Death and Destruction (Jeff the Killer Fanfic)

17. Brothers

Liu

A cold breeze nipped at my nose and I shivered as I escorted Ann down the sidewalk. The heavy fog from this morning had finally faded and we were in town doing a little bit of shopping. I might've been here on business but I still owed it to Ann to entertain her mundane desires. The look on her face when she found something she liked was beautiful, after all.

Hardly.

I blinked hard as I tried to force the thoughts from my head, something nipping at the back of my mind and making me incredibly uncomfortable. The longer I chased after my brother the more tired of it I grew and I knew it was my own damn fault. I just couldn't stop this now though, not when I was so close.

"Hey, didn't you say Chelsea had blue hair?"

"Hm?" I perked up, following Ann's pointed finger and catching the famed blue hair I remembered as she danced behind the Runaway Café counter. "Yes! Yes, that's her!"

"Let's go in then! I want to meet her."

I matched Ann step for step as we crossed the street to the Café and I listened to the little nostalgic ring when we pushed our way inside. To our luck there was no one else here and I realized it was only a half hour out from closing time. We'd spent longer walking around than I thought.

"Welcome in, how—?" She whipped around and instantly dropped the cup she was holding. "Liu?! Holy shit!"

"Long time no see," I chuckled, "Kitty uh, wouldn't happen to be around, would she?"

"Wait, I thought she was supposed to be with you?" Chelsea reclaimed the lost cup and tossed it in the trash before she focused wide eyes on me. Had Kitty really not found them?

"Kitty has a mind of her own, you know how it goes," Ann sighed as she held a hand out, "I'm Ann, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Oh my God where are my manners, it's a pleasure! I'm Chelsea," she laughed, two lines catching in the fluorescent lights beside her mouth. At least she looked a lot better, I thought as I gave her a gentler smile. A black choker hung around her neck and presumably hid the jagged line across her throat, "so is she here at least? And can I get you guys something?"

"Two white mochas, oh— and a raspberry muffin please," Ann pulled out her card while I looked around suspiciously and got an elbow to my ribs. "Don't mind him, Kitty gave us the slip on Halloween. She was pretty convinced Jeff and Eyeless Jack would be here, are you sure you haven't seen them?"

"No, can't say I have. Although the amount of cosplayers I had in here was staggering," she visibly shivered, disgust lacing every syllable, "if that didn't give me PTSD I don't know what would."

"Well considering what Tom did I'm not surprised," I sighed as she went to make the coffees, "you're looking so much better than when I last saw you. I'm glad you're still here."

"I am too, boss gave me a pity pay raise," she laughed dryly but that lovely gleam in her gaze assured me she hadn't been too harshly effected. "While you guys are here, have you seen a weird guy around town? Hoodie with striped sleeves, hatchets and a mask, bright orange goggles. You can't miss him."

"Yeah, actually," Ann chirped as she turned, "stopped us on Halloween while we thought we were following you guys. Really creepy."

"He's been around the shop and it's been freaking me out," Chelsea groaned, handing the cups over before reaching into the case and pulling two muffins out, handing them to Ann with a wink, "I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's just a weird kid but I know better by now. Do you think other people could be looking for Kitty if she's in town with you?"