Waking up the next morning, Alise groggily went about her business. Jeff was on the couch, where she had left him the night before to his ultimate reluctance. He pouted like a child when she said he couldn’t sleep in her bed.
Brushing her hair back with her fingertips, she eyed for a moment to try and tell if he was awake or not. Hearing him let out a muffled groan as he shifted, she smiled. She’d never seen him sleep so peacefully before.
Grabbing her keys, she began to walk out the door. Alise had to go to a college campus and check it out—parent’s orders. She heard Jeff stir again and his feet hit the floor. She paused at the door, turning to him. She didn’t know why she had the feeling that she had to check in with him every time she did anything, but she knew it was getting annoying.
“Kitten,” he said gruffly, his morning voice hoarse and scratchy. She almost giggled at the dazed expression on his face; he seemed pretty tired still.
“Just going to check out a campus, Jeff. I’ll be back in a few, okay?” she rolled her eyes slightly. As she tried to step out the door again, he surprised her by darting towards her and closing it.
“Campus?” he asked groggily, eyes still sleepy. Alise nodded slowly.
“Like… for college,” she elaborated, watching his face go blank. He frowned, part of his mouth still stuck in a smile. “What?” she asked rudely, not really liking how even though she tried to fight it, he had so much influence over her life.
“You’re going to college?” he raised an eyebrow incredulously. Alise was insulted.
“Maybe,” she scoffed at him. “Don’t believe I can?” she challenged testily. She was one insult away from punching him in the throat and being done with it.
“Maybe,” he teased back, waking up a bit more and mimicking her posture. Alise growled, uncrossing her arms and taking one menacing step forward. Without warning, Jeff slammed the door behind her and shoved her into it, his hands rested on either side of her head. “I don’t want you to go,” he said after a moment’s silence.
Alise frowned. “Why the hell not?” she growled, still irritated with him. Jeff sighed, running a pale hand down her jaw line. She froze in place, not quite comprehending what he was doing. After a few more moments of him just staring at her, as though willing her to understand something, she snapped. “Well? What is it, Jeff?” she growled out.
“I just don’t!” he snarled back, just as hostile. Alise was a ticking time bomb, and he was lighting the fuse.
“Why the hell should you get a choice in my actions?” she hissed, placing both hands in the center of his chest and shoving hard. She barely noticed the wince he gave when he slammed into the wall, likely reopening his wound. She was seeing red. “Tell me, why in the actual fuck should I allow you to rule my life?”
“Because you don’t have a choice,” he growled back, pushing her away from him as she advanced. Her shoulder clanged off a bookshelf nearby, but in her anger, she barely felt the pain.
“You inconsiderate—“ without anymore preamble, she let out an angry, strangled shriek and launched herself at him. Jeff was ready for it, but instead of putting his arms up to block her, he let her tackle him to the floor, her fists pounding on his chest erratically.
“I—will—kill—you—“ she roared, each hit becoming progressively harder. Eventually, Jeff grunted and slung her off of him, an annoyed expression contorting his face. His lips moved, forming words, but Alise couldn’t hear. Her blood was roaring, an agitated fire building in the pit of her stomach saying nothing but burn, crush, destroy. She growled, and she could see his eyebrows come together as he realized she wasn’t listening.
Alise struggled against his grip, baring her teeth in a feral way at him. Vaguely, she could hear him sigh before they were flipped over, Jeff holding her hands behind her back with her face pressed into the carpet.
”Stop,” he ordered gruffly, pressing her harder into the ground when she tried to struggle. Eventually, her body went still, the only sign she was still alive being the rapid rise and fall of her chest. Jeff sighed. “Why must you be so difficult, kitten?” he murmured, using his free hand to stroke the hair away from the back of her neck. She gave another snarl.
“Why must you be such an ass?” she bit back tartly, sneakily trying to maneuver her hands out of his grip. He only tightened his fingers around her wrists.
“Because if I’m not, you’ll go and do something stupid,” he muttered honestly.
“Screw you, Jeff!” she growled. Alise struggled a bit more before sighing, all of her energy gone. “I hate you,” she muttered.
“What?” he froze, eyes wide in horror. “You don’t mean that—“ he started, cutting himself off before he could sound as desperate as he felt.
“I do!” she howled, not thinking of him at all. She really just hated the way he was acting, the way he would always try to hurt or control her when he didn’t get his way. “You’re nothing but a nuisance. Why are you still here?” For some reason, all the venomous thoughts just came out, like breaking open a dam. Subconsciously, she could feel Jeff shaking above her. His weight left her, and she could hear the sliding open of a window as he jumped out. She didn’t even consider that they were on the second story.
She placed her hands under her, trying to push herself up weakly. Alise fell back to the floor, her chest aching as she did. She sighed, placing her palms flat against the carpet, clenching her hands slowly into fists. “What have I done?” she asked herself, though she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything for what Jeff was undoubtedly doing.
Killing, murdering, destroying. It’s not like she thought she could change him. No, that would be too naïve.
Her muscles twitched a bit, and she managed to push herself up fully this time, pushing her back up against the wall. She let out a shaking breath.
She bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed; her emotions were coming back, and they were coming back with a vengeance. What the fuck have I done?
You’ve condemned dozens of people. Maybe fifteen. Maybe thirty. What does it matter, we all die. The cynical part of her brain was enjoying this. She bowed her head, putting it between her knees as she felt the sudden need to vomit. “Oh God,” she breathed. “Oh God.”
Shakily, she stood to her feet, placing a trembling hand on the doorknob. “What am I doing,” she muttered, but despite her attempts to push herself away from the door and tell herself that none of this was her fault, she was already walking out, locking it behind her.
“Jeff, don’t be doing anything stupid,” she pulled her coat tighter around herself, walking briskly.
***
Jeff was breathing heavily as he moved through the town, eyes raking each house for his next victim. The blood stained his shirt a dark, morbid red, and he reeked of death. But, hell, he loved it so much. He couldn’t even remember what he was upset about.
A huge grin fell on his face as he looked through a window, seeing a couple resting on the couch watching TV. He moved around to the back of the house, throwing a rock at a window. He could hear the man shout, muttering something about getting a baseball bat, and he left his girlfriend in the living room.
Jeff sprinted back around, feeling the thrill already pumping through his veins. How many had he killed now? Ten, maybe twelve? It didn’t matter. He was on a roll, and he didn’t plan on stopping.
He opened a window slowly, sliding through it silently. Usually, he wouldn’t take such time with his kills. It was normally just a bust in and destroy sort of thing, but he wanted to relish every moment tonight-and he couldn’t remember why. God, what had made him so damn upset?
“Hello,” he purred roughly as he wrenched the woman’s head back, enjoying the initial look of shock that faded into horror as she looked into his eyes. He held the knife before him, and she began to scream and writhe. He could hear the man call her name; he slid the knife into her mouth, grotesque grin widening. “You’d look prettier with a smile.”
“Jeff, stop!” Without warning, he was tackled to the side; Who…?
“Jeff! You have to snap out of it! We have to leave!” the voice was coming back stronger now, and out of reflex, his hand shot up to grasp the neck of the person in front of him. “Jeff…” they coughed. His eyes focused.
Alise…?
“We have… to leave,” she coughed, not even trying to remove his hand as she shook his shoulders weakly. He could see her face becoming pale as her breathing was constricted, and he took his hand away.
Taking a deep breath, her eyes immediately snapped up in fear. The woman was still screaming bloody murder and weeping, but the man was standing over them, his eyes spelling murder. He had a baseball bat in his hand, and Alise cursed as she rolled both of them out of the way, the bat clanging mechanically on the tile flooring.
“Let’s go!” she snapped, tugging him out there and running into the woods, not listening to the obscene threats the man was screeching at them. But Jeff heard.
“If you come back again, I’ll skin your little girlfriend, as well!”
Without thinking, he shoved Alise off of him, and he could vaguely hear her hiss as she hit the ground. Jeff was seeing red as he advanced on the man, knife clenched between his fingers. The man raised the bat as though to strike him, but he lunged on him like a cat. And the woman was still weeping; man, she was annoying.
Without considering anything else, he plunged the knife into the man’s stomach, arching and twisting to cause as much pain as possible. He remembered what he was upset about now, and oh god, he wanted to forget. Why did she have to remind him?
The man’s screaming slowly drowned out any other thought, and his mouth curved into his typical grin as he receded back into a state of euphoria. That is, until hands were wrapped around his arms trying to pull him up again.
He snarled, turning swiftly to arch his blade in the direction the person was pulling from, and was awarded with a startled gasp. His eyes narrowed, but then widened.
Alise was holding her collarbone, centimeters away from her neck, where a deep cut marred her normally cream-colored skin. She took a step back, fear in her eyes. “Jeff—“ she bit her lip, cutting off whatever she was going to say and starting over. “Don’t hurt anyone else. Please,” she whispered.
He stood swiftly, making her stumble back. A sharp twinge of regret went through his system; how could he have ever thought that she trusted him, of all people? He had almost killed her numerous times, and now he was just adding the list.
But still, even though he had just hurt her, she took one hesitant step forward and placed a hand gently on his bicep, as though he was an animal she would frighten away. “Let’s go home, Jeff,” she murmured.
“You told me you hated me,” he tried to sound forceful and angry, he really did. But instead, he sounded like a wounded schoolboy telling his crush that she’d hurt his feelings. He mentally berated himself, wanting nothing more than to push her down and go back to his rampage, but for some reason he couldn’t.
“I lied. I was angry,” Alise soothed, tugging a little harder on his sleeve. “Let’s go home, Jeff,” she begged. “It’s your home, too,” she added softly.
Without thinking about it, Jeff put one hand in hers and let her pull him into the woods, out of sight.
Okay, so my updating schedule is hating me. I fell into a comatose sleep yesterday (day I was supposed to upload this) and didn't wake up til one this morning. Oh wow.
You know the drill. Comment, vote, fan if you wish, I'll be a happy little chipmunk author.