The expression on his face quite blank. Johnny continued to put pointless thoughts of his little crazy stick figure in his head to keep it clear from the voices he heard all the time. He lay on the rumpled sheets of his bed with a half drawn Happy Noodle Boy comic on his lap, all while chewing the eraser of his pencil. The doughboys were always trying to pry into his head when it wasn't too preoccupied. But unfortunately, they always find a way.

"It seems like that little kid you like so much about find has someone who actually cares about him." A scary voice crept.

Johnny rolled his dark eyes, "Shut up. And why do you care?"

Mr. Eff spoke once more, "With worrying about his pathetic welfare being out of the way, you can concentrate on more important things!"

"Squee needed someone, his parents probably wouldn't care, or even notice, if their son was replaced with a screwed up cow!" Johnny retorted.

Psycho Doughboy's voice emerged, "Yes, now that the kid has someone else to deal with him, you can keep your head out of the crap, and focus on what really matters!"

Johnny viciously stabbed his Invader Zim pencil straight through the pad of notebook paper. His demon eyes glared hatefully upon the two Styrofoam figures with little chef hats.

He said through gritted, uneven teeth, "What matters? What does matter, that wall! I am not a slave to it! If I were, I'd be chained to it like those other idiot scumbags. I'm sick of wasting my life on it."

But his rant was unacknowledged by the doughboys

Mr. Eff said coolly, "Do you know what is on the other side of that wall?"

Johnny looked away and shook is head. He really didn't know, or want to find out. All he knew was that it was a terrible creature that must not be freed. That is why he killed. To keep the beast locked away.

Speaking of which, it is time for a fresh coat.

Johnny stood up from his bed and frumped towards the door, but before he got there, he froze.

He spoke quietly, "Psycho Doughboy? Mr. Eff?"

The Styrofoam answered in unison, "What?"

He whipped around and drew two long knifes with serrated edges. He threw them too fast to be seen and struck both figurines between the eyes. The two were pinned to the wall in an instant and screamed of betrayal. Johnny merely shrugged it off and walked out the door to the basement torture chambers.

Squee and his faithful teddy bear friend, Shmee, were busying themselves with pushing little plastic race cars around a track drawn on the drive way with blue chalk. He was waiting patiently for his loving babysitter to arrive. It was about eleven thirty in the morning. Squee's mother had already informed him to play outside or help himself to a cold glass of antifreeze if he wanted to stay inside. As long as Rosie got to play with him today, he couldn't care what mean things his mommy and daddy tell him. As he raced the inanimate stuffed animal around the crooked track, obviously winning, she saw his Rosie coming down the side walk. Today she was wearing a white fluttery sun dress with the little denim jacket she wore the day before. She wore pearly white sandals that neatly laced up around her legs in thin straps to her knees. Her shiny dark chocolate brown hair was up today in a ponytail that tickled the back of her neck. As always, she looked pretty.

"Hello Squee," she smiled brightly at him.

His big eyes flashed happily as she greeted him. He abandoned his little plastic car, it wasn't like Shmee was going to pass him anytime soon, and hugged her around the knees. Almost like a child who was longing for his mother to return home from a long trip.

She rested her hands on his little shoulders, "Guess where we're going today."

Squee looked up to her. His mind was racing with all the places he could think that were much more fun and nicer than here. His mouth was speechless and his eyes were practically bulging. It was obvious his little mind couldn't take the suspense of finding out.

He asked with excitement, "Where? Where!"

All she did was hand him a flyer she cut out from a newspaper.

New at the Wonder World Zoo

It's all fun in the dark this Saturday night with the all new, one night only, Nocturnal Exhibit.

All your favorite night dwellers after the sun goes down.

Starts after sunset.

Squee nearly exploded with joy, "Yeah! We're going to the zoo! We're going to the zoo!"

Rose joined in his little dance skipping and chanting around the drive way. Little did they know that two demonic looking eyes were peering through the boards nailed over the window.

Johnny sighed nonchalantly, "I wish I were loved that way."

Suddenly, the sound of something beeping from the kitchen interrupted his thoughts. It was the smoke alarm.

"MY SKETTIOS!" Johnny screamed before dashing to the kitchen to save his burning lunch, cursing the whole way about his problem of remembering not to abandon things on the stove.

The sun had finally set that day. The sky was cast with pinks and purples in the last light of the sun. The moon was a half faded croissant pearl face. Tiny little diamond stars begin pushing into the darkening sky of blue. Chattering people had already begun lining up for the nighttime exhibit at the Wonder World Zoo. The street lights outside flickered on to illuminate the streets. Squee and Rose were standing at about the midpoint of the line. Squee could barely contain his excitement. He had never been to the zoo before. He jumped up and down joyfully. Rose on the other hand remained patient and calmly waited in line like everyone else.

After about twenty minutes of slowly inching forward, they finally made it to the ticket booth entrance. Rose handed the man behind the counter two prepaid tickets with little raccoons printed on them. The portly man didn't look too happy in his fuzzy monkey hat, but as long as he brought home a salary, he could care less. He lifted the automatic gate to let them pass into the zoo.

"So, Squee, what's your favorite nocturnal animal?" Rose asked him as she took his little hand.

His face became confused. He questioned, "What's Notkurnal?"

She smiled a bit as she answered his question, "Nocturnal is when you sleep during the daytime and are awake at night."

"Oohhh," Squee understood, then began again, "Johnny is like that, only he's awake all the time."

Rose looked at him with a funny look as they proceeded to the aquarium, "He doesn't sleep at all? That isn't very healthy now is it?"

Hours later, Rose and Squee emerged from the Zoo entrance. Squee now decked in a Wonder World Zoo T-shirt and a fuzzy panda hat. He was busying finishing a Blue Raspberry Endangered Slushy. His heart was full of content and his eyes full of sleep. Rose looked at her little silver watch. It was almost eleven o' clock. She had to get Squee home.

It was a good thing that Squee's house was so close to town or else they would have had to walk so much longer. The little boy was constantly rubbing his eyes and was definitely ready for some sleep. They cut through the untended lawn towards the house. It was completely dark on the inside.

"Hmmm, perhaps your mom and dad already went to sleep." Rose wondered as they approached the burgundy red chipping door. She slowly turned the doorknob, only to find it would not. It's locked.

"Squee?" Rose asked, "Is there an outdoor house key you might know of, because your parents didn't give me one."

To her horror, Squee shook his head. But he thought it would be a good idea to ring the doorbell. His little finger pushed on the tiny white, lit-up button. They heard the ring within the house, but no answer. As if there was nobody in the house anyways.

"Are your parents heavy sleepers?" Rose questioned. This was beginning to worry her a bit.

Squee looked up at his parent's dark bedroom window, "Well, mommy can sleep through a tornado, but daddy always stays up late. Always."

Rose thought for a moment. Both of them remained silent.

What kind of parents are these? They never let me in the house. They don't even care about their son. I don't even know if he's allergic to the clothes on his back! Well there is only one thing I can think of to do.

Rose sighed, "Well, Squee, It looks like we're staying at my house tonight."

A dark figure strolled mysteriously down the lit sidewalk. The tails of his shirt flapped in the moments of bursting winds. He scowled secretly as he passed a gaggle of women with high heels and short skirts smoking cigarettes and breathing smoke into the air. One of them, wearing fishnets and insufficiently covering black leather clothes asked him if he wanted some company. Her breath reeking of weed and alcohol gave him more incentive to turn her down.

He passed a dead end ally on the way to his favorite little food mart, the 24/7. It seemed to be the hang out of a crowd of men wearing dark blue bandanas and white T-shirts. They were all African American, with the exception of one Hispanic looking fellow. It seemed like everyone along this sidewalk seemed to smoke. As Johnny walked by, the gang decided that they had found some new meat to roast.

"Well looky here. This skinny fag didn't say hello to us." A rough voice taunted. They were following him.

Johnny turned around. His hand was ready to plunge into his pocket for a blade. He stared them all down. Their amused faces disgusted him greatly.

"Hey, fag boy!" Johnny was pushed back forcefully by the Mexican. The five of them surrounded him. He was having trouble retrieving his blade while being shoved back and forth between these bastards.

One with a large silver necklace and baggy black jeans, who was as bald as a baby, decided this was beginning to bore him. Instead of pushing Johnny away, he curled his hand into a fist.

Bam!

Johnny took a fist to the eye. The force was immensely painful. He stumbled clumsily out of the circle, clutching his hands over where he was hit. His vision was so blurry and distorted, he couldn't see straight. All he could see was a light, getting brighter and bright with each second. Was he dying, was he going to heaven? No, that wasn't right.

Suddenly a loud, blaring car horn shouted into the streets. It was all Johnny heard. A powerful metal force crushed into his side, bringing bone-crunching pain to writhe throughout every nerve of his body. It was all he felt. And soon, blackness was all he saw.

With his last strength he uttered his final words, "I…I think I'm dead."