Print what ye want, it's no concern of mine, veggie.

------silec

He'd fallen asleep like that, next to Devi. Thoughts and inhibitions bombarded his mind, but he paid them no attention and instead succumbed to the wave of bliss spreading throughout his body. When he woke up, however many hours later, Devi was gone, and there was a man asking him to please leave.

Outside, the sun was barely up, but it blinded him. He put up a hand to shield his eyes, and saw Devi, who had pressed herself into a small stone alcove next to the door. She was fussing with her hands. "Johnny..." she said, staring at her toes. He turned, the confusion on his face making it appear as if it was the first time he'd ever seen her. "Don't go looking for me anymore," Devi whispered. Her face was wet. "You know that I'll sure as hell do something, if I find out you've been looking for me."

She pushed herself out of the alcove. "Promise me that you'll leave me alone now." The gears in Johnny's head were clogged, enabling an open-mouthed nod.

Devi started to leave, taking slow steps, but stopped at the first stair. "If you should ever see me, just by accident, I think that would be okay." She circled around. "But I couldn't stay, you know, if I saw you." Nny was smiling. The gesture was a disused one that cracked the skin around his mouth. He couldn't quite figure out why he was smiling. "So I guess this is goodbye, then?"

She ran up to Johnny and kissed him. It was a light touch on his lips, nothing more, and then she backed away. "Yes, I think it would be." She brushed some hair from her face. "Goodbye, Johnny."

"Goodbye, Devi." She waved to him, a small twinkling of her fingers, and then she left. He would not go looking for her, and she would be content if she was never found. And she was gone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"That was lame, Johnny."

"Shut up."

"That was incredibly lame. You should have done something. You could have done something. I know you." There were people staring. The crazy man was talking to himself.

"I told you to fucking shut up." He set the brainfreezy down on the counter, lukewarm red liquid spilling out over the top and onto his hand. He glanced at the cashier. It was a teenager. Nny recognized his ilk. More than one of them had become one of his victims. The boy had a look of disgust and superiority on his makeup-slathered, pimply face.

Johnny turned his head away and threw money at the boy. "I am in no mood for you."

"The fuck's your problem, faggot?" A knife was at his throat in a millisecond. He held his hands up above his head. "Hey! Hey, wait, no, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!"

"They never mean it, do they?" he rasped. He got up on the table, still holding the knife against the pale skin. "They laugh and they laugh, but if it ever gets back to them, they deny it all to save their own pathetic, worthless lives!" Johnny closed his eyes, and felt the movements, yet again. The way the flesh succumbed like butter to the blade. The blood, the voice, the way that they all stopped because of him. And he indulged in it. It was all a game, a game he'd missed so very much.

The others in the store were motionless. When Johnny realized that the boy was dead, he opened his eyes, and looked at the gore that clung to his face, his clothes. "It's nothing," he shouted, open his arms wide to the crowds. "Look, everyone, it's all nothing. All that you are, that which you aspire to be, is nothing!" But they weren't looking. They were screaming, and running away.

"LOOK, DAMNIT!" They still wouldn't listen. So he would have to teach them, one by one.

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It was late. Nny was glad to get home before it got too dark. When he parked his car into that familiar driveway, the anger he had felt earlier dissipated, and was replaced with calm. He was home. He was really, finally, home.

Everything was as he had left it. The doors were still nicely boarded up, the tire mark from when he'd departed so anxiously was still there in his plot of dead grass and loose dirt. And, he was sure, little Squeegee remained in his room next door.

"Why don't you go inside?" the stranger implored.

"I think I will..." He felt for his keys, found the right one, and place the rusted metal into the lock. The door squeaked open, falling off its hinges and landing in a cloud of dust. The moonlight scaring away any rats or insects that fell into the bright rectangle.

Johnny stepped inside. "I'm home!" he cried into the darkness. There was a silence. Suddenly, something short and quick skittered across the floor, keeping to the black wall directly across from Johnny. It stopped before the light of the doorway, not letting itself be seen, and laughed.

"And aren't we all so very happy..."