Grrrr, it's annoyingly hard to drag myself to my computer to write this, sorry for the slow updates…

***

Three hours later Bethany was back at home, trying (and failing) to fall asleep, the images of that evening flashing through her mind, unsettling her stomach to no end.

"Michael? Michael are you okay?" she asked as she tried to open the door, surprised and immensely worried when it opened easily. "... Michael?"

She looked down at the floor, just noticing the rose petals on the floor leading towards a room; presumably the bedroom. She smiled softly and shook her head, thinking that the entire phone call had just been a plan to get her there.

"If you think I'm going to sleep with you you've got another thing coming." She said, more to herself than anyone else, but heading towards the room nevertheless.

Just as her hand was on the doorknob she noticed a bottle of champagne on a table in the kitchen and she went to grab it along with two glasses, not noticing the bloodstains on the counter next to it. She turned the doorknob somehow and pushed the door open to reveal the dark room, the only light coming from a couple of candles. She frowned; in one of the candle's light there was a hand, but across the room she saw a foot.

Bethany's heart stopped, and then started pounding faster than ever. She didn't want to, she knew she shouldn't, but she flicked the light switch on anyway, ignoring all her instincts to run. The scene she saw before her made her want to throw up, or faint, or maybe even both.

Michael had been chopped up into tiny pieces, each one no bigger than his foot, which lay festering in the corner. As she looked around she didn't even want to think about where the other one went. She dropped the champagne and the glasses and ran to the bathroom, emptying her stomach of all that was left inside it. She stood up slowly and leant against his cold tiled wall, trying to stop shaking enough to focus on her surroundings. What sounded like a siren was blaring in the streets and footsteps were coming up the stairs.

Bethany froze, realising what it all meant, and realised that she needed to leave or risk being charged for murder. For the first time in her life she thanked that burning hot teapot that burnt off her fingerprints as she thought back on everything she had touched. She ran back into the bedroom, ignoring the wet champagne mark and the countless bloodstains that dyed the beige rug a dark red. She almost ignored the shadowy figure in the corner until it grabbed her hand just as she undid the window.

"Squee is your only priority." It had hissed, before stepping into the light to reveal itself as Johnny.

"You- You did this?" she gasped, trying to pull away from his bony grip. He just smiled in response, tightening his grip until her gasp of surprise turned into a gasp of pain. "Let go!" she yelled, wrenching her hand free from his surprisingly strong hand.

"Squee." He murmured before drifting back into the shadows and disappearing, leaving Bethany alone with her foot out the window as the police burst into the room.

She was frankly surprised they had let her go, they had just taken her to the station, issued her a warning without even listening to her story that she had organised during the ride and let her go, waving her off with murmurs of 'we've seen worse, honey'.

Of course, it irked her that they called her honey, but she wasn't about to go pick a fight with them after they let her go so easily. When she had gotten back to the house Todd was sitting on his bed, his room just the way it was before (except for the planks of wood nailed across his broken window). After checking on him and tucking him into bed, she had spent the rest of her time staring blankly at the infomercials on TV.

***

As soon as Bethany had finally drifted off into a restless sleep there was a knock at the door, followed by repeated ringing of the doorbell, which- in her barely conscious state- sounded like a gong hit directly next to her ear.

She stumbled down the stairs, relying on her memory of the house's layout rather than her sight and opened the door, blinking in the light from the streetlamps.

"Who're you?" she yawned, stretching her arms high above her head.

"Does Nny live here?" the stranger asked bluntly, not answering Bethany's question.

"Who're you?" she repeated, glaring sleepily at the stranger.

"Does Nny live here?" he asked again.

"Who're you?"

"Does Nny live here?"

"Who're you?" By this time they had settled into a steady rhythm, the effortless conversation lulling Bethany back to sleep. That is, until the sharp knife pressed against her throat woke her up instantly.

"Why can't you guys give me a break?" she whined, shrinking back until she was out of the knife's reach. "No, Nny doesn't live here, he lives next door. But you shouldn't go there now, he's in a bad mood and it's late. Try going tomorrow."

She began to shut the door but stopped when she saw the young man properly for the first time. He was dressed exactly like Johnny, but looked like an 'improved' version of Johnny, black hair instead of blue, and paler skin; the only thing wrong was his expression, he looked lost, and nervous.

"Would you like to stay here for the night?" she asked, inserting a kindness into her voice that she didn't feel. She hated strangers mooching off of others hospitality, but this kid just looked pathetic, he couldn't even find his own style and had to copy somebody else's.

"Sure." He grinned, suddenly all deranged smiles before hopping into the living room and onto the couch, flipping on the TV."Urgh, infomercials, those things suck."

Bethany grit her teeth and smiled at him, finally allowing an expression of bitterness to cross her face.

Why the hell do I put up with all these insane jackasses?

***

Three hours later Bethany crawled out of bed to wake up Todd and the intruder in the living room. At least, he had still been in the living room when she finally realised that by shoving her face deep into a pillow she could sort of block out the noise from the TV and fall asleep.

"Todd?" she yawned, pushing the door to his room open, shivering as the cold December air breezed between the planks of wood on hi window. "Time to get up."

So immersed in her task of waking up the tiny little boy that she didn't even notice the she was being watched by a pair of curious eyes.

"Why don't you let him sleep in?"

Bethany screamed- which woke Todd up effectively- and spun around, looking for the owner of the voice.

"You!" she cried, pointing at the stranger. In the light his acne was painfully obvious, and the dark rings under his eyes from not sleeping were garishly visible against his pale skin.

"Jimmy." He said, looking up from his place on the floor and dropping the two army men he held in his hands.

"What?"

"My name's Jimmy, but you can call me Mmy."

"I can call you you?

"No, Mmy, like Nny, but with M's."

"Oh." She nodded, before shaking her head and getting mad again. "What the hell are you doing in Todd's room?"

"Oh, I was watching him sleep." He replied simply, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Do you have any idea how creepy that is?" she gasped, bringing the squirming Todd closer to her. "His parents would kill me if they found I let a person like you in his room to watch him sleep!"

Jimmy stiffened when she said 'a person like you' and reached for his knives.

"Okay seriously, stop with the knives." Bethany sighed, releasing her hold on the squirming Todd and slumping against the wall. "You know what I mean; people are just naturally not going to trust you with their children because of the way you dress."

"I dress like Nny!"

"Exactly! Nobody trusts him, nobody even likes him!"

"I like him." Jimmy pouted.

"No, you have an unhealthy obsession with him, that's different."

"HOW DARE YOU TELL ME IF I LIKE SOMEONE!" Jimmy screamed, his eyes glinting with a homicidal mania.

"Sorry." Bethany sighed, sinking down until she was sitting on the floor a few feet away from Jimmy. "Just… Leave now. Leave. Johnny lives next door at 777, go bother him."

She closed her eyes and leant her head against the wall, waiting for the door to shut and to be left alone in peace and quiet. Well, as alone as you can be with a little boy in the room, but since he didn't seem to do anything anymore, he didn't really count.

He needs a dog or a friend or something… she thought, then vaguely wondering why the door wasn't shutting. She opened her eyes and came face to face with Jimmy, who grinned and kissed her. She tried to jerk back but only managed to hit her head. She pushed him off and slapped him, trying to look as dignified as possible in her pyjamas while sitting on the floor surrounded by discarded army men.

"Who do you think you are?" she demanded, rage building in her voice. "And who do you think I am? I'm not some hussy you can just—,"

"Hussy?" he laughed. "How old are you, eighty? And for one thing, respectable young women don't wear stuff like that."

He laughed once more before leaving the room, leaving Bethany fuming with a slight blush on her cheeks, regretting her decision to wear her rather skimpy pyjamas instead of the flannel ones that lay festering in her drawer.

"Come on Todd, we need to get some food in you." She sighed, getting up after she heard the door slam. "But first I need to change…"