Betwixt:- Broken Canvas

'They say a toon is only as good as the laughter they bring to the world and I suppose it's true, without laughter we're just a bunch of memories turned sour.. laughter makes us special, we can't really undestand it.. all we really know is that whenever someone laughs we feel good inside.. a temporary relief from the knowledge that we are fading away, day by day, hour by hour.. minute by minute..'

'Toons don't fear death, because toons never really die - we don't fear spiders or snakes or ghosts or ghouls.. there is only one thing that truly scares a toon.. the moment the laughter stops..'

'It's deafening, the silence.. it hurts.. so bad.. like someone taking a knife and stabbing you in the chest.. over and over..'

'You start to panic, you start to cry and you feel yourself fading away - you start to feel the Land of Nowhere dragging you down.. condemning you to eternal damnation.. why? what has your sin been? I'll tell you what your sin is..'

You're a bad toon..

'Nobody wants a bad toon around, nobody wants to remember a toon that can't make them laugh - that's why toons do what they do.. we play the fools every day so that people can laugh at us.. it fills us with shame you know.. degrading ourselves like that.. yet like gladiators in a ring we fight on.. our survival depends on it..'

'Then after a while our loyalty is rewarded when they find some new toon, bigger perhaps.. smarter.. or just more fun to be around..'

'A toon seldom changes but people sure do.. oh how people change.. they laugh at some other toon and forget about you..'

'You try to make them notice you but they dismiss you, like a puppy that is no longer wanted - covered in fleas and starving.. just wanting one moment.. one smile.. one little chuckle..'

'I suppose you're laughing now? right? ..oh.. I see.. not very funny, is it? well.. too bad.. you see.. it's people like you that made me what I am today.. people say "that's not funny".'

"That's not funny!"

"Stop it!"

"Bad!"

'BAH! What do you know?!'

It was funny!

'I laughed.. oh yes.. I laughed and I laughed..'

I couldn't stop laughing..

so what if she got hurt?

so what if she was scared?!

THAT'S COMEDY!

....

'...I.. I'm sorry..'

I didn't mean to snap..

truth is..

I didn't mean to hurt her, Suzie was the world to me..

'I didn't mean to scare her.. but she made me so angry..'

hehe..

'he..he.. hehehe..'

'S-see? F-funny! HA HA HA HA!'

.....

'..n-no.. I..'

..I guess it's not very funny..

It's not very funny at all..