I was almost afraid to go outside. When I finally opened my triple-bolted door, all I saw was Squee. He was making a pancake.
"There's not any cereal left." He said simply. "So I'm making you a pancake."
"Thanks. Aren't you a little young to be working a stove, though? You're eight, right?"
"Seven. I cook a lot. Daddy doesn't, and Mommy… she forgets to turn on the heat." He looked up at me, tears twinkling in his eyes.
"They're dead, aren't they?"
Christ. How do I say this?
"Yes. Yes they are."
"Thought so." He turned back to the pancake, and flipped it over.
"Is Nny going to kill me?"
"Where on Earth did you get that idea?"
"He killed people before… like the guy at the mall. And the survey man. And Shmee says he kills lots of people."
This was gonna take some explaining.
"No, Nny isn't going to kill you. You're safe."
"Is the Devil going to take me?"
"The Devil?"
Play innocent.
"I heard you talking to him this morning."
"That wasn't the devil, silly, that was…"
"He's my friend's dad. I know the devil when I see him."
"Fine. And, no, he isn't going to take you. He put you with us. And he said to keep you safe. So that's what we're going to do."
"Okay." He flipped the pancake onto a plate, and handed it to me.
"I'm going to my room for a while, OK?"
"Sure."
It was about two minutes later that Johnny came in. He had a few mud smears on his clothes; I could only guess what he had been doing.
"I took care of the bodies…"
"Good."
"Hey… about this morning…"
"Yes?"
"Sorry. I got carried away."
"Yeah. I know. Any idea why?"
"I don't know. I know that was a stupid thing to do."
"Stupid, nothing. That was DANGEROUS. I got to come back to life once, I don't know if I could pull it off again. If I get killed, I'm just as gone as everyone else."
"I KNOW, Ok? And I'm not exactly sure what I was doing."
"I know what you were doing. And I don't want you EVER to do it again."
"Okay. I won't."
"I'm gonna go repaint the wall."
"See you later."
It's scary that painting the wall has become almost as regular and normal a chore as cleaning out dryer lint. Shudder
"I know what he was doing."
"Shut up, MEAT. I'm not in the mood for you now."
"Nice kid, that Squee. Did you know his teddy bear's a mind parasite?"
"So? So're you."
"So was Damon. So were the doughboys."
"So was nail bunny. So was Elijah."
"Evil outnumbers good."
"The Devil says keep him with Squee."
"HA! The Devil's who made Johnny go psycho today."
"That wasn't the Devil. I think he got a bad rap. He just RUNS the place."
"If it wasn't the Devil, who was it?"
"If you know, tell me. Quit teasing me."
"Oh, let's just say I know a little girl named Devi. Devi D."
"And who is she?"
But the psychotic statue just grinned at me. God, I hate that guy.
I don't go poking into other's business. And anyone who knows me knows I'm just FINE with leaving the past where it is. But being human (Regrettably) I have a natural sense of curiosity. I just had to find this Devi person. Thank you, internet.
So I found myself outside an apartment. The curtains were drawn, it didn't look like any lights were on. I wondered if maybe I could have the wrong address.
Tentivly I knocked on the door. It opened just a crack. I noticed there were about ten chain locks.
"Is there anyone in the hall?"
I looked up and down the bright corridor.
"No, not that I can see."
"Okay."
The door closed and I heard the chains being undone. The door opened, and I was pulled inside. A girl stood in front of me, with purple hair pulled back into ponytails. She had a haunted look, and her eyes darted around their sockets.
"Sorry. But you can't be too careful. He knows where I live, you know."
"Who knows?"
"Johnny" Her eyes got bigger.
Aw, crap.
"What do you know about him?" I asked.
"I went out with him once. Just once."
"And?"
"He was fine! The perfect guy! I thought maybe, for once in my life I was gonna have a date where the guy didn't shit himself or something!"
Devi was circling around the room. I was getting a little nervous.
"And all of a sudden, he starts grinning like a maniac, and he disappears into a back room, and when I went to find where he'd gone, he pulled a couple of daggers on me! Talking about "Immortalizing the moment" and I fought him off… kicked his skinny ass too… But the scary thing is the police don't believe me. They keep acting like I didn't even report it!" She eyed me suspiciously. "Why? How do you know him?"
"Um… I'm kind of dating him…"
"NO! Get away! He'll try to kill you too! At the very LEAST he'll give you the BRAIN PARASITES!"
"Already had those. I lost mine."
"Oh, really? You're lucky. Mine's a pain…"
"I know what you mean. Mine went crazy and tried to kill me. Annihilate the population of Earth, ya no?"
"Yeah, but- WAIT! Back to Johnny! You have to get away from him! Seriously. You don't believe me, I know. He's such a nice guy. He'd never do anything horrible like try to kill you. BUT HE DOES. I'd never have believed it, either."
If only you knew.
"Get away while you still can. And if he tries to kill you, too, don't try to reason with him. He seriously thinks he's just 'immortalizing the moment.' He's insane. Violently so."
"Maybe"
She gave me a cold look.
"No. I know how you feel. I would have made excuses for him too. I love him still. But the fact still remains. Leave him alone."
Squeak
Her eyes went wide.
"The beast what Squeaks."
She hid behind the couch, and a banging started on the door.
"QUICK! The window! Save yourself!"
I opened the door, to see a black girl standing there, squeaking a little rubber doll. I grabbed it, threw it down the hall, and ran the other direction.
By the time I got home, I was beginning to get worried. What if Devi was right? Johnny, she was right, was not the most sane guy on the block… in the world…. And the afterworlds…
Ahem.
I decided to go looking for him, although that means venturing into the basement.
I walked through the normally-locked door, and down the stairs. I could hear Squee playing with his bear in the living room. (Ironic)
I passed through room after room of horrendous torture devices, going deeper and deeper. One looked like it would hurl about two hundred knives simultaneously at a person. Another appeared to be able to rip a person apart. I shuddered. All I had ever done was slit the throat. For the most point, a painless way of incurring death.
I could hear voices echoing out from below me. Johnny had a young woman down there. Probably a cheerleader.
"Please let me go! I promise I won't go to the police!"
"Ah, the shrieks of the dying. But you would. They all would."
"I don't want to die…"
"I regret to inform you, that, sadly, you have little to say in the matter. See, you are an asshole, and I am a crazed madman. Therefore, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion."
"But I was just PLAYING! You can't kill someone over a couple giggles!"
"Oh, but I can. Look around you. I would say that not only CAN I, I have, and with alarming frequency. Because life should only be in the possession of those who appreciate it. Not like you. For, had you really appreciated it, you and you friends would have more CARE as to who you MESSED with."
"My friends? Oh, God. Marana, and Jesse… Alex, Patricia, you killed all of them?"
"No… no I didn't."
"Who got away?"
"No one. Most of your friends are somewhere below us. Awaiting the same fate as you."
"FUCK! You crazy BASTARD! How can you DO this? Don't you ever THINK-Gchhu"
"Yes." Johnny said softly. "I do."
My God. Maybe Devi IS right…
I kept heading down, and found a room full of people, just as Johnny was coming through the door on the other end.
"Oh, Hi Marissa… I was just um… working…"
"HELP ME! Lady, GET ME DOWN! That stupid bastard's a psycho!" Johnny threw a knife he had produced from nowhere, cleanly decapitating the man, and embedding the knife in the wall behind, balancing the head on the knife.
"Anyone ELSE wanna talk?" the bound victims-to-be shook their heads franticly.
"Good." He turned back to me. "Did you know you can still feel pain after you're beheaded? You're still alive until your brain suffocates."
"Wonderful. I just had a talk with someone MEAT sent me to."
"Oh, god. Why do you LISTEN to him?"
"OFF THE POINT. Does the name 'Devi' ring a bell?" He glared coldly at me.
"Yes. That was before. When the Doughboys still spoke. And I tried to make up with her. I TRIED."
"You TRIED to KILL her!"
"I was losing it! That was right before I committed suicide. The wall was seriously nagging me, I hadn't fed it for weeks…"
"That's not the POINT. How do I know the same thing won't happen to ME? The first thing you DID upon meeting me was kill me. And I LIKE you, but that little 'argument' we had today WORRIES me."
"And it worries ME, too, but Marissa… I LOVE you. And I wouldn't ever kill you."
I couldn't help it. I had to giggle.
"We have gotta be the only people EVER to have this conversation, EVER."
He laughed a little, too.
"So you're not mad at me?"
"No. I just wanted to talk about that."
"You women, with all your talking."
"I can be quiet."
I leaned on him, and we kissed. And for once, I realized that I really did love him. Love love.
Distantly, I heard a wolf whistle, and I felt Johnny move his arm a little; I suspected someone else had just lost their head. I didn't mind right then. I was otherwise occupied.