[Author's Note]

This fic will fluctuate from my O.C.'s point of view to Johnny's. I will be as clear as I can as to which one is taking the spotlight. I did alter the original storyline a bit. I AM aware. So please don't harass me about the wall, Mr. Samsa, going numb, none of that.

Thank you for your support. Thank you for reading. Leave reviews and advice :)

Chapter One

God, they scream so much...Always screaming, but never anything intelligible.

Johnny sat on the first step leading down into the basement and forlornly wiped his dagger clean. It had always intrigued and, at the same time, annoyed him that they were capable of such a feat. Blathering on like they do, but nothing coming out. Always having something to say and nothing but a jumbled cacophonous noise escaping thier worthless face holes.

"Oh, Johnny, there you go being melodramatic. You should go out tonight. Get away for a bit. Don't you think that would be nice?"

Johnny stared hard at the floating rabbit's head that had seemingly appeared at his side out of nowhere.

"Always the voice of reason aren't you?" Johnny scoffed at the disembodied figure.

Nail-Bunny did have a point. It was a clear, warm night. It was a night that would be wasted sitting indoors, surrounded by them. At length, he finally stood and walked away from the stairs, his footsteps drowning out the dreary silence of his house. He slammed the front door behind himself, leaving only the roaches and the poor souls trapped in its cavernous depths inhabiting the stagnant building.

Zoey brushed a strand of blue-black hair that had fallen into her pale, silver eyes. She continued to concentrate on her book as the shop's bell sounded, signaling a customer.

"Welcome to Head Noise, feel free to get my attention if you need anything," she recited in a monotone voice.

Two heavyset football guys and two ditzy girls, blonde and brunette sniggered at her, making comments about her "lame welcome" and began perusing the small music store.

"Hey, Brad check this out," said one of the girls, giggling. She had entered the classical section and had a cassette in her hand, the black tape pulled out in a long string. The one called Brad chuckled and caught it as the girl tossed it at him.

"Man, i haven't seen a cassette tape in ages!" He laughed.

At this, the other two wandered over as well, each grabbing cassettes and prying open thier cases, laughing. This wasn't unusual for Zoey. College students frequently came into the shop to buy cd's and often made snide comments about either her, or the cassettes. Damaging property was just a bit too far, however.

"Excuse me, but you are damaging merchandise.I'm going to have to ask you to pay for those," Zoey said angrily, coming out from behind the counter and snatching the tapes from the four of them.

The blonde girl of the group, seemingly 'head bitch', swiped one of the tapes back from her, and shoved her.

"Excuse me, I was looking at that!" She retorted, glaring at Zoey.

Zoey stumbled into a shelf just as the bell from the front door chimed. She couldn't exactly welcome the customer this time. She straightened herself up and stood firmly in front of the four assholes.

"Fine, don't pay for it but you all need to leave. You've done enough damage, and I happen to like the tape you just destroyed," Zoey shot back.

"I liiiiike it" the girl mimicked,in a whiny voice. "C'mon guys lets go somewhere cool" she added , shoving past Zoey.

The four all followed suit, knocking cassettes onto the floor as they went, and laughing. The bell chimed and the store grew quiet again. Zoey breathed a sigh of relief and knelt down, picking the tapes up to put back. She stood back up, tapes in her arms, and turned. To her surprise, there was a young man standing at the end of the aisle, staring at the shelf, minding his own business. He looked very tall, very thin, and very tired. Zoey wasn't the staring type, as it was very rude, but this guy's appearance held her captive. He dressed almost as she did, with jet black hair falling haphazardly into his eyes. Zoey then realized he had shifted his dark eyes to stare back at her without moving an inch.

Oh shit I'm standing here gawking at him!

"Um, sorry, If you need anything, I'd be happy to help. I forgot someone else had come in" she said hastily, but politely.

She turned back to the shelf and began putting the tapes back into their respective places, being careful to not look at him again. How embarrassing. Staring like that. Getting caught staring no less. Ugh sometimes she wondered what the hell was wrong with-

"Do you normally let people shove you around like that?" came a sullen voice behind her.

She jumped and whipped around, dropping the last tape she held on the floor at the feet of the young man who had seemingly materialized behind her. He ignored the tape, his eyes locked on hers, and she felt like he was looking into her rather than at her. It made her uneasy.

"No. No I don't, but I'm at work. Policy and stuff. I need my job..." she trailed off.

Her voice came out more shaky than she desired, becoming more and more uncomfortable with the intensity of his eyes burning into hers like that. Finally, thankfully, he dropped his gaze to the tape on the floor and knelt down, lifting it back up and flipping it over, examining it.

"This. I will buy this," he said suddenly, his eyes flicking back to hers as he held it out to her.

"Absolutely, right this way," Zoey replied, accepting the tape and turning abruptly to walk back to the counter.

She breathed in relief as she typed away at the register, trying not to make eye contact. She knew he was looking at her. She could feel it. As she finished up, she bagged the tape totaled it out.

"It comes to $2.95," she said looking up at him finally. She blinked in surprise. He was smiling, no...it was more like a smirk. Normally this would make her ask what his problem was, but his smirk was so... malicious.

He handed her three dollars, still grinning and turned away, walking off toward the door.

"Oh, I have your change!" Zoey called to his turned back.

He kept walking, waving a hand dismissively. "I will be back sometime soon, Its intrinsically worthless to me anyhow." He opened the door, causing it to chime and finally turned to face her again.

"Next time, I wont be so tolerant, so for safety, please don't let any more fucktards in here."

With that, he left, slamming the door and causing her to wince as the glass shattered all over the floor. Ugh...

She got out the broom and the dustpan and walked over, sweeping up the mess and cursing the fact that she needed her job so badly. This town was seriously fucked up.

"BY THE WAY!" A voice half shrieked at her, causing her to jump and squeal in surprise. He was back.

"We should talk more when I come back in. Maybe about Beethoven. You like Beethoven, I noticed. Sound good? GOOD!" He said very fast.

Then as quickly as he had startled her, he was gone. She held a hand to her chest, leaning on the broom with the other. God damn. This. Town. Once she saved up enough she was leaving. Yup. Had to. This place was just waaaaay to crazy for her. Too bad she didnt know just how crazy it was...

END