JTHM: An Averse Pawn

by Invader Vex

I am sick of this house, I have my own will. no one can tell me what to do anymore... Now johnny, with the Help of Mr.Eff, Devi, and Squee must rise against the evil Moose and the psycho doughboy!

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac

An Averse Pawn

JTHM and all characters are © Jhonen Vasquez

----Chapter one----

Johnny fingered the cord, wrapping it around his thin fingers, listening to the phone ring. He waited patiently, maybe this time she would answer. He paced about winding the black cord through his fingers. The phone picked up. "Hello?" Devi's voice washed over him like a prayer. "Umm.. Hi it's.. Johnny." He winced, waiting for her to scream or slam the phone down, but she didn't. "Oh. Hi." She sounded unsure. Johnny was at a loss for word's he hadn't expected to get this far. Words were jumbled up in his mind and clogging his throat. "I-I just… want to apologize.." he was stuttering, and couldn't help it. He felt glaring eyes upon him. He looked up to the couch in the living room. The Psycho Doughboy was utterly still, his mouth open in a mocking smile, his face paralyzed in a evil laugh, but Johnny could tell he was not please. He gulped and looked away. "Really? How many times have you tried Johnny? Do you think just a 'sorry' will make it better?" Her voice was cold and hurt, it sliced through him. "I-I wish I could explain… but.. No one believes me.. No one understands me!! I've tried to tell you… The doll… he made me do it.." he felt rage bubble inside him at the Styrofoam man that sat just a few feet away. "Yes, we all know you take to inanimate objects Johnny. But that story isn't going to-" the phone went dead. "Devi? Devi!" He looked at the phone as if it would bite him. The cord hung in his hands limply, the jack swinging in the air. He turned to the jack in the wall. The Psycho Doughboy stood there, his eyes sour as they glared at Johnny. "Bad Johnny!! You needn't speak to that girl! The one who ruined your perfect moment, the One Who Got Away!! She has tainted your record, she must be punished!" Johnny was trembling. "You... You…" He stomped over to the Doughboy, seeing fear in the doll's eyes. "She.. Actually ANSWERED!! I was so close, I could have convinced her!! You, you're just out to ruin my life, aren't you!?" he screamed, throwing the phone at the doll, who moved surprisingly quickly and dodged. "I am doing what is best for YOU Johnny!! It is better if you forget her!!" Mr. Eff had heard the commotion and came upstairs. "No Johnny, he doesn't care about you!! He just wants you to-"Mr. Eff stopped himself for a moment then continued. "You must go see her Johnny!! Go and apologize to her face!! You need someone like her-" Doughboy interrupted. "To ruin his life any more than it is? She only wants to hurt you Johnny!! Like she did that night!! You were only trying to immortalize the moment, ad she ruined it!" Johnny looked from Mr. Eff to the Doughboy. There words were muffled by this own thoughts as they continued to argue. He tried to block them out, but their words seemed to pierce through his very mind. "SHE IS AN UNDESERVING BITCH!!" "NO, DON'T LISTEN!! RUN TO HER JOHNNY!!" He grabbed what little hair he had left and pulled. "SHE HURT YOU, PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY!!" "YOU ATTACKED HER!! SHE HAD GOOD REASON, GO TO HER!!" "SHE HAS GOOD REASON TO DIE!! KILL YOUSELF WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE!!" "NO!!" "YES!" "NO! "YES!!!" The doughboy screamed, cackling and clapping his hands. Johnny clawed at his heads, their words echoing in his brain. "Shut up.." he muttered, but they couldn't hear. Their yells had joined along with Nail bunny's from below, who sided with Mr. Eff. Nny had lost track of the conversation, clawing at his scalp, his head aching, his brain throbbing. What should he do? He LOVED Devi, she was probably the only person he loved, but Doughboy had a point. She had hurt him in more was than one. Why couldn't they just let him decide? He realized the meaning of those words. Why did he have to listen to them? He was his own man, he didn't need to take orders from any of them. He didn't need them to carve his destiny for him. "SHUT UP NOW!!" They stopped at the ferocity of this tone, frowning at him with curios looks. "I.. Don't need you. I'm going to do what I want. " They didn't seem to understand. "I want you two, to stay out of my life! I will not take orders from any of you anymore! No, never again! I have a will, and I WILL follow it!!!" The two were unnaturally still. The house creaked loudly. An unnerving silence filled the air, and they stared at him. Nny shivered, and turned to the door. "NO!"He froze. An evil hiss erupted from behind him, and the house trembling slightly. He whirled around, grabbing a dagger off the table nearest him. Mr. Eff had taken a few steps back, but his counter part was glaring and snarling. Nny's eyes widened, he was moving, so life-like. His hands were at his sides, trembling. "You have no will Johnny!! The will of us, the will of the house, is YOUR will! You cannot escape this destiny you puny mortal!! You cannot run, you cannot hide. If you do, we will find you, and drag your screaming body to the depths of the house. The Master will devour you! My lord would be pleased to have a live body to feed from instead of the blood from the walls!!" Mr. Eff was panicking. "No! No, Johnny, run while you still can, leave this place forever!!" He cried, waddling hurriedly over to him. Johnny felt the floorboards vibrate below his feet, as if angry. "No! He must stay!! Don't you see Eff? If he leaves, The Master will be angry!! And at whom? US!! He will take back the life he gave to us!!" Johnny's head was spinning. He didn't understand. What were they talking about? Master? Lord? He had always felt as if a cold hand was commanding him to paint the walls. He knew he must 'feed' the house, but it had never occurred to him why. A monster was living in his basement!? A bloodthirsty creature that could give life to inanimate objects? "RUN JOHNNY!! IT'S COMING!!" Mr. Eff sobbed, turning to the basement door. A terrible roar came up from under Johnny's feet. The boards were shaking so badly that the nails were coming out of their holes. The door was vibrated feverishly on its hinges. Johnny was afraid. Terribly afraid, for once in his life. That this was after him, he knew, he could feel it in his veins as if from some sick connection between them. The Psycho Doughboy was laughing, bouncing around and clapping his hands. "Yes, come and get the traitor and the boy My Lord!! Feed from their life, take it for your own!! AHAHAHAHAHA!!" Mr. Eff shouted something over the noise. He didn't need to ask what he said. He scrambling for the door and a giant tentacle crashed up from beneath the wood. And ear-piercing scream stung his ears. He could hear Doughboy laughing crazily as more sickening black tentacles blew through the floor. He threw open the door and ran onto the sidewalk. The sickly slime-covered arms crashed through the door, chasing after him. He was almost to the road, where cars whizzed past. He should have gotten his car, and made a run for it. He tripped on a large rock onto the highway. A car blasted its horn and swerved into the other lane and crashed into an 18-wheeler. Nny looked back at the house readying himself to be smashed, but all was calm. The door stood on its frame, unscathed, the tentacles gone. He felt his heart pounding in his throat. He couldn't go back. He knew the second he touched the lawn, it would come. It couldn't go past the boundary of his land. He had to go to Devi's now. "JOHNNY!! PLEASE!! HELP ME!!" He turned. Mr. Eff was wobbling out of the house, a black three-fingered hand rose up from the unhurt floorboards, an eye in it's palm. "I WANT TO HELP!! PLEASE!!" Mr. Eff stumbled down the three steps and waddled as fast as he could towards Nny. The hand wiggled it's fingers, the eye glaring at the traitor. "YOU CANNOT RUN!!! AHAHAHA!!" He heard the Doughboy shout. Nny, without really realizing, sprinted across the lawn to the Styrofoam doll, and scooped him up in his arms. The hand roared and lunged forward. Mr. Eff screamed and Johnny scrambled backwards, the hand slamming on the ground In front of them. The hand roared as it's slimy black fingers grasped nothing. Satan had warned him. The Wall Monster was angry at having two of it's Puppets leave. He scrambled into the wall and turned. The hand reluctantly receded into the house, and into the floor. "What.. was..?" Johnny was panting, his heart fluttering like a bird inside his ribs. "That is what d-boy calls his 'Lord.' I used to call him that, but I, unlike my counterpart, discovered free will. I am no longer tied to that beast!" Mr. Eff, who had been moving quite lively, suddenly became more rigid. "But, soon my life will be gone. Without the life from the Monster, I will soon cease to be able to move or speak." Mr. Eff sighed. Johnny frowned. "I wish there was something I could do for you.." Mr. Eff was grim, his smile now a thin line. "As long As I am in the Monster's territory, he has to give life to me. To stop the flow, he has to 'kill' me. Basically, it has to kill both I and D-boy before it will cease." Johnny looked at his neighbor's house and smiled. "I think I have a way."

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Johnny trotted over to Squee's house and threw Mr. Eff into his window. He heard Squee scream. "SQUEE!! It's Johnny!!" He felt the earth tremble. The thing knew it's prey was close. He hoped his idea would work. Squee's frightened head appeared in the window. "I need to get into your basement!!" Squee nodded faintly, remembering the secret passage below. But if his murderous neighbor needed to get in his house, why didn't he just walk over there? As Johnny began shimmying up the drain pipe, he watched Nny's house. He stared at a curtained window, as if drawn by it. A white hand appeared and pulled back the curtain, revealing a hypnotic eye. Squee squeaked and with drawled back into his room as Nny scrambled into his room. "Thanks Todd, you're a lifesaver." Johnny picked up Mr. Eff out of a pool of broken glass and ran down the hall. A little smile played on Squee's lips. He'd called him Todd, He'd actually called him by his real name. Johnny scrambled down the steps, anxiety numbing his fingers as he grasped the piece of Styrofoam. "T-thank you Johnny! Foody-doo thank you!!" Mr. eff sniffled. Johnny did not reply as he ran down the steps to Squee's basement.