(A/N: Hi! Just as promised, for your Friday morning Feature, an update! Sorry they take so long, but better late than never, right? For any Harry Potter fans out there, I have two stories I really want you to read! One is called, 'The Curse of Abel Frye', and it's sequel, 'Nightmare Academy', which has started to spark some conversation. Okay, on w/ the story.)

The screaming stopped almost an hour later, and Mort waited till he thought it was safe to step in. Marissa was sitting on her bed, staring at the quilt his mother had sewn him a long time ago. When she looked up at him, she looked exhausted. She had mostlikely worn herself out.

"Hey, munchkin," he said, walking in and sitting down on the bed. "You want to talk now, or are you going to misbehave." She shook her head.

"You're going to send me away, aren't you?" No, Mort immediatly thought, but he wanted to see what she had to say.

"I don't know," he answered. "If you hate me then I guess you don't want to live here." She looked at him with sad eyes and sniffled.

"I don't hate you," she said softly. "I just want Mary. Today is her birthday, and I can't say happy birthday to her."

"Oh," he gasped slightly, now understanding what the fuss was about. "Oh, oh, oh. Is that what's been bothering you?" Marissa stuck out her bottom lip, sniffled, and nodded as she started to cry again. Mort pulled her into his lap, and held her comfortingly. "It's okay," he whispered. "Mary wouldn't want you to cry."

"I can't help it," she wimpered.

"I know," he muttered. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love." He thought of the night he had burst into the hotel to find Amy and Ted in bed together. "I know all about it."

"You had someone die?" she asked, looking up at him.

"No," he lied. "She didn't die. She just left."

"So we're both alone," she said in a pathetic tone.

"Yup, I guess we are. But at least we can be alone together." He smiled at her, and she gave a weak halfsmile.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," she said. He grinned and nodded.

"Come here, munchkin," he said, giving her a very squishy hug, and then let go. "Want to order a pizza now?" he asked.

"Yeah!" she cheered. "Cheese!"

"Alright then." He stood up and walked into the living room and dialed up Mama Mia's Pizzeria, and waited as it rang. Marissa came running to him, making sure he got the order right.

"Mama Mia's, can I help you?" asked a voice on the other end.

"Yeah," he said, smiling at Marissa. "I'd like to order a medium pizza with lots and lots of veggies!"

"NOOOO!!!" shouted Marissa, laughing a little, and Mort chuckled.

"Just kidding," he said. "I'll take a medium cheese pizza."

"Will that complete your order?"

"Bring over a 2 liter bottle of Mt. Dew too please."

He finished up, and then hung up, looking at Marissa with a devilish grin. "They're bringing over a pizza with extra veggies just for you."

"EEEEEEWWWWW!!!!" shouted Marissa, and Mort chased her around the living room, catching up to her rather quickly and then picking her up and holding her upside down, laughing and squealing.

"Ew?" he asked, half laughing. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Mort! Put me down!" she laughed.

"Oh no no no! I don't think so..."

"Mort! I gotta go potty!"

"Oh!" he said, gently setting her down. "Okay! Run!" She ran alright, as fast as she could and into the bathroom, and he laughed.

"Girl runs faster than a spooked horse, doesn't she, pilgrim?" asked a hated voice. Mort turned around to face Shooter, and sneered.

"Go away," he growled.

"Not gonna even let me say a word now, are you Mr. Rainey?"

"Not if I can help it. You get your ass back down to Mississippi."

"You know damn well I can't do that, pilgrim. You've been tellin' me to do a lot of things to that girl. I've held off to give you time to think if that's what you really want now."

"I've told you to leave her alone," threatened Mort.

"You've said that too." Mort looked at him confused.

"Too?"

"It's sad Mr. Rainey, that you know so little about yourself. There's been a lot of things you've wanted done to that perty lil' girl of yours. It'll be sad if it does happen. She's only what, six? And to think she trusts you."

"You're a liar!"

"Am I? You can go see for yourself. Check your writting." He disappeared, and Mort stood there, too flustered to do anything at the moment, and he was so deep in thought that he gave a shout when the doorbell rang. The pizza man was standing there, seeming nervous to even be near him, and he wondered how news had spread outside the village.

"Pizza!" shouted Marissa excitedly. Mort smiled, deciding to ignore Shooter's warning until later. For now, he was going to sit at his table and enjoy a cheese pizza with his favorite umpaloompa.

"G'night, Marissa," he said softly, closing her bedroom door. It was finally time. He couldn't escape from it anymore. He had to see what Shooter was talking about. Turning on his computer, he waited until he could open up the word processor, and then click on 'open document' when it was up. He read through all the names or files until he came upon one that read 'Marissa' on it. Guessing the obvious, he opened it, and immediatly words appeared, the font changing on all of them, some of them in a bigger text size than others, all obviously typed in a rush.

He looked around to make sure Marissa had not wandered out of her room, and read the document.

Reaching for her with hungry eyes, Todd Downey seized the helpless girl by her small neck, and squeezed as tigtly as he could until she went beautifully limp in his arms...

Todd stepped into the girl's room, a knife in one hand, and a killer's smile on his face. "You better hope there's a heaven," he said menacingly...

The little girl stood on the stairway with a smile on her face. "What are you doing, Mr. Downey?" she asked. Todd looked at her, moving his finger to the trigger of the gun he was holding under the desk.

"Would you like to see?" he asked. Smilling, she nodded and walked over to him, and he seized the first available moment...

Mort sat back. There were several more scenarios listed, but none of them ended, even though it was obvious what happened to the girl in the end.

"You seem to have some trouble finishing these, Mr. Rainey." said Shooter from behind. Mort knew he had been watching him for a while now, and turned to face him casually.

"Maybe that's a good thing," he muttered.

"For now a' least. But wait till the week is up. You'll have had so many scenarios listed that you'll manage to think up the perfect ending. And then what?"

"You won't lay one hand on her," threatened Mort, getting to his feet. "I won't finish the story so you're waisting your time."

"Am I?" asked Shooter. He smirked and walked away, leaving Mort to stand there, nervously, listening to the sounds of the night around him.