Annette opened the door-at least, she opened it the rest of the way. It had been left partway open. Most unlike Nny, but then he wasn't exactly a predictable individual, so she wasn't too worried.
But the screaming coming from the general direction of the basement was a little alarming. It was Nny screaming. That was not good.
"I TOLD YOU ALREADY, EFF! I AM NOT GOING TO KILL HER! STOP TALKING TO ME! I HATE YOU! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE! NO, I AM NOT GOING TO KILL MYSELF! I DON'T CARE HOW BAD EVERYTHING IS! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
This outburst was followed by indistinct screams and thuds. Nny was stabbing something. Annette ventured closer to the basement door, carefully opening it just enough to slip through. More screams and thuds, followed by a loud crack as something gave way.
She made it down the first set of steps, and another door was ajar. She entered the room to find Nny curled up on the ground, sobbing. The two styrofoam dolls that he had called the doughboys were laying in pieces on the broken table near him.
"Leave me alone..." muttered Nny indistinctly, more to himself than anything.
"Er...Nny, are you-"
"What? Where-Annette, leave. NOW." Nny's head snapped up, and despite the tears in his eyes, he looked livid. "Get away from me!"
Annette bit her lip and started to back away. "Well, I don't want to anger you, so maybe I should go..."
"No! Wait!" A wild look came into Nny's eyes, and he clutched at the sides of his head hysterically. "Don't leave me alone with THEM!"
"Okay, Nny, I'll stay right here. The...things won't get you."
What the hell? I've never seen this before. Nny shouldn't be acting like this. I mean, he's pretty unstable, but TALKING DOLLS? This is just too strange.
"Thanks..."
Nny just sat there for a long time, breathing heavily and with his eyes closed. When he finally looked at her again, all traces of his outburst were gone. He smiled and stood, brushing the remnants of the styrofoam dolls to the ground and crushing them beneath the heels of his boots.
"I'm terribly sorry for my...outburst, Annette. Just a moment of weakness on my part. I'm fine now, I assure you."
"That's good. I was slightly afraid for a moment."
"I'm going out. Care to join me?"
"I suppose so. Where are we going?"
"I'm not entirely sure. A cafe, maybe. Somewhere with a lot of people."
"Why? I thought you hated-"
She stopped. There was a dangerous look in Nny's eyes that scared her speechless. Instead, she followed him back upstairs and out the door. Nny didn't bother to pause to even take his trench coat, so Annette fetched it for him and hurried after him.
"Take your coat, Nny. It's cold." She held the thing out to him, and he reluctantly took it and put it on.
"Yes, well, I'm not complaining," he muttered. "Now be quiet. I need to think."
So Annette remained silent for awhile and contented herself with watching the people go by. Many of them were dressed in predominantly black clothes and safety pins. They gave Nny and her a nasty smirk as they passed. It took Nny only a moment to make examples out of a few of them.
Then there were the preps. They passed in a flock, cheerleaders and their boyfriends chattering like geese. They gave Nny a withering look and smiled at Annette. She quickly took his knife hand to prevent any more bloodshed, and they kept going.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Annette was startled to find Nny turning into one of the cafes that lined the street. She quickly made an about-face and hurried in just before the door closed on her.
The kid at the register smirked, giving Nny the once-over. Clearly he wasn't up to par with the rest of the customers. This caused Nny to hesitate for a moment, returning the stare. Annette began to get very worried.
"Well, Annette, you may not want to stay in here for this. Go ahead and wait outside, will you?" Nny smiled evilly and began to rummage around in his ever-present messenger bag.
Annette nodded and hurried off, but she stopped and hid under a table near the door and out of sight. She was morbidly curious as to what would happen next.
Nny carefully removed a long dagger from its sheath and smiled at its perfectly polished surface. There was a small pause, and he stood on a chair in the middle of the cafe.
"Your attention, please," he called almost joyfully, fingering the dagger in anticipation. "I am presently unsure as to who among you have fed my growing distaste for mankind and who has not. You'll be glad to know that a small detail like that will not prevent me from sharing this with you all tonight. Let the fun begin."
Annette looked on in horror as Nny proceeded to brutally massacre everything that looked alive. Blood flew everywhere in a constant rain, drenching everything and everyone. Annette felt a light sprinkling of something and was terrified to see a fine layer of red dusting her hand. She shut her eyes and tried to block out the sounds, but it was impossible. The screams just cut through her head, splitting her sanity into a thousand little shards.
-Due to the immense violence of this scene, a portion of it has been omitted. (This also serves to keep it to a PG-13 rating. ;;) Anyway, we present to you this infinitely cuter scene about a little boy and his pet anteater:
Billy: Hi, there, Annie! You're such a good girl! Fetch, Annie!
Anteater: growls
Billy: Annie, what are you-
bloodcurdling scream sound of ripping flesh
Billy's Mother: BILLY!!! OH, DEAR GOD, GET AWAY FROM MY SON!!! BIL-
more screaming bloodspray bones cracking into pieces gurgle
CRUNCH
The end. And now back to your regularly scheduled program.
And then it was over. Nny calmly sat down on the crimson-coated ground and replaced his tools one by one, cleaning them on the shirts of whatever victim was nearby. It was as if nothing had happened. Well, that is, if you completely disregarded everything in the immediate vicinity. Annette slowly came out from her hiding-place, skirting around a severed hand and something that looked like it should have been inside of somebody's body. Nny looked up and was rather shocked to see her pale face.
"What did you do?" she asked hoarsely, barely comprehending what had just happened.
"They were annoying. I was just cleaning up the filth." Nny's brow furrowed. "Are you okay?"
Annette's response was to crumple to the ground in a dead faint.
Nny swore loudly. "Dammit! Now what am I going to do?"
When Annette woke again, she was back in her room. She looked around the darkened area by the bed and screamed.
"Could you please stop that?" Nny was reading by candle-light, and he glanced up from his book, annoyed. "It's giving me a headache."
"Get away from me!" Annette threw off the covers and scrambled into the corner.
"Why are you being so spastic today?"
Annette just screamed again and retreated farther into the corner. Nny sighed and closed his book, anticipating a long, long day.
"Annette, look. Those people back there were all irritants, the scum of the planet. They look down on others because of the way they dress and how they look. They all deserved some punishment."
"But not THAT!" She began screaming again in rapid French. " There was a little kid in there! What did he do to you? And that old woman! Now they're dead! All because of you and your insane ideas of humanity! "
"I didn't kill the kid. He ran out screaming before I got to him."
Annette didn't even pause to think of how Nny had understood her ranting. She went right on screaming and crying, letting out every bit of trauma she'd experienced those last five months.
" And what is up with you taking me along to witness a mass killing, huh? I'm eight years old! Kids my age shouldn't even know the meaning of the word massacre! What the hell is wrong with you? "
Nny just sat there and remained silent throughout the rest of Annette's rant. He kept his gaze focused on her, listening to every word she said, and figured out that there was something else amiss besides the whole bit about her being pissed as hell. There was a cog slipping in her brain.
"Annette, are you okay?" he asked again when she had finally stopped screaming.
"Yes, of course. I'm fine, Nny. How lovely of you to ask! I just watched a massacre! I'm perfectly okay!"
"No, I mean, are you okay."
"No, Nny, I am most certainly not okay."
"Well, that's not good."
Annette stared at him, flabbergasted. "That is truly the understatement of the millennium."
"Do you need to talk about something? Because I've heard that getting things off of your chest can really help to correct those pesky mental illnesses like insanity. Never worked for me, but then, I'm a lost cause. So really, what's bothering you?"
"You. Are. A. Homicidal. Maniac."
"And?"
"And you are taking care of an eight year old girl."
"Yes, we seem to have gotten past that stage. Now why are you so upset?"
Dead silence.
"Annette?"
"Have you been listening to a WORD I've said? I already told you why I'm so upset! Mon Dieu, you are an idiot!"
"You mean you're upset because of the whole killing thing? Why would you be? Look, I'm sorry if I scared you, but I really can't see the problem."
"You mean...it doesn't bother you that you kill people?"
"Not really. They're scum, anyway."
"Not everyone is scum, though. Supposing you accidentally killed a good person?"
"Are you referring to your mother?"
"...Yes."
"She was annoying and possibly psychotic."
"So you killed her. Wonderful. I'd love to be able to solve my problems as easily as you can."
"You're calmer now."
"Yes, and?"
"And a lot more snappish. Would you like something to eat?"
"What the-oh, d'accord. Whatever. I just don't care anymore." Annette threw her hands up and laughed hysterically. "I'll just voluntarily relinquish hold on my sanity. After all, looks like that's what you did, and it's working out just fine for you, eh?"
"I'm thinking pizza would be good. What do you think?"
"Sure. Pizza's bien." Mon Dieu, an eight-year old should NOT have to go through this...
Annette watched Nny get up and leave the room, marveling at how he was able to change topics so efficiently. That, and how he had been totally unfazed by the whole killing people thing. Oh, and how he didn't seem to realize that Annette was going insane.
The food came an hour later. Nny refrained from killing the delivery kid again, though Annette could tell he really wanted to. They ate on the roof again, but this time Nny had nothing to rant about. It was strangely silent that day.
And Annette found herself awhile later back in her room, writing in her journal. Jack and Sally sat propped up beside her, and she scribbled furiously with her pen, hoping that the ink wouldn't run out before she finished.
Dear Diary,
Today, I learned that there is something genuinely wrong with the man I call Nny. He killed dozens of people in a cafe and shrugged it off like it was nothing. I cannot fathom what happened to make him that way, but I do know that it must have been horrible.
Even so, Nny seems to be in a relatively good mood now. he was shouting at a pair of styrofoam dolls earlier. Now he isn't hysterical anymore, and I think this is the closest to sane I've ever seen him. That scares me, as it was only just now that he has finally admitted to the whole murdering thing.
But what can I do? I really have nowhere else to go. Unless Squee wants to take me in, that is, and that's laughable. I suppose I'll just have to make do...
Mon Dieu. I'm living under the same roof as a homicidal maniac. This will certainly warrant a lot of therapy when I'm older.
Antoinette
The phone rang. A paint splattered hand picked it up. There was a very familiar voice at the other end.
"Devi? I need help."
"No kidding."
"No, this time I'm serious. Er, how to start? Well, Annette has recently informed me that her birthday is fast approaching. I'm...unsure of how to handle it. She will be turning nine, if memory serves."
"Yeah, and?"
"Well, what do you do when it's a child's birthday?"
"Nny, you really are an idiot." Devi sighed. "You act nice, give her presents, and throw a party."
"A party? With...people?"
"Well, that's generally what a social event like a party entails."
"Oh."
Dead silence.
"Nny, why the sudden quiet? Don't think you can handle a party?"
"The gift thing is no problem, and I think I'd be able to behave nicely, but..."
"What?"
"...I...don't...like people..."
"Oh, for God's sake. Just invite the people Annette knows. It'll be a small party."
"Invite people that she knows? You mean you and me and Raven and Tenna and Squee and Pepito?"
"God, what do you do, keep her in solitary confinement?"
More silence.
Devi gave a strangled sounding scream. "Whatever. Just-call me tomorrow or something, okay? I'm working."
"You're always working."
"Yeah, well, my life is my work. I'll try to make time to come to Annette's party, though. Now I really have to go work. The paint is starting to dry."
"Fine. Goodbye, Devi. And thank you."
"Bye."
Devi hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. This new, more timid Nny was almost as bad as the old, completely psychotic one. He was like a dog now, completely intimidated by everyone and everything. Except when he killed, but that was different. Maybe this was the real Nny. In that case, Devi would have to kick herself to have ever liked him.
She shook her head to dispel the thoughts and picked up her brush. The strong-smelling paint had already started to become thick and hard, drying on the stiff bristles of the tool. She swore and gave the thing a quick rinse before continuing.
Her painting was something the likes of which she had never done before. It was a person, a real person. She hadn't even decently warped the image so that it resembled a monster. No, this was almost a portrait. The face wasn't filled in yet, but Devi could already tell that it was a child, female most likely. The hair was long, black, and set in something that could barely be called loose braids for the amount of it that had come undone.
All around her were knives, most bloody and some of them shattered. Her black clothing was completely unmarred with crimson, though she clutched a blood-covered pair of dolls. The whole canvas was underlaid with a gray kind of hue that made everything on it stand out sharply in contrast with the dull background. All in all, it was very good.
And Devi stared at the canvas for a long time before finally taking the smallest of her brushes and beginning to create the face. Huge violet eyes slowly came into being, and a small, scared smile graced the child's rather sharp features. Devi put down the brush and stared into the face of Annette.
"Oh, God," she murmured, followed by a quiet, bewildered string of expletives. "That poor kid..."
That "poor kid" in question was presently sound asleep, her dreams thankfully untroubled by the images she saw every day. She'd even helped Nny clean out one of the rooms in the basement, and that had nearly made her faint. It was a wonder that she hadn't woken up screaming yet.
Oh, well. The night was still young, and there was plenty of time for nightmares. In fact, Annette's dream of painting was starting to turn foul on her.
Painting, painting, painting. Annette sang cheerfully, mixing paints to get just the right shade of red. She smiled and dipped her brush into the bucket-
Blood. It was blood that she was painting with. Annette screamed, but when she dropped the brush, some of the blood splashed up and hit her in the face. it refused to wipe off. She scrubbed frantically with the hem of her shirt, but she was horrified to discover that her clothes were soaked with crimson as well.
Every jar was blood. Blue, green, gray, brown, yellow, orange, purple, EVERYTHING was blood. Annette screamed again and tried to throw the jars off of the table, but they were fastened to the wood with knives.
"Annette, stop screaming. I thought you loved painting." Nny was sitting near the wall, and he was painting it with the blood.
She ran, but the door was locked. Another moment, and more blood coated her hands. One more scream, and the girl turned back to Nny.
Suddenly, she was very calm. She took her seat and began painting, all of her revulsion washing away. The strokes were beautiful, more vibrant than anything she had ever seen before.
"That's because blood is life," Nny explained as though he had heard her thoughts.
Blood is life. Annette painted with life, marveling at the rich colors and the wondrous images they made. The more she used, the more blood covered her clothes and skin. She didn't care, just went on painting. Nny was smiling when she finally looked up.
"Good to see you've finally figured it out," was all he said.
And then Annette woke up.
She gasped for air. Her heart raced, the life pulsing in her veins. Sitting straight up in her bed, Annette stared blearily around her, looking for any fragments of her dream that had managed to get through to reality.
After all, according to what she'd seen and heard, anything was possible.
Nothing was there. The girl was almost disappointed at this knowledge. It would have been terrifying, sure, but incredible to see a figment of her imagination come to life. But all she could see was the walls filled with her and Nny's paintings and sketches, the cluttered floor, and the boxes that served as her dresser.
It was light out. Annette wasn't sure exactly what time it was, but the amount of sunlight coming in from the hallway pointed to about ten am or so. She got up, threw on a black robe, and ventured out of the room for breakfast.
Nny was sleeping. Silent, yes, but his eyes were closed and he failed to stir even when Annette shook him. Light, even breathing was the only sound in the house. Annette decided it was best to let the insomniac rest and made her way to the kitchen.
There wasn't much to eat. Annette searched the cupboards and came up with an almost-empty box of cereal and a few slices of stale bread. She shrugged, ate what she could, and began to make a shopping list on a scrap of paper.
Suddenly, there was something behind her. Annette turned slowly to see Nny crouched a few feet away, holding a dagger. He smiled and resheathed the weapon when he recognized the child.
"Oh, hello. Sorry about that. I get a little skittish after I wake up...Are you okay? Why were you sneaking around in here? It's your kitchen, too."
"I wasn't. I was just getting breakfast. We don't have much food." Annette's slight trembling was immediately perceived by her guardian, and he gave an apologetic grin.
"Well, again, sorry, but you shouldn't ever be scared of that. I'd never hurt you. You know that." A small flash of something darted across his features, and Nny turned toward the door.
"What?"
"We should really get out more. Go somewhere. Want to go to the mall?"
"Um, d'accord, but shouldn't we go get food first?"
"You let me worry about that. I'll take you to Hot Topic, alright? Raven and Tenna can look after you while I get food."
"Er...d'accord...." He's going to do WHAT now?
"That's great. Come on, go and get dressed. We're leaving in ten minutes."
Annette nodded and scampered off to her room. She threw on a shirt, (black with "Cute but psycho- things even out" in blue on the front) a random pair of jeans, and as many chains as she could find. Four buttons ("Make the Stupid People Shut Up," "I Support Heavy Metal," "You Nonconformists are all Alike," and "Procrastinators Unite Tomorrow") were hastily pinned to her shirt, and she pulled on a pair of socks as fast as possible. Then it was into her trench coat and combat boots and out the door.
Author's Note: Ya know, I didn't think id be updating so soon. But thanks so the kind words of...certain people, I have decided to try to put up the last chapter in this fic in a few days. Whether I'll be ABLE to do so is unclear, but I'm trying, people!
So Annette's had a pretty scary dream, eh? Will that mean she's finally snapped? I don't know, humans! STOP YELLING AT ME! No, really, I have no idea what that meant. I'm just going to run with it and see what happens. And Nny is sort of timid now, I suppose. Not sure what that means, either, but maybe Annette's influence is making him more stable or something...
Well, anyway, enjoy, humans. This Neptunian must hurry and write more now... So sayonara for now!
-Raven