Thanks again to all reviewers and sorry it's taken me a while to update. I've had exams. Hated filthy things, Grrr, Hiss.
Yeas well, those are finished now, and I intend to write and update religiously for the next week or so you might get 2 or 3 updates quite soon.
I've also made this chapter slightly longer then usual, at least I intend to.
Chapter 10: Third person perspective
'You're weird' - GretchenDonnie walked amongst the crowds of passing pedestrians and tried to banish the depression that Gretchen's display had given him.
He had almost forgotten about his life in the tangent universe, the almost overwhelming sensations that had pushed him to the edge of his already questionable sanity were a distant memory, hidden behind his new experiences and status as an angel or whatever the hell he was.
It still made no sense whatsoever, but that didn't matter.
The new living receiver was different. She was one of the people that Donnie saw wandering past him, as oblivious to the danger facing them as they were to the kid walking past them with a large gaping hole in his chest. This girl had so much to live for, whereas he had had so much to die for.
Would she die?
Donnie assumed that Frank had chosen him because of his tendency to sleepwalk. It made him easier to manipulate. There were other factors too that Donnie believed made him a suitable living receiver. For as long as he could remember, Donnie had always felt separated from the world, everyone in it seemed to know what their place and purpose was. They knew what they were, what they wanted and they seemed to live with such casual ease. He on the other hand couldn't do this. For him, everything had to make sense, and more often then not it didn't. He couldn't accept that, despite the fact that he didn't seem to have much choice.
Questioning the world often resulted in his parents or teachers rebuking him, basically telling him to shut up and accept what the collective minds of humanity had accepted as truth because they were too closed minded to accept or even consider that maybe everything they believed to be true about the universe was wrong.
Eventually, his disgust with the world's collection of closed minded idiots had caused Donnie to lash out. Specifically, to burn down part of his school. This led to his subsequent incarceration at the Clearview juvenile detention centre.
After this, Donnie had forced himself to conform as much as possible, which still more often then not was not enough for the world. He repeatedly found himself getting in trouble at school, receiving suspensions. Also having therapy forced upon him, which was a humiliating experience to say the least.
Although in retrospect he guessed it was a good thing, it helped him save the world, or it helped Frank save the world, he wasn't entirely sure.
There was isolation as well, those few people who didn't immediately dismiss him as a freak or a loser had always viewed him as an eccentric, a special needs case that had to be treated with care so as to avoid incurring his wrath.
When adolescence it, this became doubly hard. Before Gretchen, Donnie believed that it would be easier for him to give birth then get a girlfriend. No one seemed able to accept and love him for who he was, and he would not change for anyone.
Gretchen was different.
Reflecting on their brief time together in the tangent universe, Donnie remembered that conversations with Gretchen typically swerved towards more interesting and deep issues then 'who's sleeping with whom' and 'who was an arsehole'. She seemed to share his mutual love and hatred of the world, and was willing to consider that maybe there was more out there then what she could see.
They were soul mates, for lack of a better word.
Her death had been the catalyst that stole away Donnie's will to live. After he had watched the one person he had truly loved have her neck snapped, his mind resigned to a half-conscious desire to end his suffering. Frank knew this would happen, it was why he'd directed Gretchen to Middlesex, why he'd killed her.
Donnie shook the images away and returned his train of thought to why Kelly had been chosen. Would she be able to accept what was happening to her? Would she be able to survive the stresses and torments that would befall her? Would she emerge with her life and sanity intact?
He doubted it.
"Trust me." The sudden sound of Frank's voice in his head startled Donnie, he quickly turned round to see if Frank was lurking behind him or hidden from view.
Sure enough, there was Frank, still wearing the bunny suit, but not the headpiece for reasons known only to himself. His eye was back.
"Do you want her to die?" Frank asked, his voice its usual creepy monotone.
"No." Donnie replied.
"Do you want them to die?" With one furry hand, he gestured at the crowd. Donnie was silent for a few moments before responding.
"Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, right?"
Frank was silent for a full minute; he simply stared at Donnie with an unchanging nonchalant facial expression.
"Empathy will get them killed." He said finally.
Reluctantly, Donnie nodded in reply, he knew Frank was right, life was not, could not and never should be fair, as Seachnall's and most probably Kelly' untimely death would prove.
"Maybe." Frank said, as if in replies to Donnie's thoughts.
"What?"
Frank turned away and began to walk towards the shopping centres exit. Donnie noticed a man and woman walk hand in hand straight through him, his attention soon turned towards Frank again as he turned back towards him.
"Shit happens, and then it doesn't." He said quietly.
"I don't follow you."
"Follow me now."
With that, Frank resumed his path towards the exit. Donnie waited a few more seconds before walking after him.
"See you on Monday." Seachnall said as Kelly's house, and the bus stop he needed began to emerge through the houses and trees obscuring them.
"Bye" she said. She took a few steps forward before turning back.
"Seachnall."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks," Kelly paused, "For believing me, and catching me when I passed out on the high street."
Seachnall smiled and shook his head at the memory.
"Don't mention it." His face grew more serious abruptly, "What are you going to do now? I mean if," he paused, as if the words were painful, it was still hard for him to believe that Kelly was being haunted by ghosts, "if you have a ghost to deal with…" He shrugged, hoping that his question segments were sufficient.
"I don't know." Kelly said, the fear returning. Despite the second guy's saying that the bunny suited beast wouldn't appear tonight, she still doubted she'd be able to get through the night without waiting for him to arrive.
Seachnall shrugged again, equally as clueless as to what could be done, and the situation itself.
"If you need anything…" He trailed off again, still half expecting Kelly to start laughing uncontrollably and inform him that she had made the whole thing up.
But she didn't.
Kelly walked quickly back towards Seachnall and flung her arms around him before he could even form a shocked facial expression. It took a few moments for him to recover his wits enough to return her hug. (This too was not something he was used to seeing from Kelly).
After almost a minute, she released Seachnall from her grasp and look at him with a face that curiously mixed embarrassment with contemplation.
"Thank you," she said again before walking away.
To be continued