, I thought about what you said earlier, and I realised that you were right. Bearing grudges never works out, if dolls do that; then they end up all bitter and alone and miserable ... like Lou himself." Moxy paused for a moment in sadness before continuing.

"Also, this is Imperfection! The place where every doll is welcomed and made to feel at home, whatever their differences!" Moxy smiled warmly. "It wouldn't be fair if we included everyone BUT Lou." Ox smiled proudly at the little pink doll.

"Thank you, Moxy. I'm very proud of you, you know!" He turned to Mandy. "How about you, Mandy?" he asked. The purple haired doll thought for a moment about her time in Perfection, before answering.

"I guess that Lou deserves a second chance, the same as the one that Spy Girls got. Even though he smashed my glasses, we all do things in anger." Her voice then lowered and her smile faded a little.

"Also, I'd seen him looking depressed quite a few times, when he thought that no one was looking. Particularly when dolls who passed the Gauntlet went through the portal. I'd always wondered why. Now we know why."

Ox nodded, and smiled at Mandy and Moxy.

"Yep! We're going to fix that once and for all, my friends." The green bunny doll then turned and began to walk off to the west side of the town square.

"Hey, wanna come and check on the rest of the party setup with me?" The two girl dolls immediately nodded excitedly and walked after Ox.

They passed dolls setting up more banners, dolls blowing up balloons and carrying bags of confetti; and finally stopped next to a couple of long tables with goodies like biscuits and cupcakes on. Wage and Babo were carrying trays of goodies over from her cafe / restaurant to put on the tables.

"How are you doing, Wage? Babo?" Ox called as he and the two girls strolled over. The orange doll sighed as she put her tray down and sat down on a nearby stool to rest. The grey owl then came and put his tray down too.

"It's going great!" Babo said with a smile. "At this rate, we'll have finished the cooking by evening and got everything ready for Lou's party tomorrow!" Ox gave him a thumb's up, which Babo promptly returned. Wage just sighed sarcastically.

"I just hope that Mr Once-Perfection appreciates our hard work!" she said cuttingly. The green bunny instantly frowned.

"Wage ..." The orange girl doll just huffed and turned to go back to her restaurant.

"Babo! Come on, we've got goodies to finish!" Babo just looked at his friends, shrugged with a wry smile and turned to follow Wade. Ox sighed.

"I think that Lou might find it harder to make amends with some dolls than with others." Moxy then gave him a friendly nudge in the ribs.

"Don't worry, Wage gets like that whenever she's tired or very busy. It'll be okay!" Ox smiled, feeling reassured.

"Moving on!" he said, as he turned and walked on past the goodie tables. The three dolls then suddenly had to put their hands over their ears as a blast of discordant music suddenly blared from the party speakers that were being set up. Ox grimaced.

"UGLYDOG!" he bellowed, rapidly changing direction towards the north side of the town square. Moxy and Mandy looked at each other in confusion, but still hurried after him.

They soon came upon a grinning UglyDog who had headphones on and was busy managing some DJ equipment. He was accompanied by the Spy Girls, who had headphones on too. Mandy laughed.

"I see you crazy girls have another new hobby, besides painting yourselves multicolour!" she said, chuckling. Kitty raised an eyebrow.

"It's great fun!" she stated. "UglyDog's showing us how DJing works." The blue dog doll nodded, holding up a phone to Ox's gaze.

"I've linked my phone and speakers up to Lucky Bat's phone, and he and I have been choosing some great party tunes!" UglyDog then frowned.

"But he's suddenly gone strangely quiet now. I don't know why?" He shook the phone a few times. Moxy just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Maybe he's just busy, UglyDo-"

"Busy? Busy?! He's supposed to be helping me to get the party music ready! What could pos-" UglyDog was then suddenly interrupted by a sudden and shockingly familiar voice coming out of the speakers.

"I suppose ... It all started at the beginning ..." Dead silence instantly fell over the whole town square as the dolls there froze to the spot, eyes widened in shock.

Lou's voice.

Vote and comment if you like it!