Tense chapter ahead. Read at own risk.
Grandma had no recollection of locking herself up in the closet, and in the end, she decided she was going senile.
Molly was worried that the bitter old lady would blame her, yet she didn't. After all, there was no way a child as small as Molly could be capable of such an act.
It also meant that Molly didn't have to tattletale on Nny. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend to end up at the Crazy House for Boys.
Grandma was okay, and Nny was okay, and much to Molly's relief, the old lady had started being nicer to her.
What had Nny done to her to make her act so nice all of a sudden? Molly didn't dare think about it. She knew he hurt people after all, and he was only trying to help her the other night when Grandma was being mean to her, but she was worried for him.
What if someone caught him one day, and she would never see him again?
Molly played in her room alone. It was daytime. Nny normally came around at night, since that was when he was most active, but she wished he would come over.
She was lonely.
Also, she missed him when he wasn't around, and once again she hoped he wasn't hurting anyone.
Hopefully, he was in his house drawing. Molly should go over and check on him.
Since Grandma was downstairs watching TV, Molly decided to go through the window. It wasn't too far of a jump to the ground.
Nny could do it with ease since he was a lot taller than her, but Molly really struggled. She scrambled out of the window, hanging from the sill as her little feet dangled above the ground. Closing her eyes, she counted three Mississippis then let go, landing clumsily onto the grass below.
She got up and brushed herself up, squealing for joy. She made it!
Now on to Nny's house.
Creeping carefully to his front door, she knocked, waiting for a reply. When none came, she knocked louder, shouting his name.
"NNY, it's Molly! Are you in there?"
Again, no reply.
She tried the doorbell next, but it appeared to be broken. No sound came. Not even a scream.
Sighing to herself, she left the creepy house with the number 777 and made her way back to her bedroom.
That was when the door opened with a small creak. Heart soaring, she whirled around, expecting to see the funny-looking neighbour man standing in the doorway.
Yet he wasn't. The door was empty.
Had he forgotten to lock it?
Letting herself inside, she cleared her throat and called out his name again. "NNY? Are you in here? It's Molly. Stop hiding!"
His living room was dark and quite frankly, a little scary. It unnerved Molly. But she knew she was safe. The house only belonged to Nny, and Nny wouldn't hurt her.
His house truly was strange. His TV had bunny ears and what was with all the weird paintings? Also, why were there pickle jars everywhere?
Putting it out of mind, she approached an artist's table and picked up a drawing. This must be where Nny drew his comics, Happy Noodle Boy.
They were... odd. His words made no sense. But they were drawn by Nny, so that made them special.
If Nny drew them, then Molly loved them...
There came a distant drilling sound from the basement, and curiosity getting the better of her, Molly went over to investigate.
She hadn't been inside Nny's basement before...
Stopping at the threshold of the stairs, she peered down the shadowy steps and gulped. There was something off-putting about his basement.
Still, she took a small step down, and then another, and soon she reached the bottom.
The room below definitely felt off. There was a table with various tools, and Molly wondered what they were used for.
The drilling sounded again, and this time it came from a set of stairs that went down further. Just how big was Nny's basement? He said a tunnel led from his house to hers after all.
So once again, she descended the stairs, and the next floor was even creepier. There were ketchup stains everywhere, and weird writing on the wall.
To her surprise, she found a step ladder, and seeing that she had nothing else to lose, she climbed down further.
She must be way below the earth's surface by now.
When she reached the third floor down, there came the sound of a voice, and she gasped, stepping back.
Someone was down there...
It sounded like a man.
"What... what exactly was it that I did to you again? Why have you locked me down here?!"
Molly's heart thumped as a small wail escaped her. Nny had someone down in the basement.
A guest perhaps?
Someone laughed next, a dark, sinister sound that chilled the blood of Molly's veins, and she had never heard anything so twisted.
"What? You don't remember? It was just two nights ago, actually. There I was, walking down the street, minding my own business, but then you and your deplorable friends laughed at me. You called me names under your breath, thinking I couldn't hear, but I could. Oh, I could hear all right... Even while listening to Mozart with a pair of headphones on, I could hear every little asinine word spewing from your disgusting mouth. Do you get some kind of sick thrill from making others miserable?"
Molly stood there, frozen. Was that Nny? Her Nny? He sounded... angry, and his laugh... It didn't sound right. He didn't sound right. Also, had he always talked so much? It was like he was speaking in riddles, riddles that no one knew an answer for.
Did he punish them if they answered incorrectly?
Molly should leave. Something in her gut told her to run, yet she stayed put, telling herself it was only Nny.
Nny wouldn't hurt her...
But he would hurt someone else.
The voice came from inside her, and it almost sounded like Lucia again. How? Lucia was dead. Nny had killed her.
Despite her better judgment, she edged towards a corner, her heart pounding when the floor creaked.
Had they heard her? She hoped not.
Nny would be mad at her for sure if he knew she was listening.
Nny's guest finally replied. "That's it? You kidnapped me just because I laughed at the way you dress? Come on, man, what are you, six? Grow up. We're adults. Why let something like that bother you so much?"
Again, Nny cackled, and Molly froze. Again, that laugh... it wasn't right.
She had no idea Nny could sound so scary.
"Now you're just being a hypocrite! Exactly. We're adults. Yet you and your friends mock me as if we're still in Kindergarten. It's as if your brain has failed to evolve beyond the triviality of childhood. Your kind makes me sick. So blind, you can't even see your own shit, yet I see it... I wade through it every fucking day and the smell! Dear lord, the smell... It reeks! You reek! And I'm getting tired... so, so tired. You're right. Maybe I'm just as childish and trivial too. It takes a big person to forgive those who wronged them after all, but unfortunately for you, I have yet to reach that level of transcendence..."
An awful silence rent the air next. Molly sucked on her lower lip, wondering if she should dare a peek around the corner. Nny sounded very angry, and she didn't want him to be angry at her. From his words, it sounded as if children angered him. Did he not like children? People in kindergarten?
Molly was in Kindergarten, and she loved it!
"So why just kidnap me? Why not my friends too? I wasn't the only one who laughed at you that night."
Nny chuckled, and the sound was more pleasant this time. "Wow, what a way to throw your friends under the bus, but, no... I don't have the time to hunt you all down, and, well... yours is a face that's hard to forget. A nose ring? Seriously, what were you thinking?"
The man scoffed. "Hey, who's the hypocrite now? Maybe I like this nose ring! What gives you the right to laugh at me?"
A drill switched on next, and Molly's heart split in two. Was Nny going to drill a nail into a wall? Power tools were dangerous and shouldn't be played with after all. That's what her Daddy always told her.
"Yeah, but I'm the one with the drill, so shut up and smile while I pierce a new hole into your skull. I may as well see all your shit for myself. I wonder if it will leak from you..."
Molly's lip shook, but despite her trepidation, she crept closer, watching the shadows on the floor.
She recognised Nny's shadow, but not the smaller one. It was hunched over, as if it was sitting on the ground.
Carefully, she peered around the bend, and a silent gasp left her lungs. Nny had a man chained to the floor on his knees, a man with a nose ring, and she couldn't help it then. She squeaked.
He looked so terrified...
Nny was too lost in his drill to take notice of her small sound, yet the man with the nose ring just did. He peered up, and when his wide, petrified eyes found her, he screamed.
"Help! Call for help! He's insane!"
Alarmed, Nny jerked his body around, and the moment Molly met that crazed light inside his eyes, she froze.
That was not her friend. Not the friendly neighbour man who came to her house every night and had tea parties with her.
No. That was a bogeyman, a monster, and she had to get away...
"Molly..." Nny whispered, his eyes shining with something strange as his hand gripped tight hold of the drill, and it was as if they were frozen in time.
No one moved. No one uttered a sound, yet the liquid sound of her pulse sloshed through her ears, making her sway on the spot, and she was going to pass out.
This was wrong. Everything was wrong.
Nny looked wrong...
Even if she wanted to, Molly couldn't run. She thought she may have even peed a little.
Nny's face contorted next. His features twisted and turned, making him look like some otherworldly creature from beyond. Then he reached a shaking hand up to his face, pulling the skin taut until it stretched like a rubber mask.
Molly expected to find the face of a monster beneath that rubber mask, one with red, bloody skin and the teeth of a great white shark.
He growled into his palm, his eyes blurring from his sockets as he looked at everything but her. "Molly! Leave, now!"
Molly whimpered, staggering back until she hit the wall. She couldn't take her eyes of the drill in his hand.
"I... I..."
"I said, leave!"
He took a step towards her now, and Molly yelped, running away from the crazy man with the drill in his hand.
That wasn't Nny.
That was a monster.
A monster with a face made of wax.
Beware, the next chapter is pure angst, and it may wreck you...
But poor Molly. You have no idea how much I was trying to tell her not to go down into the basement. She obviously doesn't watch slasher movies.
It reminds me of the scene in Monsters Inc. when Boo finally saw Sully for the monster he was, and that scene always breaks me. Molly has seen the monster beneath the mask now, and it won't end pretty.
We knew it was going to come down to this. I'm just glad she never actually saw any real violence, like blood and guts, like Squee did... Poor Squee saw Nny murder plenty of times!
That's it for now. A bit of a cliffanger. But the next upload should be up soon.
So, stay tuned for more Tales of Interest! Futurama reference (which I always quote).