TUESDAY


"…Suzy…" you hear a voice whisper.
"Mgh." You answer.
"Suzy…get up…I have to go pee!" the voice says again. Your eyes are still closed, but you recognize it as Julie's.

"Guh. Well go! Why do I have to get up?!" you say angrily with your eyes still closed.
"Well because you arm is wrapped around my waist and your leg is intertwined with one of mine that's why!"

Now you open your eyes and realize what Julie has just described is true. Julie looks at you over her shoulder.

"Hey don't blame me, I stayed on my side of the bed. I'd enjoy this longer, but I really gotta pee!"
"Shit." You say and remove yourself from your entanglement from Julie's body. Julie smiles at you and then heads to the bathroom.

Great, now she's going to read something into it. Though you do wonder how the hell you got into a spooning position with her. Maybe you were dreaming about Bobby.

Speaking of Bobby, while you're checking the time on your cell phone, you see that he's left messages again. After you recent "night cuddling" with Julie, you think it might be best if you do call Bobby if only to deter Julie from getting any ideas.

"Hello? Bobby?" you say.
"Yeah." Bobby answers. He sounds pretty flat.
"Well you called me, so I assume you wanted to talk to me."
"Yeah I did, I wanted to talk to you yesterday about something else, but I've changed my mind about some things since then. So I've got something new to tell you, and given that you didn't bother to talk to me yesterday I think you'll be fine with it."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about us. Breaking up for good. It's obvious that this isn't working. I tried to bring you into my world, but you just refuse to meet me half way."

You can't believe you're hearing this!

"Meet you half way? You want me to be one of your wives in your fucked up religious cult compound that's what you want! Face it, you're not going to give up your sister Diana and that bitch would kill me as soon as I stepped foot in that place!"
"Well…you obviously have valid points, so why are you arguing with me on this?"
"Because you're trying to make out like I'M the bad guy here! I'm not the human sacrificing cultist Bobby and yet I looked past that because I loved you! You say I didn't try to meet you half way? I proposed long ago that we BOTH leave our fucked up families behind and start a new life together! I was willing to change, YOU weren't!"

At this point there is a long pause.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say?" you ask.
"No, except…it was just too much. Guess I take after my dad after all. I'm sorry, but my God and family come first. Even before you. I'll always remember…the good times we had. May Tiamat's Chaos take mercy on you."
"Oh fuck you and Tiamat!" you exclaim and hang up.

Its weird, but you start to sob a little bit. You sort of knew your relationship with Bobby was on borrowed time anyway, but it still hurts now that it's officially over. He was your first love after all and now that's gone.

Meanwhile Julie is standing in the bathroom door watching you.

"Suzy, I heard some of that…and I'm truly sorry about you and Bobby. Really, I mean that. You're a kind and decent girl with many wonderful qualities. He had a treasure in you and he doesn't know what he's lost."

Hard to tell if Julie's just trying to flatter you or she really does mean it, but either way it's still nice to hear right now.

"Did you want to talk about it?" Julie asks.
"No, not really. It's over and that's that. Best to not dwell on the past and move on right?" you say.
"Probably. Well I should probably see how much damage my home is in from last night and see who's still lingering around. I'll leave you alone."
"Wait, I'll come with you. I mean I live here too now, I might as well help you clean up. Besides, for the first time I think being alone might be a bad idea. I'm just going to end up dwelling on Bobby. I need to keep my mind on other things right now. I probably should try to make up with Donna as well. We kind of argued yesterday."
"Yeah, I wondered what happened about that. When she stormed in yesterday I asked about you and she mumbled something about you being a bitch. Then later at the party I asked again about what happened and she still never answered."
"Nothing really happened, she just jumped down my throat for a perceived insult, but I guess I should make the peace being the older sister and all."
"See? This is why you're so wonderful!" Julie smiles and the pair of you exit your room.

The house actually isn't in bad shape. Julie remarks that usually the parties only get really out of hand on Saturday and Friday nights. She also remarks that she thinks this the first time in quite awhile that she woke up without a hang over since she didn't really drink as much since she was mainly with you the whole night.

"It's a bizarre feeling, but I have to say it isn't an unpleasant one." Julie says.

From the living room you hear the sounds of a vacuum as well as a TV.

"Who the hell would be vacuuming?" Julie asks.
"Donna?" the moment you say that, you and Julie both look at each other and say "Nah."

When you arrive in the living room, you see a man probably about your age calmly vacuuming as he periodically looks at the TV screen, which is one of those Ground Zero infomercials. There are actually a couple of other people in the room flopped out on the furniture or on the floor still asleep, but the man merely vacuums around their sprawled out legs or bodies. You and Julie find the sight to be quite the peculiar one.

He notices you both and turns off the vacuum.

"Oh hey. You…you're the owner of this house correct?" he asks.
"Yes I am, who are you?" Julie answers.
"Oh I'm Johnny. Sorry if I woke you and your girlfriend up, but I couldn't in good conscience leave your house in such a mess. So I found your vacuum and tried to clean up a bit. Sort of a wild party last night huh?" Johnny says.
"Eh, had wilder. Never had a guest actually clean up though. Kinda weird, but hey I won't turn it down. I don't remember you from last night; though I have so many people at my parties I never know half of them anyway."
"Oh, I'm not very memorable anyway. I've always kind of just blended in with the crowd. I heard about this party from a friend and figured I'd come since I don't get out much. Did you want me to leave?"
"Doesn't make difference to me. Like I said, I'm not going to turn down a guest that helps clean up."

Johnny nods and returns to cleaning up, while Julie turns back to you.

"Hrm, he's an odd one, but at least he's helpful. Anyway, let's go check and see if Donna's upstairs." Julie says.

You and Julie leave Johnny to his cleaning to go find your sister. After checking the bedrooms, you don't find her (Though there are a couple of people still sleeping in said bedrooms) you wonder if she passed out on the lawn or something.

You and Julie start descending down the stairs.

"I dunno, while I've certainly passed out on the lawn, Donna has never gotten that bad. She's more likely to be in the basement."
"Well I guess you could look outside and I could look down there for my sister…"

Suddenly Johnny interrupts.

"Excuse me. Sorry for overhearing, but did you say you were looking for Donna?"
"Yes, she's my sister." You say.
"Oh…so you must be Suzy. Heard her talk about you last night."
"Nothing good I'm sure. You know where she is?" you say.
"Unfortunately I don't. I mean I remember seeing her leave with a couple of guys and another girl last night, but I didn't know them either. I was under the impression they were going out to get more beer or drugs or something, but they never came back."

You shake your head and sigh.

"Great, she probably got herself fucking arrested by the cops last night." You say.
"Well we don't know that." Julie remarks.
"Maybe. I guess I'll know if I get a call from the police station. Whatever, I know she's like a cat and always lands on her feet, so I can talk to her later."
"You sure you don't want to still look around the house for her?"
"Well if she's here, she'll probably turn up while I'm cleaning this place a bit."
"Okay, well I'm heading back upstairs to get those assholes out of my bed and clean up whatever mess is up there."

Julie heads back upstairs nodding to Johnny who is now picking up garbage by hand and putting it in a bag. He nods to you briefly and continues his work.

Well mind numbing clean up work should certainly help keep your mind off Bobby (and the possibility of Donna being in jail) you're just wondering if you should help Julie or Johnny.

You help Johnny

You decide that keeping a bit of distance from Julie might be for the best for now. After last night you don't want her to think you're lingering around her because there is something there between you two.

Johnny seems a bit odd, but then you're certainly used to odd people. You grab a trash bag and start cleaning up left over beer cans.

"Thanks, but you don't need to help me. Your girlfriend probably could use the help more than I do." Johnny says.
"Well I do live here now, so it's gotta get clean or I'm living in a pig pen! And Julie isn't my girlfriend." You say.
"Oh. Sorry, I just assumed that you two coming out of the same room together…"
"Eh, long story. But she's just my friend and I consoled her on a troubling topic. It got emotional and she slept in my room, though I'm fairly certain Julie wishes it had gone farther."
"Hm, I see. Well your sister didn't mention you had a girlfriend when she spoke about you last night, so I was sort of wondering."
"Wow, I must've really pissed my sister off yesterday if she was talking about me to a stranger. Would've thought she would've been focusing on other things during a party. What exactly did she say?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" Johnny asks.
"It probably isn't going to be anything I haven't already heard before from her, so go ahead."
"Well…she was sort of drunk when she started talking to me. I was actually surprised, since a girl like her doesn't normally just go up and talk to a guy like me, well at least not when there are other guys around. Anyway, she at first propositioned me to go into the basement with her. When I declined, she got more hostile and started calling me a faggot and said I didn't know how to have fun just like her sister Suzy."
"And that's when she went on a tirade?"
"Yeah, I was about to leave her since it isn't my idea of a good time to be ranted at and insulted, but she grabbed my arm and practically forced me to listen. She went on about you being good and perfect and never doing anything wrong. Basically she said all this stuff about you as if they were supposed to be bad things, but I didn't see it. I guess that just made her even madder so she eventually told me to fuck off and later on I saw her leave with that group I mentioned earlier."
"Yeah sounds like her. (Sigh) I jut hope she hasn't gone and done anything more stupid than usual. Family. What can ya do?" you say.
"Heh, don't need to tell me. I had an older sister just like your younger one. Partied all the time, lot of sex, lot of drugs, pissed my mom off something fierce when we were still living with her." Johnny says continuing to pick up cans and placing them in a bag.
"Oh I got an older sister too, but she's even worse than Donna."
"Party girl too huh?"
"No, she's just a fucking sadistic bully. Had to put up with her abuse for years."
"Your older sister sounds like my mother."

While the tone of his voice reflects no anger though, you notice when Johnny mentions that, his hand crushes one of the beer cans he has. He looks at it briefly and then tosses it in the bag.

You wonder if you should stop talking altogether, but Johnny has already noticed that you've been staring at what he's done.

"Sorry, bad memories. I didn't meant to scare you there." Johnny says.
"I wasn't scared, just more surprised. We can get off the topic of families."
"Heh, actually I was thinking we were kind of bonding a bit. Sounds like both of us come from fucked up families. Probably made us stronger right?"
"I dunno. I mean I suppose I've survived, not sure if that's the same thing. I mean this is like the second day I've spent away from home. I only moved out yesterday and only then due to being under duress from my sister Kelly. I've always been a bit introverted and spent most of my life avoiding the outside world."
"Eh, you're not missing much. To be honest, I'm almost jealous you managed to do it for so long. I'm a bit of an introvert too, but occasionally I to mix with the crowd as it were. Just to see if I feel any different. Hence one of the reasons why I came to your friend's party last night."
"And?"
"And, I don't feel any different. Just like I figured. It's like I spoke with several other people last night even before your sister and everyone was just…dull…boring…like they were just empty shells. Like they weren't even real people to me. To be quite honest before your sister started complaining about you to me, I was getting bored and nearly left the party." Johnny says as he motions over to a few of the sleeping lumps still in the living room.
"What about your friend that you came with?"
"Oh him? I came here independently of him. Hell, he didn't even show up. Really, he's more of an acquaintance than a friend anyway…"

Johnny's eyes sort of glaze over when he says this and he breaks in the middle of his sentence. Almost like he's in a different "place." '

"Johnny?" you say.
"Hrm? Sorry, I just kind of spaced out there. Anyway as I was saying, you haven't missed much by not being a social butterfly, I think this group here is proof of that. And as far as not being strong, you're stronger than you think. Despite coming from a dysfunctional family, you haven't succumbed to drug and sex filled escapism like your younger sister and you obviously haven't grown to become a mean bully like your older sister. The fact that you told me you spent the night consoling your best friend rather than indulging in some sort of meaningless hedonistic pleasure tells me that you're a kind and gentle soul. That's a rarity in this shitty world."

You have to admit, as strange as this Johnny is, you do get the sense he's being genuine when he says this to you.

"Well thank you Johnny." You say.

Just as you're about to converse more with him, you hear some loud noise coming from the second floor. You hear a man's voice and a female voice, and then a very familiar voice. Sounds like Julie and it sounds like she's gone back to distracting herself from last night's concerns.

"Oh yes! Ohhhh yeah! Give it to me daddy!" you hear Julie scream.

A little disturbing choice of words considering what you both talked about last night.

Some of the people sleeping in the living room are even awakened by this. One of them looks at his watch and immediately runs out the front door like he's late for something. A couple of others return to sleep.

"Sounds like your friend is feeling better." Johnny says a little disdainfully.
"Mm, well she always was one to get over things quickly. Well looks like we're all done in this room anyway."
"Yeah, hey why don't you take a break? I mean obviously we don't need to clean this place spotlessly. Your friend Julie is just going to have another party tonight right?" Johnny says.
"True. Yeah, I guess you're right. No point in me cleaning especially if Julie isn't even going to be helping anymore, but what about you?" you ask.
"Me? Well I'm just going to dump out the trash and maybe pick up a few more of the bottles in the kitchen on the way. I'll probably also take another pursue down in the basement. It was a mess down there, but I think I cleaned most of it. Nearly tripped on a bad step down there though. Anyway then I guess I'll head home, I need the sleep anyway seeing as I haven't been yet."
"You didn't sleep here?"
"Nope. I've been awake the whole time, but I find I'm more of a night owl and don't sleep much anyway."
"Well I understand that, but I'm just surprised you stayed. You told me you were getting bored with the party and were about to go home at one point."
"Ah, but I also mentioned that after your sister complained about you to me, my interest was increased." Johnny says.

You pause because you almost can't believe what he's implying.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying you just stayed at the party through the night AND this morning just to meet me at some point? Just solely based on what my sister bitched about to you?"
"What can I say? You sounded interesting and after speaking with you I can see I wasn't wrong."

Johnny smiles and you smile with a nervous laugh. On one hand it's a little stalkerish and combined with Johnny's oddness, he's starting to come off a lot creepier.

On the other hand, in a strange way you're sort of flattered. You always did attract the weird ones Suzy.

"Wow…I'm not exactly sure what to say to that." You say.
"No need to say anything. The pleasure of speaking with you is all mine. Oh but one more thing, did you want me to get rid of these useless sloths still sleeping in the living room before I leave?"
"Well, they're probably just going to be here for tonight's party, so might as well just leave 'em I suppose. No need to trouble yourself."
"Okay then, as I said, it was nice talking with you Suzy."
"It was…interesting talking with you too Johnny." You reply back and head towards your room as Johnny starts taking a couple of garbage bags to the kitchen.

What a strange person. Even stranger is that your self-esteem has been a little boosted by Johnny's stalkerish behavior.

Before Johnny's praising of you, in the back of your mind you were still a little upset about Bobby and starting to realize you were alone again. Not that you had any major problems with being alone and you're certainly used to it, but it still was nice to have a boyfriend every now and then.

After Johnny going on about how most people suck and putting you on a minor pedestal you don't feel as bad anymore about Bobby. Screw him right? He's the one missing out.

You enter your room and lock your door fully content on tuning out the rest of the world like you always do. You go back to fucking around on the Internet, playing games and when the mood strikes you, getting out your mechanical "boyfriend" who never disappoints you.

Hours pass…

Eventually the silence from outside your door becomes less silent. Looks like Julie's party is getting started or at least getting louder.

You don't really pay it too much mind as you pretty much managed to block it somewhat yesterday, but then you get a knock on the door.

"Julie?" you ask instinctively.
"Um, no it's me." A familiar voice answers.
"Johnny?" you say and then slowly get up to answer the door.

You open it up a little and see Johnny standing before you (Along with some party people passing by in the hallway).

"Hi again." He says with a brief smile.

"What are you doing here? Did you even go home?" you ask.
"Oh yeah, I did, but just as I was finishing up in the kitchen, your friend Julie had come in to get some more booze. She mentioned that she appreciated my cleaning up and invited me back for tonight's party. So I came back."
"Really?"
"Well technically she also invited me to come join her and the couple up in her room, but I declined as you might aspect. Not an orgy guy."
"Yeah, which is why I'm really wondering why you came back at all. I mean I have to live here, but this really isn't your thing. You said as much earlier today."
"I know what I said…but I also said…"
Johnny's expression becomes… not quite flustered, not quite angry, but more like he's having a hard time and you've just put him on the spot.

"(Sigh) Look. This is really difficult for me. I'm probably coming off like a creepy stalker and god knows you probably get a lot of guys hitting on you…but I like you. I know that sounds like third grade shit, but there it is. I really like you and I'd like to get to know you better. That's why I came back tonight."

Oddly that was honest enough to actually be kind of charming. Lot better than the "Show us your tits" pick up line that you've heard before.

Then again, Johnny is still pretty damn weird and much like how you didn't want to lead on Julie; you don't necessarily want to lead Johnny on either.

You invite Johnny in

What the hell, you weren't doing anything important with your time and you were thinking about making the first move yourself earlier today.

"Johnny, could you hold on one moment?" you ask.
"Um, okay." He replies.

You close the door again and hastily clean up your room a bit just so you don't have your underwear just lying around, let alone your vibrator. Feeling that your room and yourself are presentable, you open the door.

"Come on in Johnny." You say.
"Wait, you're inviting me into your room? Are you sure?" Johnny asks a bit surprised.
"Well if we're going to get to know each other better to see if we've got potential, then I'd rather do it in here one on one rather than out there with drunks possibly butting into our conversation. Besides, if I leave this room, its very well possible people will wander in and have sex in it."

Johnny chuckles a bit at your remark as he walks in.

"Well I suppose all that's true, but…"

You make your first move by putting your arms around Johnny's shoulders and kissing Johnny squarely on the lips. He's really surprised. To be quite honest, you're a little surprised at yourself as well since you aren't usually the forward type, but maybe Julie's party spirit has gotten a hold of you a little bit along with wanting to put more distance between yourself and any more lingering feelings you might have for Bobby.

Besides, you get the impression for all his praising and stalkerish behavior; Johnny would still be too shy to make the first move.

Johnny's reaction says that your instinct about that was entirely correct.

He pulls away fairly quickly after you're finished, he blushes a bit and then gives you a weird stare.

"What? I thought we were going to get to know each other." You say.
"I…I don't think I'm ready for this." Johnny remarks and starts backing away.
"Wait, hold on. We weren't going to have sex! We don't even have to kiss anymore, I was just…"

Before you can even finish, Johnny's already run out the door.

"Great, Suzy. Some seductress you are. (Sigh)" you say to yourself and close your door.

In any case, you go back to your laptop to help shut yourself out from the real world again. which wouldn't be that bad, but Johnny just flat out running away from you doesn't exactly put you in that great of a mood. You got dumped by a murderer and now you've run off a stalker. What does that say about you?

Oh well at least things with batteries don't judge.

A couple hours later you get another knock on the door.

"Yes?" you ask.
"Suzy, it's me Johnny. I need to talk."

You're not exactly sure if this is going to be a good idea, but you decide to at least hear him out.

"(Sigh) Hold on." You say and get up to open the door. Johnny stands before you wearing a jacket and looking slightly more disheveled from the last time.

"Well? Are you coming in, I don't feel like keeping the door open for all the partying assholes to peer into." You ask.

Johnny enters the room and you shut the door and walk back to your sofa.

"Suzy, I just want to apologize. I've been thinking about this long and hard and I realize that I did the wrong thing." Johnny says pacing back and forth, rubbing his hands through hair.
"Well, maybe I did come on a little strong. I suppose if the roles had been reversed I would've run away as well."
"No, stop talking I need to get all this out. What I'm trying to say is that I obviously have wasted my time and that I shouldn't have pursued you. I guess I just built you up in my head so much that I…dunno…I always do this…fuck! Shit! WHY!?!" Johnny says and hits himself in the head a couple times. He's starting to worry you.

"Hey Johnny, you don't need to…"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP WHORE!" Johnny screams and before you even can react he's already run up and physically assaulted you. You try to scream out, but punches you your face and another tight grip around your throat prevent that from happening. The loud music from the party and indifference of the shallow partiers from any potential noise you could've made probably would've been lost to those two factors anyway.

When you're nearly unconscious and so dazed that you can no longer fight back, Johnny ceases his punches and reaches for something inside his jacket.

"This is going to be quick, because even though you're a whore like the rest…I still like you." Johnny whispers. "I…really wish this could've worked out…you were so beautiful…"

Your last feeling is the blade of a sharp knife slitting your throat.