"Knives and Sickles"
Chapter One
By: Reki-Chan
Then
A small, short figure tiptoed down the shadowy and spooky halls of the institute. It kept to the shadows, unless forced into the light. It stepped into the light for a split second, revealing a young boy, maybe nine, ten years of age; with neatly cut locks of short black back pasted down onto his head. In his arms he clutched a demented teddy bear, his eyes wide with fear.
"Shh, Shmee, they might hear you...No, I'm not burning the place down! There are other people here...No, they aren't all bad. Yeah, the doctors are bad...but—What was that?!" He spun around quickly to see a small girl with wide eyes, red hair, glasses, an over-sized backpack and pigtails. At his school she would be considered a 'nerd'.
The girl stared evenly at him she tilted her head. She couldn't have been more than eight maybe nine years old. She pointed at something behind him, never once uttering a word. The boy turned around to see the faintly glowing green words of "Exit", the only way out. She stepped forward slowly, and gingerly grabbed his arm, and started for the exit.
"Hey! Let me go! Let go!" He tried to pull free, but the girl's grip was firm and true. She wasn't letting go anytime soon it seemed, so he gave up and let her half-drag him along. He thought as the strange one dragged him, this girl had never once uttered a word, and her ghostly silence was scaring him. Maybe she was a ghost! At last the girl stopped at the exit, and he looked up at it hopefully.
There was a lock on the door.
His hopes were crushed; he sighed and shook his head. It was useless; there was no escape from that institute. He looked over to that girl, and found her to be searching in her pack, she then pulled out a strange looking object. A sickle.
"What are you going to do with that?" He said nervously, staring at the glinting weapon, questions racing through his mind. Why did such a young girl have a weapon of this sort? Maybe she was in this place for a reason! She looked at him, and for the first time she showed some expression, a strange smile crept onto her face. She brought that shiny sickle up to the lock, and stuck the point into the lock. She began twisting it about, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth in concentration, until she heard that click. The door was unlocked. He stared in amazement at it, "Wow..." He blinked, and then looked to the girl, and introduced himself, "I'm...Todd Casil, but you can call me Squee..." He blinked, that sounded almost just like the Scary Neighbor Man's introduction, he cringed inwardly. That didn't seem to good of a sign.
The girl spoke for the first time, her voice stumbling over the words a bit as if she hadn't spoken for a long time, "I don't have a name...But you can call me L. I like the letter L. It's a nice letter. But I have to go now D-Kun and G-Kun are waiting for me. Buh-bye now!" She pushed open the doors, and trotted out, slowly fading into the background.
Squee stood there watching her fade away, and he thought the next- door neighbor man was crazy. He looked down at Shmee, "Yeah...I know Shmee. See we did it without burning it down Shmee. Of course they'll be happy to have me back. Hee hee." And he exited the institute.
~*~
Now
A tall and lanky young boy raced down the sidewalk, followed by several boys. He seemed to be fleeing from them, but it didn't seem to bother him much. He raced closer towards a house, pushing himself forward with an extra burst of energy, and stood at the doorsteps. He turned and stared at the other boys, grinning at them as they gasped for breath. He entered the house, house 776.
"I'm home!" He called, and walked into the kitchen. He opened up the refrigerator and searched for something to eat, he found a ready-made bowl of skeetios. He grinned, and took it out. He searched about for a fork, finding one he raced up the stairs to his room. He sat down at his desk, finding a note on it reading:
Squeegee-
Devi has gone to take Tenna to pick-up some food. I'll be over at my house if you need me.
Nny
Squee smiled, it had been almost six...almost seven years since that fateful night when Nny and Devi became his parents. And although they had a strange family arrangement, it was obvious they all cared for each other. He took a bite of the cold food, and chewed thoughtfully. He blinked, and turned around and looked at the toy on his bed, "Don't worry Shmee...I won't let those kids at school hurt me. I never do." He grinned at the old, aged teddy bear.
He looked out the window and at the house next-door, he looked over at the teddy again, and grinned, "What do you say we drop by Nny's house, Shmee? Heh, yeah, okay Shmee. I'll leave you here." He opened the window, and climbed out of it, and landed neatly on the ground. He would have used to old basement entrance, but over time it had eroded over time so that it had caved in. He went up to the front door, and let himself in, he knew Nny wouldn't mind.
"Nny!" He called, and heard a rustling noise, he turned quickly to it to find the overly skinny frame of Nny, "Hey Nny...I needed you to sign something for school," he thrust his hand into pockets, and searched around for something. Ah ha! He pulled out a wadded up piece of paper, "Sorry it's a bit, uh, wrinkled. It a permission slip for me to go on the class field trip."
Nny took the paper, and smoothed it out, "Where are you going for the trip?" He questioned as he scribbled down on the paper Mr. C., he told Squee he wouldn't ever lie about his name. Lucky their last names both ended in 'C'. He handed the paper back.
"Oh it something stupid, I think we're going to some museum..." He said, taking the paper, and stuffing it back into one of his many pockets.
"What kind of museum?" Nny asked, leaning against the wall, he knew Squee was pretty much able to take care of himself, but he still liked knowing how Squee was doing.
"It's for art class, so, most likely an art museum." He shrugged, he liked art, he just didn't like art museums. He had several offers for some of his works to be placed in one, but he always turned them down, he liked keeping his art, it was his after all.
Nny knew Squee's opinion on art museums all too well, he shrugged, "You don't have to go Squeegee. They aren't forcing you," he looked up at Squee sharply, "Are they?"
"No...But I kinda feel I have to, you know." Squee shrugged it off; he didn't want Nny doing anything, ah, drastic, "Anyways, I heard they were giving out free Cherry Fizz-Whizzes at the end of the tour. I'll to bring you back one if I can."
At that moment the door opened again, revealing a bedraggled Devi and sugar-high Tenna, "Helloooo everybody!" Squeek! "Guess what! We got take out from Eat Or Die!" Tenna let out a high pitched half squeal, half laugh. Squeek! "Isn't that great? Ohhh! Hellooooo Nny! Helloooo Squeeeeeee!" She giggled, well, shrieked was more like it, and raced outside for no apparent reason squeaking Spooky, yelling about the Moose.
Devi shook her head watching her friend's fleeting back, "I really wonder about her...I truly do," she turned back to Nny and Squee, managing a weak sort of smile, "Well, as she said, we got takeout from Eat Or Die, as Tenna said," she lifted up a bag to show the food. Those strangely bright green eyes looked from one to the other, almost daring them to say they weren't hungry.
Squee remembered his half-eaten bowl of skeetios, but a dinner with them all together as a 'family' was too good a chance to pass up, he grinned, "Yeah...I'll be here for dinner tonight, Devi." He looked over to Nny, hoping his 'father' would be a dinner as well. Nny nodded, saying that of course he would be there. Nny also knew these dinners were rare.
"Yeah, I'll be there, just, what time will we be eating, and uh, is she going to be there?" By she, Nny of course meant Tenna. When Tenna ate with them, it usually ended with Devi having to take a drive to burn off stress, Nny going out to do God-Knows-What and Squee fleeing into his room, making up some excuse about a nonexistent homework assignment. That was one trait the 'family' seemed to share, getting annoyed by Tenna.
"Dinner is going to be at...Let's see here, what time do most family eat at? Seven, of course," she said, answering her own question, "So, we'll be eating at Seven-ish tonight. And about Tenna...It depends if she brings herself home in time. If she's any later than seven-thirty, I'm locking her out." She shrugged; it wouldn't have been the first time they had eaten dinner with Tenna scratching at the door, howling like a wounded dog, with Spooky helping with those ever-annoying squeaks, to be let in before.
Squee nodded, and made his way for the door, "Well, I got some unfinished business to attend to! Bye!" He waved to the two, and raced out. By 'unfinished business', he of course meant those jocks that were chasing him earlier that day. He had to deal with them.
Nny carefully watched Squee dash out, his eyes staring as hard as they could as he watched the boy run off. His brow creased, the boy was getting more and more like him each day. Nny sighed, he had wanted Squee to lead a normal life and have friends. But from what it looked like, Squee was just like him in high school, a friendless outcast. Devi seemed to know exactly what was on Nny's mind, and in her own mind she agreed. Neither of them wanted Squee to turn into Nny. She sighed, and gazed at Nny,
"His birthday's coming up, you know. What do you think we wants?" But she and Nny both knew what Squee wanted a knife. A knife just like the ones Nny had. Squee said so himself.
"Come on Devi, we already know," he sighed, "There's no point on trying to pretend it isn't happening, his school life is just as miserable as ours was, and you and I both know it." He slouched a bit, and scowled down at the ground, recalling his own high school days.
She heaved a sigh, "Yeah, but I wish, I wish he had at least one friend. Even if it was a friend like Tenna," she set the bags down at last, and straightened, "Well, I better get this stuff into the house and get the table ready if we're going to eat like a normal family tonight, want to come Nny?"
He simply nodded, and walked over to her, picking up the bags. He and Devi both exited together.
Mawha, I haven't written for awhile, I know. But I really didn't have anything I wanted to write about. This one just kinda 'came to me' and has been screaming at me to write. It's kinda a sequel to my first fic, "A Happy Birthday". The beginning takes place waaaaay before "A Happy Birthday", when Squee's parents send him to a mental hospital. Yes, it's a bit ooc, and yes, this is one of those 'Squee's all Grown-up' stories. Squee's turning seventeen, MAWHAHAHA!
Discliamer: All JtHM Characters belong to the great and all-powerful Jhonen Vasquez. Worship him NOW! And any other non-JtHM charas belong to me. Nyah.
Chapter One
By: Reki-Chan
Then
A small, short figure tiptoed down the shadowy and spooky halls of the institute. It kept to the shadows, unless forced into the light. It stepped into the light for a split second, revealing a young boy, maybe nine, ten years of age; with neatly cut locks of short black back pasted down onto his head. In his arms he clutched a demented teddy bear, his eyes wide with fear.
"Shh, Shmee, they might hear you...No, I'm not burning the place down! There are other people here...No, they aren't all bad. Yeah, the doctors are bad...but—What was that?!" He spun around quickly to see a small girl with wide eyes, red hair, glasses, an over-sized backpack and pigtails. At his school she would be considered a 'nerd'.
The girl stared evenly at him she tilted her head. She couldn't have been more than eight maybe nine years old. She pointed at something behind him, never once uttering a word. The boy turned around to see the faintly glowing green words of "Exit", the only way out. She stepped forward slowly, and gingerly grabbed his arm, and started for the exit.
"Hey! Let me go! Let go!" He tried to pull free, but the girl's grip was firm and true. She wasn't letting go anytime soon it seemed, so he gave up and let her half-drag him along. He thought as the strange one dragged him, this girl had never once uttered a word, and her ghostly silence was scaring him. Maybe she was a ghost! At last the girl stopped at the exit, and he looked up at it hopefully.
There was a lock on the door.
His hopes were crushed; he sighed and shook his head. It was useless; there was no escape from that institute. He looked over to that girl, and found her to be searching in her pack, she then pulled out a strange looking object. A sickle.
"What are you going to do with that?" He said nervously, staring at the glinting weapon, questions racing through his mind. Why did such a young girl have a weapon of this sort? Maybe she was in this place for a reason! She looked at him, and for the first time she showed some expression, a strange smile crept onto her face. She brought that shiny sickle up to the lock, and stuck the point into the lock. She began twisting it about, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth in concentration, until she heard that click. The door was unlocked. He stared in amazement at it, "Wow..." He blinked, and then looked to the girl, and introduced himself, "I'm...Todd Casil, but you can call me Squee..." He blinked, that sounded almost just like the Scary Neighbor Man's introduction, he cringed inwardly. That didn't seem to good of a sign.
The girl spoke for the first time, her voice stumbling over the words a bit as if she hadn't spoken for a long time, "I don't have a name...But you can call me L. I like the letter L. It's a nice letter. But I have to go now D-Kun and G-Kun are waiting for me. Buh-bye now!" She pushed open the doors, and trotted out, slowly fading into the background.
Squee stood there watching her fade away, and he thought the next- door neighbor man was crazy. He looked down at Shmee, "Yeah...I know Shmee. See we did it without burning it down Shmee. Of course they'll be happy to have me back. Hee hee." And he exited the institute.
~*~
Now
A tall and lanky young boy raced down the sidewalk, followed by several boys. He seemed to be fleeing from them, but it didn't seem to bother him much. He raced closer towards a house, pushing himself forward with an extra burst of energy, and stood at the doorsteps. He turned and stared at the other boys, grinning at them as they gasped for breath. He entered the house, house 776.
"I'm home!" He called, and walked into the kitchen. He opened up the refrigerator and searched for something to eat, he found a ready-made bowl of skeetios. He grinned, and took it out. He searched about for a fork, finding one he raced up the stairs to his room. He sat down at his desk, finding a note on it reading:
Squeegee-
Devi has gone to take Tenna to pick-up some food. I'll be over at my house if you need me.
Nny
Squee smiled, it had been almost six...almost seven years since that fateful night when Nny and Devi became his parents. And although they had a strange family arrangement, it was obvious they all cared for each other. He took a bite of the cold food, and chewed thoughtfully. He blinked, and turned around and looked at the toy on his bed, "Don't worry Shmee...I won't let those kids at school hurt me. I never do." He grinned at the old, aged teddy bear.
He looked out the window and at the house next-door, he looked over at the teddy again, and grinned, "What do you say we drop by Nny's house, Shmee? Heh, yeah, okay Shmee. I'll leave you here." He opened the window, and climbed out of it, and landed neatly on the ground. He would have used to old basement entrance, but over time it had eroded over time so that it had caved in. He went up to the front door, and let himself in, he knew Nny wouldn't mind.
"Nny!" He called, and heard a rustling noise, he turned quickly to it to find the overly skinny frame of Nny, "Hey Nny...I needed you to sign something for school," he thrust his hand into pockets, and searched around for something. Ah ha! He pulled out a wadded up piece of paper, "Sorry it's a bit, uh, wrinkled. It a permission slip for me to go on the class field trip."
Nny took the paper, and smoothed it out, "Where are you going for the trip?" He questioned as he scribbled down on the paper Mr. C., he told Squee he wouldn't ever lie about his name. Lucky their last names both ended in 'C'. He handed the paper back.
"Oh it something stupid, I think we're going to some museum..." He said, taking the paper, and stuffing it back into one of his many pockets.
"What kind of museum?" Nny asked, leaning against the wall, he knew Squee was pretty much able to take care of himself, but he still liked knowing how Squee was doing.
"It's for art class, so, most likely an art museum." He shrugged, he liked art, he just didn't like art museums. He had several offers for some of his works to be placed in one, but he always turned them down, he liked keeping his art, it was his after all.
Nny knew Squee's opinion on art museums all too well, he shrugged, "You don't have to go Squeegee. They aren't forcing you," he looked up at Squee sharply, "Are they?"
"No...But I kinda feel I have to, you know." Squee shrugged it off; he didn't want Nny doing anything, ah, drastic, "Anyways, I heard they were giving out free Cherry Fizz-Whizzes at the end of the tour. I'll to bring you back one if I can."
At that moment the door opened again, revealing a bedraggled Devi and sugar-high Tenna, "Helloooo everybody!" Squeek! "Guess what! We got take out from Eat Or Die!" Tenna let out a high pitched half squeal, half laugh. Squeek! "Isn't that great? Ohhh! Hellooooo Nny! Helloooo Squeeeeeee!" She giggled, well, shrieked was more like it, and raced outside for no apparent reason squeaking Spooky, yelling about the Moose.
Devi shook her head watching her friend's fleeting back, "I really wonder about her...I truly do," she turned back to Nny and Squee, managing a weak sort of smile, "Well, as she said, we got takeout from Eat Or Die, as Tenna said," she lifted up a bag to show the food. Those strangely bright green eyes looked from one to the other, almost daring them to say they weren't hungry.
Squee remembered his half-eaten bowl of skeetios, but a dinner with them all together as a 'family' was too good a chance to pass up, he grinned, "Yeah...I'll be here for dinner tonight, Devi." He looked over to Nny, hoping his 'father' would be a dinner as well. Nny nodded, saying that of course he would be there. Nny also knew these dinners were rare.
"Yeah, I'll be there, just, what time will we be eating, and uh, is she going to be there?" By she, Nny of course meant Tenna. When Tenna ate with them, it usually ended with Devi having to take a drive to burn off stress, Nny going out to do God-Knows-What and Squee fleeing into his room, making up some excuse about a nonexistent homework assignment. That was one trait the 'family' seemed to share, getting annoyed by Tenna.
"Dinner is going to be at...Let's see here, what time do most family eat at? Seven, of course," she said, answering her own question, "So, we'll be eating at Seven-ish tonight. And about Tenna...It depends if she brings herself home in time. If she's any later than seven-thirty, I'm locking her out." She shrugged; it wouldn't have been the first time they had eaten dinner with Tenna scratching at the door, howling like a wounded dog, with Spooky helping with those ever-annoying squeaks, to be let in before.
Squee nodded, and made his way for the door, "Well, I got some unfinished business to attend to! Bye!" He waved to the two, and raced out. By 'unfinished business', he of course meant those jocks that were chasing him earlier that day. He had to deal with them.
Nny carefully watched Squee dash out, his eyes staring as hard as they could as he watched the boy run off. His brow creased, the boy was getting more and more like him each day. Nny sighed, he had wanted Squee to lead a normal life and have friends. But from what it looked like, Squee was just like him in high school, a friendless outcast. Devi seemed to know exactly what was on Nny's mind, and in her own mind she agreed. Neither of them wanted Squee to turn into Nny. She sighed, and gazed at Nny,
"His birthday's coming up, you know. What do you think we wants?" But she and Nny both knew what Squee wanted a knife. A knife just like the ones Nny had. Squee said so himself.
"Come on Devi, we already know," he sighed, "There's no point on trying to pretend it isn't happening, his school life is just as miserable as ours was, and you and I both know it." He slouched a bit, and scowled down at the ground, recalling his own high school days.
She heaved a sigh, "Yeah, but I wish, I wish he had at least one friend. Even if it was a friend like Tenna," she set the bags down at last, and straightened, "Well, I better get this stuff into the house and get the table ready if we're going to eat like a normal family tonight, want to come Nny?"
He simply nodded, and walked over to her, picking up the bags. He and Devi both exited together.
Mawha, I haven't written for awhile, I know. But I really didn't have anything I wanted to write about. This one just kinda 'came to me' and has been screaming at me to write. It's kinda a sequel to my first fic, "A Happy Birthday". The beginning takes place waaaaay before "A Happy Birthday", when Squee's parents send him to a mental hospital. Yes, it's a bit ooc, and yes, this is one of those 'Squee's all Grown-up' stories. Squee's turning seventeen, MAWHAHAHA!
Discliamer: All JtHM Characters belong to the great and all-powerful Jhonen Vasquez. Worship him NOW! And any other non-JtHM charas belong to me. Nyah.
