A/N: Hey...I've been out of commission for a while, so if my writing's a little rusty, I apologize. None of the characters are mine, sadly. They're good ol' Vasquez's. But, hey, I did have a really good granola bar earlier so I think that makes everything okay.

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Nighttime was simultaneously the most beautiful and dreadful of times to be alone.

Devi decided this as she walked hurriedly down the nearly barren streets, the pavement slick with fresh rain showers. Distant lights and passing cars made the world glitter beneath an empty sky and she could almost call this place home; if it weren't for the horrid gut-wrenching feeling she got every time she passed by a dark alleyway.

Everything about this city at night made her feel like a bipolar freak because she couldn't decide whether to run like a little child to her apartment or to stay in the shadows and absorb the moonlight on her skin, to breathe the misty air and walk carefree. Deep sighs with a passing car and then silence again. She hadn't felt freedoms such as the ones that teased her thoughts since the night HE went all psycho on her and now she was worthy of a psychiatrics ward panic list. She glowered as she thought about him and how stupid she felt about the whole situation now. If she hadn't been so damn willing to be around an intelligent, little scrawny guy that she thought was odd and kind of awkward, but nonetheless cute, she wouldn't be so ubiquitous to her shitty little apartment, holed up like a test lab rat waiting for the day to be picked off in silence. Her thoughts were sliced with reality's razor edges as she came to the edge of another dark alleyway, but there was something different about this one. She hesitated, unable to move. Her body was stagnant in the thick air and she could swear she felt a dozen numbing hands pushing her back. A rustling of trash and dirty leaves rustled down the street a couple feet away from her, making her jump slightly. Instinctively her right hand flew to her hip pocket where she kept a can of mace. Using the small, little metal flask as a safety lock, she found the strength to push away the hands and take a shaky step forward. She forced herself to keep walking till she was away from the alley. Once her goal was accomplished, her green eyes lit up when she could see her apartment building not too far up ahead.

''Almost home,'' She whispered to herself. Before another step could be taken toward solitude and empty contentedness, a voice interrupted her chain of thoughts. No, not a voice. More like a raspy whisper that caressed her body and made her mind feel as if it had just been raped. She shuddered, forcibly trying to remove the sound from her memory. But it was planted, rooted, growing and spreading. She wretched as she turned.

''Johnny...''

A weak smile stretched across his face, making his frail pathetic features stand out harshly under the artificial streetlight that killed the stars. Killed... Suddenly, Devi could not remember that there was a bottle of highly potent mace in her hand, at easy access. All she could concentrate on was this emaciated psycho before her as he stared straight through her green eyes. But where she would've once looked back during one of their many intimate conversations and seen a vibrant, lively response, she saw nothing. Life was replaced with an empty, hollow space filled with fatigue and despair. He looked distraught. No relief could be seen on any of his features. His skin pulled tight across his facial bone structure, making him seem even more like a ghost in that late hour. His brow furrowed and hinted at tears that were forgotten but ever present, and his eyes...oh God, his eyes. She forced herself to focus on something else about him.

''Devi...all I ever wanted was you...why can't you just understand that?'' His voice cracked and he stepped forward, reaching towards her. As he did so, she could see his arms were coated in thick, clotting blood and it took her only a moment to realize it was his. His arms were slashed in a crazed manner and the wounds looked tumultuous, she could almost hear the blood as it poured from him and collected in small reservoirs on the pavement. She outwardly gasped, afraid of what he might do next--to either of them.

''Johnny...'' She twitched and took a step backwards, suddenly remembering the mace and holding onto it even tighter now. He took another step forward, ever reaching.

He took in a long, dragging breath, his small, bony chest heaving and whispered, ''If I can't have you, no one can.''

Devi panicked. Her eyes quickly darted from side to side and she only almost barely managed to side step as Johnny lunged at her with a rather fierce looking machete. For a dying little shit, he was pretty fast. She wasted no time in seeing how long he would take to recover from her hasty move and took off sprinting. But for every little bit of speed and agility the adrenaline pumping through Devi's bloodstream brought her, Johnny's dying body harvested ten times as much force and swiftness, so it took him almost no time to catch up and wrap his arms tightly around her waist, bringing them crashing down to the ground in a heap of limbs and frenzied violence. Devi clawed, screamed, kicked, bit, tasted his blood...She was horrified. What should she do? What could she do? There was nothing...no one...how could the streets be THIS empty? It wasn't that late... He pinned her down and held the machete high above his head, ready to plunge it into her writhing body. He was cold to the touch, but his blood was covering her in the warmest and repulsive of blankets, and every new raindrop that hit her face from the cloudy sky, she would mistake for one of Johnny's tears. With his last bit of strength, he kissed her goodbye. Then he slashed her throat to pieces and lay down next to her to die.

Devi shot straight up in her bed, the sheets a tangled mess around her shaking body. Her forehead was smeared with sweat and her eyes were brimmed with tears. She couldn't control her heartbeat and if she didn't slow her breathing soon, she would pass out and then find another untimely end in another dream with him. She stood from her bed shakily and surveyed her room as she held her throat in a protective manner, warding off any other nightmare figures wielding sharp objects. Everything looked normal as far as she could tell; canvases with half-finished paintings of mundane things (most of which were shit in her opinion since she felt she lacked talent lately), a couple pieces of worn clothing here and there, and several journals lay strewn about her bedroom floor. She had never kept a journal or diary of any form or fashion because resorting to such measures to capture her thoughts and feelings felt a little junior high. Besides, why would she want to capture and preserve her thoughts when they were the same thoughts and feelings that drove her insane. She only wanted them out, so that is what she would do. Scribble down her thoughts, then burn them. It had helped for a while and she had felt some sort of sick satisfaction every time she burned a new sheet, but lately she felt numb. A feeling of empty gnawing began to grow inside her now every time she watched the internal ramblings decay with the heat, and she would have to force herself to flush the ashes and forget about it.

Devi, what the fuck has been your problem lately?

She shrugged as a reply to the only thought that resounded through her head at this late hour and decided that nothing could be done. Sleep was inescapable and dreams were inevitable, so she lay back down on her bed and shut her eyes. This time, however, she prayed that there would only be blackness.

Grant me numbness in my sleep...

Sleep was out of the question. Every can of Skettios in his dark little house had been consumed, Noodle Boy had run its course through his mind, and the sound of screaming victims wore him to a frazzled wire that would snap at any second. At any length, Johnny C. needed an escape. He bade a short farewell to any being he thought might be listening, then donned his long black trench coat and stole away into the night. He didn't know where he was going, which was fine. He was trying to keep his thoughts empty. He saw no moon in the sky and no people really out on the streets, which he guessed was probably normal for this time of night. But who was he to judge normal? Silence was finally broken about fifteen minutes later when his feet had abruptly stopped moving and he found himself standing outside a towering apartment building that looked dingy and worn-out. He found no immediate recollection of it in his memory, but for some reason, somewhere far back in his mind...he was drawn here. He found the fire escape and proceeded to climb until he heard a tiny voice in the back of his head softly telling him to stop. He hadn't heard a voice like that before; gentle and lulling, almost purring. It was peaceful, a far more welcomed voice than those fucking Doughboys or the Reverend MEAT, for that matter. He obeyed and sat down against the metal railings of the fire escape and peered curiously into an apartment window that led into a dark bedroom. From what he could see, there were some canvases on the floor with half-finished paintings, some pants, a couple pairs of socks, a bowl of half-eaten ramen noodles...and a figure lying in a bed. Something about this being made his throat immediately tighten and he found it difficult to breathe. He unconsciously leaned forward and pressed his face to the glass, straining to see inside. That serene, pale face...so beautiful. If he didn't know any better, he would say that was... She moved. He gasped and jumped back, tripping and landing hard against the metal grating. For some reason, he had no better reaction other than to quickly jump up and run like hell away from there. He ran all the way back home and when he was back inside, he decided he should've never left.

Am I dreaming? Did I just imagine that?

Devi rubbed her eyes again and stared out her bedroom window. Mere seconds away from sleep, she had opened her eyes and she swore she saw what looked like someone looking in at her. Not just someone, him. Deciding sleep was now out of the question, she stood up and wrapped up in a robe and then trudged slowly into her kitchen to get a glass of water.

Somewhere in the coldest, darkest regions of anti-being, a creature stirred. She yawned quietly and stretched, darkness welcoming her and consuming her like a flame. A flame... She had heard every bit of emotion Devi had been burning up in that metaphorical flame. She would've smiled at the knowledge and power she held, but she decided it was not a time to get too cocky. She was not ready to attack back...not yet, at least. She still needed to find a host to house her inside their torrid little minds. Until then, however...she would wait and listen. Listen from dawn to dusk and sleep only when the thoughts died down. She dare not miss a second of the mind talk, though. The mind talk was essential to her revenge, and if she were going to do it right, she would have to be a very attentive little figment.