This chapter's somewhat short. I had some prior obligations, but it felt odd not putting up a new chapter today, so I did what I could. Mostly just some random dialogue between Nny and the thing. I've gotten tired of calling it such a vague name, so every now and then it's referred to as the stranger.
-----silec
Dust-colored, windy days and dim, reticent nights with no separation in between the two. Every now and then there'd be a thunderstorm to even things out, but everything stayed more or less the same. The landscape was constant as well; a bleak, sterile prairie, the dirt and sparse vegetation all one drab shade of puce.
Johnny was off somewhere else. You could see it in his unblinking eyes, the way he watched but never quite concentrated on the infinite, straight-line road ahead. The creature, the stranger, was content with this new Johnny, and rarely bothered him now. It was not yet a complete success, but he had him weakened, numb to the touch.
Even though it was an evil being, possibly with the motives to destroy Nny, it was his only company, and he was lonely. He sometimes missed their stilted, one-sided conversations. "You never did answer my question," he said. It was an ordinary, dreary morning, and he was especially bored. In response, he felt his stomach retract slightly.
"I'm sorry, what is you mean, Johnny?"
"What do you want. What is it you're trying to do to me, or make me do."
"Ah, that. Well, I'd rather let time tell you on that one, Nny."
"I'd much like you to die, by the way," he mentioned.
"Don't we all. We can't always get what we want, though." Johnny nodded, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "True, true."
They were quiet for the time being. After about an hour, he spoke again. "But that still doesn't answer my question."
"No, it doesn't. But you have to learn to accept some things, or else neither of us will get anywhere."
"But, my mission..." His gut exploded in intense spasms, and the car swerved out of control for a few seconds.
"You fucking idiot. Your mission, Johnny, is a moronic, ill-conceived plan that's going to kill you if you don't stop." He parked the car at the side of the road and spat out the meager contents of his stomach into a small growth of dandelions. He knelt there for a moment, staring at the trash strewn about the area. "Why should I listen to you? Isn't that what you're planning on doing, anyway?" It giggled at him in the voice of Nailbunny. He spit into the grass once more. "If you should die along the way, it's of no concern to me. However, I don't think it would be wise to end your life so painfully and stupidly. Anyway, I have much better things in mind for you."
Johnny coughed and got back in the car. "How lovely."
"Indeed, indeed..." it added, and the two fell silent for the remainder of the day.
Though Nny liked to believe that his mission thus far had been somewhat of a success, the observant artisan he had once been would turn up every now and then. Every morning, even now, he'd park the car and watch the sun rise from the colorful overture of brilliant red and gold. From time to time, the creature would give its own sarcastic opinion on the whole irony of the situation, but Nny was left otherwise alone in this ritual. So much thinking had left him full of questions and choices. Choices left him feeling itchy and naked. "There's so little about this world that I know, about my own being, and I suppose that could become a burden to my mission. So tell me, stranger. There's something I'd like to find out."
He felt a warm sensation spread throughout his veins. The thing was pleased with him. It made Johnny feel sick. But he felt that he needed to continue. "What are you?"
"Such a silly question, Johnny."
"You never seem to like answering my questions. Is it because you're scared of what I'd do if I knew the answers?" A passing breeze fluffed his dark hair. It had been months, if not years, since he'd been to Hell and back. It was growing in nicely.
"No, that's not it at all. I'm just very bored right now, Johnny. Being me, being with you, is a truly boring experience." Johnny laughed, dully. "How so?"
"It's like children, Johnny. Stupid, preadolescent children." He readjusted his uncomfortable seating position atop the car. The windblown antenna had been whipping his face. He now sat with crossed legs in a vaguely meditative pose. "So now you're saying I'm immature? Although I do admit that causing physical harm to those who upset you is a bit childish, I daresay it's hardly comparative." The warmth in his veins went cold. "That's not what I mean. You have things that you want, that your body is telling you that it needs, and you shut it out. Like those dumb little boys that throw rocks at a young girl rather than tell her that they have a hopeless infatuation. You reject all that makes you a living being, and tell yourself that it can be completely gotten rid of like some passing illness. And this idiotic little dance gets boring very fast, Johnny."
Johnny stretched out his legs and yawned a few times. "Do you deny the progress I've made, stranger? I feel nothing. I have no emotions, no obligations but to your own tiresome distractions."
"We all want what we can't have, Johnny. You seem to desire the impossible."
"Fuck you," Johnny said, jumping to the ground and patting his sides in search of the car keys.
"You poor, poor boy."