Edgar had not heard from Johnny and frankly he was glad. He could not understand his motivations, the reasoning behind his erratic behavior. He could not understand Johnny. It bothered him.
Also, despite anything Johnny had said before to try and comfort him, he did not trust him. Edgar did not want to put himself in danger.
Of course, as soon as Edgar had left he had gone to a hospital to have his injury checked. It seemed the most rational thing to do at that point, although his entire life seemed to recently be governed by pure irrationality. So much depended on these tiny moments of control, the pockets of his life he still felt he owned.
It turned out that the wound was not serious and he would not take too long to recover. That was fortunate. With more fitting bandages applied by professionals, Edgar resumed his daily routine, trying to forget what had happened.
Trying.
He was almost living in fear of his phone.
A week.
"Hello?"
"I want your coat."
Dark and sharp. It had been a while since he had heard that voice and despite himself, he shivered. It was so easy to imagine different words, to hear a death sentence rather than a greeting. Edgar only faltered for a moment before regaining his composure.
"...my coat?"
"You said you knew where to find one."
That had been the last thing on Edgar's mind when he headed home, but he rummaged about his belongings as best he could while trying to keep his voice steady. Where did he put it...?
"...I did..."
Johnny waited on the other end until Edgar found something that could be traced back to the coat. He winced to himself as he spoke.
"I think I know where you can get one, but I doubt you'd like the atmosphere..."
"Where?"
While they were walking in the mall, Johnny tended to speak to himself softly about things that Edgar did not completly understand. That wasn't entirely unexpected. However, it was made fairly clear that the coat was not the only reason that Johnny had agreed to come to a place he obviously detested. Johnny mentioned "expressing" his distaste in ways he did not clarify.
Edgar could easily guess that someone was going to die. Perhaps multiple someones. The dangerous look was back in Johnny's voice and he had begun to ignore Edgar, preferring to mumble to himself rather than hold any kind of conversation with him.
Again, it seemed that the people present were intentionally antagonizing the darker man beside him. While Edgar walked along without a second glance, people tended to stare, whisper, point, and at times make comments that were obviously intended to be audible at Johnny. Considering his general lack of control, Edgar was surprised that they had made it this far without someone meeting a rather untimely end.
Edgar could not remember the exact store where he had purchased his coat. He, however, did not want to spend more time here than he had to with his present company. He desperately struggled to remember the name and location of the store while the time bomb beside him slowly ticked down to an inevitable explosion.
They had not been walking long when something caught Johnny's attention.
Or rather, someone.
Edgar halted as soon as he noticed Johnny had stopped. He was staring intensely, although without any of the previous hatred, at a small boy flickering in between the people of the crowd. Edgar looked back and forth between them to make sure he had made the correct mental link. Yes, Johnny was definitely staring at the large-eyed boy.
Why?
The boy, who looked almost painfully vulnerable, was struggling to make his way around and between the legs of people who were entirely ignoring him. Occasionally he would look upwards for a familiar face and be disappointed, his tiny arms clutching a strangely scarred stuffed bear tightly as panic welled within his large eyes. Finally, apparently giving up hope of finding who he was looking for, the boy stopped in the midst of the people. He held tight onto his stuffed bear as he looked back and forth desperately.
"MOMMY!"
Edgar looked back at Johnny, who was staring at the boy almost as if trying to remember something.
"Do you..." Edgar started a question, but let it drift off when he noticed Johnny was ignoring him. Shrugging, he decided he may as well go along with whatever Johnny was planning. Something in him did not think the boy was in danger. At least not from Johnny. The maniac was staring at the child, but the expression on his face did not indicate any kind of anger or homicidal intent. Johnny had to know the boy from somewhere, although Edgar could not even guess the location or context.
It did not seem that Johnny would have had much experience with children, considering how he spent most of his time.
Johnny began to walk towards the boy and Edgar followed silently, his mind buzzing with questions and unsatisfactory answers.
However, it seemed that someone else had heard the child's scream for help.
The large man walked up to the boy and exchanged words with him as the distance closed. The boy seemed reluctant and frightened and the man overly congenial and eager to please, taking his hand although it had not been offered. He definitely intended to go somewhere with the boy, who did not look exactly pleased with the idea.
Edgar felt a sick twinge within him, the knowledge of predators in such public places now the only thing that came to mind. Every news report, every traumatized family, every tear-stricken mother holding an old photograph, every victim that underwent some metamorphosis into something terrible, to give a reason or some kind of flimsy motivation behind their future actions...everything he had heard about such things came to mind. That was the only explanation he could think of for the man's sudden vested interest in the child.
Where are this kid's parents?
Edgar glanced at Johnny. The dark man now had the vengeful look in his eyes, his expression becoming frighteningly malevolent and serious. He stared at the man who was dragging the boy away.
Someone was certainly going to die.
And Edgar was almost glad.
What's happening to you?
Anyone would react this way.
...You're...actively wishing...Johnny on someone.
Edgar could think of no excuse.
Johnny's pace quickened, steps lengthening, and Edgar followed along behind him, unable to tear himself away. His mind desperately tried to think of some kind of justification for following Johnny, for wanting to see what would happen, and the only thing that seemed believable was a morbid sense of curiosity.
Suddenly Johnny stopped, poised in the middle of step and thought, darting off to one side without warning or excuse. Edgar watched him leave with a rising sense of panic and confusion.
The man was taking the boy through one of the emergency exits.
What do I do now?
You can't let that man victimize that boy. You have to do something.
You're kidding, right? I can't do anything. Nny...
Yes, Nny. What are you going to do? Are you going to follow him and see where he's going? Or are you going to do something useful?
Like what? What do you mean?
You could tell Nny where he went.
But-
He's coming back already.
Johnny walked back towards him with a quick, purposeful gait, a new weapon clutched tightly in one of his hands. A bat. Where had he got that? Not that it mattered, but...
Another tinge of morbid curiosity.
Why do I want to see this?
You want to see this man's behavior be punished. You want the child to be spared. You want real justice.
...That's sick.
It's also true.
"Are-"
"Where-"
"There." Edgar responded quickly out of fear, partly for himself and partly for the boy. Johnny followed his finger to the exit and in moments was gone.
With one final glance around him, Edgar stepped through the door as well.
The man was holding the boy up, shaking and yelling something that did not have a chance to form into words. Edgar arrived in time to see the bat connect with the man's head viciously, knocking him several feet away with a sickeningly predictable sound.
Johnny had a peculiarly pleased look on his face as he stared down at the boy, who looked absolutely traumatized.
"Todd? I like 'Squee' better."
The man was twitching in the midst of some boxes, bleeding from the side of his head that had been distorted from the force of the blow. Edgar stepped forward with a mixture of fear, nervousness, and some sense of satisfaction. He stared at the bleeding man with almost visible distaste.
Your actions do have consequences now, don't they? You...
I'm not thinking this, am I? It's wrong.
No, what he was intending to do was wrong. This is right.
This can't be right. This isn't right. I shouldn't be...
You're joking. Think about what was going to happen. Nny did a good thing.
But...in this...
What other way is there? There's justice here and you won't even realize it! Unless justice isn't why you're here.
That has to be why I'm here.
Because any other reason is...
It's wrong.
You have to be the good one, don't you? You can't have blood on your own hands, can you? Edgar the pious, Edgar the pure. But you're still here and you're staring at that man's body and you're glad. You're glad he's in pain. I can almost see you smiling. What does this mean to you? How much of that so-called goodness is a lie now?
Shut up...this isn't right but...there was nothing I could have done...
So powerlessness is your excuse? That's becoming your excuse for this entire relationship.
It's not like I had a choice.
Again.
Well...I guess...
I guess...this is thwarting a greater evil. So...I guess in some sense it can be justified.
You get closer everyday.
What are you talking about? Closer to what?
You're glad he's dead. Right?
...He's not dead yet.
The door closed behind him with a clang, although this was not noticed, and he made his way closer to them. While Johnny did glance at him, he did not introduce or mention him in any way.
As Johnny went into one of his almost predictable speeches, he illustrated his points by dismantling his subject as he spoke, completely ignoring the child's frightened screams. A hand cut cleanly as if there were no bone at all, the head pulled apart with almost no effort, the brain removed bodily and thrown...all to illustrate Johnny's point. The point itself almost made sense, regardless of the unnecessary visuals.
That's not a good sign, Edgar.
What confused him most was afterwards when Johnny spoke calmly to the boy who was paralyzed with horror.
"Of course, these are my opinions - likely to be as flawed as anyone else's. Um, really, I guess you should assume everyone's speaking out of some external influence. Believe in whatever makes sense to you."
What was really frightening about Johnny were his eerie moments of perfect clarity. Despite the blood spattered all over his clothes and face, despite the man he had just brutally murdered and disfigured, Edgar could understand him. Edgar could understand and think about what he said on an entirely philosophical level.
It was the thought that Johnny could potentially not be insane that frightened him.
Johnny looked up, staring with the same kind of wide-eyed puzzlement that often accompanied his changes of thought. "Whoa...I guess all this excess was kind of pointless, then, wasn't it? Um, well, you better get going. It's Tuesday and you know what that means - U.F.O.'s!"
And then he said things like that.
And Edgar wished he could be surprised.
Johnny took off running, calling out behind him for the boy to follow his lead. The child stood there blankly, blood from his potential captor spattered all over his face.
An awkward pause.
Say something, Edgar.
He kneeled down beside the boy, Todd as Johnny had identified him.
"Are you okay?"
An obvious question.
"NO!"
With an equally obvious answer.
Edgar rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. He had never really been good with children. "...I guess that's understandable."
Todd was breathing hard, holding tightly onto his bear as he tried to get himself under control. It seemed that at any moment he would bolt off screaming just as Johnny had.
"C'mon..." Edgar looked at the still bleeding remains of the man. "I don't think this is a good place to be at the moment."
"I want my mommy." Squeaky, thin voice. What was the other name...? Squee? Edgar could see where that name found its origin.
Edgar raised an eyebrow as he stood, unable to stop the slight cynicism from sneaking into his voice. "Well, we're not going to find her here."
"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." Todd was edging away from him, which seemed entirely understandable considering what had just happened. Edgar put his hands into his pockets, not sure how he could appear less threatening.
"I...guess you could say I'm a friend of Johnny's. I'm still a stranger, but..." God, I'm phrasing this all wrong. "Believe me, I just want to get you back to your parents and then go home. This day has been entirely too...surreal."
"You know him?" Todd blinked at him in surprise for a moment before the same frightened look crossed his face. He backed away further. "You're not crazy, are you?"
"No, I don't think so." Edgar smiled softly at the thought, staring at where Johnny had disappeared. "Thank god."
Todd stared at him suspiciously, still untrusting and frightened. Edgar sighed to himself.
"I'm not asking you to trust me, really. I just don't want you out here by yourself. It's not..." Edgar glanced at the dead body. "Not safe, exactly."
Todd stood there, apparently trying to make a decision. He stared down at his stuffed bear quietly, deep in thought. Edgar decided to wait, although the dead body nearby was making him decidedly uncomfortable.
"...Shmee..." Todd mumbled, but finally looked up. "Shmee says you're okay, so I guess I'll come with you."
"Okay." Edgar could guess that Shmee was the bear. He did not have to ask. "Well, let's try and find your parents."
The fire exit was locked from their vantage point, so they decided to go around. Squee did not take Edgar's hand, but instead held onto the edge of his coat's sleeve.
His coat...?
When did he put that on?
Edgar shook his head at his own bad memory as he entered the mall. He had been forgetting so much lately.
Not like him.
"How do you know Johnny?" Edgar felt uncomfortable in the following silence. He did not know Todd, so he did not expect long periods of...quiet. With Johnny, he knew they would come. But with children...it just seemed strange. "He doesn't seem like the kind of guy you'd normally run into."
"He's my neighbor."
That explained so much.
"He's a bad man. Shmee says I should stay away from him. He kills people. He always comes over anyway, though. Even if I don't want him to. He's scary."
"I know the feeling." Edgar smiled slightly at the irony. Both of them had almost been trapped into maintaining a relationship with the maniac. "I think he's scary too. But like you said, I can't really stop him, exactly."
Todd looked up at him, apparently not expecting someone to understand what he was talking about. "How did he find you?"
Edgar paused. "I'm not really sure. He just...found me I guess. He was going to kill me, actually...he changed his mind later."
That seemed to happen a lot. Johnny was awfully capricious. His hand drifted up to touch the bandages hidden beneath his hair.
"Aren't you scared of him?"
"I'm scared to death of him. But I can't do anything about it. I guess we're both kind of in the same boat, really."
Edgar had no idea who he was looking for. He was entirely depending on Todd's ability to recognize his parents if they came into view. The others in the mall simply ignored them as they passed by. No whispers, stares, or comments. Not even regarding the scars beneath his eyes. Not even regarding the blood spattered on the boy at his side.
If Johnny had some innate ability to make people hate him and deliberately bother him, then it almost seemed that Edgar had an opposing ability: to become almost invisible. To pass unnoticed throughout people and society, to leave no trail. While Johnny became visible to almost every negative element on the societal spectrum, it seemed that Edgar did not even register on the spectrum at all. An invisible man. So faint and indistinct that it even made the boy beside him pass unnoticed as well.
Did this cancel out Johnny's visibility? Obviously not. Did it dampen it? It did not seem to be that way. Two different forces seemed to be governing how society viewed both Johnny and Edgar and it appeared the psychotic man's backing had a great deal more power than the other.
After all, it's easy to be noticed. To paint "LOOK AT ME!" in giant letters across someone's forehead. It's not so easy to fade back into obscurity. To take whatever actions and mistakes made and erase them from the memory of the general populace.
In the simplest terms, Johnny apparently had a sign that read "DRIVE ME CRAZY" somewhere on his person that the most irritating, petty, and cruel of the societal rungs could see. And Edgar's equivalent sign, most likely written in small white letters on a white background, simply read "don't notice me."
An interesting contrast.
And here he was, talking about it to some degree with a small child.
"Shmee says you seem like a good guy...we both kind of know him by accident..." Todd trailed off. "I...didn't think he hadn'tkilled anyone else. He...kills a lot of people. He tried to kill Shmee once too."
That would explain the stitches.
"Johnny's not exactly sane...but..." Edgar felt twinges of guilt at talking about Johnny like this, behind his back. It was one thing to think about it, but to actually discuss it with another human being, even a little boy, made him feel...kind of bad.
Oh no. Oh GOD no. You do NOT feel bad about this. You know he's psychotic and you know he's evil. You shouldn't feel anything about this.
I know but-
Even your friendship is forced with him. If you had your way he'd never call you again. You should not feel bad about talking about him. You should NOT feel bad about this.
I know but-
Because you know what that means, right? You know what that means.
It means...it means to some degree I think I'm his friend.
That is exactly right, Edgar. And, for the love of god, you can't do that.
"Are you okay?" Todd's voice broke his inner monologue. "Um...what's your name?"
"Oh...sorry. My name's Edgar. Edgar Vargas actually..." Edgar again felt his hand rising to his face, but he forced it downwards angrily. "I'm alright. I was just thinking..."
"Are you sure...?" The boy looked unnaturally concerned for him. Edgar could not understand why. He had known him for all of twenty minutes. "You...looked very far away."
He's more intelligent than I gave him credit for.
"Yes..." Edgar sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was not used to talking to other people...but Todd was only a kid. There was nothing he could do to hurt him or anything. He just had to remember he wasn't the only one in the conversation. Why not tell him something? Maybe that'll get the kid to trust him more. "It's...hard to describe really. Lately I've been talking to myself a lot. I never did that before...it's kind of frightening."
"Are you sure it's to yourself?" Todd gave him a worried look. Edgar doubted it was for him, assuming rather that the boy was concerned for his own safety. "'Cause I think the neighborman talks...well, not exactly to himself..." Todd trailed off again. "And he's bad."
"Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you." Edgar felt his muscles twitch slightly at Todd's suggestion and he was glad that the boy held his sleeve, not his hand. The thought was ludicrous but still...it was somewhat unsettling. "I'm not crazy. And I'm definitely talking to myself, not to any little ghosts or something. It's just..."
Edgar looked around again as if he could find what he was looking for. "My life used to be so normal. And now it's...beyond bizarre."
Todd was quiet for a while. "Things like this happen to me all the time."
"What do your parents look like?"
"Oh..." Todd almost seemed to have forgotten. "Oh...um..."
He moved off in one direction, taking Edgar with him.
"I think they might be over here."
And as a matter of fact, there they were.
"Excuse me...is this your boy...?"
"Oh." The man stared at Edgar intensely through slightly ovaloid glasses. He looked infinitely frustrated and annoyed at him, so much so that Edgar was taken slightly aback. "You found him."
As if it was a bad thing.
"Just when I thought he wouldn't come back. Are you sure you don't want to keep him? He doesn't eat much."
Edgar stared at him blankly, not knowing how to react. That was the last thing he expected. Hoping to find some cue from Todd, he looked down at him. Maybe this was some kind of game his family played, maybe his father was joking, maybe they expressed affection through sarcasm or some excuse other than...
Todd was just staring up at his father without any kind of surprise or measure of sadness. It was just a blank, emotionless look.
"Who's that strange boy, dear?" Todd's mother was wobbling slightly back and forth as she stared off at something other than her child. She had a glazed, artificially pleased look on her face.
His father narrowed his eyes angrily. "He's your son! Jesus..."
"Never mind." Finally Edgar found words and he turned away, noticing that Todd continued to hang onto him. "I'll take him home."
Edgar had no idea why he said that. He had no such obligation to the kid. He just met him less than an hour ago. But still...the only reason he could find for wanting to leave the pair of adults presence so quickly was that...
He did not want Todd to be there.
From the expression on his face, Todd had to hear things like this on a regular basis. It had probably lost all of its meaning now. But to Edgar it almost hurt. He didn't know on what level or why it seemed to cause him such faint, distant pain, but he wanted it to stop.
So he had volunteered to drive a child he just met back to his house.
I feel like more of my actions are getting out of my control...
"Are you okay?" Edgar felt awkward in the silence that followed them turning away. "I'll take you home, alright?"
"I'm okay. This's better than usual, actually. This time I won't have to jump..." Todd shook his head. "Well, that's only happened a few times."
He wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
"Sorry about..." Edgar wanted to mention his parents behavior, but he felt expressing it in that fashion would make anything he said meaningless and trite. After all, he had only experienced them for a few minutes. Todd had to live with them his entire life. What possible effect could Edgar saying something as simple as "sorry" have?
He had to find something that he felt more knowledgeable about, something he would feel a bit more at ease expressing some kind of regret over... "All this. I mean...with the dead guy and all."
That would work.
"It's not your fault. Things like this just...happen around me." Such quiet acceptance. Todd was being exceptionally mature about this, considering how much blood was currently on him.
Edgar doubted his parents even noticed.
"I think..." Todd paused as they pushed open the doors leading outside. "I think...you don't really belong here."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. It's hard to say...Shmee says...things like this shouldn't be happening to you. Like...you shouldn't be here."
"Sometimes I feel like that myself." Edgar was surprised at the level their conversation was at. He definitely had not been giving children enough credit. Or at least this one. "I feel like I've been dragged into this entire thing out of my control. Actually...everything I've done with Johnny has been out of my control...I'm...kind of...I don't know."
Why are you telling him this? It's not like he could help you.
Edgar opened the door for Todd, watching him crawl in and buckle his seat belt immediately upon settling down. Edgar shut the door with a quiet sense of calm, recognizing the apathy that typified intense emotional situations.
He's just a kid. He can't hurt me either.
"I must sound pretty strange...I'm not used to talking to other people. I don't really have any friends." Edgar started his car, glancing over at Todd as he did so. The boy was sitting with the bear in his lap, just watching the road ahead without much emotion.
"Shmee's my friend." Todd looked down at his bear. "You seem nice though. Maybe you could be a friend of mine too." He looked out towards the streets again, a strangely hollow look in his eyes. "I don't have many of those either."
"Alright then." Edgar felt incredibly peculiar. Was this how friendships were normally formed? He felt somehow that he was handling this incorrectly, saying things that were not normal or appropriate for the situation.
Mark it all down for future reference and continue on.
The rest of the drive was silent, which did not bother Edgar much this time around. With the acknowledgment of their friendship, Edgar did not feel the pressure that was present before to continue the conversation. He felt more at ease around the boy, although he was not sure if that was reciprocated. Despite the calm nature of the drive and the scenery they passed, Todd still managed to look slightly frightened.
If as many bizarre things happened to him as he said, he didn't blame him for looking nervous.
Although Edgar could not find Johnny's house when he looked for it, somehow he was able to find it now. Maybe it was Todd's presence in his car. Maybe he had just forgotten the streets before or perhaps the police had been lying to him. But somehow he managed to find the house beside the boarded shack.
"There's his house." Todd sounded frightened, a high-pitched squeak working its way into his voice. "I hope he isn't home."
"Me too." Edgar voiced this out loud without thinking. However, when he looked at Todd and noticed his almost pleased expression, he was glad he had agreed.
"Do you want to see my room?" Todd stared at him intensely with those large eyes. "Shmee says there's something in there I should show you."
"Alright."
As Edgar exited the car, shutting the door on the way, he glanced over at the shack with a tinge of nervousness. The lights in the boarded up shack were off. That was no clear indication that Johnny was or was not present, but Edgar was willing to hope that he wasn't. He followed Todd into his house.
The boy's room seemed typical for a little child. Brightly colored wallpaper. Stuffed toys and such on the floor. Pictures in crayon occasionally on the walls or across the floor. It all looked fairly normal.
However...
Edgar stepped into the room with a slight twinge of some undefinable feeling, causing his skin to prickle. It wasn't fear or nervousness or even any kind of physical sickness. It was...something that he was not familiar with.
He looked out the window over at Johnny's house, mentally guessing that perhaps that was the source of the bizarre sensation, and found it was still dark and silent. That could not have been the source...but he still felt so vaguely uncomfortable...so...something.
"Are you okay? You're staring off into space again."
"Oh...sorry."
Was that what he did when he thought deeply?
"You're..." Todd stared at him with a confused expression. "Shmee..." He shook his head. "Never mind."
"Alright." That he was familiar with. Johnny tended to do the same thing.
Edgar wandered around the room, not feeling comfortable simply standing idly. He stopped at a shelf that had a collection of action figures on it. It was a fairly small collection but varied greatly. He could recognize a few from comic books he had glanced over at magazine racks. Some of them were from movies, although the only reason he knew that was because of the occasional preview or commercial on television. Edgar didn't really get out much.
He noticed three figures standing in a triangle formation, each posed to help set off the other. The foremost figure at the apex wore a long black trench coat over a striped shirt that bore a blank square on the chest. Following with the black motif came matching pants and boots. The toy's hands were occupied holding out a gun, his body frozen in the position of darting out of the way. He had dark, messy hair and wore a pair of glasses.
The one to his right was female and was bereft of the first's trench coat. She wore a black halter-top and a matching pair of black pants. Her purplish hair was tied back into two pigtails, and she stood to one side looking prepared, although she had no weapon.
The last one to complete the triangle also wore a trench coat, matching him with the first. Again, the same kind of pants and boots appeared on this figure as well, but he wore a solid black shirt. He had a shotgun poised in front of him and had no hair at all. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses.
Edgar narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember where he had seen them before. They looked familiar to him...
"Did you ever see that movie?" Todd had gotten up and was now standing near him, apparently enjoying the opportunity to explain his collection to someone who would show interest. "It was kind of silly, but it was fun to watch anyway."
"What was it called?"
"Zeitgeist I think." Edgar was surprised that Todd could pronounce the word, then reminded himself that Todd probably also knew what it meant. He had to stop underestimating him. "It had to do a lot with reality and computers. All the characters in it were named after famous composers."
Edgar looked down at him with a measure of surprise, noticing that Todd had gained a slight tinge of pride in his voice. This was probably his first opportunity to flaunt his knowledge on this topic.
"I looked them up afterwards. I wanted to know." Todd reached out, picking up the figure at the front. He pointed at the woman with his free hand. "That's Liszt." Then he turned and pointed to the one with the shotgun. "And that's Satie."
"What's this one?" Edgar held out his hand as he spoke and Todd placed the figure into it. Edgar knelt to the floor, again feeling that uneasy twinge. Where was that coming from?
Another glance at the window. The lights were still off.
He still felt as if he was in danger somehow...
The little plastic figurine was fully articulated and Edgar toyed with his arms a little, moving them into various positions. However, the position that Todd had kept him in seemed to suit him best.
"That's Scriabin. He's the main character." Todd sat down along with him, Shmee leaning against his side. "He wasn't supposed to get into the whole thing, but in the end he does. He ends up being really important to everyone. I don't want to ruin it for you though, if you haven't seen it."
Edgar stared at the action figure intently, something niggling at the back of his mind. This figure seemed so familiar to him and he could not place why. He had not seen the movie, thinking it to be far too pretentious when he saw the commercials for it, but he felt that couldn't be the source of such familiarity. Something...strange.
Todd looked over at his bear for a moment, then looked at Edgar curiously. "Wow...um. Shmee says...he's right too. You kind of look like him."
It was almost as if a light bulb went off over Edgar's brain. So that's why he seemed so familiar! With it came a few fragmented memories of when he had first seen the previews. He had written off the main character's physical similarity to him as inconsequential and somewhat irritating, although he had never gotten stopped for it or asked questions. It had never occurred to him that in the course of things action figures would be made and therefore...
Edgar was holding a slightly distorted version of himself in his hands.
"You're right...I remember thinking that when I first saw the movie come out."
Todd stood, moving to look out the window nervously. Edgar wasn't sure why this was. Todd was probably scared now that they were going to get caught. That would definitely not be good for either of them. "I think you better go though, mommy and daddy usually come home around this time..."
"Alright, that's a good idea." Edgar stood, following Todd's example and brushing himself off. He reached over to replace the figure with his partners.
"Oh wait." Todd darted over to him, stopping his hand. "No. Shmee thinks you should keep it. He says its important."
Whatever.
"Okay, if he thinks so." Edgar shrugged and pushed the action figure into one of his pockets. "Thanks."
"It's okay." Todd smiled at him genuinely. "I hope nothing bad happens to you. Like you get hit by a plane or something." The pleased expression changed quickly to one of worry. "That happens to everyone I meet in one way or another."
"I don't think a plane is really my biggest worry." Edgar glanced again in the direction of Johnny's house. The lights still remained off. Edgar felt himself wondering vaguely where the maniac could have gone before he stopped himself. "You take care of yourself, okay?"
"Okay."
Edgar left, again feeling a sharp twinge of unease as he stepped out of the house. Nothing from either building. Why did he feel this way? What was he worried about?
I didn't know you were this paranoid.
I'm not normally. That's what's peculiar.
Well, at least you made a friend here. That's good.
That's true. It seems like that kid needs friends anyway.
You know, not because, say, you need friends.
Edgar paused at that thought, his keys only inches away from entering the ignition. He waited for his mind to come up with some kind of rejoinder, but nothing seemed to come. Shrugging and shaking his head, he began his drive home.
I don't know.