(MADELEINE'S POV)
*88 lbs
Hanging her head, Madeleine trudged inside the house with an air of pity and sickness. Taking a few steps inside, Madeleine stiffly turned her neck to her right, spotting Johnny's plastic burger boy, sitting several feet away on a wooden dresser.
Narrowing her eyes with distaste, Maddie turned away and chewed the inside of her cheek before pausing in mid-stride to glance at Johnny who began to retreat to the lower corridors and hidden rooms of the house. He too, had a rather disturbed face while he started down the stairs.
"Johnny."
Nny stopped, turned his body and looked to Madeleine with concern before she continued, "I'm planning on visiting the hospital to check on Squee and his mother after I do a few things. Would you care to join?"
"Sure, sure," he answered with a cynical smile before turning away and continuing back down the stairwell.
Rubbing her forehead to rid herself of the excess sweat, Madeleine hesitated in the living room, trying to figure out what she was going to do from there.
Letting her eyes wander to the other hallways of her new, but rather familiar home, she remembered her plans, and headed to the bathroom, heart set on taking a shower and cleaning herself of what she had just seen.
Walking at a steady pace, Madeleine found the bathroom, abruptly stopping as she spotted the tub which was spilling over with thick, crimson blood and many various body fragments. Madeleine left the door open, staring at the mess of blood that smeared on the wall, and spilled on the floor. Forming her lips into a thin line, Maddie shook her head and realized that she had to get used to this; unless she could successfully reprogram Johnny enough to get him to stop bringing his dead victims into their home.
Rubbing her neck in an awkward fashion, she breathed out a heavy sigh before leaving the hallway to fetch Johnny.
(JOHNNY'S POV)
"Nny…?"
Biting his tongue, Johnny dropped the wet rag in his hand as he slit a small opening in his thumb. He was only half finished with cleaning off his knife before Madeleine had entered the room, surprising him and distracting Johnny, thus leading to the accidental cut on his finger.
"Hm?"
"I have a favor to ask; I know that I can't keep you from killing someone, but if you take them here to finish the assholes off and kill them, could you… not store the corpses or blood in the bathtub? I'm in need of a shower… and I don't find it very sanitary if you do that…"
Cringing at the realization that he forgot to clean up the mess, Johnny turned around, wiping his thumb on his jacket before putting on an apologetic face, "shit… forgot to clean that… let me go fetch a wheel barrel, and I'll fix that right away."
Setting down his knife on the table, Johnny narrowed his eyes at his hands, thinking up an idea to keep the wedding ring on his hand from getting tainted with blood and gore.
Hurrying down another flight of stairs, Johnny signaled for Madeleine to stay where she was before flipping on the light of one of his small side closets.
Scanning through the jumbled mess of torture toys, iron maidens, nooses, and more deathly weapons, Johnny spotted a wheel barrel filled with rusty knives, needles and bent nails. Placing these unwanted objects onto the shelves for later, Johnny dragged the wheel barrel out the room before searching the room once more for a completely different reason.
Spotting an old leather leash, Johnny bent over a bat with spikes surrounding its edges before picking up the leather and bringing it to his chest at the memory of buying that very leash from the pet store the day he bought Nailbunny.
Of course, he didn't really know that people didn't walk their pet bunnies at the time, so he bought it, thinking that he would use it. Unfortunately, that very day after he fed the little bunny, he nailed it to the wall.
Smiling at the memory, Johnny grabbed a large set of hedge clippers that sat on his side before cutting the leather in half, and setting the clippers back where they had been.
Taking the black leather in his hands, Johnny slipped his gold and silver wedding ring off his finger before sliding it the leather through the hole. Tying the ends of the black strip, Johnny knotted it well before slipping the strap around his neck.
Satisfied now, Johnny tugged the wheel barrel up the stairs before finding Madeleine back at Johnny's desk, giggling at the parchment before her.
Raising an eyebrow in curiosity before shaking his head, Johnny continued up another flight of stairs and continued on to the bathroom to clean up the inconvenient mess he had forgotten to clean up.
(1 hour later…)
After making several trips to his back yard, burying the various eyes, elbows, legs and other bodily joints, Johnny had successfully emptied the tub, cleaned the blood stains on the sides, tiles and floor. Gathering his monstrous tools and blades that had dried blood coating the edges, he dumped them into the barrel and cleaned the counter as well, finishing up the job with spraying the room with air freshener and Lysol onto the counter tops.
Huffing out a sigh of tiredness, Johnny popped his knuckles before checking over the room one last time, making sure that the tub was successfully cleaned, the floors mopped of blood, and the smears on the wall wiped away with bleach. His eyebrows knitted together as he spotted an old friend in the corner of the room, crawling up the wall in silence.
"Mr. Samsa, what are you doing in here," Johnny said as he picked up the roach and set it in his hand, studying it carefully before carrying it out the room and setting it on the windowsill beside the entrance. Retrieving the wheel barrel, Johnny paused, standing in the bathroom while he looked at his appearance in the mirror.
Still the same Johnny C. that he was several months ago: skinny, pale skin, messy hair and bloody clothes.
Clearing his throat, Nny frowned at how Madeleine found him suitable as a husband. He killed people; how was he in any possible way worthy for a wife?
Scoffing at himself, Johnny shrugged; Madeleine cared and loved for him all the same, as he did for her. It didn't really matter.
Pulling the barrel out of the room, Johnny took it back down to the room he was in before he was asked of his chore, finding Madeleine still reading more pieces of parchment, but now she was sitting on the floor with stacks of more paper around her.
Now, Johnny became truly curious at what was keeping Madeleine so entertained and fixated on the pages around her. Walking up to her with interest, Johnny leaned against the wooden wall beside him, realizing that she had found his Happy Noodle Boy comics.
She was crying with laughter at this point, holding her torso while she held the page in the other hand.
Maddie repeated a line from one of his own comics, making him smile with gratitude.
"No! Don't leave me, intestinal gas! Please! Don't go! I thought you LOVED ME! Ahahaha! Joh-…," Madeleine burst into another fit of giggles and laughter before wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath, "Johnny this is golden. Happy Noodle Boy… heh."
She smiled at the stick figure comics, looking through the pages before gathering them up and returning them back to the desk before stretching her arms above her head and popping her shoulders in the act.
Nny, being proud of his comics, strolled across the room, dragging the barrel to the desk beside Madeleine, before informing her, "the bathroom is free to do as you please; I truly do apologize for the inconvenience."
Maddie rolled her eyes at Johnny's apologetic statement, shrugging her shoulders in a dismissive taste, "it's fine, Johnny. Thank you for cleaning it for me. Hmmm…"
Madeleine eyed Johnny up and down, noticing the ring on his chest while the sleeves of his coat and bits of his shirt were soggy with blood. Cocking her head to the side, she stayed quiet for several more seconds, contemplating something before opening her mouth, "you got an awful lot of blood on you; I'll wash that for you. Hey," Maddie started as Johnny narrowed his eyes, wondering if Maddie was playing another game like she did the previous night, "I'm offering you this because you did a kindliness to me by cleaning the bathroom. The least I can do is wash your jacket and shirt."
Studying Madeleine's face, he could hear the sincerity in her voice. She didn't seem to be scheming anything, so Johnny accepted her offer after slight hesitation.
Shrugging off his blood-stained jacket, Johnny passed this to Madeleine who had started to bob her head and hum to a rhythm. Squirming out of his shirt, he handed that to Maddie as well, who seemed to be staring at the ring on his chest. She paid no attention to anything other than the ring as she continued to hum and bob her head, smiling at the sight of the jewelry.
"I always knew that you'd come back to get me… and you always knew that it wouldn't be easy, to go back to the start to see where it all began or end up at the bottom to watch how it all ends…"
Madeleine turned around, heading to the ground floor while she continued to sing.
"You tried to lie and say I was everything; I remember when I said I'm nothing without you… somehow I found a way to get lost in you, let me inside, let me get close to you; change your mind. I'll get lost if you want me to…"
Her voice had faded off, but Johnny followed her, wanting to listen to her voice.
Although Johnny didn't necessarily approve of rock bands that sang songs that Madeleine was singing, Johnny had found this band fairly recognizable. Johnny was more subject to classical music, but he accepted any and all genres, coming to like rock as well.
"…somehow I found a way to get lost in you."
Madeleine shoved the bundle of clothes into the machine before flipping the switch and pouring some laundry soap into the bunch, closing the lid and letting the machine do it's work.
"You always thought that I left myself open, but you didn't know I was already broken…"
Passing Johnny, Madeleine strode over to the bedroom where she soon came back with a bundle of clothes to change into before hustling inside the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
"I told myself that it wouldn't be so bad, but pulling away you took everything that I had. You tried to lie and say I was everything; I remember when I said I'm nothing without you…"
Scrunching his nose at the realization that he was standing in the middle of his home, shirtless, listening to his wife singing in the bathroom, Johnny shuddered before he crossed his arms over his chest and started to walk into the living room.
Cradling his elbow with his other arm, Johnny fingered the ring on his neck, toying with the circular metal. Madeleine's voice was still audible through the door, but it was a little more disfigured as the sound of running water somewhat drowned out her vocals.
"somehow I found….to get lost in… let me inside, let me get close to you…mind….I'll get lost if you want me to, somehow I found…. To get lost in you."
"I am glad to see that your emotions have become the subject of the matter, Johnny," a voice sounded through the room around him. Craning his neck, Nny spotted Reverend Meat sitting in a different spot, now placed on a side table that sat next to the sofa.
Frowning with dislike, Johnny simply ignored the noise before walking to the dresser that sat parallel to the hallway in which Madeleine had retreated to, still singing.
"But you still have yet to experience the pleasure of lust. You have the option to-,"
"No, just…shut up! I don't… I can't allow myself that, burger kind of… meaty thing. I won't even suggest the idea unless Maddie feels comfortable and wants to," Johnny confessed, pulling out a clean, long sleeved white shirt with the emblem of 'question sleep' strewn upon the front.
Clutching the fabric in his hands, Johnny grit his teeth in realization that once again, he had been corrected. As completely revolting as it sounded, he couldn't help but wonder. NO. No… no desire for that…
Johnny's eye twitched as he bit his tongue, thoroughly disgusted at himself for the thought before shrugging into the thin shirt and pulling out the ring from under his shirt.
"You will never know until you interrogate her about the situation… it's normal to feel-,"
Johnny cleared his throat so as to drown out the sound of Reverend Meat's rant about emotion and lust.
"The pain of it all, the rise and the fall, I see it all in you; now every day I find myself say I want to get lost in you; I'm nothing without you…"
Locking his jaw, Nny headed to the kitchen, still listening intently to Madeleine's song as he decided to entertain himself by making some toast.
"Somehow I found a way to get lost in you, let me inside, let me get close to you; change your mind, I'll get lost if you want me to, somehow I found a way to get lost in you."
(AUTHOR'S POV)
Another…fairly boring chapter. Yay… awkward endings are ALWAYS fun aren't they?
I… personally found this chapter somewhat worthless… but the next chapter will bring up a little more meaning for the story; hope you liked this chapter anyway…
I'm just trying to drag out the romance, giving the 'love' plot a little more conflict…
EHH! I'M TIRED!
Oooh… Happy Noodle Boy…
The thing with the tub… I added that in because I was re-reading a JTHM issue and I found a specific picture with Johnny, sitting on the toilet, wiping off a bloody saw with a rag while a tub filled with body parts and blood sat in the background.
Inspiration, no?
…I have a brainfart, so I don't have much to say other than the disclaimer…
The song lyrics belong to Three Days Grace, and the song title is called, "Lost in You"
Johnny and any JTHM characters (such as Mr. Samsa…) belong to Jhonen Vasquez; they don't belong to me, sadly.
I own Madeleine.
WHAT THE HELL IS INSIDE THAT WEDDING PRESENT?
You will figure out soon… guess, my fellow readers, guess.
Review; every time you review you get a digital cookie to splurge on, so… REVIEW!
"NIPPLES! I HAVE NO NIPPLES!"
-Happy Noodle Boy/ Johnny C./ Jhonen Vasquez