Chapter 10: Decay

April sat still, her eyes fixated on the floor. Johnny sat beside her on the sofa in a similar manner, but his expression was a little more blank than April's.

Neither spoke. They didn't even so much as glance at each other.

The entire apartment was dead silent, so much that one would probably have been able to hear a pin drop. The two homicidal maniacs sat in the midst of it, feeling its chill right to their bones.

They had just had a huge fight, you see, about April's unexpected rampage at the asylum, how she had broken Johnny out, and how she had sold herself to the monster that had once tormented Johnny so many years ago.

April refused to speak because she was afraid that Johnny would just become more angry with her, and Johnny was silent because he was afraid of saying something to April that he would regret.

Half an hour passed before April even moved. She got up from the sofa and disappeared in her bedroom for a few moments before returning with a puzzled expression on her face. She started wandering around the apartment, peeking into cupboards and cabinets, as if searching for something.

Johnny watched her curiously, wondering what she could be looking for. He still didn't speak.

After searching for a while, April heaved an irritated sigh and faced him. "Nny, where is Sickness?" she demanded in a quiet voice.

Johnny shrugged. "She wouldn't be quiet, so I locked her in the car." His reply was cool and careless.

April stiffened and looked as though she might explode again, but instead she grabbed her keys and headed to the door.

Johnny jumped up from the sofa and darted in front of her with almost inhuman speed to block her from leaving the room. "Can't you leave her out there?"

"No. I need her. Now move," she replied bitterly.

"Please, Mary," he whispered. "You don't understand, her influence will just make you sicker."

"I don't need you to tell me what to do, Nny. Get out of my way." April tried to remain resolute, but it was obvious that she was having a hard time doing so.

"I'll chain you to the wall if you won't listen to reason," he said.

She looked away from him and stared at the floor for a few moments before speaking again. "You're afraid of her, aren't you? You're scared that if she's around, you'll go back to being the way you used to be."

He raised an eyebrow at her at the mentioning of him being 'afraid' of Sickness. "No. I just don't want it to happen to you, too...What happened to me, I mean."

April sighed. "...Goddamn it, Nny," she groaned, "I don't know what it is, but even when I'm pissed off at you, I can't tell you no."

Johnny's mouth turned up in a small smile. "So, you'll leave her there?"

"For a while. But I have to go back and get her sometime, okay?"

"...Yeah, okay."

Once again, both of them fell into silence, but it wasn't angry and awkward like the one that had preceded it.

Finally, after the passing of several minutes, April opened her mouth speak. She was interrupted by the ringing of her telephone, however, which caused her and Johnny both to nearly jump out of their skin.

April scrurried across the room to answer it. "Hello...?"

"April!" Xin's voice cried on the other line. "Did you hear?"

"Hear what...?" she asked cautiously.

"Nick's dead! DEAD!" her stepsister exclaimed. "Turn on your TV. It's all over the news!"

April's stomach twisted itself into a knot as she reached for the television remote. Her mouth dropped agape when she saw Nick's death being broadcast on nearly every news station. A security camera outside the coffee shop where she had met him caught Nick stumbling out into the street, but the shot miraculously angled so April was cut out of the picture. She gasped when she saw the clip being shown repeatedly on nearly every network.

Johnny joined her in front of the television. A tiny maniacal giggle found its way out of his mouth as he watched the footage being broadcast. "Poor fucker. I'd like to know who he was unfortunate enough to cross," he snickered.

April spun around and darted into her bedroom, locking the door behind her.

"April? You still there?" asked Xin.

"Yeah...Yeah, I'm still here," she murmured.

"Can you believe it? I mean, he was pushed obviously..."

"Yeah...Obviously..."

"You okay? You sound kind of outta it," Xin said.

"I am a little tired," April lied. "Xin, do Mom and Dad know about this?"

"Of course," the younger girl replied. "Charlotte is the one who showed Dad and me."

April swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. "What's their take?"

"Charlotte's all worked up. Dad doesn't seem to think much. All he said was 'What a horrible way to go,' and left it at that."

April actually smiled. Sean always managed to do that to her, even when he wasn't around.

"You okay, Sis?" asked Xin after a short period of silence.

"Fine," April answered. "I'll talk to you later, Xin. Okay?"

"Fine by me. Dad and Charlotte talked about dropping by later to see ya anyway."

"...Um...Okay...Just let me know when you're coming."

"Will do. See you later, then?"

"Yeah. See you."

April hung up the phone and exited the room. Johnny had seated himself in front of the television, giggling like a schoolboy each time he saw Nick get plowed by a speeding vehicle.

"Johnny, we need to talk," April said as she dropped the phone back into its cradle.

Johnny turned to her, his grin fading. "About what...?"

"My mother, stepfather, and stepsister might be coming to visit me later. If they show up, we're going to need a story as to who you are and why you're staying here with me," she said, folding her arms across her chest nervously.

"Oh, hell."

Johnny's eyes were even wider than what they usually were now. He scratched his head in uncertainty and stared at his feet.

"You know what they're going to think," April reminded him.

He nodded. "...And I guess we should let them."

"You're forgetting that I just turned down a marriage proposal last night," she said, running an uneasy hand through her red hair. "My mother will lose her head when she presumes that I was with Nick while seeing another man. I mean, I can count on my fingers the times that she and everyone else have been to this apartment since I moved in, so it's going to be a very believable story, but I don't want them thinking I'm some kind of promiscuous slut..."

Johnny frowned. "So then what are we going to tell them?"

"I don't know!" April sank onto the sofa, her face pale with worry. "Xin will know something is up, anyway. The fact that she's never met you or even heard of you will alarm her. She'll know that we're hiding something..."

"Just cancel the whole thing," he suggested. "You'll be able to avoid the conflict, and your family won't know about me. Everyone wins."

She shook her head. "And disappoint them like that? I don't care so much if Mom gets upset or not; I'm pissed at her as it is. But I can't take it out on Sean and Xin. Maybe I can just tell them you're a colleague of mine-" She cut herself short when she saw the look on Johnny's face. "What?"

"Look at me, Mary. Do you honestly believe that I'm going to pass as your peer?" he demanded.

April was quiet as she looked him over.

It was true, with his unkept hair, the gothic apparell, and steel-toed boots, Johnny could never reasonably pass as someone of April's profession. And if his appearance didn't give him away, his mannerisms certainly would. His face was worn with stress, his eyes bloodshot and teeming with a deeply rooted maliciousness. Even April sometimes couldn't bear looking into those eyes when that inner malevolence was shining through them.

She sighed. "Well, then I guess we're going with plan A...Are you comfortable with that?"

Johnny shifted uncomfortably on his feet, but shrugged. "What choice do we have if you won't avoid the situation? ...Just don't make me do anything disgusting or embarrassing, got it?"

April managed to smile at him. "Got it."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to April and Johnny, the floor in April's closet began to creak and groan. Its wooden surface was rippling like water after a stone is tossed in the midst of it. A face appeared in the disturbance, with sickly yellow eyes and razor sharp teeth. The creature's mouth turned upward into a wry and devious smile as it observed its surroundings. It chuckled darkly before sinking back into the floor, leaving it as though nothing had ever been there to begin with...

"Hi, you guys," April greeted her family warmly upon opening the door. "Come on in. I ordered take-out, but it's not here yet, so we can just catch up a little until it is."

Xin was the first to bound into the apartment, followed by Sean and finally Charlotte.

"You've redecorated since we last were here, April," Sean remarked as he settled next to Charlotte on the sofa.

April's mother had yet to say anything to her daughter. She merely sat still beside her husband, glancing around the apartment.

"So, April, did you hear about-"

Sean stopped talking abruptly at that moment, staring with wide eyes at Johnny, who had just entered the room.

April swallowed hard when she saw the stunned looks on each of her family members' faces. This was not going to be a pleasant evening, she could just tell.

Johnny managed a smile at the newcomers, even though it was stressed out and worn, as all of his facial expressions seemed to be. "Hello there. You must be Mar-April's-family." The look on his face was humorous, as though not calling April by the name 'Mary' made him feel guilty somehow.

"Yes..." Sean replied carefully. "And you are...?"

"Johnny. I..uh...Met M-April...when she first started college..." he said, trying to sound as normal as possible. "We're old friends."

Charlotte was staring at him with an incrdulous face that would normally be considered rude by most modern etiquette sticklers. "Funny that she's never mentioned you," she said skeptically.

"Mom, I have a lot of old college friends that I've never told you about," April informed, trying to make light of the situation.

"Oh, you mean all of the old partying, binge drinking, marijuana smoking hellions? Well, I guess no self-respecting girl would tell her mother about friends like that."

"MOM!" April's mouth dropped agape in shock, her face turning a deep scarlet. She could feel Johnny's heated stare from his position behind her. She never had told him about her past before, after all, so this news was a surprise to him.

"I can assure you that aside from the purpose of curing illnesses, I have never touched drugs," Johnny told Charlotte, a slight edge coming through his voice.

"Oh, I never said YOU did, dear," she retorted in a sickly sweet voice.

"Charlotte..." Sean gave her a look that suggested she stop.

Johnny was glowering at her. A nasty feeling was welling up inside of him, a feeling he had not felt for a very long time. It was hot and malicious-the urge to see this woman's fresh blood splattered all over the floor before him.

Consider yourself lucky, lady, since you are Mary's mother, he thought heatedly.

"Mom, come on, don't start," April pleaded quietly. "Johnny is a very close friend of mine. I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about him that way, especially when he's right in front of you."

"Well, tell us, April, is this the reason why you rejected Nick's proposal? That poor boy, may his soul rest in peace..." Charlotte murmured as she, being a faithful Catholic woman, crossed her chest.

Xin rolled her eyes in disgust. "Please, he got what was coming to him, Charlotte. A guy who was so supposedly perfect had to have had some enemies. My guess is he fucked with the wrong person."

"Watch your language, missy," Sean scolded. "What have I told you about that word?"

"It's a WORD, Dad. Words never caused physical harm to anyone. Except old people. Some words give them heart attacks."

Johnny snorted in an attempt to restrain the urge to laugh.

Xin noticed and grinned up at him. "So, you met April in college? What have you been doing since graduation?"

"Oh...I didn't 'graduate' per se..." he replied awkwardly. "I'm...an artist..."

"Really?" The girl was instantly interested. "What do you like to do? Draw? Paint? Everything?"

"Uhh..." Johnny glanced at April, who smiled and nodded for him to go on.

"I paint," he told Xin after gaining reassurance from the redhead.

"Do you? I'm not very good. Maybe you could give me some tips?" she asked eagerly.

"Um...Sure..."

April smiled when she saw how nicely the two were getting along. Xin had warmed right up to Johnny, and he didn't seem to mind her company. She just hoped her mother would have enough integrity to not make Johnny or her past a subject of conversation.

"Anyone want a drink?" she asked, referring to Charlotte and Sean.

Her stepfather nodded. "Yeah, I think I could use one..."

"If you've got champegne," Charlotte said.

April sighed. "No, Mom, I don't have any."

Everything just had to be so fancy and high class with her mother. That's just how Charlotte was. It had annoyed April since she was a child.

Charlotte followed April into the kitchen when the latter went to fetch the drinks.

"What the hell, April? Who IS that boy out there?" she hissed.

"I told you, Nny is a close friend of mine," April replied, choosing her words carefully. "And I really did NOT appreciate you speaking to him that way. I understand that my rejection of Nick infuriated you, but that had nothing to do with Johnny."

Liar, her own voice snapped in her head. Two-thirds of the reason was because of him!

She winced and mentally shooed away the thought.

"So what is he doing here?" demanded Charlotte.

April heaved an exasperated sigh. "He was in the neighborhood, Mom. I invited him over so we could talk and just catch up."

"What kind of 'friends' are you, anyhow?"

"MOM!" April slammed down the bottle of wine in her hand and faced her mother full on. "I'm not a child anymore. What I do and who I do it with is none of your business!"

"So are you INTIMATE friends?" Charlotte asked suspiciously. "I haven't seen you with a man that grungy..."

"Mom, you're starting to piss me off. If you came here just to criticize me, maybe you should just go home." April shoved a glass of wine into her mother's hand before moving to rejoin the others in the living room. "Nny and I don't share that sort of relationship. We're just very close friends. That's all."

Her mother gave her another look of disbelief as she followed after her, but she spoke no more.

In the next room, April was relieved to find that Xin and Sean were getting along rather nicely with Johnny. Xin had gotten him to draw little doodles on notebook paper-mostly of the star of his comic strip, Happy Noodle Boy.

"So, YOU'RE the guy who writes Noodle Boy?" Xin was asking excitedly. "My friends and I read it all the time! It's always so funny."

Johnny actually smiled a little at her as he jotted down another sketch. "I was starting to think only nutjobs and hobos read it," he admitted. "It's kind of nice to see civilized people enjoy the randomness as well."

Xin giggled. "Who said I was civilized? By the way, how come there hasn't been any new Noodle comics for so long? Did you get burned out or something?"

"Oh..." Johnny looked thoughtful, "I guess you could say that."

Xin pouted for a moment before brightening up again. "Maybe I could help you out? I'm pretty random, you know. Just ask anyone who knows me!"

"Really?" Johnny grinned. "Huh. Well, maybe you could give me an idea or two."

"Yeah! Like...Have you ever thought of having Noodle Boy pose as a traffic cop? I think that has some hilarious potential."

"Um...Well, no. But maybe I could try it."

"You should! I can just see it now-" Xin stood up and started making goofy and elaborate movements, as though she were trying to direct imaginary traffic, "-Go forth and run over the piggies! Why do you hesitate to heed my glorious commands? SOMEONE BRING ME A GODDAMNED TACO! BEWARE THE BEAN PASTE FOR IT WILL DEVOUR YOUR HOMEWORK! ...Or some random shit like that. I dunno, I'm not funny when I try to be."

Johnny just smiled and even laughed a little at her Noodle Boy impression. "It's a start."

April grinned as she sat down on the sofa between Johnny and Sean. "Well, you all seem to be having fun."

"Yup!" Xin beamed, and she continued to talk with Johnny about comic strips and other things.

"So, April," Sean began quietly, so as not to interrupt his daughter's conversation with her new friend, "how are you holding up...?"

"What?" April looked confused. "What do you mean...?"

"Well, we came by to check on you," he said. "You know, after what happened to Nick and all that..."

"Oh."

April's eyes dropped to the floor. "Yeah, I saw on TV...what happened..."

Not that I really care...

"Well, that's a better reaction than I had expected," Charlotte sneered, speaking up at last. "I was wondering if you even cared, April."

Her daughter shot a dark glare at her, as if she were ready to tear out her own mother's throat.

"I might not have loved him, Mom, but that doesn't mean that I didn't CARE. His death is a tragedy. I hope that his poor parents are all right..."

Not that I care about THEM, either.

"I suppose you're regretting not marrying him now, right?" Charlotte queried. "After all, had you been his fiancee, you might have gotten some of that money."

"What the-? That's all he was to YOU!" April was furious. There were times when she couldn't stand her mother's superficiality, and this was one of those times.

"That's the only reason why you're so pissed off that I broke up with him! You were hoping that I would get into that money and you could leech off of me for the rest of your life! You make so sick sometimes, you know that? I could just...Just...!"

She drew in a sharp breath and steadied herself before saying out loud what she was thinking. The same voice as before was talking to her again-her own voice, that of which had told her to murder her former boyfriend.

No...I can't. I may hate her, and she may piss me off, but she is my mother. I can't kill her. Especially in front of Dad and Xin.

*Ah, such an endearing sentiment,* the voice said. *But might I remind you that so far, you have not held up your end of the bargain. You have not fed your new master. Master needs to feed in order to protect you and your precious loved ones.*

Feed...? April wondered. Meaning I have to paint my walls with blood like Nny did...?

*Not the walls. Too obvious, yes. The floor in your closet will do nicely.*

The closet... April felt a knot form in her stomach. There is a monster...in my closet...?

*You could call it that,* the voice chuckled.

"Just what, April?" Charlotte asked, breaking the younger woman's thoughts.

April snapped her attention back to the current situation to see everyone staring at her. Xin was hiding a smile, amused that her stepsister had called Charlotte out. Sean looked concerned for his stepdaughter, and Charlotte's expression was a combination of fury and impatience.

And then April's eyes landed on Johnny. His gaze was intense, his eyes narrowed, as if trying to advise her to calm down. But underneath all of that, April saw what she could have interpreted to be worry. Given the arguement she and Johnny had had before the arrival of her family, she knew that he must be afraid that she would kill so brazenly.

She shook her head. "Nothing...I think it would be better if you left, though, Mom."

She stepped to the door and opened it. "I'm sorry. I'm dealing with too much right now...Maybe we should try getting together another time."

"...All right, April. Another time, then," Charlotte murmured. "I shall talk to later."

Without another word, she exited the apartment, not so much as bothering to wait for her husband and stepdaughter.

"Can't I stay?" Xin asked, pouting.

"I think it would be better if you came home," Sean replied, standing from his position on the sofa. "I'm...I'm sorry to see you under such stress, April. Feel better soon, all right?"

He hugged her before motioning for Xin to follow him out the door. "And it was nice to meet you, Mr. C.," he said to Johnny, almost forgetting that the younger man was there.

"Yeah! I hope we can hang out again," Xin added, grinning up at him before hugging April and leaving with her father.

"It was nice to meet you, too," Johnny said, waving goodbye to them.

April shut the door once they had gone and released a prolonged groan. "That could NOT have gone any worse! ...I need a drink."

She disappeared into the kitchen and Johnny followed.

"So," he began as she poured herself a glass of wine, "that guy that got run over by a car was your ex-boyfriend, huh? Dunno why I didn't figure it out sooner..."

"Yeah." April took a long drink from the glass, draining nearly half of its contents in one gulp. "You want some?"

"No, thanks," Johnny shook his head. "I find alcohol to be rather repulsive."

"More for me," she muttered, finishing the first glass and pouring another. "I hate my mother so much...She's always embarrassing me like that...If I could, I would just-"

"Kill her?" he finished. "I saw the look in your eyes before...Can't say I like that look on your face."

"I could, though. Push her in the streets like Nick, or maybe hang her by her own precious gold and silver..." April was glowering at what appeared to be nothing in particular. She downed another gulp of wine before slamming her glass onto the counter.

The suddenness of the movement and noise made Johnny jump, and he seemed a little wary of her. "You're tired, Mary. Why don't you call it a night?"

"I'm fine." April topped off her wine and drank it. "I just need to calm down a little is all..."

"Well, that stuff isn't going to help you do that..." Johnny gestured to the bottle.

"What would you know, if you don't drink it?" she snapped. "It's what has kept me calm for ten years, Nny. You don't know what calms me down."

As she started to pour yet another glass, Johnny gently reached out and took the bottle from her. "Ten years? You're lucky you aren't suffering from liver issues. I think you've had enough of this." He removed the cork from the bottle and began dumping its contents into the sink.

"Nny, don't!" April cried. "Stop that!"

She reached for the bottle, but Johnny easily held her back as he emptied it.

"There. Now you don't have any temptation," he said, tossing it into the trashcan.

"That stuff isn't exactly CHEAP, you know!" she growled. "Why'd you do that?"

"You don't need that garbage, Mary. Your brain cells harbor to much intelligence for you to just kill them off with alcohol."

April growled in annoyance and stomped back into the living room, muttering angrily to herself.

Like before, Johnny followed, concerned for the redhead. "Are you going to be all right?"

April had flopped onto the sofa, her face buried in its pillows. She shrugged in response to his question.

Johnny rolled his eyes and sat next to her. "I could be wrong, but it seems to me that you're beginning to understand what you've gotten yourself into. It's a bitch, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

Another shrug.

Johnny sighed. "Mary, you can't keep this up. It's only been a day and already you've begun to crack. How do you expect to live this way for the remainder of your life if you're this fragile?"

No response.

"Mary...?" Johnny shook her shoulder, but she still didn't move.

Fearful that something was wrong, he rolled her over to check her breathing. It was then that he realized April had fallen asleep.

He exhaled sharply, ashamed of himself for worrying about her so easily. "I guess you're tired...Either that or you just drank yourself unconscious."

Of course, April didn't answer him and slumbered on. The entire apartment was silent, allowing Johnny's thoughts to gather themselves together as he watched her sleep. It made him wonder how much longer it would be before she fell into the same level of mental decay as he.

I swore to Sickness that she and IT wouldn't torment her the way they did to me, he thought. But the more I sit here and think about it, I don't know what I'm supposed to do...If there was a way to get rid of IT...But how...?

As he sat and thought, Johnny realized something.

"Oh, yeah...Sickness is still locked in Mary's car..." he snickered to himself. "...Eh, she can wait until morning."

He then scooped April up in his arms and carried her to her room. She barely even stirred in her sleep as he laid her on the bed.

Johnny smiled at her before turning to leave the room. As he passed the closet door, he felt a strange and familiar feeling in his stomach, sending chills up his spine.

Hesitantly, he turned the knob on the door and opened it, peering inside the tiny space within. He switched on the light and looked around, feeling more uneasy now that ever before.

After staring for about fifteen minutes, Johnny left the closet alone, though he didn't like the feeling that area gave him. Trying to shrug it off and convince himself it was nothing, he headed into the living room to watch television.