Ouch, you guys, only one review? Oh well, it happens I guess. Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a short little gift for all of you supah-fans out there!

I know that you
Don't know me very well
We've barely met
But I can surely tell
No one will ever
Love you like I do

I like to feel
The warm spot on your chair
Sometimes I drool
And usually I stare
My precious one
I saved that gum
That you threw in the garbage

You're the one I dream about
But the only question with me now
Is "Do I creep you out?"
Everytime I shake your hand now
Wanna stick your fingers in my mouth
Do I creep you out?

~Do I Creep You Out by Weird Al Yankovic

The 21st of October, in my opinion, should be a freaking national holiday. After two weeks of absence, Vincent finally fired Alexis. Though I would have done just the opposite, Vince called her after the first few days to make sure she wasn't fatally ill or a missing person, which, as it turns out she wasn't.

As soon as I heard the news, I let out a cry of joy, and every head I the store swiveled in my direction. "Miracles all around us!" I crowed and lifted my arms in praise of the heavens.

Vic was astounded. "You didn't like her? I didn't realize you were one to pass judgment."

I sniffed. "I don't pass judgment. I lean on the horn and flip it the bird."

"Well whatever you do, don't let it affect your work."

"Aye, aye sir!" I saluted my boss and returned to the register.

The rest of the day was an absolute breeze. There were no bitchy customers with bratty kids who only preferred cheap plastics novelty toys and action figures to quality crafts, and not once did I slip and cut myself with my knife. It was almost too good to be true.

It was Vincent's night to lock up, so I made like a tree and got the hell out of there as soon as my shift ended. Though my car was still in the last stages of repair thanks to the miracle worker that is Angel Allende, I made the short walk home with a spring in my step and a metaphorical smile in my heart. Even when I passed a grungy gentleman wielding a picket sign declaring that the End was nigh, I actually smiled at the sonovabitch. I just couldn't help myself.

I just had to try and spread the cheer with the grim-faced vagrant in my blissful state. The smile went unreciprocated and I left for home anyways.

For once, Claudia and Virgil hadn't infiltrated my defenses and I was allowed to spend my evening of celebration alone with Lucifer who was asleep in the kitchen sink. "Let the joyous news be spread! The wicked old witch at last is dead!" I cackled and kicked off my shoes.

My old dancing skills still intact, I pirouetted across the cold linoleum to the kitchen, coming to stop in front of the lounging cat. I leaned forward and grinned. "Not bad for a hominid, huh?"

Lucifer closed one eye and yawned. You just can't please some people.

I saw it before I could react- a dark cloth swinging around my line of vision and clamping down over my mouth and nose. I twisted and kicked until my limbs were to heavy and my strength wilted and I fell into a deep and unnatural sleep.

XxXxXxX

I don't remember dreaming, but the sharp pinch in the crook of my arm that stirred me from sleep was certainly like waking up from a nightmare. I had no memory of how I got here. Though my surroundings were blurred like watercolors, it was obvious I was someplace new.

A figure was hunched in front of me holding something that looked dangerously like a syringe and a whimper escaped from my throat.

"Shhh…" the stranger said, and reached out to gently stroke my hair. "Everything is going to be okay from now on. You'll see."

God, what the hell was going on? A list of every woman's worst fears began to pile up in my imagination and weigh heavy on my stomach. I thought, I'm going to die here. I cheated Death three times just to get wasted by some deranged stranger in what looked like a crappy motel room that was probably in a part of town where your screams fell on deaf ears.

Then something new happened. The stranger was no longer visible and the furniture began to shimmer and blend into the walls, losing their dimension like a melting candle and swirling along in a vertical current. The tacky peeling wallpaper became fluid and oily, sickeningly churning along with the animated furniture.

Distorted wasn't even the word for it- no it was something beyond my experience that prevented the right use of description. I felt this was all so terribly wrong, but simple awareness wasn't enough. Powerless and running out of optimism, I screamed at the top of my lungs, only to have a white cloud come down over my head and smother the shrill sound. The cloud proved impossible to breathe through. My heart started pounding in my eardrums and my lungs pumped till I felt pain and I could no longer make a sound.

A few seconds later, the cloud lifted. I gratefully sucked in the air that I had taken for granted my whole life, trying my hardest not to cry.

"Don't make me do that again." The stranger's voice whispered. "It hurts me to hurt you."

That someone kissed my temple; a tenderness that only felt cold and dangerous to me now. I wanted my mother. I wanted my daddy and my brothers. I just wanted someone to walk in the door and take me home.

"Mma..go…hoome…" I groaned in misery.

"Your home is with me now." The voice said, still disembodied. "Home is wherever you are loved. And I love you Jack. Did you hear me? I love you."

A hand emerged from the empty space in front of me and rested on my face. Its thumb began to stroke soft circles on my cheek and the fear bloomed in my stomach. A tear slid down, only to be wiped away by my captor.

God help me.