The Scary Man Next Door
by Kawaii Kitty
Well, I got my glass of water from the kitchen and now it's time to crawl into bed, I think it's about... 12:30. Mommy taught me how to tell time because I had eyes, and having eyes meant I could read the clock. The time never really mattered to me, it was more of a matter of getting to sleep before the scary man from next door could come back home with someone. That's when the noises started. Usually, when he came back, it was about fifteen minutes before there was the horrible screaming and the yelling. This yelling wasn't the type of yelling that mommy and daddy did, this was angry yelling about stuff I didn't understand.
What I caught of it was usually stuff like, "Why the fuck do you scream when you can't feel anything?!" and "You pretend to understand me but you don't! How could you understand what's not a reflection?!" Mr. Neighbor-man was crazy. He had been since we moved in next door to him in house 775 and probably long before that, too. Mommy and Daddy didn't believe me when I said that there was something in the house the night after we moved in. Daddy said to go to sleep, but I couldn't, not knowing that they coulda been hurt. What I found was a skinny blood-covered man yelling angry things at the medicine cabinet. He broke my window so he could get in and out. He used it every now and again to come in for medicine, bug poison, or milk.
Everything was fine when he used my window, at least then I knew when he came and went, and he offered a word when he passed through my room, but when he started using an.. Underground passage things got scarier. He started coming over more and making noise when I didn't expect it, and he never talked to me anymore. Even though he was scary, I liked to be acknowledged.
Mommy and Daddy never liked talking to me and avoided me at all costs if they could. I remember one time when Mommy took me to the mall with her; she went to look for half of a sock and never came back. Before she left, Mommy said that the half of a sock was more important than I was. I still don't know what she meant by that, but I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it.
Mr. Neighbor-man says that my parents are mean and don't love me. I know that can't be true. They say they love me all the time, just like they love being rubbed between the legs with angry porcupines. My mommy and daddy love me lots, they're just… shy, that's all. Daddy says things to me like he's got to work more now that I'm around. He must like work a lot, because he does it all the time. After all, work makes money, and Mommy gets money from Daddy. And when Mommy gets money from Daddy, Mommy gets her happy drink and goes to sleep. Mommy likes sleep. One time, she didn't wake up for two and a half days. She had a lot of happy drink before she went to sleep that time.
Mommy and Daddy aren't always so smart. I remember one time when they thought I was crazy and they sent me to the crazy place. I guess I wasn't surprised to see Mr. Neighbor-man there. He was nice and said goodbye to me when he left. Surprisingly, the time that I was there, he was my visitor each and every day. It made me feel special, even if all that attention was coming from someone who had people screaming at his house every night. Mr. Neighbor-man is scary, but he's the nicest person I've ever met. Well, next to Pepito, a boy in my class. He actually had conversations with me. Usually about the damned and the End Days, but they were conversations all the same.
I guess I've been lonely these past few weeks since the scary neighbor man has been away… But it's okay, Shmee, I'm not worried. Although… I kinda wish he would come and talk to me… I really could use the companionship. Huh? Yeah! You're my best friend, Shmee…No one could ever replace you… even though the neighbor man doesn't tell me to set people on fire or gouge out daddy's eyes and put them in mommy's happy drink.
Oh no, Shmee… what was that…? S-sounded like a scratching or something…sounds like it was coming from the kitchen… SQUEE!!! What was that?! Something fell over, Shmee! I… I'm scared… but… It might be the neighbor man! But… it might also be daddy… and from the sound of that...noise, he would be in a very grumpy mood when he found me out there… Ack! Get it together, Todd! You're a kindergartener! You're a big boy! You can do this! We gotta do this for Mommy and Daddy, Shmee… Mommy and Daddy are depending on us to protect them from whatever's out there… I hope it's not the aliens again… AHHH! What was that? Did something break…? Maybe the bedbugs are retaliating… I… I hope not…
Wow… this hallway sure is cold, Shmee… and these floorboards are really creaky. Hope we don't scare away whatever's there… I wanna beat it away like a big boy would… okay… gotta lower the breath… quiet down… and peek around the corner…
squee!!!!!!!!!
A/N: my second JTHM fic. I have to say, I'm proud of this piece. I like Todd a lot. I actually did this fic for a person who left me a REALLY nice review for my last Johnny fic. I would like to humbly dedicate this fanfiction to the reviewer known as Red Cinnamon. Read Red's fics! They're good! See what happens when you leave me a review I can feel proud of myself for? If the review is something I almost cry in joy from reading, there's a very good chance that I'm going to write you a fanfiction out of the blue for no apparent reason other than to say THANK YOU!!!