If Only I Could Dream
A/N: This is the shortest chapter in the whole thing. Hopefully, it'll all be wrapped up in a measly two more chapters, then we can all frolic and play and read the sequel....yes...there's a sequel....shut up.....it was the pen's idea.....I'm done now.
When Worlds Collide
Johnny sat up.
The world around him was an amazing blur of....black. It was a smoky black, drawing pictures and images all around, tearing through the air like a hot knife. He shuddered, suddenly feeling very cold and very alone.
"So this is inside me....?" he asked to no one but himself, starting to realize where he was. "I can't say I'm surprised in the least. I mean, I always knew that my insides couldn't have been much to look at, but I thought there'd at least be some kind of décor. Maybe some kind of monster roaming about, lurking and slithering, waiting to tear the flesh from my skin...."
He sighed. "Oh well. Maybe that's best...Dammit. I just wish I had at least gotten the chance to tell Devi...." A while after he had been consumed by his obviously darker side (how the hell was that possible?), the creature returned, and Johnny was quick to take his place and return to his physical form.
God, she was beautiful, even when she was scared. Those eyes....they were so beautiful. Of course, he couldn't say that he had been all that coherent when he had awoken back in reality, opening his eyes to realize that he was on top of her, bleeding and all. It scared him at first; he thought that maybe he had done something to her, maybe raped her, but they still had their clothes on and the bruises and cuts suggested that even if he had tried, he wasn't able to do much to her.
She feared him and that old feeling of hurt against his heart returned. He hated to see her like that. He hated to see her in such a great deal of pain. And he was the cause of it all. The words began to flow up his throat; he was ready to tell her what he had wanted to say for so long....and then, the monster returned.
That being he suddenly recognized, though he was not aware as to how, as JOHNNY took over. It had yanked him by his spiritual leg and tossed him into darkness, then quickly took his place.
Now, yet again, he was locked up inside his own head, shrouded in black, colder than ever. He could hear almost everything that was taking place and every now and then, there would be small images on what was occurring on the outside. However, he could not see what was happening now.
"Fuck it all..." he quietly spat, sitting himself down again. JOHNNY hadn't even killed Squee yet and already Johnny had lost control. Could it be that all the trying to lose emotions had driven him into further insanity? He had split himself into two souls in one body? He threw his head back, groaning in frustration. "What the FUCK am I doing?"
Suddenly, everything was twice as confusing as it had been before.
Your friend thought he could fight too.....
You friend thought he could fight...
...Thought he could fight...
...Fight...
Your friend though he could fight too....
What do I do.....? Is this just a figment of my imagination.....or maybe.....maybe....no, its real. Real like Sickness. But I fought back against her.....Johnny tried to fight.....something. He tried to fight himself....he failed. If -if he can't save himself...couldn't fight back.....then what chance do I have.....god. All of its real... But that's not Johnny.
Johnny's gone...gone....
Devi shrunk back from JOHNNY, who had swiftly raised another knife he had fished out from...somewhere; she noticed he had a strange habit of doing that. No, she compared it to the strange habit that Johnny had had. HAD. Even she could tell he wasn't there any longer. There was a shifting of personality. This guy had no 'down time.' No calm, thoughtful insight. Johnny did.
Nny... her mind whispered before she could think to stop it.
They were out of the house, but barely. Really, the two of them were out on the small concrete path leading towards the street from the front door, slowly but surely.
Devi whimpered, "What the hell are you doing? What have you done with Johnny?" She braced herself to turn and run at any moment possible...but the kid....what the hell would she do about the kid?
JOHNNY grinned sadistically, face dark. "Why, Johnny's gone, dearest Devi. I'm sorry. He didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. How...unfortunate." He continued advancing towards her, leisurely, wanting to burn the weapon through her flesh like a searing knife through butter.
"Oh, if only they could see you now, Ms. D." JOHNNY rambled, his mouth stretching into an unspeakable, leering smile of a clown. "All those souls you trampled on. They were never good enough for you, were they? Running on nothing short of idiocy, these pathetic beasts attempted to gain your interest. But that wasn't good enough for you was it? And then along came Johnny, strolling into that fucking bookstore as if he was oblivious to the evident demise that you would concoct and destroy him with. He was nice, he was normal, and he was pathetic. That's why you chose him, wasn't it, Devi...."
Devi grabbed at her temples, fear taking over. "No...no, its not true!! I-I liked Johnny! I really did! He was wonderful; he was charming; he was absolutely great..... He was! That's why I chose him!!! I wanted to be with him!!!"
What was going on here? All she had wanted was to find a goddamn phone so that she could try to reach Tenna again, and all of a sudden, she had stumbled onto this poor child and his raving maniac neighbor who wanted nothing more than to kill them off. Why God? Why do you mock me...?
JOHNNY cocked his head to the side, still grinning, his left brow raised in mock question. "Is that so....? Interesting...It seems that perhaps I was wrong....Could I have been wrong....? Yessssss, maybe... It may not be the young child that binds Johnny to what remains of his feelings, those ghastly things....nooooo, maybe it is you, Ms. Devi."
Devi gulped audibly. This was not leading anywhere near where she had wanted it to. "Y-you're insane...." was all she had managed to choke out, her voice soft and easily eaten by JOHNNY's contempt-filled laughter.
"Oh my God, you are a smart one, aren't you?" JOHNNY replied, running the edge of his pointed finger against the sharpened blade, gleaming angrily in Devi's eyes. "But then again, brains aren't exactly what you've been using. You may not be as smart as he gives you credit for. But, dear me....it seems I've been rambling. I really must learn to stop talking about such unimportant issues if I ever want to get the job done."
That said, he raised the blade, ready to penetrate and tear through bruised flesh. "This is for Johnny, the poor fool who could not bear to hurt you, not then and not now, and so, I will finish this for hi-."
JOHNNY stopped in mid-sentence, his body trembling and his teeth digging into his lower lip, drawing a fine line of blood from the sensitive skin. The knife fell from his hands to the paved ground beneath him and a shudder escaped soundly.
Devi stood, her eyes glaring dangerously at the creature of a man who stood before her, and quickly pulled her foot from out of his stomach. She watched with considerable pride as he lurched forward and she planted her fist against his jaw. He jolted backwards, blood spewing out from his nose and mouth, and he fell against the pavement with a loud thud.
There he lay, silent and still, almost as if he were dead, and to Devi, that's just what he appeared to be. Cautiously, as if she had never watched a single horror flick in her entire meaningless existence, she approached, watching as his chest moved up and down, heaving lightly. His eyebrows were knotted together in frustration, but he didn't stir, and so Devi readied herself to kick him one final time in the face, and bring back the real Johnny, the one she hated and feared, yet loved and cared for subconsciously.
A hand suddenly lashed outward, grabbing hard onto her wrist, and JOHNNY sat up, yanking Devi D. close to him. They were nose to nose, grin to frown, and the skinny man twisted her fragile joint until a particular snap could be heard over the woman's shrill screech of pain.
"You little bitch," he rasped, throwing her to the ground as he stood. "You fucking think I'm as weak as that skinny ass-fuck you first encountered? Shit, get a fucking clue. I am not Johnny, and I am most certainly not as weak!" he kicked her in the head, watching blissfully as she fell against the ground and lay still.
"Luh-luh-leave her alone," a quiet voice demanded from the open doorway and JOHNNY turned to gaze upon what sad little soul had decided to chime in and interrupt. The small creature swallowed something, and stuttered again, "It w-wuh-was me you wanted to chop up. So don't hurt her."
JOHNNY raised his lip, that familiar grin spreading across his face for the umpteenth time. "Oh, isn't that precious? Do you honestly think you're in any position to give orders, young Squee?" the demonic man chortled. "Now, run along upstairs. Play with your toys and I'll be along with you in a minute once my business is done here."
Squee gulped again, and shook his head madly. His large eyes were fixed solely at the ground at the point in time, but he cast forced them up as quickly as possible. "No...No. Don't hurt her. Johnny loves her. And-and he'll kill you if you don't stop."
"Johnny? THE Johnny?" JOHNNY giggled, lost in humor, his thoughts of Devi suddenly gone. "The one that I've destroyed, eaten, killed? The Johnny that has committed the same act that I have, by killing every other creature that deserved nothing less than pure, agonizing death and torture? You mean that Johnny?" He snorted, and glared at the child.
"A deluded boy you have grown to be, my friend." he informed, pointing an accusing finger. "Do you honestly think that his feelings coincide with mine? Pure, righteous bullshit! I have none. Just because he feels, no, FELT for this thing, does most certainly not mean I will feel for him. I don't care if he loves her, he can't come back and kill me, because he is DEAD!!"
Squee sniffled from the doorway. "No he's not. He's still alive."
JOHNNY giggled again. "Oh? And how do you know that?"
"'Cause Shmee told me so." Squee raised his small hands to reveal the teddy bear, smiling that obnoxious smile, its stitches only adding to its malice appearance. JOHNNY's eyes became wide, and he subconsciously took a step backwards.
"Fucking child's toy..."
"Shmee says that Johnny's still in you." Squee replied, hugging the bear close to his chest. "He says that he's-"
"Clawing at your insides, isn't he, you mortal illusion fuck?" the bear interrupted. "He's tearing and clawing, screaming and writhing. He knows what you're up to, he knows what's going to happen, and you know that he won't give up without a fight. He's seen what you have done with Devi, the pain you have caused her....and the pain you have caused Squee."
"Degenerate toy..."
"You've hurt the only two beings on earth worth loving, and he's seen that. You should know him inside and out. After all, you've dwelled within him for so long, that you should know what he does when someone pisses him off."
"NO!" JOHNNY fumed, slamming his boot onto the ground. "NO! Its not going to happen like that! I've killed him; he's dead and no fucking bear and his slave are going to bring him back! I am Johnny now! I am all that remains of him; I am the memories, I am the maniac; I am everything he wanted to be!"
There was a small silence; the entire world still, aside from JOHNNY's rapid breaths. The wind hurled itself into the trees and through the grass, shuffling through what hair remained on the skinny man's head.
"You are right," Shmee remarked after a few moments. "You are everything that freak wanted to be, but then again, you may be more. You've become everything he hates as well. He hates this new creature of his. You are a Frankenstein's Monster. You are a horrid beast that has become loathed by its creator. In essence, you are a walking pile of shit."
JOHNNY growled.
"And you let the girl get away." Shmee giggled. "You must be more like your creator than you want to admit, yes?"
JOHNNY whirled around, eyes practically bugging out of the sockets that contained them. It was true; Devi D. was gone. "What? But how? I-YOU distracted me!" he screamed, realizing what had taken place. "You distracted me and she fled! Aagh!! You impudent, little-"
Shmee's grin seemed to get bigger. "Fucks? At least the other Johnny was a little less repetitive than you, 'JOHNNY.'"
JOHNNY glared, his blackened eyes only quivering and twitching in response to the demonic bear. He lashed out his hand, pointing accusingly at the boy and his bear. "This can't stand any longer....I've taken too much time and effort to get this far, to tear away from that shithead creature you call a human. I've been beaten down, repressed into little more than oblivion, and forced to listen time and time again to that 'thing's' constant demands and ravings and rantings-! I can't lose now! I won't lose now! Not to you and most certainly not to him!!!"
Squee stepped forward, his eyes delivering tears upon the ground as if it were a plague from God and heaven above. Sadly, he stretched out his hand towards what was once a valuable 'friend' and stared, his lower lip quivering with emotional trauma.
"Please....please, Mr. JOHNNY." he replied. "Please let him go. If you wanna kill me, then kill me. I just want him to be okay. I don't want anyone to get hurt. Not Shmee, not the Devi lady, and not Nny. I don't wanna have to see anyone else hurt because of me."
Shmee screamed at the sudden emotional outburst from the child and immediately intervened. "NO! Todd, you don't know what you're doing! If you give him even the slightest chance to lay a hand or blade on you, he will tear you to ribbons! Don't give him the opportunity, you stupid, stupid boy!"
JOHNNY grinned. "Don't listen to the damn bear. He doesn't know the pain you're going through. But I do, Squee. I know all about it...."
Johnny jumped straight onto his feet. He could tell something was wrong. He could feel it, hear it, see it. Squee was in trouble. He had to.....had to do something...
Before he could even announce to his body that he was ready to think, he began to rush around, racing through the dark , his mind chattering away like a crowd of hippies. He felt his breath slipping away, but nothing mattered. Not anymore. Squee....that poor boy was in danger....he would be killed.
Was there nothing the man could do...? "SQUEEEEEEEE!!!"
JOHNNY moved closer and ripped the toy from the child's grip, leisurely throwing him aside onto the dead ground. Shmee attempted to protest, but the dirt smothered in his stuffed-bear mouth prevented him from doing so, and so, his pleas were ignored.
Squee heard his brain shriek at him to run, give him all the warnings, and in the end, he ignored it, even as JOHNNY crouched down to his level, those eyes piercing through him like a hot needle, and the skinny one's thin hands fell down upon his shoulders.
"This is what you want, isn't it, little Squee....this is what its come down to, and I can assure you, you're making the right decision." JOHNNY's voice was cold and low, stinging Squee's ears, and he winced at the sound. "That's right. Once you're dead, Johnny and Devi and everyone will be much better off. They won't hurt anymore. I swear it to you...."
JOHNNY's hands moved closer, curving around the child's small neck, and a small pressure followed. Squee closed his eyes tightly and shuddered, waiting for the moment, waiting to die.
"There, there, boy..." the voice continued. "It'll all be over soon."
The pressure grew and grew, and suddenly, Squee couldn't breathe anymore.
A/N: Sorry if it's all confusing. God, for such a short chapter, it was really long to write. Writer's block: thanks for nothing. A word of caution to this tale....: I'm gonna be writing another story, probably a one shot, but it may not/probably won't be a JTHM. I've already tried that (Nny/Mmy slash, one sided), and someday I'll put it up, but not right now..... Anyway, its really only to get my mind rolling so that I can leave this story for a bit and then come back from a little holiday and be all 'BAM! That's a great idea!!!'
Oh yeah, I've already started on a sequel for this, and an idea for a third story has come into play. I'll try to be a little more active. I promise.
Even I'm confused.....