𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙇 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆 - 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎

Four

Jacqui walked in between two police officers in suits as they followed Sidney and Derek. "Do you guys think in the like, reptilian society they would worship Godzilla instead of God?" Jacqui asked the very tired officers, it was clear she had been talking for a while. "Of course only the zilic ones would, or whatever they call their religion, that was just an educated guess."

Jacqui loved that there was another person or persons she could say random shit too, even if these two definitely didn't want to hear it.

Sidney and Derek got under a tree. "I'd stop where we are if I were you," Jacqui said to the officers. "This is when she's like "Oh Derek, run and stay away from me to be safe. It's not you, it's me. This is for your own safety."" Jacqui spoke in a fake, somewhat accurate voice, semi-lip-dubbing Sidney and Derek from where they stood. "And then he's all like, "I don't care what's safe, I love you." Speaking of which, do you guys think he's cute? I don't know, it could be he's just not my type. I prefer like, nerdy and funny—"

"Don't you have classes to be in?" One of the officers suddenly asked.

"Actually, this is on the way to a café. It's my favorite because it's the only one with the cherry-flavored Pepsi. Anyway, I just don't like walking in silence because it makes me rethink life." Jacqui slowly nodded as she spoke. "But you know what? Every time I handle it like a champion! You wanna know why?!"

"No—"

"Because no matter how many times I get hit, I always get back up, and I got a lot of time to reflect and work on myself!" She continued to ramble. "Did you know that seahorses mate for life? Could you imagine a seahorse seeing another seahorse and then making it work for like, forever?"

Jacqui sighed and kicked her feet around. "If people worked like that, we wouldn't have bad stuff like murderers . . . or cancer, or . . . PETA." She groaned in anger. "God! Do you know how much I hate PETA?!" She exhaled like thinking about it put her in pain. "They make me so angry and now I kinda feel like crying."

"When do you not?" The second officer asked.

Jacqui's jaw dropped in offense. "Hey!"

The sound of heels on concrete broke her train of thought. Jacqui looked behind her to see a reporter, a woman with short brown hair holding onto a tiny notebook making her way onto the grass.

"Jacqui Hawthorne?" The woman asked.

Jacqui hesitantly turned, walking over and finally giving the officers peace. "Yeah, that's me."

"Hi, Debbie Salt." The woman introduced herself.

"Oh, awesome sauce, you have one of those names that sound fake." Jacqui widely grinned. Reporters haven't really bothered her, so she hadn't developed the intolerance that Sidney and Gale already had.

"I've been trying to get in contact with you all day, mind if I ask a few questions?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I had to get a new phone." Jacqui replied. "I'm kind of headed somewhere—"

"Please? Just a moment of your time?" Debbie jumped in front of Jacqui, both hands in the air.

Jacqui bit her lip before sighing. "Yeah, sure, okay."

Debbie's eyes widened in joy and she looked down at her notepad. "So there's word floating around that the recent murders are because of a copycat, any comment?"

Jacqui thought for a moment. "Well, I really don't know that much more than the public does— this is kinda my first time hearing about it. But yeah, this new guy is definitely unoriginal, I mean, it's down to the same costume, anyone could figure that out."