Well, I'm back! (dances) I finally got the time and drive to write. I'd like to thank my teachers for giving me a break on school work, Nickleback, for their wonderful songs which gave me some inspiration, and of course, my reviewers. I love you all!

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"Ah, you're back. For good this time, I hope."

The voice that rang in Johnny's head upon entering came from the table in the corner of the room. Reverend Meat sat there, smiling at Johnny with a drooling grin and forever holding up a plastic hamburger.

"Shut up, Meat," he said, tossing his die-ary on the couch. "What do you care if I'm here or not?"

"Well, it does get lonely here. You've been gone for a year, you know." The plastic figure almost looked sad. "And the last time you came, you didn't stay long. You just picked up your book and shuffled off again, without even saying hello. I miss our talks."

He approached the table, glaring down at Meat and scowling angrily. He remembered their talks quite well. Reverend Meat's sole purpose was to make Johnny feel, to remind him of life's sensations, both pleasant and horrifying. But the murderer wanted none of that; he wanted to be cold and unfeeling, like and insect. And that damned burger boy wouldn't let him do that.

"I don't," Johnny said. He backed away and paced the floor in front of the table. "I don't miss any of it, Meat. I left this place to get away from everything… from you."

The plastic figure chuckled. "Dear boy, you can never get away from me. I'm a part of you! One can never escape one's self!"

He stopped pacing, his back turned to the Reverend. "I'm going to get a knife," Johnny murmured, turning his head to face Meat, "and cut you out of me."

"Oh, come on now, Nny," it replied. "No need to be dramatic. Besides, it seems like you've been cut up enough."

Johnny's scowl faded as he looked own at his arm, through the tear on his trench coat he could see the bloodstained bandage. He thought of Devi, and sighed sadly. "I'm not going to talk about it."

There was a silence, the Meat spoke again. "You were with Devi, weren't you?"

"Shut up," Johnny hissed.

"You were hurt when you fought for her, and she helped you in return."

"I said, shut up."

"You still have feelings for her," he cooed.

"I'm warning you."

"Don't deny it. It's right here in your head."

"Shut the fuck up!" Johnny whirled around. He snatched Reverend Meat him his hand, and bellowed into the doll's face. "You just don't know when to quit! Yes, I admit it! I was hurt and she cared for me in return for what I did for her, but that's all. I left and there's nothing else to say. It's over! I made sure of it!"

He threw the plastic figure down and approached the battered couch. He sat down heavily, his head hanging. "I made sure of it," he continued forlornly. "There's nothing left between us."

"But you wish there was," Meat said softly.

Johnny let out a harsh breath, half angry, half regretful. He got up, and made his way to the next room. "Leave me alone, Meat," he whispered.

"My dear boy," Reverend Meat said, "you are alone."

He ignored Meat's last words. With anger burning in his belly he left the room. He walked quickly, muttering furiously to himself all the while. "I don't need his opinion," he chanted over and over. "I hate him."

Johnny paused his steps, and slumped against one of the walls. He stood with closed eyes, trying to clear his mind of the Reverend's words, but was interrupted as he coughed a few times. He groaned, opening his eyes, and looked around him. His gaze wandered around the room, and rested on a darkened doorway. It was more of an open, rectangular hole in the wall than a doorway; the door was long been missing, and only rusty hinges remained. Beyond the threshold laid long stairwell. And, beyond that, his basements; his torture chambers.

Without knowing why, Johnny approached it, and peered down into the murky shadows. Even though he loathed the place, he suddenly wanted to venture down there. Maybe for the sake of a memory, he thought. It's a bad memory, but a memory nonetheless.

With these thoughts, he began his descent into the darkness.

--

"Amazing how much wood can decay in a year," he chuckled to himself.

Ten minutes later, and Johnny was still walking. The stairs were even more rotten than he had remembered. They were damp and slippery in some places. Some of the planks were only half there, and some were gone altogether. It was all coated with a layer of dust, thicker than the layer that blanketed upstairs. Johnny's trench coat swept it up as he walked, creating a thin cloud that rose up from his feet. It drifted around him, tickling his nose and making him sneeze violently a few times. He shook his head and blinked to clear his vision.

When his senses had cleared, he looked before him again. He fancied that he saw a dim, flickering light coming from the room at the bottom of the first landing, but it vanished before he was sure of what he saw. He shrugged it off and continued down the last few steps.

--

She crouched there, wide-eyed and shaking. Devi gripped the flashlight so tightly that her fingers grew numb. Fear had her by the throat. All thought was cut off. She couldn't bring herself to move away from that blood-drenched wall, let alone take her eyes off it.

After what seemed like hours, she tore herself from the shock. Breathing heavily, Devi stood on unsteady legs and looked around her once more. Terrified thoughts flooded her mind.

This can't be happening, she screamed inside. It can't. He wouldn't… Johnny wouldn't… She stopped herself. He had tried to kill her once, after all. Maybe…

Devi looked back at the bones strapped to a machine. That was just one victim. How many other people had he killed? Sickness had tried to do the same thing to her, but Devi had stopped her before the vile little doll caught hold of her mind.

"Your friend thought he could fight, too," the doll had said. "And he ended up… introducing us to you."

She had realized that Sickness had been talking about Johnny when she spoke those poisonous words to her months ago. While she and Johnny talked at her apartment, she had suspected it again.

"I think I know what came over you that one night, but I… I'm not sure."

She was damned sure of it, now. Johnny had tried to fight it off, wherever it had come from, but had given into it at some point. She suddenly recalled the time he had called her to attempt an apology. He had mentioned something…

"No, I'm not talking about suicide. That was Psycho-doughboy's thing. Oh, I didn't introduce you to him- he was one of my little Styrofoam friends."

It all made perfect sense. But he's changed!, Devi thought. He wouldn't have done anything like this now! Not anymore! He told me he'd changed! He couldn't have lied to me!

"No matter what I tried to do in the past… it doesn't matter now." His raspy voice and reassuring words echoed in her mind. "I would never let you suffer like that, no matter how much you hate me."

But, try as she might, Devi couldn't convince herself. Every piece of previous evidence fell right into place. But what she saw before her seemed to prove otherwise. All these torture devices… why else would he have kept them?

Devi went ridged, and her heart pounded as her thoughts were cut off. She heard something coming from the stairs. Devi silently begged that it was just another rat, but the sound wasn't the pattering of small claws. It sounded like slow, careful footsteps. She tired to persuade herself into thinking that it was just her fear and paranoia messing with her senses. But then Devi heard something that sounded all too human- a series of harsh sneezes.

That was no rat.

"Oh shit," Devi hissed. She looked around wildly, and spotted an over-turned table in the far corner. She bolted toward it as quietly as she could, dived behind it, and turned off the flashlight. Darkness engulfed her along with a fresh wave of terror. She could almost hear her pulse beating in her head.

The footsteps grew louder, closer, and then stopped on the landing. A click, and a dim light from above flooded the room. There was a light sniffle, another sneeze, and more footsteps.

Trembling in her hiding place, Devi peered around the corner of the table. Johnny was staring off into the opposite direction, right at the bloodstained wall. She watched as he ran a skeletal hand along the dried blood, whispering unclear words.

On all fours, she backed behind the table again. A metallic clanging sound made her go ridged, and she felt more frightened than ever before. Shaking, she looked behind her.

Her boot has struck an empty can. It clattered onto the floor, and rolled away slowly, glinting in the diffuse light.

Fuck.

--

Okay, I'll stop here and leave you all hanging because I'm evil. I stole two lines from Secret Window, in case you noticed. Can you blame me? I was watching the movie before I wrote this, and those two quotes seemed to fit Nny better than they did Mort Rainey.

Leave a review, and I'll give you leftover Halloween candy:D