Author's Note: And once again, I write a Jhonen Vasquez story; I will keep this one a single chapter. :-)
Once Again
He was sitting all alone, once again, at the kitchen table. His tear-glazed eyes were staring, unabashed, at the girl chained to the wall in the other room. She had long since stopped screaming; now silent tears rolled down her face and she tried desperately to somehow yank her arms out of the metal shackles that bound her.
" Feels great, doesn't it?" Johnny whispered darkly.
" What feels great?" She spat, " Are you sick in the head? Wait… of course you are…"
Johnny grinned to himself, " Being bound by shackles to some pinnacle. A jester for an audience of hateful spectators."
" What are you talking about?" She grimaced, tossing her golden blonde hair back with a hand, but she could only move it so far before the chain stopped her.
" I was walking, enjoying the evening!" Johnny hissed through clenched teeth, " The air was crisp! The stars glowed bright! I was wearing new socks! NEW SOCKS!"
The girl blinked. Johnny was yelling so loudly now that he flecked her face with spit. She silently hoped her contacts wouldn't slip out. It would be just awful to have to wear glasses. Only nerds wore glasses, she figured.
" Then you and your friends appeared!" He gesticulated angrily at the ceiling, " Just out of nowhere! And I kept walking, not giving a rat's ass, but you followed me in your car! And then the first water balloon hit me!" His nostrils flared.
" I said I was sorry! I was driving, okay? It wasn't even me who threw it!" She sobbed out.
" Yes, but you followed me in the first place, you miserable piece of shit!" Johnny shrieked, " You were literally inciting your friends to pummel me with your rubbery attack probes!"
She was whimpering now, thrashing on the chains, trying to tear at his face, to try to beat him up and escape. " Get away from me! I have mace!" She shouted.
" Such a feeble threat," Johnny whispered menacingly, " Seeing as how you have already parted with your arms."
" What?" She exclaimed.
Once again, Johnny needed no further introductions. He took out the gigantic meat cleaver he was clutching behind his back, and with a sickening slice, the girl was left with two bloody stumps protruding from her shoulders.
The girl passed out. He sat there, staring at her, at the rivulets of blood racing across the floor. It wasn't enough; this senseless violence and gore just wasn't enough to sate him anymore sometimes. He had nothing to feed with the blood. He was free, and yet he still killed. His own fury was two steps ahead of his logic.
He wiped at his face angrily, upset for once again shedding very mortal tears.
" I need a Brain Freezy," He whispered, his hands trembling. He glanced out the window and saw that it was raining. In all his excitement he had not noticed. That was when he knew. Once again, he just knew.
It was the perfect time.
Johnny lifted the knife, wiped them free of the girl's blood – even though sanitizing the blade would do little more than take up time at this point – and then stood.
A thunderbolt raked through the sky, ravaging a tree somewhere of its limbs. He turned, stared at the girl, and whispered, " I hate you. I hate all of you!"
He brought the knife down to his wrist. Just as he started the long, deep cut, another thunderbolt hit somewhere very near. His house rattled, the lights blinked off, and a tile from the ceiling broke loose, smashing to the ground beside him. Startled, the knife slipped from his hands and fell to the floor, imbedding into the floorboards.
The lights flickered back on again.
Johnny took a deep breath. He couldn't die. Once again, suicide was obsolete to him. He backed up against the wall and slid to the floor, his whole body quivering.
" Once again," He whispered to himself, " Once again."
Fin