All through the night I'll be awake and I'll be with you All through the night This precious time when time is new Nny was curled in a ball in the corner of his living room. It was the dream again. That horrid, nasty dream of the night. Devi's night. It was like catnip and rat poison to him. He couldn't resist it, but somehow it always seemed to gash his soul into ripped fragments of what it had been. It kept him awake, even when he seemed to be a mere blink away from the dark and deep fathoms of that nightly slumber. He hadn't slept in days. Oh, all through the night today Knowing that we feel the same without saying He wasn't supposed to remember it. Not the way he did. In his daydream, Devi was grinning. She laughed, and he sighed. She was happy, but he wasn't. She was the one happy. Alone. Devi suspected nothing. Then, it was as if someone had flicked a light switch. Her face contorted into a mass of pained creases and wrinkles. She was afraid, and he was still smiling. Empty-handed. She saw it coming. Even when there wasn't the tiniest hint of the inevitable, she knew what was going on. Saw the swirls of memory in his head. The others. The girls. She saw their twisted, mutilated body in his mind's eye. Saw her future. Saw her past. NO! No! She can't have seen it! I HAVE no past! No past, no future! She couldn't have seen it; it wasn't there! There was NOTHING! She couldn't have, couldn't have… We have no past we won't reach back Keep with me forward all through the night And once we start the meter clicks And it goes running all through the night Until it ends there is no end But there was an end. And she had seen it. In his dream, of course. In his dream, she saw it and stood up. She put the sofa between him and her. And just when his face and mind showed that he didn't understand, she bolted towards the door. Then, she spoke. "You stay away! I know! I KNOW! Don't you dare come near me!" She struggled to open the door, looking and shouting over her shoulder. He half-stood, reaching out to her. His face was confused and hurt, but he never made a move towards her. "Goddammit, Johnny! I said STAY AWAY!" She couldn't open the door, it was locked. She whipped around, faced him with a terrified expression. All through the night Stray cat is crying so stray cat sings back All through the night They have forgotten what by day they lack Oh under those white street lamps There is a little chance they may see One word escaped his lips. "Devi…" "Don't you…stay back! I swear, Nny, let me out! I…get away!" She began clawing at the walls. He took a step forward. Then, it hit him. He saw what she saw. He saw images floating across her vision. Her possible death. The girls. The blood. All the rot and filth that had cluttered his soul she saw. And she was afraid. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye. More like a prevision. He saw Devi, sprawled on the ground. More importantly, sprawled on the ground where he had landed the night so many long, lonely nights ago. He saw blood. He saw her lifeless body. But he saw no weapon. No knife. No gun. Thank that little pudding-creature of a God, no gun. He wouldn't be able to stand himself. "Please, Devi…" He reached up, like a frightened and lost child. "No! Stay back! I'm warning you! I…uhhhh…." She fell. We have no past we won't reach back Keep with me forward all through the night And once we start the meter clicks And it goes running all through the night Until it ends there is no end "NO!" Nny twitched on the floor. It hurt to see her like that. Oh, how it hurt. But he had to keep going. It was like some horrid movie they were playing at the Camera and someone was prying and holding his eyes open so he had to watch. He couldn't escape. Oh the sleep in your eyes is enough Let me be there let me stay there awhile He felt for a pulse. Nothing. She raised her head. He saw her hurt eyes. Saw the twisted mouth. Heard her last words. "Why, Nny? Why would you…." She gasped. "Why would you kill me? We had such a beautiful thing…so beautiful…." "I…didn't mean to, Devi. I swear I didn't." He realized, with her final breath, that he had confessed to a crime he didn't commit. We have no past we won't reach back Keep with me forward all through the night And once we start the meter clicks And it goes running all through the night Until it ends there is no end Nny jolted out of his reverie. It was the same dark room. The same boarded window with stars flickering through. Each star seemed to show a pinpoint of light on the floor. Nny reached down to touch them, to hold a star. But, he withdrew his hand from the boards, wet. The pinpoints were only reflections in his spilt tears. Keep with me forward all through the night And once we start the meter clicks And it goes running all through the night Until it ends there is no end