Innocent Sin

Notes: Oh the voices! They scream at me to write! *Falls* I'm sick, but I love you all so I'm going to write. This story is halfway complete! WOO! So on with the show. This chapter contains SQUEEEEEEE! YAY! Btw, Nyx is 10 in this chapter.

Disclaimer: JtHM, characters and material are to Jhonen ..wee. However Nyx is my brain child!

Chapter Ten: Hello Neighbor!

He closed the door behind him as the yelling muffled slightly. He turned around, and leaned against the door--taking in a deep breath. He watched shadows begin to creep through his window, and outline his lanky figure along the door. He pushed himself off the door, and walked over to his window. Bending cautiously, he carefully fingered the handle, until it gave way and finally opened. Nights were always the best part of the day, usually because he was by himself doing the dusk hours. He bent his elbows against the windowpane, and arched his head out the window to peer into the small ditch that separated his house, and the next. The yelling was louder now.

'I can't afford it! He takes up too much space as it is!'

'You're the one who made it out to be alright!'

'I haven't smiled once, MY MOUTH IS FROWNY!'

'----You said it would be easy, Ted!'

His parents fought a lot now. It seemed the usual state of the house had shattered as easily as a piece of glass. He perked up, at the house next door. In the window, a shadow quickly moved from an openly squatting position, and was now at the window. He gasped, and quietly lowered himself downward. No, that wasn't the neighbor man. The shadow was a lot shorter. He quirked a brow, and watched it move again, it slipped off the windowpane and was outlined in the moonlight that was caught against the footboards of the room. He managed to spot the dark purple and black garments; the figure wore, before it was engulfed in a crest of shadows again.

Even though he was older, he still had a terrible fear of the neighborhood man, from his childhood. However, he didn't come around too much anymore. He came around once, before. That was to tell him that he had a child of his very own now. He remembered that to be a sleepless night, with the question blazing his mind, 'who'd have a child with that freak?' Obviously a woman who managed to see past a lot of flaws. He pulled himself out the window, with his palms extended, managing to change himself against the pavement.

He rolled, and casually landed in the ditch. He stood up, and calmly began to move in the direction of the house addressed for Heaven. The poorly built shack, the 'house' in which somebody he feared lived in. However, he wanted to drift far away from the noise coming from the living room, emitted by his 'parents'. It was quiet outside, and as he drew closer, he heard the moving footsteps amid footboards inside the house.

His limbs began to shake, as he bit his lip. Carefully, a hand was placed out for the window. When suddenly, before his hand even touched the battered glass, it sprung open in crackling of rusty joints, and dust. He drew his hand back and fell on his bottom as soon as a head emerged from inside.

"SQUEEEEE!"

"AHHHHHHHH!" The same figure shouted.

'Female..' He thought. It took a moment for the figure to regain her posture, before raising both thin eyebrows at the fallen boy. He stared at her, dark pupils focused and large. She stared backward, before casually resting her elbows against the windowpane. She took one look at him, and her expression of surprise to one of confusion.

"Oh hello there." She echoed.

"H-H-Hello." He sputtered.

"Who are you?"

"S-S-S----Todd."

"Todd eh?"

"Yes. Who are you?"

"My name's Nyx."

He stopped for a moment, and stood up. He made a face, before pointing a finger to the house, in which her head had emerged out a window, nearly scaring him half to death.

"Do you live here?"

She shook her head. "Oh no! My parents don't know I'm here, actually."

He went pale. "Than why are you here?"

"Because it's fun to explore."

"The owner of the house is going to be angry."

"Oh no he won't-the owner's my dad."

"EEK!" He started. "The crazy neighbor man is your FATHER?"

She didn't seem too surprised. She upturned her head, before nodding once, with a small but delayed 'm'hm'. Todd looked at her, and caught her large green pupils, shadowed by a backdrop of black. He could easily spot the family resemblance.

"And you like exploring at night?"

She nodded. "Oh yeah! The night is awesome!"

"I see." He replied timidly.

"Do you want a tour?" She stuck out her hand in offering, looking up at Todd hopefully. "I was trying to catch this cat, but I was too slow." She frowned.

"A t-t-t-tour...of this house...?" The older boy nervously sputtered.

"Come around the front, I'll let you in!"

Before he could regret, she was gone. As swiftly as she had appeared by the window, she had disappeared in a frenzy of footsteps. Todd turned his head, and looked at his vacant room. Lit by nothing but the moonlit rays. He'd image his parents would still be yelling at each other in vain. Todd shrugged, and began to sneak around towards the front lawn of the house. He backed up, against one of the outer walls of the house, and wandered onto the lawn, still walking backward. He tripped backward on a nearby sign and toppled over it. He looked at it curiously.

'Keep off the grass,

Do not walk on the dead.'

He squeaked, and shot straight up. A hand nervously tugged at the side of his day shirt, before swiftly turning on his heels, nearly running into a shorter figure, which proved to be Nyx. She backed up, and raised a knowing brow at him, before offering a content smile.

"Come on, it's not going to bite you, Cubby says so."

Todd moved after Nyx. "Cubby?"

"Yes."

He knew he was going to regret this. "Who's Cubby?"

"He's in my head. He tells me what to do and what not to do. Well, he tells me the good stuff to do, Anti-Cubby tells me bad stuff to do. He told me to come over here, and I listened."

"...Well, uh that's bad."

"Not really." She snorted, and kicked a nearby rock, before rocking on her heels near the doorway.

"Come on Todd, the house awaits." She break out into an ear-to-ear smirk, as she motioned inside.

He looked to the sky. 'Why can't you give me a break, huh?! Why!?'

Before he wasn't left standing freely out in the open anymore. He was inside the demented lair of a homicidal man, with his daughter.