A/N: Whew! Another day of nothing but typing!
'Beep… Beep… Beep'
'What time is it?'
'It's seven o' clock, and today is…?'
'Monday… Monday…! Monday…! Monday…!'
Fanboy woke up with a start in a cold sweat really, eyes blinking rapidly with dismounting fear. He sat up quickly, clutching the blankets tightly as he brought them to his chest in fear. "Huh? WHO DIED?"
He sat there, breathing heavily for a few moments, clutching the blankets until the beating rhythm of his heart slowed.
With a sigh he rubbed the sides of his temples as the drone of the alarm clocks filled his ears….and something else.
...What that someone laughing? He glanced looking up, a shimmering shimmer in the midst of his sight. He blinked, and then it was gone. P-Perhaps it was just because of his fuzzy vision from just awakening. But still…he looked again in silence, ears trying to pick up what he had heard. Something watched from afar, or perhaps it was close, who would know? Certainly not Fanboy, who was still too young to truly understand what Something was. Whatever it was, it was with Fanboy at all times.
"Chum Chum!" Fanboy announced, yawning as he did so, "Turn off your…?" Fanboy turned his gaze from the clocks and stared at Chum Chum's empty bed. "Chum Chum…? Hold on… D-Did that…?" His eyes widened, and his hear started to pound as the memories came flooding back, all at once. "D-Did all of that actually happen…?" Fanboy stuttered to himself, mainly thinking out loud. He stared at Chum Chum's empty bed, as tears began to well up in his eyes. Then he noticed something on his bedside table, in between the beeping clocks. His mask. "Oh, my, gosh… Did it really…?" Fanboy gasped and covered his mouth at the horrifying thought.
"Oh. No. Chum Chum…" Fanboy gasped, and then trailed off as the tears slid down his cheeks. He gripped his golden brown hair, biting his bottom lip as he did so, struggling against the urge to start crying out loud. He fell backwards onto the pillow, the clocks beeps getting louder and louder as Fanboy covered his unmasked face with his arms.
"Oh, NO!"
'Come on!' Fanboy's clock beeped.
'Yeah,' Chum Chum's clock chimed in. 'You're going to be late! You're going to be late! You're going to be late!' The devices chanted.
Fanboy glared at the devices through his crying in annoyance. "Oh, be QUIET!" He growled, and he began to shake. Ugh, why did he buy those dumb things anyway? They wouldn't amount to anything. They were nothing but nuisances.
The super-fan slammed his fists down on the alarm clocks, turning them off quickly, and settled down back under the covers, curling up into a ball. He tensed up, as more tears streamed down his newly unmasked face. For some reason, and angry feeling invaded his mind. For some reason, he wanted to punch someone. Hard.
But he fought the feeling and sentenced himself to bed. For a few hours Fanboy didn't even bother getting up out of bed; or falling back to sleep for that matter. He just lay awake, staring at the empty bed across from him, the images of the accident swirling around his mind, literally flashing before his eyes.
Every time he thought about the horrible accident he would cringe, gripping the blankets tighter in anxiety as every horrible detail filled his vision, from the deep gash in Chum Chum's skull to Yo literally strangling him, was in vivid depiction.
Fanboy whined noisily as he lay curled up under the bundle of blankets, sniffing as tears gushed from his eyes. He tried to think of anything-ANYTHING but that horrible scene. "Just leave me alone…" He whispered as the memories came to him one by one.
Something laughed in amusement. "Fat chance!" It cackled in a suspiciously high-pitched voice that sounded much like his own.
The superhero wannabe jolted at the voice and sat up, blinking. "H-Hello?" He called out. Who was that? He could hear that voice, crystal clear! He shook his head. "J-Just my imagination," he thought miserably.
As if on cue, the mysterious child that had made a fleeting disappearance at the accident while Oz was soothing him, appeared right before his eyes.
"Of course it's your imagination!" The boy in purple scoffed, propping himself against the foot of the bed, staring at the other male with dead emerald eyes.
Fanboy gasped. Oh...it was his imagination! He could tell that if anyone was anywhere near him. they would be unable to witness this monstrosity, but he could hear it as if it were right in front of his face. No wonder nobody saw the child at the accident but him.
Of course, the presence of the child was unsettling by far. "Please…" he begged. "I don't deserve this…"
"Oh, yes you do!" The voice emitting from the child's lips sounded strikingly like his own, but in a strange, mocking tone.
"I don't! I don't deserve this!" He cried, all of sudden picturing the horrible image of the corpse that was his best friend, "Just get out of my head get out my head!"
"No way," the child snickered, resting his chin on the mahogany foot of the bed. "It isn't my decision."
Realizing that this was a force he could not physically escape, he mentally panicked. "Please, get out of my head!" he begged, clutching his hair, pupils dilating in fear.
The child's lip curled and he shunted into the air, disappearing from Fanboy's sight. However, as soon as it left, memories of the accident replaced it. And those didn't leave at all.
The memories were still fresh in the boy's mind. The memory of seeing his reflection in the orange colored car, the sharp thud of Chum Chum getting smashed… It replayed in Fanboy's mind over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over…
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Fanboy yelled out suddenly. Fear and sadness turned to anger and fury as Fanboy began beating his temples with his fists. "Get out get out get out get out get out get out GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" Every pound left bruises in his flesh as the self-beating continued, "GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"
'Knock, knock.'
Fanboy paused, his aching head spinning, his vision blurry. "G-Go away," He called down to the unknown person. He covered himself with the blankets, head throbbing from the self-abuse.
'Knock, knock.'
An surge of rage rose in his chest, and he chucked the pillow at the downstairs door. "I SAID, GO AWAY!" He yelled, now uncharacteristically fuming angry with the unknown intruder.
'KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!'
That did it.
With a groan, Fanboy wiped away his tears, threw the covers off his body, and stomped down the makeshift stairs to the large, yellow door. He threw it open, ready to tell this person off. "What do you want?!" He yelled, surprising himself with the sharp volume of his own voice, and stopped abruptly, for he was instantly face to face with Yo.
Anger was replaced with confusion and slight intimidation. He gasped in astonishment. There were a few seconds of an uncomfortable silence as the two children stared at each other.
"…Hi Fanboy," Yo said in a slightly low voice. Fanboy tensed up and shut his eyes. He certainly wasn't prepared for any attacks he might receive. A few seconds passed and he cracked open one eye. She hadn't killed him yet; now THAT was a shocker.
Yo's arms were clenched at her sides, and appeared to be shaking, as if she was trying to restrain herself from doing something dreadful. Her face was red and tear painted, from all the crying. Her clothes were smudged and dirty. Her hair was a mess, sticking out in all directions. All in all, she looked like Fanboy himself: a heap of pitiful sadness.
"Oh great, it's the obsessed freak. Kick her out." Fanboy smacked the side if his temple. What was that imaginary person all about? Why was it so cruel?
"W-What do you want?" Fanboy asked, still fearful of her after what she had done to him during the accident. He took a cautious step back.
Yo forced her eyes to stare up at Fanboy, and blinked, not at all used to seeing him without his mask. The girl bit her lip, noticing that most of his neon green attire was stained with dried blood from his injured cheek. She gazed into his emerald eyes for a moment and held up a hand before speaking. "Wait. I… I want to apologize."
"You're a little late for that, idiot." He shook his head, trying to clear his mind while trying to process Yo's words.
He was slightly taken aback at Yo's remorseful action, "A-Apologize? Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I want to apologize. I know I should, so here it is," Yo sighed before clearing her throat. "I'm really sorry I hurt you. I shouldn't have even tried. It… It wasn't your fault Chum Chum…"died"," she said, making air quotes much to his confusion, "and I was stupid to think so. So yeah, I'm sorry for what I did. It was wrong and it will never happen again." Her voice was monotonous.
"O-Oh… Well, thank you for that…" Fanboy thanked the girl, surprised that she had bothered to show her feelings of regret towards him in the first place.
"Pfft. Sorry? After you told him that Chum Chum should go away? Liar!"
"Did you really mean what you said?" Fanboy asked quickly. Yo's eyes widened a tad.
"Um… What do you mean?" She asked slowly.
Fanboy gave her a blank stare, "I'm talking about when you said to Kyle, that you wished Chum Chum was gone," Fanboy said it so calmly, so sullenly, that Yo almost thought he was kidding with her. After a few seconds of processing Fanboy's words, she tried to deny it.
"W-What? N-No! I never said that; not at all!" Yo said quickly, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.
Fanboy sighed and kicked the wooden floor lightly before speaking, "Yo, I heard you say it. Everyone heard you say it, because you were very loud."
"Fanboy, I never said that!" Yo contradicted. If there were an Olympic for the 'Worst Acting Performances', Yo would have definitely brought home the gold, "Really! I swear…!"
"She's lying." For once, the voice was right.
"You're lying," Fanboy stated.
"…Excuse me?"
Fanboy cast his eyes downward and explained, "You're eyes get bigger when you lie."
Tears sprung to Yo's eyes and she sniffed.
"S-So did you really mean what you said?" Fanboy repeated. His voice trembled a bit. "I-I thought you lovedhim!"
Yo's eyes casted downward and she pretended to examine the wood patterns. "Yo…" The Asian girl felt Fanboy's gloved hand on her chin as he lifted her head up, so their eyes could meet.
"Would you really want Chum Chum to d-die?" He swallowed hard. "I thought you loved him."
Yo stared into Fanboy's emerald eyes for a moment before stuttering, "I… I uh… I'm n-not…" A sick feeling churned her insides and she went pale. "I just, I just don't want you to be upset over him all the time. I don't want you to obsess over it."
"Obsess over it?" He asked softly, before he repeated in a much louder tone of voice, "Obsess over it?! What do you mean by that, huh? What, would you not expect me to be upset at all?! He's my BEST FRIEND!"
Yo froze and stiffened, "B-But, he's not-" she paused and swallowed thickly as he gaped at her.
"Not what? He's not what?"
Yo bit her lip and said nothing. She couldn't tell him yet. He wasn't ready. Yet, she felt horrible keeping such vile information about the only person he ever cared for from him.
"Ugh. He's not gone forever, I know," the boy sighed sadly. "But he'll always be with me, right here." He patted his chest, and Yo had the urge to shout "Point to your head!"
Instead, she forced out, "W-What I meant was...um..."
"Say," the male interrupted,"You don't seem very upset about Chum Chum, but then why did you try to strangle me at the accident?" Why do you think? It's your fault! If you hadn't helped your friend sooner, he wouldn't be dead! And Yo wouldn't be upset! There was no hesitation in the boy's answer, "Is it because it's my fault he's gone?"
"…I-It's not really! I-It isn't your fault. At least, not in the way you think," she tried to lighten.
"Oh, please!" He rolled his eyes. "If I had assisted him to get across the street quicker, none of this would have happened. He still would be here, and neither of us would be going through this!" Fanboy spat. "And it's on me! Forever! Literally! Look!" He shoved his violet gloves in Yo's face. "His blood's stained on me," he motioned to his green leotard, indicating to the blood that of course, only he could see.
Yo was silent, giving on nod here and there as he babbled on and on about trying to rid himself of the crimson. She didn't know what to think. Technically, neither of them would've gone through this if he had never created Chum Chum in the first place, but that couldn't be helped now.
"-And what's more is that ya'll are so aloof! Nobody will tell me anything, not even you."
Yo shook her head clear. "About what?"
Fanboy's eyes darted around for a moment. "While I was with those doctor people," he said lowly, "I kept trying to look at Chum Chum, but when I looked to where he was, he disappeared!" He shook his head in wonder. "Why, I imagine..."
"..." There was absolutely no way that he was ready to hear the news about what is best friend truly was all this time. And Yo certainly didn't want to be the person to tell him.
The two were silent for a few moments before Fanboy decided to speak up again, eager to change the subject. "S-So, why aren't you at school?"
Yo let out a gloomy laugh and tossed her raven hair to the side. "I guess the same reason why you're not at school!" She said. She just wanted to see you cry.
Fanboy bit his lip. "Y-Yeah, I guess so," He could hardly control himself as he held the door open a little wider and he scooted to the side a little. "Do you want to come in then?" Usually he wouldn't act in such a manner, but he'd been craving company more than usual lately.
Now it was Yo's turn to be slightly surprised. This was definitely a first. The boy would normally avoid her and keep her locked out, but now she was welcome to go in. Was it because of Chum Chum's absence? Most likely.
She considered the invitation, and almost happily said yes, but she stopped. She had seen him with the paramedics. How wild and unstable he looked, how…insane.
"N-No thanks…" Yo mumbled, backing away a bit, ashamed she was scared.
Fanboy raised an eyebrow in confusion, "No…?"
She couldn't go in. Lord knows what he would do to her. "I can't."
"Well, why not?" Fanboy asked, with slight hurt in his voice. He wanted to be with someone. If Yo were the only person who tolerated him, well, she would have to do. He took a step closer to the girl, causing her to take a couple steps back. "What's going on here?" He asked almost angrily, putting his hands on his frail hips. "You came all the way out here, but when I invite you in, you decline? Just like that?"
"I… Um… I just can't-" She stuttered, backing away some more, trying to come up with a proper excuse. It's not that she suspected him of doing anything dangerous, however, he was very unpredictable. And that was never a good thing. "I, uh... I can't be alone with you!" She finally answered, and she sped off.
Fanboy stared at her retreating back, confusion and hurt bubbling up inside of him. "…THAT WAS YOUR EXCUSE?" He yelled at her disappearing form. "That's not true! That's such a lie! You're just…! Just…" How could she leave him like this so suddenly? After all, she was the one who had come to him in the first place! Why leave oh-so suddenly?
"Forget it Fanboy!" Her voice grew softer as the distance between the two increased and he detected the hint of a sob in her voice.
For a moment, Fanboy stood at the door, trembling with rage and betrayal, his hands clenched into fists. "It's me isn't it…?" He whispered, half to himself, before collapsing to the wooden floor. He knew the answer; he wasn't stupid.
Four days later…
The death of his best friend had really taken its toll on Fanboy this time. Usually when something unsettling happened, it came and went, hurt him, and then he'd move on. At least he'd have someone to comfort him.
On this occasion, he had no one. The hurt peculiarly seemed to hang about his emotions, to settle in, to become a part of.
As stated before, it had been a couple of days after Chum Chum's death. Such a tragic day that was, for Fanboy.
During that time, Fanboy could not find a way to cope with the depression that filled his void. He had skipped school during that time as well, not wanting to interact with any of his classmates. He didn't want to face them, especially after the way he'd acted. In him mind, his costume was stained with his best friend's blood, and he had desperately tried scrubbing the stuff out, but to no avail. It didn't show as much on his violet gloves and cape, but faded crimson remained on his green attire.
Fanboy did have to return to school one point or another. He was so exhausted, though. During the time away from school, at night, he would have horrible nightmares. The nightmare right before school was the absolute worst imagining Fanboy had ever experienced. Terrified screams echoed throughout the water tower home, Fanboy always awakening in a cold sweat, terror surging through his veins. The nightmares haunted him repeatedly, and they were always the same tragic one.
This particular dream was the most vivid out of them all. In the dream, Chum Chum was drowning into a sea of black blood while Fanboy tried to save him, but couldn't. As Chum Chum would sink deeper and deeper, his arms and legs would literally rip out of their sockets, and blood would shoot out in harsh spurts. Again, Fanboy would scream in pure agony and try to help his dying friend, but his feet always seemed to be stuck. Too terrified to move, Fanboy would watch his friend suffer. He could smell the coppery scent of Chum Chum's blood; hear the high-pitched yet slightly muffled screams of misery; watch his friend's guts spill out among the sea of blackness.
His innocence was forever shattered. Fanboy sobbed openly after he woke up, his little body curled up in his blankets, rocking back and forth with fear. His eyes would twitch, and his body flinch and tense up at every little creak and noise from about. His eyes darted around the darkened scenery of his home, strangled gasps emerging from his throat before hiccuping sobs. Shadows lurched and leaned in towards him, almost as if they were reaching out to grab him. He had wrapped his lanky arms around his knees and cried as paranoia began to take over his mind, chipping off rungs of his sanity ladder. Those dreams were simply too much for him to handle. Because of the horror of his twisted imaginings, Fanboy was simply too petrified to sleep. He would lie awake at night, clutching at his little form, as the natural routine of noises becoming sick, twisted, and distorted in his mind. This couldn't go on…
If you can, please critique it.
