Author's note: Goddess, I'm starting to run out of ideas. I think I'm going to end this fairly soon, but you never know. I'm onto the twenty-seventh page of this damned story, and I hope it won't be too long for anyone to read. Oh, well. There have been much longer fics...Anyway, Annette and Nny seem to be getting along better now, and Devi's finally popped up. It was only a matter of time, folks. Raven isn't going to have too much to do with the plot, but it's always fun to put characters in that have no idea about Nny's little...eh, hobby. And Tenna...well, she's just going to be Tenna.
Eh, I'm getting bored again. I better go back to the story...pleasant something, people.
"Nny, can you stop doing that?"
Nny cleaned off his knife on his latest victim's shirt. He rolled his eyes at Raven, sighed, and tucked the weapon away.
"It's in my nature. Leave me alone."
Annette's eyes were very wide, and she didn't bother to wipe the blood off of her face. Nny saw her expression and smiled broadly.
"Oh, cheer up, Annette. Remember, you can't spell manslaughter without laughter!"
The eight-year-old's face twitched slightly, and she laughed. Raven just looked at her and shook her head.
"There are so many things wrong with this picture."
Nny fingered a small dagger almost absent-mindedly while staring at Raven. He gave it an experimental dig into his palm and tossed it up in the air a few times. Completely silent, he judged the distance between them. Raven's eyes widened.
"Whoa. Calm down, Nny. I didn't mean to get you upset. It's just I'm as concerned about Annette as you are, you know? And a homicidal maniac is...erm, might not be exactly fitting to be..."
Annette giggled. "Don't play, Nny. She scared. Give me knife."
Nny reluctantly handed the dagger to Annette. She expertly flipped it into the air before catching it and slipping it into a pocket of her trench coat. Nny smiled and silently applauded her.
"She's learning so fast..."
"Oh, God. Guys, we should go now." Raven tugged at Devi and Tenna's sleeves.
"Hey, this is fun!" Tenna laughed and took hold of Raven's wrist. "Hey, you two, wanna go out to eat somewhere? My treat!"
"...I don't eat much..." Nny looked at Annette. "Are you hungry, Annette?"
"Oui, tres faim."
Devi shrugged. "If she's paying, I don't see why not."
Tenna grinned and immediately dragged Raven off toward the bus stop. The other three followed, sharing a silent snigger at Raven's struggles.
A short bus ride and only three corpses later, they arrived at a small Japanese restaurant. Tenna, apparently, was a frequent guest there, and she eagerly shouted a greeting to the owners, an older couple and a young woman who was presumably their daughter. Devi and the owners exchanged short bows. Raven looked more relaxed, and she nodded to the young woman. Nny and Annette just bowed and followed at the rear.
"What can I get you today, guys?" the young woman, whose nametag read "Miyuki," asked.
"The usual, Mi. Dev'll have the same thing. Raven, how about you?"
"Um....Sushi?"
"What kind?"
"Um, how about crab, if you have it. Cooked, please."
"Okay, and you, sir?"
"Call me Nny, and...what is this?"
"Um...it's very good..."
"But what is it?"
"Squid."
"Oh, okay, then. Sounds good."
Miyuki gave Annette a wide, friendly smile. "What would you like to eat, sweetheart?"
"Aimes-tu...poisson?" asked Raven.
"Oui, Raven. J'aime beaucoup poisson."
"She'll have sushi, too. Cooked fish, please. We don't want her getting food poisoning."
"She's French? What a darling little girl. What's your name, dear?"
"Je m'appelle Annette."
"Oh, how lovely! Who is she with?"
"The guy that's covered in blood. The one that's sitting right next to her." Raven's face was rather pale.
"Oh, really? Your daughter?"
"Er...sort of. Not exactly."
"Well, you make sure to take good care of the kawaii little girl, okay? Now what did you guys want to drink with that?"
"Is is too early for alcohol?" Raven gave Miyuki a desperate look.
"Go ahead."
"Thanks. Then give me a bottle of sake."
"Bring another two and three Cokes, okay? Annette should have a Sprite or something." Tenna waved it away like it was nothing. "Arigato, Mi."
"You're welcome. Mom will bring out your drinks in a sec, and your food should be ready soon." Miyuki bowed and left.
"Nice girl, Miyuki. A bit on the rebellious side, but come on, aren't we all?" Tenna was talking coherently. How much had she had to drink already?
Annette giggled. "She say I cute. She think I Nny fille."
"Well, you do look a lot like him." Devi leaned back on her pillow and smiled. "It's a little weird to think of you raising a kid, Nny."
The group sat on pillows around a low, beautifully decorated table. Annette seemed to be fascinated with this, that is if her proddings and glances under the table were any indication. She inspected the cushion she was perched on with an expression on her face that stated clearly "This is weird. I didn't think Americans ate like this."
Miyuki's mother, Suki, whisked the drinks to the table in a matter of minutes. Annette nearly drained hers right away, so Suki brought her a refill. Raven consumed almost half of the sake in a single gulp, and afterward she seemed a little more at ease. The conversation rose up in the small, dim restaurant as time went on, and even Nny joined in occasionally. Miyuki stopped by a ways in and was soon part of the discussion.
"So how do we really know anything? We just trust in the explanations offered to us by countless so-called 'experts' in the hopes of acquiring some form of concrete information." That was Nny, speaking slowly and with his eyes half-closed.
"We don't know anything for sure. I mean, if we really wanted to, we could completely decide that gravity doesn't exist. Hell, we could walk on the ceiling if we truly believed that it was possible." Devi.
"But we can't just decide that gravity doesn't exist. We're bred to believe that it does." Tenna after a glass of sake.
"So? Why couldn't we just say that gravity is stupid and walk up the wall? Just because we're bred to say it's there doesn't mean that we have to really believe it." Raven after a bottle of sake.
" Its not that simple. To say is one thing, but to believe is quite another. "
"That's what I think, Annette. I mean, you can say that the moon is made of cheese, but to believe it, you have to completely overcome that basic logic you've been taught from infancy!" Tenna after another glass of sake.
"It's not impossible, though." Nny again. "Still, it deviates from my point. We really know nothing. It's sort of like how when we look at things, we don't see the object, just the light bouncing off of it. We don't even know if the object is truly there. After all, we can make light reflect off of a lot of things. We can put it anywhere. So this room may not really have a ceiling. We just believe that it's there because we see light reflecting off of something there."
"True. And speaking of color, what is truly colorless? Because white and black can be colors, so it can't be either of those things, and gray is a color, and so is yellow and brown and dusty beige. What would you say is colorless?" Devi after a glass of Coke and sake.
"Well, black and white are voids-" Nny after a glass of sake.
"But we use dyes to make black and white, and dyes are colored water." Devi again.
"Perhaps colorless is like black and white and all the colors at once." Miyuki.
"Maybe, but it still doesn't quite explain it."
"Food." Annette was staring off at something behind the group.
Suki's husband, Hiro, appeared as if by magic, laden down with trays and plates of food. Miyuki quickly helped him set down his load, and Tenna thanked them. The other four followed suit in a mix of languages.
Annette actually seemed to like her food. She became entranced with the chopsticks set out for eating and quickly found many uses for them. Mainly poking people. Nny almost pulled a knife on her before catching himself and settling for poking her back.
Awhile later, the five slipped out of the restaurant with many goodbyes to the owners. Miyuki invited them to come back any time, even after hours as she and her parents lived above the place. Raven had to be half-carried to the bus. Devi nearly fell up the steps to the vehicle, and Nny wasn't doing much better. In fact, the only one besides Annette that seemed even remotely sober was Tenna, and she's had more to drink that anyone. Annette just gave everyone strange looks and tried to sit as far away from Nny as possible.
A few blocks and a busload of bodies later, Nny and Annette got off of the bus and walked back to Nny's house. That bus wasn't going anywhere anyway. Nny had trouble opening the door, so Annette opened it for him and escorted him to the living room, where he essentially collapsed onto the couch. The girl made no comment and went about her business elsewhere.
Author's note: why do I keep doing these things? oh well. Anyway, it's so fun to write drinking scenes. People get into the weirdest conversations...But whatever. Nny's currently got a hangover, so he won't be in the best of moods for awhile. We're gonna fast forward to a month or two later, okay? It should have worn off by then. And I have nothing else to say, so let's get back to the story, eh?
Winter was in full force. Snow had piled up everywhere, and the roof and become a health hazard to anyone stupid enough to brave the cold. Nonetheless, Nny and Annette were perched on the icy shingles at midnight, looking down on the portion of the city that was still visible in the thick fog. The latter was wondering if perhaps she should make Nny go inside and at least get a jacket before his arms froze off.
"Annette, are you...sane?"
The question threw her off. "Pardon?"
"I mean, you're not hideously warped, are you?"
"Not that I know of."
"Well, do you find it....amusing when people are tortured and killed?"
"Yes, it is very funny." Annette's huge eyes stared at Nny in a way that vaguely frightened him.
"Yeah, you're warped. God, this is wonderful. I've succeeded in destroying the sanity of a child." He sighed. "Well, I suppose you can always repress all this when you're an adult or something."
Neither of them were entirely sure if they were conversing in French or English. They had begun to mix the languages, using English phrases in with French and vice versa. It was now as natural to them as anything they could have done. The only thing annoying about it was that they often had to explain what they were saying when anyone else was listening to them.
"Why? I feel normal." Annette thought for a moment. "I'm not tempted to kill anything yet. Why should it be a problem?"
"Because children are not supposed to be so casual about death! It's....not right." Nny was silent for a time, looking out at the people rushing into buildings like hellfire itself was at their heels. "And it's odd, but for some reason it seems wrong that I keep killing people in front of you. I never used to have a problem with witnesses, but..." He shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, it's late. You should go to sleep."
"I'm not tired."
"Kids need sleep. You will go inside now. I don't want to see you awake in ten minutes."
Annette smiled and slid down the roof, hooking one hand over the edge and swinging out of sight. Nny had been doing things like that for a month or so. It was funny, in a strange, uncharacteristic way.
Annette retrieved her dolls from the kitchen table and wiped the blood off of Sally's dress. It was a bit thicker tonight than normal. Perhaps that was the reason for Nny's little apology. She shrugged and went off to her room, pulling the diary out from under her pillow in the same fluid movement she used to fall onto the bed.
Dear Diary,
Nny is acting strangely. He seems to show regret for his actions, something that doesn't happen often. It's unlikely that he'll try to repent, but I must be on the lookout for any such actions. He might get a little scary if he's too serious about it.
I've been here for almost....what is it? Four months? Five? I don't even know anymore. It seems like this place is home now. Oh, what am I saying? It was home the night I stepped foot in the place. As strange as it is, I like it. Nny is a very interesting person to know once you get past the....rough edges.
I wonder if she was right about him. Is he my father? I highly doubt it, but...they're right. We DO resemble one another. At any rate, he seems to have unofficially adopted me. I'm not sure if I'm afraid or overjoyed.
I really should sleep. It's very late. I promise I'll write more tomorrow. Perhaps then my head will be clearer.
Antoinette
Thirty seconds later, she was asleep.
Meanwhile, Nny was roaming the streets. His arsenal carefully arranged in the messenger bag at his side, he was humming to himself. The CD player was set on Ode to Joy, and he couldn't be happier. Nothing could destroy his good mood.
Then the rather grotesquely clothed teenager tripped him. He went down without a sound, but stood up and drew in a hiss of breath. The kid and his friends laughed at the blood slowly dripping down Nny's forehead and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?"
The quiet question startled the kids. They turned to see Nny rummaging through his bag with a calm attitude that vaguely frightened them. A small smile played around the man's lips even as his blood stained them red.
"Look, man, you are obviously screwed up in the head. Get away from us before you infect-"
Nny looked up, and the kid trailed off, too shocked to continue. Dead eyes were smoldering with something that wasn't hatred but pure bloodlust. Nny found what he was looking for and held up two daggers, crossing his arms over his chest. Had he been laying down, he would have resembled a mummy in a sarcophagus. The teenagers began to back up, but another look from Nny and they froze.
"You can't leave yet. You see, I've been feeling so happy tonight. You rudely took that happiness away. Now I'd like to get it back. Why don't we have some fun now, hmm?" A wider smile, and he advanced, stalking his prey.
And then a pool of crimson was flooding the ground. One of the teenagers stumbled back, staring dumbly at the huge tear in the front of his shirt. More crimson, and he slowly sank to the ground. The others screamed, but couldn't move with their feet nailed to the pavement by shuriken.
A flurry of slashing, and three more fell. Nny was covered in blood now, but those dead eyes hadn't blinked once. He whipped out a pair of ice picks, jamming them into another kid's ears. The resulting cracks and spillings of brainmeats didn't seem to faze him, though the remaining irritants were rapidly losing their sanity.
"Oh, God, please n-" The unfortunate received a machete to the mouth that went through the back of her head and into the skull of the kid behind her.
And then there were two. Nny circled his last victim, eyes unfocused. He blinked, then grinned insanely, eyes clear again.
"Remember, kids, you can't spell 'manslaughter' without 'laughter!'"
He cackled and drove his dagger through the leader's head.
"Thank you for that bit of entertainment," he laughed, giving a bow to his recently deceased audience. "I feel so much better now."
And humming Ode to Joy, he continued on his way.
Just beyond where the bodies lay, a woman shakily dialed a number at a payphone.
"Nice look, Nny. I like the color scheme."
Annette smiled wryly and gestured to the still-blood-covered Nny. He looked down, shrugged, and continued eating. Most of the stuff had dried already, leaving his face streaked with what looked like rust-colored war paint. Still, there were a few new patches of red from the store clerk he had disagreed with earlier that morning.
"You're eating. That's good."
"I haven't for a week or two. I was starting to feel it."
"Wonderful. I think I'm going to skool with Squee again today."
"Alright. Whatever you want to do."
"You're not very social today."
"Am I ever?"
"I mean you're really quite hostile."
"Well, I apologize. I haven't slept in a month and it's beginning to get to me."
Annette was silent, looking down at her bowl of cereal. He hadn't asked her yet. She wasn't even sure what day it was, but she knew it was getting close. And somehow it seemed wrong to let it pass without comment or recognition.
"What day is it, Nny?" she finally asked in her quiet, thickly accented English.
"How would I know?"
"Do you know what the date is?"
"Sometime in late January, I think. The twenty-something."
"Oh."
It was on the third of February. Her mother had always celebrated it on the thirteenth, though, because of the baptism. She still had time.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave?"
"Oh, yes, of course." Annette gave a small smile and stood up, not bothering to clear her dishes away. Nny would take care of that if he felt like it. If not, then she could get it when she returned.
A new pair of black jeans replaced the silk pajama pants, and she swiftly attached the matching chains to the appropriate loops like a pro. Annette found a lovely little shirt with the words "Just Because I'm Psychotic, it Doesn't Mean I have Mental Problems" and a little picture of a deranged-looking manga girl gracing the front of it. She threw it on under her trench coat and dug around for her Doc Martens. Not leaving the house for long periods of time tended to get things like that misplaced.
Nny was staring off into space when she reentered the kitchen. Annette smiled, finally located her shoes under the table, and turned to leave.
"When is your birthday, Annette?"
The sudden question stopped her. "Eh...Mon anniversaire est le third of February. Why?"
"Just wondering. You can leave now."
"Okay. Salut, Nny."
No answer. Annette shrugged and left the house, being careful not to lock the door behind her. She didn't have a key, and there was no telling if her guardian would be home when she returned. Besides, it wasn't like any sane person would actually attempt entry into that house, anyway.
Good thing Annette wasn't sane.
Squee was waiting for her. His mother muttered something unintelligible out the window and threw an empty bottle of pills at the girl, but other than that the trip was rather uneventful. Jack and Sally were deposited in the passenger seat before their owner scrambled in next to them. They were at the skool in record time.
"Oh! Bonjour, Annette! Nice to have you back again!" Mme DeFleur gave Annette a wide smile when she walked into the room.
"Bonjour, Madame," was the quiet reply.
Annette fastened a few pins onto her shirt, (the anarchy symbol, "I don't have a license to kill, but I DO have a learner's permit," "Leave me Alone," and "Be All You Can't Be") her gaze roving around the now-familiar room. There was a woman sitting in the corner, bespectacled eyes fastened on her from beneath a wispy curtain of brown hair. The woman motioned for her to come over, and after a slight hesitation, she did.
"Hello, dear," the woman greeted her with a smile as wide as it was fake. "What's your name?"
"Je m'appelle Annette, Madame."
"I heard that your name was Antoinette."
"Oui, but j'aime Annette."
"You live with someone called Johnny C., correct?"
Blank stare.
"Otherwise known as Nny."
"Oh, oui. Why?"
"Well, I'm supposed to be checking up on you, Annette. Making sure you're happy, that sort of thing. It's my job."
"And what job would that be?"
"They told me you would be speaking French. Why the sudden change?"
"I am staying with an American, Madame. I should have picked something up by now." Annette was beginning to distrust this woman. She was too sugary. "And what job do you hold that would require you to pry into my personal affairs?"
"I'm sorry if I'm offending you, honey, but I work with the state, and they want to make sure you're happy. We all want to make sure that you're happy. It's just that we care, sweetie."
"My name is Annette."
The woman wrote something down on the clipboard she carried. It didn't look good, even though Annette couldn't read it. Another smile, and the social worker tried again.
"When's your birthday, Annette?"
"Why do you need to know?"
"I just want to verify some information we have on you."
The paper with her "information" on it was completely blank. Annette was feeling more suspicious than ever. Her eyes narrowed to slits, and she clutched Jack and Sally for dear life.
"Mon anniversaire est le trois fevrier."
Another note, this time on the blank page. "And you're eight years old?"
"Oui."
"Okay, Annette. Oh, what an...interesting doll you have there..."
"Elle s'appelle Sally." Annette pointed to the first doll, then the other. "Et il s'appelle Jack."
"L-lovely. Where did you get them?"
"Hot Topic."
"Did someone buy them-"
"Nny."
"I thought so." More notes. "Does he take you there often? I see that your...style seems to reflect a darker tone than a girl your age should be wearing."
"Oui, Madame. J'adore noir. J'adore Hot Topic."
Even more notes. The woman seemed to be taking down everything Annette was saying and more. This was quite annoying. Everything the girl said or did was recorded as if this were an interrogation before a trial. And the woman was treating her like a child on top of it all. I am NOT a child! she thought angrily.
"Annette?"
"What?"
"I was asking you if you were happy at home."
"Of course I'm happy! Why shouldn't I be?"
"Well, your neighbors have been questioned, and they seem to agree that your...guardian is prone to violence."
"Well, yeah, but only when people piss him off. He'd never hurt me, though, because the first thing he did was teach me how to defend myself. He couldn't kill me even if he tried."
"I wasn't going to go so far, dear, but now that you've brought it up, does he kill people?"
"Only the bad ones. I can hear them screaming sometimes at night. And he can get very quiet sometimes and he leaves at all hours of the day and night. I go with him sometimes. Usually he just roams the streets. Every now and then I'll have to wait for him at the next corner while he takes care of somebody that was bad."
The woman's face had steadily paled throughout Annette's monologue. She suddenly gave a little squeak, and the girl paused.
"Yes, Madame?"
"That-that's enough, dear. You're sure he doesn't get violent with you? He doesn't yell or punish you at all?"
"Not really. He used to, back when I first came, but I think he just wasn't used to me yet. He'd only yell, though. Then I'd lock myself in a room and he'd calm down. But he's very nice now."
"And you said he leaves you alone?"
"Yes, he goes out all the time. Mostly just to walk, but I usually have to do things for myself. Why is it that you want to know so much about Nny?"
"Er, because we want to make sure that he's fit to be taking care of you."
"I'd much rather have you leave me alone. I'm perfectly content. You have no reason to be alarmed."
"You don't care at all that he kills people?" The woman's eyes were very wide.
"Why should I? They're just the bad people. The world is much better off without so many irritants skulking around."
"But-he kills them!"
"Yes. And? I would like to kill people sometimes. I don't though, because more than likely Nny will get to them before I could."
"I think I've heard enough. You can go back to your little friend now."
"You disgust me. Goodbye. And don't be surprised if someone comes to visit you soon. I think you'll be on our list."
Annette slipped away and went back to Squee's desk. The teenager regarded her with a curious stare, but he didn't ask her to tell him what had gone on during her exchange with the social worker. Instead, he handed her a pen and told her to go write in her diary.
So she did.
Dear Diary,
I hate social workers. They disgust me. This one, a woman who looked more plastic than anything, treated me like I was a child. I hate it when adults are so high and mighty about their age and the elevated status that they feel it gives them. My Lord, I wish I could just knock them right off that pedestal.
Ah well. Perhaps another time. I could always ask Nny to take care of her for me, but there is just something therapeutic in getting revenge by oneself, is there not? And anyway, what fun would THAT be?
I'm getting worried, though. That woman was awfully nosey about my home life. She seemed overly focused on Nny. I hope that she won't do anything stupid.
I'm worrying for nothing, more than likely. Perhaps I'm just imagining things. That social worker really MIGHT have just been concerned about my well-being.
Yes, of course. And I'm really a three-eyed alien from Neptune.
I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Whatever comes, I'll be ready for it. I hope.
Antoinette
Author's note: There's something missing here...Oh, wait. I know what it is. There is little to no cursing in this thing. Goddess, there should be profanities on every page, if not every paragraph! Except I'm not very comfortable with that kind of thing yet. I'm perfectly content to just say stuff like "he cursed under his breath" and the like. We'll save the hard-core stuff for a later date, perhaps the next fic.
At any rate, I promise to wrap this up soon. Relatively soon. I know where the thing's going, at least. So this is probably only going to be three or four chapters. YES! Goddess, I loathe chapters. They take too much work to update and load and merde like that. But I'll be done soon! I hope.
Little Annette's been with Nny for like five months or something. I'm not even bothering to figure it out. It is WAY too late to try to attempt to make the effort to do a math problem. Confused? Because I have no idea what that thing about math was getting at...What the hell am I doing, anyway? I'm not coherent no more. I should be sleeping. Damn. It's not even midnight yet. Well, I had like six hours of sleep last night and the whole freaking week had had an average of about five hours a night, so maybe that's what's up. And I was out shopping all day and attending me little bro's birthday party-dammit I can't spell today it's taking me ten minutes to write this paragraph and Goddess I am so damned tired. But spending the day with four hyperactive boys at the Mall of America gets SO tiring.
But why should you care, anyway? I mean, you don't know me, probably, you have no idea where I am-well, maybe you know THAT, but whatever-and you couldn't care less about my fatigue. You just wanna keep reading. Well, this is me very own version of the "Sleep Deprived Introduction" so there. Jhonen is awesome. Goddess, I am so tired. I can't type. So hard to focus on keys enough to tap at them to form words. Wheeeeeeeeee............Umm....what was I talking about, anyway?
Oh, yeah. Annette is getting used to Nny, and Nny's getting used to her. Life is...well, it's probably not good, but it IS life. And now there's some stupid social worker messing with the kid's mind. Poor girl, being led so far astray. Why should ANNETTE care if Nny kills people? She's EIGHT. Give her a break, lady! Oh, wow. I'm yelling at my own characters. I think I have to go to sleep soon...
GYAH!!! MUST-GET-CAFFEINATED-BEVERAGE!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! PARENTAL UNITS TOO CLOSE TO THE REFRIGERATOR TO GET LIFE-SUSTAINING DRINK!!! So...weak...Dude. What the hell am I doing? I'm screaming over not having any soda. Screw this. I gotta go find me some sugar packets.
O...KAY. I can't find any sugar, which is weird, since I had about three dozen of them that I stole from the cafeteria in my room, but whatever. I seem to be relatively coherent now. What was I talking about? Um, yeah, so this social worker keeps talking to Annette. That lady sucks. I really ought to have Nny pay her a visit.
Um, and I think I'll put everybody back in here near the end. Pepito should show up before then, though. I like Pepito. I drew a picture of him in English on Friday. I was slightly disturbed, since he's the antichrist and these kids I talk to were having this long conversation about religion in the back of the room. Damn. I'm getting off-subject again.
My Goddess, I'm so tired. I think I'll go back to telling that insane story now. Maybe it'll make me less tired or something.
Okay, take two. I'm much better now, having had a night's sleep and large amounts of sugar-loaded substances. I don't have much to add other than Annette's gonna go through a lot more trauma before this thing's over with. Wow. I wasted like a page and a half talking about how damned tired I was. Goddess, I'm an idiot. A genius idiot, but still. Whoo hoo! Paradoxes can be fun! Er, anyway, back to the fun!
Squee hated that woman. Miss Tree was her name, and she was a social worker. She'd terrorized him as a little kid, and now she was after Annette. He remembered how she'd come to his door the night before...
"Excuse me, Todd, but if you have the time, I'd like to ask you a few questions."
"I don't have time for this."
"Oh, but I'll only be a few minutes. I heard that there was a little girl living in that house, 777."
"Yeah, her name's Antoinette. Why?" Anyone asking about Annette was suspicious in Squee's book.
"Well, I've also heard tell that the other occupant of the house may not be the best guardian for her. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but it's important that I get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible." Miss Tree seemed unfazed by the teenager's manner; in fact, a small smirk was playing about the corners of her mouth.
"Johnny is a perfectly good guardian. if anybody tried to touch the kid, he'd rip out their eyes with a spork. Hell, he's probably the best person she could possibly have looking out for her."
"Are you just exaggerating?"
"Not really. I've seen him do that before."
"Oh. Well, then. Can you arrange for Antoinette to come to your skool tomorrow so I can have a little chat with her?"
"No."
"Oh, but you will. That is, if you are interested in staying out of that asylum, you will. Good evening, Todd, dear."
Squee shivered. She was just as horrible as he remembered.