Partners In Crime (Ticciwork fanfic) [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 48: Killer's Smile

Smiledog's fur was coarse, wirey, and stuck together in clumps from dried blood. Its natural coloration must've resembled a black and white husky at one point, but now was so stained and discolored it was more of a brick red and ink black combo. The dog himself was slightly bigger than an average husky, his scarred paws fitting just outside the brim of Clockwork's palm. His eyes were orangey red, with faint flecks of gold you could only see when he turned to the light. Beneath his rounded lips, large fangs peeked out, yellowed and stained. If he was angry, he peeled back those lips into a chilling grin that dripped with cloudy saliva.

Even though the creature was crude and had Death written in every feature of his being, he was comforting to pet. Clockwork shivered as she ran her fingers through the dog's fur. Her hands were shaking so hard she could barely keep them moving. Her breathing was fast and ragged.

She'd broken down into a horrible panic attack a few minutes before, so horrible, in fact, that she nearly passed out from lack of oxygen. Smiledog had come to her in her suffering, his strange eyes swimming towards her through a haze of terror and hallucinations. She'd never known him to show compassion, but his large furry body had settled next to her anyway, and let her close her arms tightly around his thick neck.

She could breathe now - relatively. But she thought she was still hallucinating: she kept hearing the heavy breathing of Wendigos stalking up towards her. At her location halfway up the stairs, she wasn't in a good position to run if they really were.

Clockwork shuddered and wrapped her arms tightly around Smiledog. He held patiently still, despite the fact she was shaking him like a small earthquake. She whimpered as she tried to steady her breathing.

"Smiley..." A quiet voice spoke from above. Smiledog perked his ears; Clockwork jolted, jerking her eyes up to meet cool blue ones.

"J-jeff -" She stammered. For some reason she expected him to be mad at her. "I - he came to me I didn't -"

"It's fine, Clockwork." Jeff eased himself down the stairs and squeezed next to her. Smiledog shifted like he was going to move over to Jeff's lap instead.

"Stay," Jeff murmured. The dog stilled, though he still rested his chin on Jeff's knee.

"What do you want?" Clockwork asked nervously.

He looked at her for a long moment, then rested his hand on her shoulder. She flinched.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said gently. She turned away. "PTSD, isn't it?" He asked.

"Y-yeah."

"That's okay, we all have some form of it." He said softly. He started to rub her back, and she stiffened at first, but then let her shoulders relax - she hadn't realize how sore they were.

"Smile - Smiledog came and helped me," She told him. He nodded, stroked the dog's soft ears.

"He's...trained." Jeff said carefully. Clockwork didn't understand.

"What do you mean?"

He looked away and didn't answer. He was still rubbing her back.

"I -" He broke off and frowned, like he was trying to work out how to form the sentence. "I used to be an alcoholic."

"Oh," She said, startled.

He stopped rubbing her back and folded his arms tightly against his chest. She wasn't brave enough to ask him to continue.

"Since - since I was 14," He said. "I went and tore up this guy's house... Tore up the guy too... but anyway - I got into his wine cabinet and I tried some and - and I just -" He stared at the ground. "Went crazy..."