The hum of the Tv lulls me, as I drift off into an after-school nap. It's not long though until I'm jolted awake by the back window being opened and someone falling into the house. I blink in surprise, before I peak over the top of the couch. I watch Jeff stand back up to his feet and dash behind my kitchen counter. Man, he is so lucky I'm the only one home right now. But why is he being so careless anyways? Just before I'm about to get up to see what he's doing, another figure climbs in through the window. It's a woman with long black hair and a black dress. You know what, staying down might be best for the time being.
"I know you're in here Jeffery." She calls out, surveying the house. She checks behind the counter, and I guess he must've moved because she just walks away from it. I listen to her footsteps, which are starting to get farther away from where I'm at.
"(Y/n)." Jeff's voice suddenly speaks up from the floor beside where I am on the couch. I turn my head in surprise to look at him directly. He's crouched down and frantically looking around. Probably making sure she hasn't snuck up on him.
"What is going on?" I whispered demandingly, only for him to put his hand over my mouth to quiet me. The click-clack of her footsteps get closer, and Jeff is being so quiet it doesn't even sound like he's breathing. We stay silent as she starts to open drawers and cabinets in every room she enters.
"Come on. Where the hell are you?" She hisses, as I hear her footsteps turn the corner into the room me and Jeff are in. I expect Jeff to make a run for it, but he just lays flatter down on the floor, still not taking his hand off my mouth. She's going to eventually find him if he stays like that. She walks across the room, keeping her back towards us until she reaches the end and turns around. She stops, staring at me and the pale hand over my mouth with her dark empty eyes.
"Jeff." She demands, but Jeff doesn't respond. "I know you're there." I watch her cross her arms, waiting for him to respond, but he still doesn't. I shift my gaze to him to see he's struggling to hold in a laugh, for some reason. I'm so confused. Jeff shifts his eyes to mine, smiling. The realization hits me, is he trying to do what I did when he tried to kill me? Eventually the woman just stomps over to where we're at and looks down at him. "Do you want me to kill you or something?" she asks aggressively, clutching the knife I just realized she was holding.
"No." Jeff states before getting up and dusting himself off, finally removing his hand from my mouth. They stare at each other for a second before Jeff tries to dash off but is stopped by the girl grabbing his hood. He then just stops trying and rolls his eyes.
"I'm bringing you back whether you like it or not." She snarls, pointing her knife at Jeff's face.
Jeff groans, "No. I'm tired of it there. Leave and tell Slender I told him to fuck off." Jeff pushes the girl away from him, making her let go of his hoodie. He then falls back onto the couch I'm lying on. I pull my legs towards me courteously.
"You made a commitment! And roped me into it all. You can't just leave so selfishly!" She yells, gesturing angrily with her hands. I glance at Jeff, still not sure what the fuck they're even talking about. His gaze feels darker as he looks at her.
"I already told you I'm sorry Jane. Now leave." Jeff crosses his arms, letting her know he's done talking about this.
Jane laughs, taken aback. "Yeah, and I don't forgive you." Jane gestures towards me, "Oh and this must be that 'new friend' Eyeless told us all about? You know how furious Slender is with you now right?" Jeff bites his lip angrily while I just look between the two wondering how I got dragged into all of this again.
"Fuck off." Jeff spits out, glaring at her.
Jane huffs, "Fine, next time you see one of us it's going to be Slender. And you won't have an option." She then stomps away, whispering angrily under her breath. We sit in silence until we hear her hop out of the window, slamming it behind her. I let go of a breath I didn't know I had been holding in.
"So, can you explain...like everything that's been happening." I turn my head to him, all the questions burning inside of me.
Jeff hesitates, but sighs, "Might as well." He then turns his body towards me so that we're face to face. "Alright, you're probably wondering who this 'Slender' guy is?" I nod my head yes and Jeff continues. "He's basically my 'boss', against my will, that is, I tried to fight him, and he won, so I'm stuck under his control now."
"So that's why he's trying to get you back? Cause you're supposed to be under his control?" I asked, starting to understand his problem.
"Right, but right now I'm outside of his control which is why he's so upset. I've done this before too, but I guess this time it's a problem for some reason." He huffs out, tucking his legs into himself.
"Damn, how long has it been going on?" I twiddle with the threads on the blanket, focused on what Jeff's saying.
"Since I was thirteen." He bites his cheek, not looking all that comfortable with talking about this.
"So, is that how long you've...uh, had those scars?" Fuck, I shouldn't have said that. "I'm sorry you don't have to tell me-"
Jeff cuts me off, "Yeah, that also happened when I was thirteen." He avoids his gaze, choosing to look at the wall instead. I take a deep breath and nod my head.
"Can I...can I ask why? Again, you don't have to tell me." I look around nervously, not sure how he's going to respond.
It takes him a minute, but he eventually speaks up again. "It's a long story." Jeff states, his gaze still stuck on the wall.
"I have a long story too. It's probably not anything compared to yours, but I still haven't told you about what happened with Trent. Or my stepsister." I say, wishing for him to trust me more.
Jeff turns his head towards me again, "Okay, you go first then." My eyes widen, having not really planned out how to say it all in words. I nod my head slowly.
"Well, you've read some of those notes I had written already, but I guess I can tell you some specifics." I take another deep breath before continuing. "So, Lucy, my stepsister, moved in like six years ago and immediately did everything she could to terrorize me. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing it was because of something that happened to her before she moved in. I don't know. But she set my clothes on fire, trashed my room and my dad's part of his room, screamed at me, locked me outside in the rain, hit me, punched me, scratched me, literally everything you could think of. Oh, and she also called me slurs all the time." I rant, feeling my body temperature go up out of anger. "Then there's Trent who used to bully me in middle school, doing average bully stuff like slamming me into lockers and shoving me down. It stopped after middle school when I stopped being so scrawny, but then he started dating Lucy. Just the idea of it made everything worse, mentally. Because then I had to see Trent constantly at my house too!" I vent loudly. "You can see why I wanted to kill the both of them. Which I guess I accomplished, halfway at least." I huff out a laugh before looking towards Jeff again. He's just sitting there staring at me with his mouth slightly agape. "What?" I question, wanting him to say something.
He shakes his head, "Nothin', my turn then?" I nod my head in reply, and he leans back, seeming more comfortable now. "Okay, so it's actually not too different from yours, maybe. So, me and my family moved and almost immediately me and my brother started getting bullied at the bus stop. Again, stereotypical bully stuff, like asking for money and shoving us. One day one guy brought a knife and I guess I had enough and fought back, by swiping the knife out of his hand and stabbing him, which my brother didn't like very much. We just made a run for it. Anyways, a kid told, and the cops were called. My brother ended up covering my back and taking credit for it." He pauses before continuing. "While he was in juvie there was some neighborhood party, which I had to go to. The guys who would bully me showed up, with weapons. I think one of them even had a gun. Of course, I started running. The guys chased me into the house again, luckily, I wasn't shot and was able to stab one of them again with a knife from the kitchen. I ended up being cornered into a bathroom and one of them poured bleach from the cabinet on me, with a flask of alcohol as well, before taking his lighter out and setting me on fire."
"Holy shit." I interrupted, confused about how he survived.
Jeff laughs painfully before continuing, " I was in a coma for three weeks. Apparently, the alcohol had protected me from the fire burning my skin terribly, which is why I'm not covered in skin grafts. Same with my hair, but it did take a while to grow back. Anyways, once I woke up, I pretty much went crazy from the shock and lost all senses of a conscience for a while. The doctor said the fumes messed with my brain. So, when they let me home, I ended up cutting this smile into my face and burning my eyelids. Because I was manic, I don't know. When my mom came in and reacted the way she did, which was negative, obviously, it flipped a switch in me and made me so angry I killed her." Jeff gulps sourly. "I also killed my dad because he stepped in, and I tried to kill my brother. Then I ran away and lit that girl who was just here's house on fire." He makes eye contact with me before tearing it away. "I then started killing because I figured it was just what I had to do now. It wasn't too long after that when I met Slenderman, who promised to provide protection from the police, which was good, I guess." Jeff finishes talking and looks back at me, waiting for me to respond.
I breathe in and blink, "Wow, that's a lot."
"Yeah, so I guess you could say I can relate to you with the bullying stuff." He fiddles with the string of his hoodie. "Maybe that's why I'm so interested in you." He mumbles under his breath, so quiet that I could barely hear what he said.
"What?" I ask, not hearing exactly what he said.
"What?" He copies back, ignoring whatever he said. An awkward silence passes by before Jeff speaks up again. "Could I get those shoes back? That you borrowed." Oh, I almost forgot about those.
"Yeah. I'll go get them." I get up from the couch and run up the stairs. It takes me a minute to find them, but I eventually do and head back downstairs. I came back down and saw Jeff had turned the TV on. Some random shows playing while he sits back on the couch. "Here." I say, tossing the shoes, which were basically flipflops, I borrowed over to him.
"Thanks." Jeff says, looking up at me before diverting his attention back to the screen.
"Yeah, no problem." I take a seat next to him, joining in on watching the mundane TV show.
"How long can I stay?" Jeff asks, turning his head towards me. I look at the time on my phone. It's three, Scott will be back at four, and my dad and stepmom are busy tonight.
"It's an hour till anyone gets back." I turn my head to him, and he nods in return.
"Cool." Jeff comments, stretching back onto the couch into a relaxed position.
A/n: Just wanted to say I really appreciate all the votes and views this has been getting! I'm really excited that people are enjoying it and it makes my day! Also sorry that I have been posting a little later then claimed, but I just have a lot on my mind and forget haha.