Author's Note: YES! Another update! Boy, do I love writing, or what?
Chapter 4, Part 1: Bookstore Dilemma
Devi glanced at the handful of books that were plopped down on the counter, staring at them wearily. Her mind blanked out, filling with a momentary haze that stretched the room and skewed it before her very eyes. She was tired, unbelievably and horrendously tired. She needed to sleep, she needed to live on something more than coffee. Yet, the very thought of closing her eyes for a few hours made her frightened, because she knew that it was just enough time for Johnny to come get her.
She didn't know why she grew so obsessed over him recently. Everything seemed to remind her of him. It had been a week since he called, but every knife she saw made her heart stop in fear. Every creak and step she heard made her spin around to make sure that Johnny wasn't there.
" You gonna scan my books or what?" The fat lady at the counter asked.
Devi flipped all the Miracle Diet books around and scanned them. " I'm sorry." Devi murmured.
" You better be. I got's a train to catch." The fat woman looked down at the child she was holding. " My stupid kid's sick again. Ate a sock, the stupid thing. You'd think he'd be able to wait until I come home from work."
" He's one." Devi whispered, horror-struck. " You're not supposed to leave him alone at home."
" What're you, some freakin' teen mom advising ME?" The fat woman roared. " Pack my books right now before I go right up to the manager and tell him what disrespectful workers he's got on staff."
" I'm sorry." Devi hissed through clenched teeth. She dunked the corner of one of the books into the coffee that stood by the cash register. Somehow, ruining the fat lady's books made her feel a hell of a lot better.
The fat lady hustled out, her one-year-old hanging lifelessly from her arms.
Then the next person came up to her. This one had no books in his hands.
" Sir?" Devi asked, uncertainly.
The man had a scarf covering half his face, like Micheal Jackson or something. He looked absolutely frightening. " Give me the money, now." The man whispered.
The world spun dizzily. Devi grabbed the corner of the cashier desk and blinked to steady herself. " Excuse me?" She whispered, hoping that she misheard. That it was just an echo, perhaps some old Johnny-hearing thing coming up again.
" You heard me. Don't make me take out my gun." The man continued. The silver nozzle of a gun poked out from his huge brown leather jacket.
" Oh, shit." Devi whimpered. She reached into the cash register.
" Damn it! You're too slow!" The man whirled around and raised his gun, shooting it at the ceiling. He hit the ceiling light. Suddenly, everything went dark. A few wires drooped from the ceiling, shooting electrical sparks across the floor.
Everyone in the store was screaming. Somewhere, a child was crying.
" Don't hurt anyone!" Devi cried out. " Please, I'll give you the money! Just don't…"
The man turned to her, pressing the gun into her temple. " You're coming with me, darling. I haven't had a nice piece of ass in weeks."
Devi gasped and felt a rush of sweat run down her back. " Please…" She whispered. " I'm… I have AIDS! I have the nastiest case of herpes in Brazil! Uh… um… I don't wipe myself!"
" Makes it more kinky, doesn't it?" The man locked his finger on the trigger. " Besides, I also like mine dead."
" Oh my God!" Devi closed her eyes, waiting for death.
She heard a gunshot. She waited to see if her knees would buckle, waited for that rupturing pain of her carotid artery. Instead, she heard a groan come from the man and, as she opened one eye, she saw the robber fall to his knees, obviously dying.
And there was Johnny, standing over him, his face riddled with rage.
" Nny…?" Devi choked out.
Johnny gave her a weary smile. " You really don't wipe yourself?" He kidded, looking absolutely miserable. His eyes were feasting on her, as if she were some moon goddess transcended down to Earth.
Devi felt everything go light around her. It was too much. She promptly passed out, hitting her head hardly against the cashier desk as she did. A warm stream of blood trickled down her face.
" Uh…" Johnny turned around to the rest of the store. " You didn't see me. If anything, the girl - - Devi, she shot the guy. Then she ran."
The remaining conscious people in the store just nodded dumbly.
" If you say ANYTHING about seeing me here!" Johnny shouted. " I'll track you all down and blow your brains out! Even you!" He pointed at a quivering old man. " So keep it hushed."
Johnny looked down at his blood-spattered hands. It was sickening, to have even used a gun. Such a merciless weapon, it removed all the fun that came from slow torturous jabs of a knife. He lifted Devi up and ran from the room.
o-o-o
Meanwhile… A Story About the Author
o-o-o
The author was sitting in her favorite chair in her favorite room – the basement – in front of her computer, with Adiemus blasting loudly in her ears. For reference, Adiemus was just celtic music, something like Enya or Enigma. Things that she listened to, being the weirdo she was. She was also typing up her JTHM story.
Of course, all good things do not last very long. She realized she was hungry. Ravenously starving, really, but there was nothing good in the house. After all, the things she ate day-to-day consisted mainly of carrot juice, red peppers, and rice pudding. She also enjoyed cucumber-and-onion-and-milk soup, something only the very brave of stomachs can handle. She ate like a freak. She is not making this up!
Then, things got a bit weird.
She went outside and shuddered away from the sunlight. Standing in the shade of her house, trying to upkeep her very-pale complexion, she realized she needed to find an alternative way to get to the store. She wanted her food, and a copy of the National Enquirer, to wipe her ass with.
Luckily, a little spaceship came from (surprise!) space just then.
These four peanut-sized aliens climbed out. Immediately they morphed into these huge things, each the size of about three sumo wrestlers holding hands around a chest nut tree.
The head alien said: " Are you a female member of the homo sapien species?"
The author replied: " I am." The author was brave in this situation. She was also hungry and in a bit of a coffee-withdrawal. She needed to pee too. This was not a good situation to approach any woman in, not to mention the author.
The head alien grinned slyly, which made him look stupid. " We're here to ask you a few questions."
The author nodded. " Do I get some food as a reward?"
" Undoubtedly!" The aliens nodded.
" Okay, bring the questions on, feeble fools." The author sat down on the ground, squashing two little snot-daisies along the way. These daisies were named Mary-Sue and Gary-Stu. She happened to squash those stupid things a lot, but they kept growing back and taking over things like FanFiction.Net.
The first alien asked: " Here is a photo of you. Were you present when this was taken?"
The author blinked. " Uh… yeah."
" You have a butcher friend, don't you?" The second alien shrieked. " DON'T YOU?"
" Yes!" She gasped. " It's true!"
" What does he weigh, this butcher?" The third alien wondered.
" Um… he weighs meat." The author said.
" You say that you have a set of basement stairs. Do they go upstairs as well?"
The author rolled her eyes. They rolled right off your computer screen.
" That is all we wanted to know." The fourth alien replied. " It seems we have finally found the answers to the meaning of life!"
" Where's my food?" She asked, bored.
" Don't you want to know the meaning of life?"
" Fuck off. I want food." The author whispered darkly. " I eat very little and very rarely, but when I do eat, it's a gruesome affair. My eating habits are rated R – for violence. So please, spare me from having to eat you as well."
The aliens gave me the author her food and flew off, realizing that nobody on Earth gave a fuck. The author went back inside. Another crisis averted. No deed is too small for… AMAZING AUTHOR WOMAN!
Author Sez: Can you tell that I woke up at 4 a.m. to write this? The word of the day is 'somnambulatory'. Go spread the password! Scream it at passerby! Become just like me! (It's like a one-way ticket to the looney bin! No refunds!)
o-o-o
Chapter 4, Part 2 – What do You Want From Me?
Johnny stared at Devi. There she was, so close. Why had he averted her murder? She could have been removed from his way. Just that easily, she would have been out of his hair. And equally as easily, he would have had nothing left to prevent him from the downwards spiral towards being free of emotions.
Yet, something had told him to intervene.
He had almost sensed that Devi was in danger. He had jumped out his window and raced to the bookstore, as if something had come over him. He hadn't really even thought about it. Something instinctual inside him told him that he had to save Devi.
Now she was lying in his bed, unconscious, and he was sitting on the floor staring at her, holding a knife. He had tried desperately to kill her, he had raised the knife dozens of times, readying to bring it down. Yet, his arms would lock. Something wasn't letting him kill her.
It was something mechanical, something inside, that stopped him. This love for Devi – it kept throwing a monkey wrench into the machinery that was left of his body. He was frightened about this. This feeling was so very powerful and dominant over him! He hated it.
" Mmm." Devi whispered, turning over.
Johnny stood and put his knife tip at the center of her back. If she were to roll over, she'd spear herself right through. He sat back down and waited.
Two minutes later, he had snatched the knife back and shoved it under the bed. He couldn't do it. He was too weak. And yet, he felt relieved and happy about it. He was ecstatic that he wasn't capable of killing Devi. Yet, there was another part of him that wanted him to massacre her horribly.
" Nny?" Devi said.
He looked up from his hands. " You're awake." He said, softly.
" Oh, God!" She shot up to her feet and raised her arms in a karate stance. " You back away from me right now! How - - oh, man… how did I end up in here?" She looked around, her eyes wide with fear.
" I won't hurt you." Johnny sighed. " As much as I try, I can't do anything to you."
She shivered. " Let me out." Her eyes fell on the bedroom door. It was closed. " What are you going to do with me? Where… what…" She closed her eyes and remembered. " You… you saved me, didn't you? From that man in the book store."
Johnny nodded. He stood up as well, looking downcast. " Yes, I did."
" Why?" She demanded. " Didn't you want me to die?"
" I can't explain it." Johnny grabbed his head, looking absolutely terrified of his own self. " I don't know what's happening to me."
Devi backed up so that she was right against the wall. " Please, let me go! I mean it! The police will notice I'm gone and they'll come for me!"
" I can't let you go." Johnny told her. " I'll keep you here until I'm strong enough to do it."
" Do what?" She asked, fearfully.
" Until I'm strong enough to kill you, of course." Johnny replied. " I really have nothing personally against you. I really do think you're the best thing that's happened to me. You were probably the only real, mutual friend I had. It's a shame that I have to kill you."
" Why do you have to kill me?" Devi shouted. " What the fuck is your problem, Nny? Nobody's making you do anything."
" You wouldn't understand!" He shouted. " It's a long story. A terribly long story."
Reverend Meat grinned at him from the bookshelf on the wall. " Tell her about it. Tell her, together you can revel in your love for each other. Your feelings will disintegrate your insanity. Trust me, love will conquer all. Your feelings hold you slavery."
" No! Nothing holds me slavery!" Johnny shouted.
" Who are you talking to?" Devi asked, frightened. " Are there more people here?"
" No." Johnny replied to her. " I…"
Reverend Meat continued, grinning madly: " You love her. Admit it. You have that feeling in your stomach. You won't be able to kill her. I dare you to keep trying. You can't do it. You're weaker than love is."
" NO!" Johnny slapped Reverend Meat off the bookshelf. " I am strong enough! I am strong enough to do anything I want!" Johnny spun around and shouted at Devi: " I can kill you! My love won't hold me back! It's the only way to eliminate the only thing that holds me back!"
Devi was shaking. " Johnny, what's happening to you?" She whispered, her face even more pale than normal. Suddenly, she wished she could disappear from the eyes of this madman.
Johnny shook his head and left the room. He closed the bedroom door and then locked all five locks. He then pulled shut the second door. She was enclosed in there, like a safe. She began to bang at the door, screaming in fear. He had made sure that the windows were nailed shut and that they were boarded closed. There was no way for her to escape. He would slip her water beneath the door, and food, until he could even things out. Even the score with himself.
He lifted a knife and sighed. He felt so down all of a sudden. Just a terrible feeling. He wanted to go out and kill, to be able to feel in control again. To get that euphoria again.
Reverend Meat's reasoning words echoed back to him. So far, Nail Bunny hadn't spoken yet, but Johnny didn't want him to. The moment Nail Bunny would begin to reason with him, his own mind would be two to one, and he'd slowly split away from his journey towards being emotionless. He couldn't let that happen.
Devi was banging on the door. " Nny! Why are you doing this to me?" She shouted. She was crying. " I never did anything to you! I was in love with you! Damn it!" She kicked the door and broke down in sobs.
Johnny shivered and left the house.
Author Sez: Whoo. Kind of a dark ending there. Sorry about that. I was in a dark mood. *grins mysteriously* But putting all that aside, keep reviewing, my pretties. I update VERY often, but only if I get reviews. I really like writing. Hee. And find out which side of Johnny wins his internal battle!