His head roaring with the noise of blood flowing and painful rippling along his forehead, JJ struggled to move at first. After a few moments, he screwed his eyes open.
He was in the black void again.
"No, no, no!" JJ instantly started to panic. "I must've been knocked unconscious!"
He frantically started looking around, expecting to find a killer clown, or worse; a whole gang of them, come out from somewhere and attack him. Abruptly sitting up, he realized that the pain in his head had faded away.
"Maybe for now," Refusing to get distracted, JJ kept warily eyeing his surroundings. "But when I wake up, it will surely come back; I hit my head real hard earlier. I swear to god, if I ended up with a concussion-"
Then, he heard a really subtle noise. Suddenly spooked, he whirled around, and despite predicting what he'd see, the sight still shook him, especially because of how close it was to him.
JJ shut his eyes, waiting for the killer clown to attack him. After a few seconds of nothing, he slowly opened one of his eyes, wondering what the hold up was.
The killer clown continued to stand there, but as time went on, JJ started to hear a faint noise. It sounded almost like... chuckling?
"No," JJ told himself. "Killer clowns can't do that."
Just then, for the first time, he saw one actually take a breath. It used the air to chuckle louder, however, it could hardly be considered - the noise sounded scratchy and was constantly cracking. Disturbed, JJ slowly started to back away, only to be met with an even more suprsing action.
"You're only making things worse for yourself."
He instantly stopped.
This thing had actually just spoke.
Its voice disturbed JJ even further - it was the raspiest thing he'd ever heard. Disoriented, cracking, and each word seemed to be a struggle to get out. Probably because, it had never talked before at all, as well as the entire species itself.
"What... do you mean?" JJ ended up sounding like a scared little kid rather than the tone he'd been going for, but there was no changing anything now. The killer clown didn't say anything else, but instead, JJ suddenly started to hear faint voices echoing from all around him. At first he couldn't distinguish what they were saying and if they were familiar, but soon, he made out Mikey's voice:
"JJ, stop! Just relax, please! It doesn't have to get this serious!"
As the words filtered through, JJ's vision started to detiriate and fade. Panicking, he tried shaking his head frantically, only to find that it all went away in just a few moments.
Now, instead of being in the black void, he was back in the house.
"She brought this on herself!"
Hearing his own voice definetly startled him. On top of that, he sounded so aggressive; and it was louder than how he'd heard it when he'd originally said it. Looking one way, he saw both himself and Mikey.
"I'm sorry I made you angry." On the other side was Carrie, plastered against the wall, trying to sound calm, but she clearly wasn't. "I'll let you talk this time, without inputting my opinions. Let's just all try and settle down, because this isn't helping anything."
"Why am I being shown this?" An anxious feeling started to grow in JJ's chest as he continued to watch the scene from just earlier. "I don't need a reminder that I absolutely lost my mind. And what for, either? Truly, what was I thinking?"
Eventually, he saw himself throw Mikey off by digging in nails into his skin, and when he was forced to let go, he charged forward. After realizing the sudden threat, Carrie darted out of the way, and that's when JJ was finally able to see just how hard he'd hit his head.
"There's a good chance I will end up with a concussion," JJ realized. "All because I acted irrationally?"
The scene faded away, and he surrounded by darkness again. Despite this, he continued to stress about it.
"I messed up. I messed up real bad. If this doesn't get treated, I could end up with a serious injury-"
Just then, he noticed a presence beside him.
"Why did you show me this?" JJ asked, dreadfully knowing he'd have to actually interact with this thing if he wanted to get an answer. "How does this relate to "making things worse for myself?"
After a few long seconds, it didn't seem like he would get an answer at all.
"I'll ask again." He decided. "If I end up pissing it off, who cares? I'm probably going to die in this dream anyway."
As JJ was about to speak:
"Do you recall our purpose for human extermination?"
The first thought that came to his head was that they didn't have one; that they were just malicious creatures who liked to kill for entertainment. But when he reached down into his memories, JJ actually remembered that there was actually a different reason for all of this. Last time, and before - because of humans' mistreatment of the planet and its resources. More specifically, the mistreatment of animals.
"Yes, I remember." JJ hesitantly looked over at the killer clown. "But, what does that have to do with..."
Just then, he noticed something. The killer clown's usual maniac grin was gone - replaced with an exact opposite look; one of anger.
"This can't be good." JJ swallowed and started to back away, only to be interuppted by a sudden glare.
"Humans who take pleasure in the harm of animals," The killer clown hissed. "Are the biggest disgrace of them all. Anything non-human purifies this planet, and it is our job to ensure they take back their rule of the earth. Menaces like you are the biggest threat to that mission."
JJ continued to back up and the killer clown started to stalk after him, its glare still remaining.
"This is it," JJ realized, stopping where he was. "This is where I die. I have nowhere to run. This is my fault; I shouldn't have tried to attack Carrie!"
With one swift strike, JJ was punched in the face, receiving slashes from its claws in the process. He reeled back, the new scar stinging.
"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed. "I don't know what came over me, I won't do it again! I promise!"
Refusing to listen, the killer clown attacked again, this time aiming somewhere different. JJ braced himself for impact, but his focus was broken when he suddenly felt a slash across somewhere right below his head.
He tried to breath, but suddenly, it became hard to, and attempting it brought an even more intense pain. Reaching his hand up, he felt over the spot, and was met with blood gushing over his fingers.
It was his throat that had been cut.
"You'll pay for everything you've done,"
The words of his attacker registered, but it became harder and harder for JJ to focus by the second.
"In seventeen days. A day you've wasted because of your foolishness."
"A day?" JJ suddenly felt a spike of fear. "An entire day has passed since I've been out? No, time can't fly like this! I have to be there for every second!"
Just then, the blood loss finally took its toll on him.
