"Um, Johnny, where are we going...?" Squee asked uneasily from the back seat of my car.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," I admitted. "Uhh...Ya hungry? We could go for some breakfast, then head to the store."

I didn't really stock up on food at home. I usually ate out whenever I got hungry, but now that I had a roommate to take care of, I guessed I'd have to go do some shopping. I hoped I had enough money to do that. I didn't have a job, which was another reason why I didn't eat much. I usually took the money from the wallets of my victims. I mean, it's not like they would need it anymore, right? Corpses have no need for cash.

I heard Squee's stomach rumble quietly with hunger and couldn't help but grin. "Guess your gut speaks for itself, huh, Squeegee?"

He nodded, embarrassed. "Can...can we go to McMeaty's?"

"McMeaty's...?" I asked, screwing up my face in a disgusted expression. "...Um..."

"We don't have to if you don't wanna..." he said softly, his eyes dropping to the floor.

I winced. He was so damn cute that it almost made me sick. How was I supposed to say no to that?

"...No, no, it's okay. We can go there." As I spoke, I had to hide the urge to gag. It was a pretty nasty place to be, you know. The food was all greasy and slimy, the smell was reminded me of human waste...Not exactly the most nutritional food for a kid, but then I remembered the whole reason I was taking him out to begin with.

With a guilty sigh, I drove to the McMeaty's parking lot. Before we went inside, I paused for a moment to calm myself. I had had my fair share of bad memories that took place in restaraunts, and none of them had ended well. In fact, there was one in particular that I really didn't want to repeat with Squee around. If anyone watches the news, then you all ought to be aware of the incident at a certain taco place a rather long time ago. A nasty old lady had the audacity to call me the 'W' word, and maybe I overreacted a little, but give me a break. I mean, how catty do you have to be to call someone out like that, for Christ's sake? Especially if it's someone you don't know!

I can still hear her irritting voice in my head. "I would simply die if my son looked as wacky!" GOD! THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE! So I gave her and all the other sons of bitches in that place what they deserved, because nobody's gonna call me that filthy word and get away with it...Except that policeman, but that's only because I don't know who he is!

"Are you okay, Nny?" Squee's voice whispered from behind me.

I looked up at him through the rear-view mirror and managed a pathetic smile. "I'm fine, kid. Let's just get this over with."

I got out of the car and let Squee out, and together we entered the building. As soon as we walked inside, the smell of the food nauseated me. I could feel the bile in my stomach churning, toiling like some foul witch's concoction. But I was fairly good at keeping down the urge to vomit, so I took Squee to look at the menu and choose something to eat.

While we waited, I noticed a woman and her son, who was probably about Squee's age, get in line behind us. The kid immediately approached Squee and started talking about some stupid Japanese cartoon monster while shoving all these annoying card things in Squee's face. Squee didn't look interested at all, but he listened to the kid anyway like he didn't know what else to do.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" the weird kid's mother gushed, "I'm so glad Sammy's making new friends. We just moved in town, you see. Are you that little boy's father?"

What the hell was wrong with these two? Randomly approaching people, talking about stupid things and asking stupid questions came off to me as being a little overbearing. And I thought I was a strange person.

I shook my head. "No, he's my neighbor. His parents are away, so I'm looking after him."

Well, it wasn't a total lie, was it...?

I turned my attention back to the kids. Sammy was still prattling on about his dumb pocket balls (what the fuck are those, anyway?) things, and Squee looked as bored as ever. Why didn't he do something about it? I could tell that whatever mindless stupidity was spouting out of Sammy's mouth wasn't interesting him at all, but why was he just enduring it like that? That wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Well, I guess this is where my duty as his caretaker kicks in, I thought to myself. It annoyed me that I'd have to step in and take care of this situation, but how was Squee going to learn a lesson if someone didn't teach it to him?

I pulled Squee aside and led him to the bathroom. "Look, Squee, I think it's time I taught you another lesson about life. That kid was irritating you, right?"

He shifted his weight on his feet and looked around with shifty eyes. "W-Well...A little..."

"So next time, when you run into someone and they start talking about a bunch of nonsense you could care less about, tell them so. There's nothing wrong with letting them know you aren't really interested. Or you could be more polite and just change the subject...Either works."

Was I doing this thing right? The kid was just gawking at me like I was speaking Greek or something.

"You aren't in trouble, Squee, I'm just trying to teach you something," I assured him, "I just don't want you to be a walking mat for other people. That's probably the most important lesson of all: Don't let others push you around. If you let other people just walk on top of you, you'll just degenerate into some kind of mindless drone who can't do a thing for himself because he's so used to others doing everything for him. Worry about what you want, and nothing else matters. Okay?"

Squee was silent for a moment or two before finally speaking up. "Mommy and Daddy only worried about what they wanted..." he said softly, "...and look where it got them."

I stared at him, taken completely by surprise. "W-What do you mean by that, Squeegee?"

"They aren't going to come home for me, Nny," he said, his eyes filling up with tears. "They won't come home at all. They never liked me, so they left me and went away..."

Suddenly, I started feeling sick again. Not because of the stench of the meat place or the fact that we were standing in a urine soaked restroom, but because this kid was making me feel bad for him. I wasn't sorry that I had murdered his asshole parents, but I was sorry that he was hurting so much.

I squatted down to his level and placed my hands on his shoulders to comfort him. "You're right, kid. They won't come back. But you know what? That's off on them. You don't need parents like that. You don't need them at all, really. As long as you've got someone who cares about you and takes care of you, then that's the only family you need. They may have given you life, but that isn't what makes a family. Do you understand?"

He wiped away his tears and nodded. "So...does that make you my family, Johnny...?"

"Huh?"

Did I say that? I was pretty sure that was not what I had meant.

"You just said the only family I need is someone who cares about me and takes care of me," he explained. "Doesn't that mean you're my family now?"

I smiled weakly as I realized that I had just described our current situation as a family. And you know what? I sort of liked the idea of it. I could live with that.

"I guess it does, kid," I murmured with a quick nod.

"I always wanted a big brother," Squee said with a broad grin.

The next thing I knew, he had wrapped his arms around me, smothering himself in my shirt. It shocked me at first and it took a moment for my mind to register that he was hugging me. Awkward.

"Uhh..." Not knowing what else to do, I patted his back and waited for him to let go of me. "...Yeah, okay..."

Finally, Squee released me and I stood up again. "Can I get a burger now?" he asked with a smile.

I nodded and held the door open for him. As he walked in front of me, it occurred to me that I'd never seen him grin like that. You know, like he was actually happy for once in his life. And don't get me wrong, I thought it was great that I had managed to make him feel better, but I was also worried about this family thing.

I wanted to keep Squee around and take care of him, but how was I going to do that? I managed to take care of myself just fine, but now that I had a kid to watch out for. What was I to do?

"Come on, Johnny!" Squee urged, tugging my hand and heading back to the line.

I couldn't help but smile a little at him. I would worry about all that later.