If Only I Could Dream
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~ Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.
A/N: Guess what? We're almost to the end.
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Chapter 8: Watch me As I Fall
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Never in his entire life had Johnny experienced such horrifying pain. The pupils of his eyes had contracted to a small size, like two tiny ants; and he stood there for a moment, floating in a way. He swayed incoherently, legs ready to give out on him.
With the last of any control he held, he finally managed to mouth something that looked like, "Devi." However, what came out was, "eeeeeech...."Then he fell, flat on his face, hands clutching his bruised groin. His body jolted in convulsions and his eyes twitched maniacally, the brutal thrashing of pain ever present on his face and in his pupils, screaming out for help, in silence.
Devi sat there in the closet, holding Squee tightly in her arms. Hm....he was really small. Like a cheeseburger or something.....when was the last time she had had a cheeseburger, or any type of fast food of some sort? This thought crossed her mind, and she quickly blinked it away, shaking her head at her own ignorance.
It had just been an accident; she hadn't meant to hit him there. She hadn't meant to hit him at all. She really just wanted to scream, but then that fist of hers just shot out on its own, as if magnetically drawn to Johnny's crotch. It was an accident....but...if it provided a necessary distraction, then she and this kid could get away.
Johnny spasmed on the floor, and Devi made her move. She held Squee up against her chest, and gracefully stepped over the skinny man's form. Maybe gracefully wasn't the word. It was more of a jump, resulting in a little more than a loud crash into Squee's dresser.
Junk piled down on the two, raining upon them like cats and dogs, nailing them. Both Devi and Squee screamed, Devi in pain and fear, and Squee only from the latter, but the moment was short and Devi found herself scrambling out of the room with the small child in hand.
She skidded to a stop in front of the staircase, breath racing and placed Squee gently on the floor, where she crouched down a moment later. Her hands fell upon his shoulders and she stared at him intensely, almost losing herself in those enormous eyes of his. "Todd, you need to get out of here as soon as possible. I want you to run to the house next door, understand? I'm going to stay here and see if I can't stop that psycho long enough for you to get away."
Squee bit his lip. "But, that's Johnny. Johnny's-"
Devi raised an eyebrow. "How do you know Johnny? Nevermind, just hurry up and run before he kills us!" She attempted to give the boy a light tap to get him moving, but he swung around again to face, innocence dripping off of him like some cheap cologne.
"But, the people in the house next door are gone on vacation and I can't go into the other one," he squealed in panic. From his room, they could hear a loud grunt and the sound of someone attempting to stand up. "The dead people are there. If I go in there, he'll kill me!"
Devi stared, shock all too noticeable on her face. "What? What's the house number next door, Todd? Hurry up, before he kills us NOW."
"777."
The numbers burned their way into her brain, and a peculiar sizzling noise could be heard in the far reaches of her mind. She blinked mindlessly, not looking at anything in particular, but rather staring in the way a child stares when an officer is hauling away their poor mommy and/or daddy.
"777," she repeated. It was almost like a new word with the way she said it. "Johnny's house...."There as another awkward moment; Squee was tempted to tap her shoulder and make sure she was still coherent, but refrained and instead made good use of the moment to see just how far Johnny had gotten out of his room. At the moment, it was only his hand on the doorframe and he still couldn't seem to say anything other than an occasional grunt.
In fact, Johnny didn't appear to be moving at all, but just supporting himself on the frame of the door.
Devi shook her head, suddenly snapping out of her momentary funk. She glanced over Squee's head to where the kid himself was looking and finally replied, "Okay, don't worry about it. Just...just run to another part of the house. Run to a closet and hide there as fast as possible. Do it. Your life depends on it."
Squee nodded and bolted down the stairs, turning the corner and racing out of sight. Devi smiled. He really was a cute kid....maybe too cute. Those cute kids always seemed to get one into one giant mess of trouble. For God's sake, she was already risking her life to let him flee....what the hell was wrong with her?
Johnny moved slowly from the room, head lowered, eyes slitted, face dark and hideous in the dim lighting. He glared at Devi, his white teeth gleaming at her from a growling mouth. He stared at her with all the wrath of hell and a cruel voice spilled out from between his lips.
"I'm going to fucking kill you, Devi D.," the words split her ears. "I'm going to carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey and drench the ground in your disgusting bitch blood. And then I'm going to make little Squee mop it up with his stupid fucking bear." Johnny grinned, head still lowered. "And you know what's going to happen after that, my dearest Devi?"
Devi bit her lip, tears swelling up in her fear-filled eyes. "Oh my God...."
"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to tear him to fucking pieces; rip him apart like so many assholes have been in the past." Johnny declared, pulling his knife into view. "And then the Johnny you knew will be dead! That fucking moron you talked to so many times at the bookstore and on that date of yours will be as dead those two fuckers downstairs! No more will I have to listen to his mindless little ravings on life and death, or feel his pathetic heart thump whenever you enter his mind! No more guilt, no more thirsting for companionship, and no more love for you, Devi D.!!"
The woman screamed, watching as he raced for her, knife drawn. She waited to die.
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Now, what had happened before Johnny had stomped out from young Squee's bedroom was a slur of thoughts in Johnny's little misbegotten mind, mostly about how much his crotch hurt. He paid no attention to the fact that Devi and Squee had leapt over him, quite victorious, however pathetic, because at the time, he was unable to think at all.
He squirmed around a bit, noticing his fallen weapon within arm's reach, but didn't care enough to grab it. He could only look back on what had happened and wonder why he had let it. *Oh holy FUCK!! Oh my fucking....argh!! Devi, Devi, Devi, why? Because she hates me that's why....but fuck that hurt!!!
What occurred then was completely short of what Johnny would've considered fair. It returned, speaking to him, when he had no way of defending himself against it. He held no control.
*Johnny* the voice cooed. *Quite this little game of theirs. Think of it, you and I...as one total embodiment. We could be unstoppable. The killing we could do, the suffering we could inflict, all without thought or regret.*
"You mean....without reason...?" Johnny groaned, still feeling the impact of Devi's fist against him.
The voice seemed somewhat irritated by this comment. *I'm going to give you one last chance. If you don't take the boy's life willingly, then I'll do it for you. I'm not going to let a little wuss like you fuck this up for me. I've been waiting so long to get free....too long.*
Johnny felt that strangulating hold once more. He gasped for air, choking and thrashing, but it did no good. "Stop it!" he rasped, as his arm unwillingly began to reach for the knife nearby. He blinked and quickly kicked the utensil aside, watching as it slide underneath Squee's bed. "I am...not going to....to let you hur-hurt him!!"he screamed, trying to make it to the door on his stomach.
He managed to stand, but only for a moment, because he slipped on one of the fallen trinkets from Squee's dresser. The thin man knocked his jaw against the floor, and remained in his injured position, stunned. It took that one moment for the other to strangle him further, and Johnny fell into blackness.
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A/N: Now, back to the hallway, with our friends, Johnny C. and Devi D.
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"So, what do ya say, my dearest Devi?" Johnny snickered, edging closer to her. "Why not just stand still for me? Make it easy on the both of us, you most of all. Do you really want to die panting, stinking of sweat, with that make-up dripping down your pretty face?" He advanced closer still, waving the blade in front of her like a tempting piece of chocolate to a child.
Devi shook her head, eyes wide with fear. "You're insane, Johnny....juh-just stay the hell away from me, and that kid. I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but just fucking stay away!" She grabbed the edge of the staircase railing, readying herself to run when the opportunity presented itself.
Johnny seemed to notice, as he glanced down at her moving hand, and, without moving his head, looked back into her eyes. He stared at her skeptically, as if she were the stupidest being in existence, and chuckled lowly. "Devi, come now. You don't honestly think you can outrun me, do you?" He laughed again, his cold, girl-like giggle running a course up Devi's spine and she unconsciously shuddered. "I'm not the same Johnny you once knew. I'm smarter, stronger, and above all, better than what you had come to know about that horrid little creature. There is no longer Johnny, Devi. I am JOHNNY."
Devi raised an eyebrow, slightly shaking her head, and trying to figure out exactly what was running through that obviously small brain of his. "What's the fuck is the difference?"
Johnny, or rather JOHNNY, stood perfectly straight, dropping his arms at his sides and shrugged. "Well," he answered in a matter-of-fact voice, "if you were to write it out, it'd be all capitalized letters. Quite a stretch, don't you think?" The emotionless state quickly faded and he resumed his former state with the knife placed outward, waiting to stab.
"Yeah," Devi sarcastically complimented. "Real great, but now that that's been explained, I think its time I left."
JOHNNY grinned. "Whatever for? You've only just arrived." He suddenly hurled himself into the air, knocking into Devi and both bodies went flying down the steps.
The fall seemed like an eternity; every step was another bruise and cut, another snap to add to an awful collection of wounds. Devi felt JOHNNY continuously slam into her on the way down, and waited for the moment the blade would slice into her. The house was a concert of grunts and bangs, until the two made it to the bottom.
Then all was quiet.
Had anyone actually witnessed the incident (other than JOHNNY and Devi) they would tell you that the whole thing would've been laugh out loud hilarious were it not for the fact that likely someone had died in the event. It was true; it looked like something that would happen on SNL or to a much lower extent, Dick Van Dyke, but this was reality. Whatever happened here was real, and it hurt like a bitch.
Devi lay there for a moment, her eyes staring up at the ceiling, which spiraled around her. That was all she could do, as all energy had been temporarily sucked out of her body. She wanted to scan the room to find where JOHNNY had landed, but the ceiling was so captivating, and it felt as if she'd broken her neck.
The sound of soft breathing oozed into her ears like something oozy. She strained to tell where it was coming from, but concentrating only proved more painful. Knowing that if was probably the last person she wanted to be near, she decided it was time to leave.
Devi raised a hand to her head, feeling for a wound, blood, anything. She did not, thankfully, and tried to sit herself up. There was only one tiny problem. She couldn't, the reason being that her greatest fear had come to stop.
JOHNNY lay draped across her chest, his face nuzzled into the start of her neck; arms hanging off of her body, and one of those boots of his crushing her leg. He was bleeding from his forehead and possibly his mouth too, drenching her shirt with the red fluid. He groaned suddenly, jerking his arm to her side, and Devi inhaled.
*Oh my God, what do I do, what do I do....*
JOHNNY seemed to hear her thoughts, and brought his head up, groggily opening his eyes. He stared at her oddly, as if he didn't recognize her in the least. Then it all came back.
She wanted to move; dear God, how she tried, but despite his small size, he proved stronger than one would ever think. He had effectively pinned her with his body, and stared down at her. But it wasn't the stare he used earlier, up the stairs just before forcing her down the steps. It held, this stare of his, the very same innocence she had seen in him the day she met him in the bookstore, and the times after. It was all too apparent now.
He was no longer JOHNNY, but Johnny.
"Devi...I...what am I......doing.....what happened....?"
Devi suddenly managed to push him off and began to crawl towards the door. "Don't you dare come near, you sadistic pile of shit! I don't care if you're Johnny or that other JOHNNY with the capital letters or whatever!"
Johnny cocked an eyebrow. "Wha-?"
Devi glared, fear dripping from her forehead. "Don't even say a fucking word! Stay the hell away from me!"
The innocence from Johnny's eyes suddenly disappeared; she knew who he was now. JOHNNY had taken over again. He licked his lips and stood, blood sliding a path from his forehead and mouth (as she had suspected) and drizzling off of his chin.
"Ah, there we go," he giggled again. "That Johnny of yours is quite a pest. Imagine: escaping me to save your disgusting little life. If only he had said what he had been craving to say to you. 'Oh, Devi. I LOVE you.' Ha! Oh well, such emotions are dismissible. Soon, we...or, I should be saying I, won't have any to worry about."
Devi shivered.
He wiped the some blood away and narrowed his eyes menacingly. "Now, where were we? Oh yes, I remember. I was just getting ready to kill you. Such an amazing pastime, you know. Killing people."
"You killed them, didn't you?" Devi accused, biting her lip. "It was you. You killed them both off...you monster."
"Yesssss......."JOHNNY confessed proudly. "I had to do something while that pitiful boyfriend of yours lay unconscious. I wasn't going to just lie around with him, waiting out the boredom. Waiting for that simpering ass to get up and go on and on with those stupid emotions for as long as those figments would take it. No; I'm not a figment. I'm real; I could do something about it, so I did. Yes, I killed them, and I'll kill you, and then, I'll kill Squee."
"You can't possibly believe that I'm going to let you do that, "Devi replied, still in the midst of wondering what the hell she could ever hope to accomplish. "You couldn't even manage to kill me. What makes you think you can kill him?"
JOHNNY began to laugh, hard. It stared out as a simple chuckling/giggling, but quickly escalated to the point where he had to use the wall for support. Devi stared as he did this, waiting to hear a very audible snapping sound. There was no such thing and JOHNNY finally managed to calm down.
"You can't be serious," he answered, still laughing slightly. "Firstly, I wasn't the one who tried to kill you that night. That was Johnny. You know, the WEAK Johnny. Secondly, Squee is but a mere child. Without you're protection, he's dead. And even if I did allow you to live, there is nothing to save him from me."
There was a long, uncomfortable pause, then JOHNNY began to shift.
"What the hell did I do with that knife?"
Devi rolled her eyes. JOHNNY seemed dumber than Johnny. Still, dumb or not, now was the time to strike. She had to act, for herself, and for Todd.
JOHNNY was still captivated with the search of the knife, and that 's when Devi delivered a hard blow to his face, giving him a mouthful of shoe. The force knocked him back against the stairs, and he slammed his head downward. Blood shot out from his mouth and Devi could now see a very visible cut in the center of his lower lip. It spat up blood, which quickly flowed down his chin and onto his chest.
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The nightmare was beginning to come true. Squee could see it now. From the death of his parents to the monster consuming poor Johnny. Johnny who had thrown himself in front of the creature to save him. He knew now that Johnny wasn't there anymore. None of them were. Not his parents, not Shmee, not Johnny, and there was no sign that the Devi lady would make it out of his house alive.
Squee curled up into a small ball in the basement, underneath the stairs. He could hear the ruckus from upstairs: the sound of something falling down the steps, then a small silence that was shortly followed by screaming and yelling and other sounds he didn't want to sort out. The Devi lady was up there, risking her life for him, this young boy.
He couldn't understand why she had done that; he already made so many people miserable. Was he anything worth saving....? He sniffled, wishing with all his heart that Shmee were with him, but knowing the likelihood of the bear still lying on the floor in his room. Besides, Shmee had left him, forever. He had said he would, but Squee hadn't listened and lost the bear for the rest of his life.
He had been crying. He didn't remember when he had started, but when his face had gotten wet with tears, he brought his small hand to the corner of his large eye, coming to realize that was from him; that he was gasping and sobbing uncontrollable.
He noticed it was silent. The whole house had become dead; the two people upstairs were silent, unmoving, as if they were no longer there. Perhaps they weren't. Was it safe? Should he leave? Every thought in his brain told him no, even his stomach betrayed him. All of his body and mind said no....but he had to see. It couldn't be helped.
Squee wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt and began to head up the basement stairs, hearing every wooden step creak in protest. They screamed at him, warnings and such; still he didn't listen. He had to see if Devi was okay...maybe she killed Johnny......maybe Johnny killed her....maybe they killed one another.
He was at the door, hand on the knob. His stomach growled angrily for being ignored, but Squee continued to pay it no mind. Curiosity had gotten the best of him, holding his hand as he turned the knob.
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A/N: Only a couple more chapters. Are you excited.....? Yeah, Devi's OC. At least I think so, maybe Squee too. But oh well. That's that. You get?
Oh yeah, Evil Johnny has a name now. Now we can visually tell the difference. Yay!!
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~ Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.
A/N: Guess what? We're almost to the end.
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Chapter 8: Watch me As I Fall
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Never in his entire life had Johnny experienced such horrifying pain. The pupils of his eyes had contracted to a small size, like two tiny ants; and he stood there for a moment, floating in a way. He swayed incoherently, legs ready to give out on him.
With the last of any control he held, he finally managed to mouth something that looked like, "Devi." However, what came out was, "eeeeeech...."Then he fell, flat on his face, hands clutching his bruised groin. His body jolted in convulsions and his eyes twitched maniacally, the brutal thrashing of pain ever present on his face and in his pupils, screaming out for help, in silence.
Devi sat there in the closet, holding Squee tightly in her arms. Hm....he was really small. Like a cheeseburger or something.....when was the last time she had had a cheeseburger, or any type of fast food of some sort? This thought crossed her mind, and she quickly blinked it away, shaking her head at her own ignorance.
It had just been an accident; she hadn't meant to hit him there. She hadn't meant to hit him at all. She really just wanted to scream, but then that fist of hers just shot out on its own, as if magnetically drawn to Johnny's crotch. It was an accident....but...if it provided a necessary distraction, then she and this kid could get away.
Johnny spasmed on the floor, and Devi made her move. She held Squee up against her chest, and gracefully stepped over the skinny man's form. Maybe gracefully wasn't the word. It was more of a jump, resulting in a little more than a loud crash into Squee's dresser.
Junk piled down on the two, raining upon them like cats and dogs, nailing them. Both Devi and Squee screamed, Devi in pain and fear, and Squee only from the latter, but the moment was short and Devi found herself scrambling out of the room with the small child in hand.
She skidded to a stop in front of the staircase, breath racing and placed Squee gently on the floor, where she crouched down a moment later. Her hands fell upon his shoulders and she stared at him intensely, almost losing herself in those enormous eyes of his. "Todd, you need to get out of here as soon as possible. I want you to run to the house next door, understand? I'm going to stay here and see if I can't stop that psycho long enough for you to get away."
Squee bit his lip. "But, that's Johnny. Johnny's-"
Devi raised an eyebrow. "How do you know Johnny? Nevermind, just hurry up and run before he kills us!" She attempted to give the boy a light tap to get him moving, but he swung around again to face, innocence dripping off of him like some cheap cologne.
"But, the people in the house next door are gone on vacation and I can't go into the other one," he squealed in panic. From his room, they could hear a loud grunt and the sound of someone attempting to stand up. "The dead people are there. If I go in there, he'll kill me!"
Devi stared, shock all too noticeable on her face. "What? What's the house number next door, Todd? Hurry up, before he kills us NOW."
"777."
The numbers burned their way into her brain, and a peculiar sizzling noise could be heard in the far reaches of her mind. She blinked mindlessly, not looking at anything in particular, but rather staring in the way a child stares when an officer is hauling away their poor mommy and/or daddy.
"777," she repeated. It was almost like a new word with the way she said it. "Johnny's house...."There as another awkward moment; Squee was tempted to tap her shoulder and make sure she was still coherent, but refrained and instead made good use of the moment to see just how far Johnny had gotten out of his room. At the moment, it was only his hand on the doorframe and he still couldn't seem to say anything other than an occasional grunt.
In fact, Johnny didn't appear to be moving at all, but just supporting himself on the frame of the door.
Devi shook her head, suddenly snapping out of her momentary funk. She glanced over Squee's head to where the kid himself was looking and finally replied, "Okay, don't worry about it. Just...just run to another part of the house. Run to a closet and hide there as fast as possible. Do it. Your life depends on it."
Squee nodded and bolted down the stairs, turning the corner and racing out of sight. Devi smiled. He really was a cute kid....maybe too cute. Those cute kids always seemed to get one into one giant mess of trouble. For God's sake, she was already risking her life to let him flee....what the hell was wrong with her?
Johnny moved slowly from the room, head lowered, eyes slitted, face dark and hideous in the dim lighting. He glared at Devi, his white teeth gleaming at her from a growling mouth. He stared at her with all the wrath of hell and a cruel voice spilled out from between his lips.
"I'm going to fucking kill you, Devi D.," the words split her ears. "I'm going to carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey and drench the ground in your disgusting bitch blood. And then I'm going to make little Squee mop it up with his stupid fucking bear." Johnny grinned, head still lowered. "And you know what's going to happen after that, my dearest Devi?"
Devi bit her lip, tears swelling up in her fear-filled eyes. "Oh my God...."
"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to tear him to fucking pieces; rip him apart like so many assholes have been in the past." Johnny declared, pulling his knife into view. "And then the Johnny you knew will be dead! That fucking moron you talked to so many times at the bookstore and on that date of yours will be as dead those two fuckers downstairs! No more will I have to listen to his mindless little ravings on life and death, or feel his pathetic heart thump whenever you enter his mind! No more guilt, no more thirsting for companionship, and no more love for you, Devi D.!!"
The woman screamed, watching as he raced for her, knife drawn. She waited to die.
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Now, what had happened before Johnny had stomped out from young Squee's bedroom was a slur of thoughts in Johnny's little misbegotten mind, mostly about how much his crotch hurt. He paid no attention to the fact that Devi and Squee had leapt over him, quite victorious, however pathetic, because at the time, he was unable to think at all.
He squirmed around a bit, noticing his fallen weapon within arm's reach, but didn't care enough to grab it. He could only look back on what had happened and wonder why he had let it. *Oh holy FUCK!! Oh my fucking....argh!! Devi, Devi, Devi, why? Because she hates me that's why....but fuck that hurt!!!
What occurred then was completely short of what Johnny would've considered fair. It returned, speaking to him, when he had no way of defending himself against it. He held no control.
*Johnny* the voice cooed. *Quite this little game of theirs. Think of it, you and I...as one total embodiment. We could be unstoppable. The killing we could do, the suffering we could inflict, all without thought or regret.*
"You mean....without reason...?" Johnny groaned, still feeling the impact of Devi's fist against him.
The voice seemed somewhat irritated by this comment. *I'm going to give you one last chance. If you don't take the boy's life willingly, then I'll do it for you. I'm not going to let a little wuss like you fuck this up for me. I've been waiting so long to get free....too long.*
Johnny felt that strangulating hold once more. He gasped for air, choking and thrashing, but it did no good. "Stop it!" he rasped, as his arm unwillingly began to reach for the knife nearby. He blinked and quickly kicked the utensil aside, watching as it slide underneath Squee's bed. "I am...not going to....to let you hur-hurt him!!"he screamed, trying to make it to the door on his stomach.
He managed to stand, but only for a moment, because he slipped on one of the fallen trinkets from Squee's dresser. The thin man knocked his jaw against the floor, and remained in his injured position, stunned. It took that one moment for the other to strangle him further, and Johnny fell into blackness.
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A/N: Now, back to the hallway, with our friends, Johnny C. and Devi D.
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"So, what do ya say, my dearest Devi?" Johnny snickered, edging closer to her. "Why not just stand still for me? Make it easy on the both of us, you most of all. Do you really want to die panting, stinking of sweat, with that make-up dripping down your pretty face?" He advanced closer still, waving the blade in front of her like a tempting piece of chocolate to a child.
Devi shook her head, eyes wide with fear. "You're insane, Johnny....juh-just stay the hell away from me, and that kid. I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but just fucking stay away!" She grabbed the edge of the staircase railing, readying herself to run when the opportunity presented itself.
Johnny seemed to notice, as he glanced down at her moving hand, and, without moving his head, looked back into her eyes. He stared at her skeptically, as if she were the stupidest being in existence, and chuckled lowly. "Devi, come now. You don't honestly think you can outrun me, do you?" He laughed again, his cold, girl-like giggle running a course up Devi's spine and she unconsciously shuddered. "I'm not the same Johnny you once knew. I'm smarter, stronger, and above all, better than what you had come to know about that horrid little creature. There is no longer Johnny, Devi. I am JOHNNY."
Devi raised an eyebrow, slightly shaking her head, and trying to figure out exactly what was running through that obviously small brain of his. "What's the fuck is the difference?"
Johnny, or rather JOHNNY, stood perfectly straight, dropping his arms at his sides and shrugged. "Well," he answered in a matter-of-fact voice, "if you were to write it out, it'd be all capitalized letters. Quite a stretch, don't you think?" The emotionless state quickly faded and he resumed his former state with the knife placed outward, waiting to stab.
"Yeah," Devi sarcastically complimented. "Real great, but now that that's been explained, I think its time I left."
JOHNNY grinned. "Whatever for? You've only just arrived." He suddenly hurled himself into the air, knocking into Devi and both bodies went flying down the steps.
The fall seemed like an eternity; every step was another bruise and cut, another snap to add to an awful collection of wounds. Devi felt JOHNNY continuously slam into her on the way down, and waited for the moment the blade would slice into her. The house was a concert of grunts and bangs, until the two made it to the bottom.
Then all was quiet.
Had anyone actually witnessed the incident (other than JOHNNY and Devi) they would tell you that the whole thing would've been laugh out loud hilarious were it not for the fact that likely someone had died in the event. It was true; it looked like something that would happen on SNL or to a much lower extent, Dick Van Dyke, but this was reality. Whatever happened here was real, and it hurt like a bitch.
Devi lay there for a moment, her eyes staring up at the ceiling, which spiraled around her. That was all she could do, as all energy had been temporarily sucked out of her body. She wanted to scan the room to find where JOHNNY had landed, but the ceiling was so captivating, and it felt as if she'd broken her neck.
The sound of soft breathing oozed into her ears like something oozy. She strained to tell where it was coming from, but concentrating only proved more painful. Knowing that if was probably the last person she wanted to be near, she decided it was time to leave.
Devi raised a hand to her head, feeling for a wound, blood, anything. She did not, thankfully, and tried to sit herself up. There was only one tiny problem. She couldn't, the reason being that her greatest fear had come to stop.
JOHNNY lay draped across her chest, his face nuzzled into the start of her neck; arms hanging off of her body, and one of those boots of his crushing her leg. He was bleeding from his forehead and possibly his mouth too, drenching her shirt with the red fluid. He groaned suddenly, jerking his arm to her side, and Devi inhaled.
*Oh my God, what do I do, what do I do....*
JOHNNY seemed to hear her thoughts, and brought his head up, groggily opening his eyes. He stared at her oddly, as if he didn't recognize her in the least. Then it all came back.
She wanted to move; dear God, how she tried, but despite his small size, he proved stronger than one would ever think. He had effectively pinned her with his body, and stared down at her. But it wasn't the stare he used earlier, up the stairs just before forcing her down the steps. It held, this stare of his, the very same innocence she had seen in him the day she met him in the bookstore, and the times after. It was all too apparent now.
He was no longer JOHNNY, but Johnny.
"Devi...I...what am I......doing.....what happened....?"
Devi suddenly managed to push him off and began to crawl towards the door. "Don't you dare come near, you sadistic pile of shit! I don't care if you're Johnny or that other JOHNNY with the capital letters or whatever!"
Johnny cocked an eyebrow. "Wha-?"
Devi glared, fear dripping from her forehead. "Don't even say a fucking word! Stay the hell away from me!"
The innocence from Johnny's eyes suddenly disappeared; she knew who he was now. JOHNNY had taken over again. He licked his lips and stood, blood sliding a path from his forehead and mouth (as she had suspected) and drizzling off of his chin.
"Ah, there we go," he giggled again. "That Johnny of yours is quite a pest. Imagine: escaping me to save your disgusting little life. If only he had said what he had been craving to say to you. 'Oh, Devi. I LOVE you.' Ha! Oh well, such emotions are dismissible. Soon, we...or, I should be saying I, won't have any to worry about."
Devi shivered.
He wiped the some blood away and narrowed his eyes menacingly. "Now, where were we? Oh yes, I remember. I was just getting ready to kill you. Such an amazing pastime, you know. Killing people."
"You killed them, didn't you?" Devi accused, biting her lip. "It was you. You killed them both off...you monster."
"Yesssss......."JOHNNY confessed proudly. "I had to do something while that pitiful boyfriend of yours lay unconscious. I wasn't going to just lie around with him, waiting out the boredom. Waiting for that simpering ass to get up and go on and on with those stupid emotions for as long as those figments would take it. No; I'm not a figment. I'm real; I could do something about it, so I did. Yes, I killed them, and I'll kill you, and then, I'll kill Squee."
"You can't possibly believe that I'm going to let you do that, "Devi replied, still in the midst of wondering what the hell she could ever hope to accomplish. "You couldn't even manage to kill me. What makes you think you can kill him?"
JOHNNY began to laugh, hard. It stared out as a simple chuckling/giggling, but quickly escalated to the point where he had to use the wall for support. Devi stared as he did this, waiting to hear a very audible snapping sound. There was no such thing and JOHNNY finally managed to calm down.
"You can't be serious," he answered, still laughing slightly. "Firstly, I wasn't the one who tried to kill you that night. That was Johnny. You know, the WEAK Johnny. Secondly, Squee is but a mere child. Without you're protection, he's dead. And even if I did allow you to live, there is nothing to save him from me."
There was a long, uncomfortable pause, then JOHNNY began to shift.
"What the hell did I do with that knife?"
Devi rolled her eyes. JOHNNY seemed dumber than Johnny. Still, dumb or not, now was the time to strike. She had to act, for herself, and for Todd.
JOHNNY was still captivated with the search of the knife, and that 's when Devi delivered a hard blow to his face, giving him a mouthful of shoe. The force knocked him back against the stairs, and he slammed his head downward. Blood shot out from his mouth and Devi could now see a very visible cut in the center of his lower lip. It spat up blood, which quickly flowed down his chin and onto his chest.
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The nightmare was beginning to come true. Squee could see it now. From the death of his parents to the monster consuming poor Johnny. Johnny who had thrown himself in front of the creature to save him. He knew now that Johnny wasn't there anymore. None of them were. Not his parents, not Shmee, not Johnny, and there was no sign that the Devi lady would make it out of his house alive.
Squee curled up into a small ball in the basement, underneath the stairs. He could hear the ruckus from upstairs: the sound of something falling down the steps, then a small silence that was shortly followed by screaming and yelling and other sounds he didn't want to sort out. The Devi lady was up there, risking her life for him, this young boy.
He couldn't understand why she had done that; he already made so many people miserable. Was he anything worth saving....? He sniffled, wishing with all his heart that Shmee were with him, but knowing the likelihood of the bear still lying on the floor in his room. Besides, Shmee had left him, forever. He had said he would, but Squee hadn't listened and lost the bear for the rest of his life.
He had been crying. He didn't remember when he had started, but when his face had gotten wet with tears, he brought his small hand to the corner of his large eye, coming to realize that was from him; that he was gasping and sobbing uncontrollable.
He noticed it was silent. The whole house had become dead; the two people upstairs were silent, unmoving, as if they were no longer there. Perhaps they weren't. Was it safe? Should he leave? Every thought in his brain told him no, even his stomach betrayed him. All of his body and mind said no....but he had to see. It couldn't be helped.
Squee wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt and began to head up the basement stairs, hearing every wooden step creak in protest. They screamed at him, warnings and such; still he didn't listen. He had to see if Devi was okay...maybe she killed Johnny......maybe Johnny killed her....maybe they killed one another.
He was at the door, hand on the knob. His stomach growled angrily for being ignored, but Squee continued to pay it no mind. Curiosity had gotten the best of him, holding his hand as he turned the knob.
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A/N: Only a couple more chapters. Are you excited.....? Yeah, Devi's OC. At least I think so, maybe Squee too. But oh well. That's that. You get?
Oh yeah, Evil Johnny has a name now. Now we can visually tell the difference. Yay!!