(All characters © of Jhonen Vasquez, and if you don't know that already, then something is wrong with your head!)
"Becoming Another"
Todd, pacing back and forth in the hall, kept thinking about what Woofles had said. 'Feed it.' Repeated itself in each thought. He thought about the bodies he had thrown in. 'Could that be how to feed it?' He thought to himself. 'More bodies?'
That's when another thought surfaced. 'How CAN I feed it?'
SHMEE changed the channel; Little Shop of Horrors was on.
"Feed me Seymour!" Todd heard come from the TV. His mind wandered again, but then decided to listen again. "Must be blood," said Audrey 2 on the TV, "must be fresh!"
Todd quickly thought of feeding the wall Rick Morranis, yet the idea evolved into art. He started to like painting from all those years in the asylum. He thought about possibly painting the wall, with blood.
"No no no no no." He shook his head, trying to rid his mind of that though. Blood had always made him sick, made him feel tired and weak. The thought of painting a wall with blood made him cringe.
He walked back down stairs, and stared at the wall. He stepped toward it for a closer inspection. Placing his ear on the wall, he listened. 'There's something moving behind it,' He thought, 'that's what's creating those cracks.'
"Exactly." Woofles' voice startled Todd. "It's restless behind that wall."
"Why are you always behind me when I'm down here?" Todd frustratingly asked him, he didn't like that kind of surprise, not in the basement rooms anyways.
"Why are you thinking of such questions when there is much more important events going on right now?"
"Like what?"
"Like what's behind that wall."
Todd turned to it again, he heard a low rumble.
"So whatever is behind that wall, is what's making that noise?" Todd asked.
Woofles never took his eyes off Todd. "And what's cracking the wall."
'Where you going, SQUEE?' Asked SHMEE. He stood up from the couch and walked over to him. Todd was putting his boots on near the door. Taking the keys from the side table (which he found earlier that day in one of the drawers) he twisted the doorknob.
'You're not telling me something!' SHMEE said, loudly.
Todd looked back, gave SHMEE no answer, and walked out the door.
The cool night air lifted his spirit, and smelled good. He remembered all those times he would sit on the roof at night, scared out of his wits, hiding from whatever was after him, yet loving how the night air felt. It felt better now, being that he was running from nothing. Just living life.
He got in the car, easily started it and drove away. He thought about it, and passed the 24-7 that he had killed that one man with the candy bar. It was just down the block.
Passing by it, he saw a new man behind the counter. He thought about getting a brainfreezy, but decided it could wait until later. He had work to do anyway.
He got out of the car, and stepped into the familiar soil. The playground was just the way he remembered it, except for a few tagged walls and vandalizations. He felt as if he was still carrying his backpack, and walking around with SHMEE's stuffing.
There were voices in the darkness by the trees that grew near one side of the school. He saw the light of either cigarettes or a lighter. Laughter started up, he knew they were smoking pot. Todd walked up towards them. Upon closer inspection, he saw there were three. He heard a few scattered mumbles, and saw them hide their paraphernalia behind their backs.
"What are you fellows up to?" He asked kindly.
One on the left cleared his throat. "Why? What is it to you?"
"Its just a simple question." He started growing impatient with the small talk.
The same one pulled up his pants a bit, "Well its none of your business, so fuck off, fool." With that, the other two giggled like mad.
Smiling, Todd pulled out the lead pipe he held behind his back, and slammed it into the face of the one who talked. He flew to the floor with a sound of surprise and pain. The others stopped laughing, the one in the middle pulled out a knife. Todd barely caught sight of the blade before he felt it cleanly cut part of his forehead. With blood gushing down, blinding his right eye, he swung at the both of them. They fell to the ground, clutching their stomachs. Todd grabbed the knife the middle one dropped, and placed it in his pocket. He then took out the rope he had in his other pocket, and tied up the first one. He then kicked the two that were on their knees, one was harder to make fall completely down.
He tied them both up, and carried each one to his car, shoving them in the backseat. He giggled as he started the car, and drove home.
"C'M ON MAN! I DIDN'T DO NUTHIN, LEAVE ME ALONE!" Screamed the one who had cut him. Todd had taken him down to the room with the wall, and placed him tied up on a large sheet of plastic he had found.
"I don't believe you were sorry for cutting my face." He grabbed a machete that hung in a collection of different sizes, from one side of the room. "Are you?"
The guy started crying.
Studying his face, Todd saw he must have been twenty. He felt disgusted. Not in himself, but in this man.
"Save your crying for something that would care." And with that, he sliced open his throat.
He dragged the body on the plastic closer to the wall. He then took a large paintbrush and started coating the wall with his blood. The shifting behind the wall had begun to cease with every brush stroke.
After fully using all the blood he could get, he realized his head hurt from the cut.
He wondered if the neighbors had anything for the pain.
