I have now returned from the alternate 5th dimension, which has resulted in me becoming 97 percent mechanical body parts.

BEAT THAT JHONEN!

Ahem, now on with the story.

Nocturnal Dementia

X: Uncertainty

It was done. It was finally done.

The sun's head began poking out of the horizon, slowly illuminating the room that Johnny C. and Devi D. were currently occupying. They were both exactly a foot apart from each other and three feet apart from the canvas that they were slaving over the past few hours.

They were staring at the painting they finished together on that canvas.

It was a beautiful indigo night sky dappled with tiny stars and the moon looming in the corner. Below was a small hill overlooking a vast night city view. There was a car atop that hill, along with two familiar looking silhouettes.

One was sitting relaxed on the top of the car while the other one was sprawled out on the hood, looking up at the stars.

It looked exactly like the image they were trying so hard to remember while they were apart.

Now that they were together again, the bits and pieces of their memories of that night mended and became that one clear picture. It became the image painted on the canvas that they were both staring at.

It was real.

"I still can't believe that I actually did all this." Johnny whispered faintly. His hands were trembling so bad that he almost dropped the paintbrush he was holding. Devi smirked and turned to look at him.

"Hey, don't give yourself all the credit." She said in a dangerously playful tone. Johnny managed a crooked smile and he set the brush down on the tarp covered floor. He retreated to the couch and Devi followed suit.

"I-I don't understand how it came back to me…my creativity, I mean." Johnny said quietly, staring at the floor.

"I told you, Nny. You haven't lost your creativity. It was there all along. It was just…re-routed, right?" Devi asked, emphasizing the word re-routed to jog Johnny's memory. He replied with a chuckle, his thoughts retracing their footsteps back to that night when they had that fateful conversation about where Johnny's imagination drifted off to.

"I guess you just needed to switch things up again, you know, to ­reroute the thing that was re-routed by something…ah okay I'm confusing myself, fuck that. You know what I'm talking about, right?" Devi added on, but Johnny wasn't talking. He was just staring down at the floor with a faraway look in his dark eyes.

It was a few minutes and Johnny still didn't reply to Devi's statement. She assumed that he was lost in his own thoughts.

They just sat there with an awkward silence hung over their heads.

Johnny's mouth was racing faster than his head and he immediately began to speak, almost without him noticing.

"I've missed you, Devi." He blurted out. He could feel (and slightly hear) his heartbeat thumping. Much to his surprise Devi faced him with a smile on her face, her eyes warm and inviting.

Devi eyed the young man before her. Johnny had his wide-set eyes cast to the floor and he was playing with his hands.

This wasn't the Johnny that tried to kill her.

This wasn't the Johnny that caused havoc on the streets.

This wasn't Johnny the homicidal maniac.

This was the Johnny that was able to share in depth conversations with her.

This was the Johnny that she asked out.

This was the Johnny that used to visit her at the bookstore.

She unconsciously leaned closer towards him. He looked confused at first but then his expression softened and he leaned in as well.

Inches apart, their hearts and minds began to race. Brown and emerald slowly began to close.

Nny's back.

What the hell am I doing?

This is the Nny that I've always wanted, that I was always thinking of.

I have to stop. This isn't me. I can't do this. What if I make things worse, like last time?

As if waking up from a long sleep, Johnny's eyes snapped open and he instantly pulled away. Devi opened her eyes soon after and stared at the nervous wreck sitting a close distance in front of her.

"Um…the storm has stopped, so I think I better go…" She heard him mumble distractedly. He slowly rose from the couch and smoothed out his trench coat. Devi watched him solemnly. She gathered her thoughts and tried to find the right words to say but her mouth wasn't functioning with her brain. She just sat there, watching him leave.

"I'll see you 'round, Devi." Johnny said quietly, and he reached for the doorknob.

Don't let him leave just yet, Devi.

"Err, wait…Johnny…" Devi sputtered and got up from the couch. She raced over to him. Johnny turned to look at her.

"Devi, please…don't make this any harder than it already is." His voice was so soft it barely passed as a whisper. Devi could sense the pain in his voice and her mouth suddenly ran dry.

"Nny…I…wait…why?" Her words were currently involved in a head-on collision and she didn't have enough time to sort them out. Johnny turned the knob and pulled the door open. The hall echoed an eerie silence.

"Immortalize the moment, Devi D. Don't let the rot set in." He said, his voice a little louder so she could hear him. He soon left, closing the door behind him. Devi was left staring at the closed door in utter confusion, despair, and for some reason, tragic loss.

--

"So tell me, why did you just reject a perfect opportunity to experience true happiness?"

Ever since Johnny got into the car, Nailbunny had since been bombarding him with questions, questions that Johnny really didn't want to answer at the moment. He tried turning up the radio to drown the deceased animal out, but it was no use. After all, Nailbunny was just another voice inside Johnny's head. There was no radio in his head that he could crank up to max. The only thing audible in his brain were the voices, and right now it was Nailbunny that he could only hear.

"Nailbunny, please…I really don't want to talk about it right now." Johnny replied miserably, turning a corner into his neighbourhood. It was a straight street lined with crooked looking houses on either side. A grey sky hung over the area. Johnny kept silent as drove into the garage and crept out of the car. Nailbunny floated alongside him as he entered the house.

It was dead silent of course, with the occasional agonizing scream from the basement. Everything was how Johnny left it before he left, with the instruments of torture piled up in a corner, the creepy dolls hung from the ceiling with nooses around their necks, and more dolls nailed to the wall.

Johnny trudged to the den and collapsed on the worn out couch. He stared at the TV with a blank stare. He didn't feel like watching anything today. Nailbunny settled itself on the armrest.

"You were afraid, aren't you? You were afraid that you were going to relive what happened last time." Nailbunny broke the silence. It pivoted to face to Johnny, who was sitting with his head held gingerly in his bandaged hands.

"Of course I was fucking afraid. You couldn't even imagine how scared I was. I wanted it to happen so badly…yet I knew I had to hold myself back from going further because I was certain that I was just going to fuck things up again. Oh bunny, if you only saw what happened…if you only knew…"

"Nny, I don't have to imagine. I'm basically you; I know everything you know. Your mind has put another side of you in the form of a rabbit, which you nailed to the wall. I'm still you, Nny. Of course I know what you're going through. Please don't say that I'm oblivious to what you've just experienced, because I know. Believe me Nny, I know." Nailbunny said a little heatedly.

"I'm so confused, Nailbunny. I don't know what to do." Johnny cried. Nailbunny could sense that he was about to cry because his voice was cracking. The lifeless rabbit floated up from its seat on the couch armrest and glided over to Johnny. The homicidal maniac looked up to see his former pet rabbit staring back at him with nonexistent eyes. The tears sort of blurred the image but he knew it was Nailbunny.

"It's part of being human, Nny. Everyone feels confused at times. It's a part of who you are as a human being to feel that way." Nailbunny explained.

"But I swore off to emotions altogether so many years ago! I wasn't enslaved by anything; I was myself, I was free! When I came back to this damned place, all that I swore off from suddenly came back, and it's fucking me up on the inside, as if I'm not fucked up enough." Johnny complained. A series of silence soon followed after that. Nailbunny wasn't answering but he was still floating in front of Johnny. His eyebrows were knitted at the top in utter confusion, a feeling he was beginning to feel familiar with.

"You have a lot to learn still, Nny." Nailbunny said quietly, and faded into obscurity. Johnny began to panic and began clawing at the air in front of him, as if he was able to grab Nailbunny back from wherever it was disappearing to.

"Nailbunny, where are you? Nailbunny!"

Johnny's eyes frantically scanned the room. He heaved a sigh of relief when he found the limp rabbit nailed against a lamp post.

"Oh, there you are. How did you fade like that? That was pretty cool." Johnny chuckled a bit, feeling a little bit better about himself.

The rabbit didn't answer.

--

Devi sat on her couch, sipping her second glass of cheap champagne. She moved the painting to her drawing room because the mere sight of it was beginning to bother her.

She finally finished the painting in seven years, but now that it was done, she couldn't bear to look at it.

Why?

And Johnny…he seemed so normal. He seemed sane. It confused her at how he suddenly pulled away like that.

What was up with him?

Devi's thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing, which startled her a little bit. Champagne sloshed out of its glass and onto her black tank top as she scrambled for the phone. She reached for the headset on the side table and put it on.

"Hello…"

"Devi! Long time no…uh, talk!" A faint squeek! could be heard in the background.

Devi sighed and rolled her eyes. Tenna.

"Ten, I really don't…"

"Hmm. Devi sounds displeased. Tenna to the rescue!"

Click. Stomp, stomp, stomp.

There was a quick knock from the door, and Devi had no chance but to answer it. She ripped the headset off and dragged herself to the door. After unlocking the many locks and pulling the door open, she was greeted by a shiny row of white teeth, bright exuberant eyes, and a small rubber skeleton toy.

"What's the dillio, Devi? Why the long face?" Tenna asked excitedly. She closed the door behind her and bounded into the living room, where she jumped onto the couch. Devi sighed again and sat down beside her friend.

"I don't know if I'm ready to tell you yet, Tenna." She answered dully. Tenna placed a finger to her chin and looked up in deep thought. She squeezed Spooky a couple times, making the squeek! Devi hated so much. Devi twitched whenever she heard the noise.

"Well after contemplating with the aid of my expert knowledge (Devi scoffed at that statement), I know just what's been bringing you down…" Tenna said, and Devi smacked her forehead. She counted down inside her head.

3…

2…

1…

The two friends said the same sentence simultaneously but they were spoken at different tones. One was a lively, expressive one, and the other was a tedious, almost lifeless one.

"You need to get out more."