A/N: This is a sequel to Listen , and possibly also Bad News . You might want to read one or both of those first.
Caution: This story is not of a cheerful nature.
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Nightmare
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The eye in the wall was still staring at him. Hundreds more had opened near it, all blinking rapidly like a depraved parody of twinkling stars. They were staring. All staring. All staring at him. He tried to curl up away from the staring, but there was nowhere to hide in the sea of tile. Somewhere, a mannequin turned its head.
“The boy’s gonna burn in Hell, yes he is, yes he is. Hello operator, can you give me number nine?” “Doomed, Ha! Doomed! Ha HA!” “Can we eat him now, George? I say we eat him…” “It’s all your fault, you know, and now you’re going to die…”Something brushed against his foot and he jumped up with a scream. It was game over. There was no way out and he knew it. It was all crashing, all ending, all over. All his fault. The light reflecting off the tiles blinded him.
“..eat him! EAT him!” “Ha! Doomed! Ha!” “Gotta scratch him now.” “You’re pathetic is what you are. You deserve this.” “Johnny, can you hear me? It’s going to be okay.”
“Blood all over the floor, blood, blood, blood.”
His heart kept slamming against his chest and bouncing back into his stomach. He was going to throw up. It was all his fault; the masked men were after him and so that made it all his fault…
“Blood on the floor, blood out the door…..” “End it now. You know you want to. Coward.” “You’re going to get through this alive, Johnny. It’ll be okay."
“Doomed! HAHAHA!” “Murders with guns, murderers bring guns, guns bring murderers.” “Murder YOU, Stupid.”“Johnny, take some deep breaths. It’s going to be fine.”
His heart was sore from pounding for so long. He sucked in a lung-full of air.
“Just let it out slow… You’re doing fine. It’s going to be okay.”
“Murder murder muder…” “HaHA Doomed!” “…and blood on the shore, and bloody more….” “Hello, Hell! Hello!” “They came to kill you. It’s a shame they failed.”Something was standing watching him. He paced across the empty tile, aware that the wall was following his every move. He couldn’t get away.
“You’re going to be fine, Johnny. It’s all right. You’re going to be fine. Deep breaths.”
“Your mother planned for them to come.” “George? Hey, George!”He turned and paced the other way, kicking more of the clattering things as he moved. Snakes. No. Bombs? Maybe… He inhaled again. Bullets. Oh God, Bullets. His heart went back to slamming his chest and stomach again.
“Johnny? Johnny, it’s okay! It’s okay.”
“This building will self-destruct…” “It’s okay. Just breathe, Johnny.”
Bullets…Bullet casings. They were sprawled along the floor. Bullet casings where bullets were. Something blue was over by the fountain. So many bullets and so much screaming….
“Blood bloody girl it’s a blood bloody world…” “I know you’ve been through a tough time. But it’s going to be fine, now. You’re going to be okay.”
“You brought it all on them and deserve to suffer.”He tottered forward again and stared at the blue thing, trying to make sense of it. Behind him, the eyes tracked his movements.
“Just keep breathing, Johnny. You’re going to be fine. Take a deep breath and let it out slow.”
So many bullets and so much screaming, and then they had pointed the guns at him. He remembered his mother trying to keep him behind the crowd. He remembered Hell. So much Hell.
“Hello, the number you have dialed has been traveling for miles…” “They’re still here. They’ll come back. The police are working for them.”
He sat down on the edge of the fountain, next to the blue person, and took a shuddering breath. His heart was still thumping, and he stared forward, trying not to see the omnipresent eyes.
“It’s okay, Johnny. It’s okay.”
Bullets and screaming and Mom…
Someone was dead.
Mom was dead.
“She’s dead and it’s your fault.” “Bloody twirl I’m gonna hurl…” “Ha! Doomed!”He turned to the blue person. “They killed Mom.”
“She’s fine---“
“They killed her,” he repeated for this stupid person. Why was this guy lying?!
“Liar, liar pants on fire.”“Okay, sorry! Calm down. It’s okay.” The man in blue was quiet for a moment. “*I* believe that Mom is still alive. I think she’s okay, and I think she’s outside right now, arguing with the police.”
He stared at the bullet casings. They seemed dead, now, too.
“Do you want to see her? Should I ask them to let her in?”
The eyes on the wall blinked in unison, as though trying to transmit some kind of code. He turned away, shaking his head. “No. I don’t want them sending in a duplicate.”
“Double, double, toil and trouble…” “They were after me,” he said.
“They want your blood. They want your blood.”“…I think those men just wanted a big building to take hostages in. This is a big building. I don’t think it was about you at all.”
One of the eyes developed a mouth in its iris. The mannequins in the store-front behind them strained to listen. “They shot me.”
“Right in the heart. Wrong in the heart.” “They will come back to end you. They might have ended you already. You should end yourself.”“I know.” His father sighed. “It wasn’t your fault. You’re going to be okay. Do you want to go home, now?”
“In the chest,” Johnny replied.
“Heart and soul and rock and roll…” “It was all your fault.”
“I know, I know. It’s okay. Let’s just go home.” His father reached for his hand. “Let’s go through the skylight; it’ll be quieter. Your mother can meet us at the house.”
“Blood in the house and a bloody mouse…” “Hahaha! Doomed! Haha!”“They shot me,” Johnny repeated as they lifted into the air.
“It’ll be okay, Johnny. We’ll deal with it later. No matter what happens, this isn’t the end.”
