Chapter Eight:

Nny trudged out of town on foot. He took the highway out of the city, walking and thinking. It was dark, and cold. Nny shivered. He'd left his jacket with Devi. He walked past the border of town, and looked up at the clear black sky. The rough façade of the icy white and papery moon stared down at him like a giant eye above his head. It was eerie outside, the cold wind stirring the infrequent trees that Nny passed, making them seem alive. Ready to reach out and seize any passerby and pinch the life out of them. Nny hugged himself, trying to keep the chilly breeze off of his thin body as best he could. He shivered. He wished he didn't have to leave. He wanted to turn back. But there was mo turning back.

*/*/* Hours later, Nny sat down on a curb and took out the small tattered notebook that was his die-ary. He took out his pen and turned to a clean page. Then he began to write.

Dear die-ary,
Some people spend their entire existence waiting for their delusions to be unveiled so they can go on with their pitiful reality and say that they were 'unaware' of their false perception, for the reason that this gives them an excuse to never have really lived. Am I reminiscent of this notion? I am becoming more and more confused over just what I 'am' these days, I used to be a homicidal maniac, that much I know. But what else am I? What was I before? And what will I be? Will I be cut down by the evil force that is taking over my life, or will I get another chance to see 'her' again? I wish somebody would stop driving and talk to me. I do feel lonesome. Loneliness is an alien emotion for me, since I have felt so little need, or want for that matter, to be near human organisms of my own free will. It's Devi. She woke me up within, made me real again. And now I must face my emotions. And I must say I don't like it one bit. I yearn for the old familiar emptiness that in the past filled my soul. Such hard times are these.

*/*/* Devi awoke once more. She gave a startled jump when she realized she was in a car, one that was not her own. She then remembered what had happened, and looked around. It gave her little surprise to see that Nny had once again disappeared. He did that habitually. If he was going to try so hard to get away from her, she wasn't going to stop him. She was going to be heartbroken for a while, but she'd get over it. He was just a guy, right? Devi got into her own car and turned the key.

When Devi reached her apartment later that night she slumped down onto the couch. She looked around her living room. Empty. Just like before Nny had showed up. When he'd been here there'd been something here, something beyond the fact that another person in the apartment. A different feel to the place, like maybe there could be something besides the life she knew. But now the feeling was gone, and there was only the old emptiness. She hadn't known it was emptiness until now. And it hurt. Devi lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Never in her life had she felt so alone. She dropped off into a diluted sleep.

*/*/* Nny stopped walking. He could walk no more, or his legs would give out underneath him. He sank to the curb again, resting. He dropped his head between his knees and sat there. It started to rain. He didn't notice. He was too busy with his emotional coldness.

A long time had passed. Nny wasn't sure how long. He just was aware of the darkness, and then how it intensified. He felt his head hit the curb as he passed out. It was all black after that.

Some time later, Nny awoke. He wasn't anywhere very warm, but it was dry and less cold than where he was before. He lay on something lumpy. He sat up. He was lying in some sort of cot. He was aware that wherever he was seemed to be moving. He could hear some people talking.

"Where am I?" he called out. He looked around, realizing he was in the bunk area of a big rig truck. In the front there were two people in the seats. One turned around and looked at Nny. He was a thin man with blond hair and a blond mustache. He was some evening shadow growing around his chin. He was wearing a backwards hat.

"Heya Paul, he's awake. I told 'ya he wuz' alive," he said.

The other man turned around and glanced at Nny. He was slightly heavy with black hair and a clean shaven face. A passing car honked and he turned back to the road.

"So you wuz' right. That don't mean nuth-in'," The man who was presumably Paul said.

"So, you IS alive, right?" the blond man asked Nny.

Nny stared at him. This man was obviously drunk. "Yesss," Nny said.

"Knew it. Wussure' name? That there's Paul, & you can call me Zingo," she the blond man.

"Johnny," Nny said simply.

"OK," she Zingo, pronouncing it like uh-kay.

"Er,. Paul, is...Zingo drunk?" Johnny asked.

"No more drunk 'n me. OK, maybe he's a little high, but not 'nough to worry 'bout" Paul said with a chuckle.

Johnny glanced around. "Why am I here?" Johnny asked.

"Well, we saw you by 'da road. We though you 'wuz a dog or a sack of 'tatoes or 'sumthin, so we stopped. Then we sawed you 'wuz a dude, so we decided to do 'sumthin. Paul thought you 'wuz dead. But we couldn't jus' leave ya there. So we took ya in," Zingo said.

"Oh. Well, thanks for taking my off the street," Nny said.

" 'S what we do," said Paul

Nny said nothing for a while.