Work Text:
The first day in a new neighborhood wasn’t easy for Jeffrey Woods. His dad had just gotten a promotion that required his family to move to another state. Maybe they got a new, better house, but for an introvert like Jeff, leaving his safe space was tearing him apart. A new place meant that he had to meet new people.
All of this made him feel new things, something similar to a mix of anxiety and excitement.
As the Woods family was unpacking things, a knock on the door could be heard.
“Hello!” A woman in her early 30s said. “My name is Barbara and I believe that you are our new neighbors?” she continued, getting a soft smile and nod from Mrs Woods in return. “Great! I’m hosting a barbeque party on Sunday, I would love you to come by and meet the rest of the neighborhood. By the way, I noticed your sons. I’m sure they will get along with my Billy.” The next thing Jeff knew, his mom set him up on a date on Sunday and he had to meet new people, not having much of a choice.
“Mom, you sure you can’t tell Mrs Rogers that I felt sick or something? I don’t feel like meeting new people yet” the teen tried to convince his mom, who already decided that he was going to the party and this was final.
“You can’t just sit in your room and play games. Meeting new people will do you good, you should broaden your comfort zone.”
The seventeen-year-old groaned and did exactly what his mom said he couldn’t do - went to his room and turned on his PS3. The weird anxious feeling sent shivers down his spine once again.
The first few days went weirdly peaceful. Even at school, Liu, his older brother, started making friends, which wasn’t Jeff’s cup of tea. The man just looked around the halls, carefully observing his surroundings. Isolating himself from any possible social interactions.
It wasn’t after Friday afternoon, that the first encounter with potential bullies took place. As Liu and he headed for the bus stop, a kid Jeff recognized from his class hit him on the shoulder, passing by them on his skateboard.
“Hey, freak!” the guy said, pointing in Jeff’s direction. The teen didn’t reply, instead looking down, hiding his head behind his dark, wolf-cut hair, lighting up a cigarette.
Liu stood up.
“What did you call him?” the older of the two said, walking in the direction of Jeff’s classmate.
“What, you deaf? Maybe I should spell it out for you?” he smirked, hiding his hand in a hoodie pocket. As the older of the Wood brothers was approaching him, the guy took out his pocket knife, pointing it in Liu’s direction.
“I am Randy, and you better remember that name. This is my neighborhood and you either obey me or pay. The fee is more than you’d think.”
Focused on Liu, the bully didn’t notice when Jeff moved from the bus stop. Not until he felt burning pain on his hand, pain that made him drop his knife.
As he turned his face in the direction of the potential attacker, a fist hit his face, making him cover his face with his own hands instantly.
The next thing he knew, there was blood all over them, and it hurt like hell.
“You broke my fucking nose!” he screamed at Jeff, trying to hit him back. The teen just made a step back and took another drag from his cigarette, his hand slightly bloody. He looked at Randy, who almost fell while trying to counterattack. The weird feeling of excitement grew stronger inside of Jeff.
“You’re gonna pay for this, Woods. And don’t worry, I won’t be alone. You’ll meet my friends sooner than you think” Randy murmured, wiping his hands on his jeans. He hopped back on the skateboard and drove off, showing Jeff the finger.
Liu and Jeff didn’t talk the whole way back home. It seemed like both of them weren’t really proud of this encounter, and Liu was more worried for his little brother than he’d like to admit. He didn’t know that this wouldn’t be the most he’s gonna be worried for him.
The exciting feeling inside of Jeff kind of scared him, yet it felt so comfortable. It grew as he thought about violence and imagined violent things. If Liu wasn’t there, he’d take Randy’s knife and slice his throat, making him choke on the cigarette. But, because his brother was there, all he could do was break his nose and burn his hand a little. Shame, he thought, creating different alternative scenarios of the Friday afternoon.
The next day, what woke his parents up was a strong knock on a door. Not Barbara’s, definitely not. As Mr Woods opened the door, a police officer looked him in the eyes.
“Does Jeffrey Woods live here?” he asked, taking out the notepad. Getting a nod from Jeff’s father, he continued. “We have received a notice that he may have hurt his classmate, Randy Knox. I would like to ask him a few questions about this.”
Excitement was all Jeff could feel during the interview with the officer. He skipped the details, such as Liu being there or the threat that “he’s gonna pay for this.” He just said what he did, sounding almost proud. Of course, he mentioned that it was self-defense, but fear grew in the policeman’s eyes, hearing unnatural enthusiasm present in the teen’s voice, as he described the howl of Knox.
His parents weren’t aware of the details and no one brought this up again, just patiently waiting for the next day to come.
Sunday morning started with Jeff's mom forcefully waking him up by opening up the curtains and letting the light into his cave room.
“You’re gonna oversleep. Today’s the day!” she said happily, almost humming under her breath.
“What day?” he said, his voice still half asleep. He turned to his side, trying to cover his eyes with his hair.
“What do you mean by “what day”? Today we’re going to meet our neighbors, remember? Maybe it’s a chance for you to make friends?”
“Is this necessary? I have friends” he lied, but his mom didn’t believe a word he said.
She sat on the rim of his bed and put her hand on his shoulder. “Son, I know you. Unless I see you interacting with people, I won’t believe that you even tried to be social with anyone. Liu is ready and you should get ready too. It’s just a few hours.” Her soft, full of care and concern voice reached his ears. Unfortunately. If he had to do it, it was only for her. He just couldn’t ignore the honesty in her plea.
“Fine. It’s just a few hours, right?” he replied, stretching in his bed as he slowly tried to wake himself up.
After she left his room, he looked around, wondering what to wear. It was just a neighborhood party, how elegant did he need to look? His eyes wandered around his room, finally deciding on a simple white hoodie and black, well-fitted jeans.
Barbara opened the door and greeted the Woods with a smile, inviting them to her backyard. It was full of people in different age groups, yet Jeff decided to join the youngest group and just play hide and seek with them. He always had a soft spot for children and their innocence, making him a perfect babysitter on occasion.
After a few rounds, he missed the nicotine that already left his system. A break was much appreciated, so he told the kids he had to go to the toilet. He left the yard, passing by his brother and parents socializing, and headed down the street, deciding to just chill next to the sidewall of the building, music, and voices from the party overcoming all other senses.
Just as he was about to light the cig, a hand snatched the lighter from him. Before he could say anything, Randy was pinning him to the wall he was standing next to.
“Shhh. Remember? I told you we’ll meet again.” Randy smiled and handed the lighter to another guy, one Jeff didn’t know. There was also another one, holding a backpack. “Meet Keith and Troy.” Pain went through Jeff’s body, as Randy kicked him in the knee. He made an inviting gesture towards his companions. The taller one, Keith, took a weird container out of the backpack. As Jeff received a hit on his nose, making it bleed with crimson, he felt his clothes get covered in a weirdly dense substance. Another hit. He felt dizzy. He was no longer held, but his body was covered with even more unidentified fluid. The last thing he heard was a click of a lighter, just a second before a flame took over his clothes.
He let out an inhumane screech.
A scream of a hurt animal, fighting for its life.
Everyone at the party looked in the direction of the scream, and the first thing they saw was fire. Lots of fire on something moving. Peter Woods took the fire extinguisher and what he saw beneath the foam made him straight up puke.
It’s his own son, or at least something that once was his son.
When Jeff woke up, he could feel a tight wrap on the skin. He has been put in a cast, with stitches all over his body. Confusion took over and as he tried to look around to identify the circumstances he found himself in, a sharp pain went through his body, right before a nurse rushed in.
“Your mom is here, she’s been waiting for you to wake up. Should I let her in?” She asked, receiving a creepy “yes” from behind the bandages on the bed. The voice made her shiver. Despite knowing of the damage his vocal chords received, she would never expect a seventeen-year-old boy to sound like… this.
“Jeff!” he heard his brother scream, tears in his eyes. His mom followed Liu close behind, hugging her son tightly. “Oh, Jeff, I was so worried,” she cried, as the doctor came into the room. After a brief examination, he decided that an observation for a few more weeks was needed.
These few weeks have been a torture.
Liu couldn't bear the feeling of responsibility for the state his brother was in. Neither could his parents.
But they copied.
Liu didn't.
To keep his mind off of the incident, he tried to socialize. He spent hours away from his home, partying and drinking with his classmates, just to focus on something else than massive guilt.
After what felt like forever, the decision was made - they could finally take the bandages off of his body and let him home. Jeff looked at his face in the mirror in awe. It was white and flakey. Chemically burnt. Messed up and deformed.
Beautiful.
He was so beautiful, so why did his family avoid him? He felt something was wrong. “You need some time to get used to the new situation and we want to give you some space” was the excuse they all learned by heart, refusing to look in his direction. He disgusted them and they couldn’t bear the monster he had become.
But Jeff loved his new look.
White, alabaster skin contrasted with his raven black hair, just as his blue eyes with his maroon lips did too.
He couldn't help but smile.
Weeks have passed and Margaret Woods has finally found the courage to look her son in the eyes and try to get used to the new him. After she came back from work, she went straight to her younger son's room, not expecting to see what she saw.
There was blood.
Jeff sat in front of his full-length mirror with a chef's knife in his hand, sliding easily through the corner of his lips. Another change was his eyes - he had no eyelids and the skin around was charcoal black.
She was right - it wasn’t her son. Not anymore.
“What have you done?” she let out a squeal, looking at Jeff in horror.
“Don’t I look beautiful, Mom?” he asks, keeping his focus on the mirror. “I am so happy I don’t want to stop smiling! But my muscles couldn’t keep my smile for long, so I decided to help them and carve the smile out. I want to see my smile and that new face all the time, so to not close my eyes, I cut out my eyelids. They were bleeding, so I burnt the skin around to stop the bleeding, and it worked!” he said proudly, before turning his head in the direction where his mom was seconds ago.
She wasn’t there anymore.
She didn’t think he was beautiful - she was disgusted.
Petrified.
Jeff decided to ask her again. He needed an answer.
He headed to the bedroom of his parents, dim light striking from the gap of the slightly opened door. He opened them further to see his mom crying, looking at the lifeless body of her husband.
“What have you done..?” she murmured, choking on her tears, frozen in fear, slowly turning in Jeff's direction.
“Dad said that he can’t sleep since he saw my new face. So I decided to help him. You should go to sleep too.” he said, approaching her with the same knife that created the smile.
Trying to back off, she stumbled on the frame of the bed. Her body hit the floor. All she could see through the wet eyes was a silhouette of the man who killed her husband getting closer to her, before kneeling right beside her. His bloody hands cupped her damp face. Margaret Woods closed her eyes for the last time.
The last thing she heard was Jeff whispering to her in a comforting tone.
“Shh, it's all good mom… Go to sleep.”
______________________
Excerpt from a local Newspaper:
“JEFF THE KILLER” IS STILL AT LARGE
After weeks of unexplained murders, the ominous killer is still attacking the people of [REDACTED]. The streak started with three students of [REDACTED] High School - Randy K., Troy B., and Keith K. - and it doesn’t seem to end soon. The public decided to name the attacker Jeff the Killer after the name “Jeff” had been found on the scene of the murder of seventeen-year-old Randy K. who had been stabbed multiple times.
The police suspect an eighteen-year-old Jeffrey Woods. The teen has been missing for over a year after his family was murdered in a way that matches the killer’s modus operandi.
The only surviving member of his family, his older brother, Liu Woods, refuses to give any public comment concerning his family’s murders. According to his friends, the twenty-year-old man was at a party during that tragic event, this being the only reason he avoided the encounter with a killer.
Could it be his brother?
Missing Jeffrey Woods is an eighteen-year-old caucasian male. After a violent attack with sodium hydroxide, he suffered from a chemical burn which left his complexion unnaturally white and dry. His hair is black and cut in a “wolf-cut” style. The last time he was seen, the man was wearing a white hoodie and black jeans.
Police are still on the lookout for the man.
If you see anyone suspicious who fits the description of the suspect, please report to the local police department immediately.