Chapter Text
“My, you’re being so weird today, Jeffy.. Well, I mean, weirder.” The black-haired girl said as she cradled her head between her hands, her eyes looking at him with curiosity; yeah, Jeff was an eccentric man per se.
Yet today he was being weirder… for their own standards, of course; Usually, he’d be grumpy and would order Nina around like she was some type of subordinate, and Nina knew better than to disobey him.
Even though they only had a three year gap and not so many differences complexity-wise (from her point of view), the younger girl wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight against him. She’d become an assassin not long ago and she didn’t know if it was a stroke of pure good luck finding her ‘idol’ accidentally or not, because she now regretted that a bit…
…too much.
Today the man looked so lost in thought, like something had exchanged his soul for somebody else’s and made him swap personality with said soul; Jeff was in one of these never-ending loops of regret, pride, and then regret once again; killing his family over a psychotic episode was something reckless he had done as a teenager…
But he wasn’t regretful about murdering his parents, though, he only regretted ‘killing’ his older brother… well, allegedly killing his brother.
Liu was very much alive and he was the reason as to why the youngest Woods sibling was so pensive today; last night, while searching for a house to spend the night, he’d encountered at a corner of some random street a tall man- not really that tall, but he was taller than Jeff by five or six centimeters, brown haired, green eyes and a face (that even though was partially hidden by the male’s striped scarf) you could notice it was covered by many stitched scars.
He was with someone else, but that was plainly ignored by him as he was only interested in what he thought was his brother.
Jeff was at a loss of words since.. Even if those features were more mature, he could never mistake that face anywhere else, not when it came to his own brother’s.
Luckily, he had half his face covered by a face mask and wore his hoodie, so he wasn’t that recognizable.
With Liu’s appearance, he’d suddenly started recalling more and more…
“Yahoo, Jeffyy, ya’ there?”
Good, she was being snubbed, once again.
She frowned and scoffed, raising her arms from the sofa’s headboard and, as she turned around to leave, she took a quick peek over her shoulder to glance over him for a second and then finally left to her ‘bedroom’, if you could call a small, dirty, junk-filled room with a pair of identical purple hoodies and black mini skirts scattered all around the floor a proper ‘bedroom’.
There were many cosmetics stolen here, too.
It wasn’t what she desired, at all, but she wouldn’t stay more than two days under the same roof anyway, so what gives if her room was disgustingly ugly?
At the end of the day, she did wish she had her own room where she could decorate it with posters, pretty lighting decorations on the walls, a comfy bed with many plushies and a vanity where she could take care of her long, usually unkempt hair.
She wished she could have somewhere stable to run to everyday, wished she didn’t have to change places every two days or, if that dumbfuck’s kill count was higher (two people on the same day, something that was rather crazy), every day.
Wished a room where she wouldn’t feel she’s being watched every second while trying to rest.
Maybe that day would come, but she was sure it wouldn’t be any soon.
“Whatever.” Jeff thought, snapping from his trance; Maybe he was imagining it again. Liu is obviously dead.
He had killed him with his own hands, after all. Overthinking that nonsense would just bring more problems.
He probably mistaken some random man for Liu that night.
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Later that night, Jeff was getting ready to, once again, walk around the city like he usually did.
He wore some stolen white hoodie and, underneath it, wore a black-turtle neck shirt; he paired those with some black sweatpants and shoes of the same color.
As he reached for some mask to wear, he felt a sudden presence approach behind him and, instinctively pulled out his ‘stand-by knife’ hastily from the pocket of his hoodie and he spun slightly, ready to strike, only to pause as recognition hit:
It was Nina.
“¡Shh! Ease off, Jeffy! It’s still me, Nina.” The teenager said, waving her hands in front of him; by the way she was dressed, it was obvious she intended to go out with him wherever he intended to leave at that moment.
He lowered his knife and tucked it back into his pocket, his worn and dull eyes narrowed, looking obviously annoyed by her ‘shenanigans’, even if she had just walked to him.
He didn’t knew what irked him more about her; if her weird-as-fuck antics, her obsession over him or… both. She killed her family and burned herself to nearly a crisp.
She tended to mimic his attitude in such an uncanny way every day.
She’d wear eye makeup and dye black her hair religiously.
Ah, he felt himself shivering from disgust. Who did she think she was? She was just a cheap copycat, and as such, she would never obtain his level of prettiness, never.
Yet, he wouldn’t kill her… yet. It felt appallingly nice to have a fan girl that would do whatever he wanted with no discussion.
“Ya’ going out? I’m comin’ with you, Jeffy!” She exclaimed, smiling as creepily as usual, only to be disappointed by his silent disapproval. “Alright, but warn me if we’re going to leave… ‘kay?”
“If I don't come back in like three hours, might as well leave this place and wait somewhere else or, I don't know, do whatever you’re best at.”
You always find a way to stick with me like a louse anyway.
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Heels clicking sounded on the streets’ cold floor as the woman approached her partner; that night could've been seen as busy by the passengers nearby, but to both criminals, it was a perfect one to disguise themselves in the crowd.
Regardless of that, they still reunited themselves at some street corner.
His green colored eyes followed her steps until she stood in front of him, his gaze rising from her legs to the cheap, white mask covering her face.
“Ah, you made it. How’s the travel been? I hope you’re not bushed, hm?” The brunette haired man commented, which followed with a subdued smile, tugging at his striped scarf a little bit so that he could talk more clearly. He took out a pack of Marlboro from his coat’s pocket, drawing out one cigarette just to stop mid-way, his gaze darting from the cigarette towards her again.
“You want some? I bought it only a few minutes ago.” He finally added before handing her the cigarette and then drawing out another, now for himself. He lighted them both, inhaled and took a deep drag out of it.
Pulling up her mask and showing her lips to him, she replicated his actions. “So? How are we supposed to do this, Liu?” From her voice tone, you could totally sense some exasperation there.
Liu didn’t reply right away, though. It took him scanning with his eyes the whole place, until he spotted some group of teens but his eyes stared directly at some man in white that, if he wasn’t one teen himself by the way he dressed, he could’ve been a homeless man too.
Though, he didn’t know if it was because he was staring too much, because in reply, that man started looking at him directly, too.
He noticed something, though.
Those pale hands of his were covered in healed burnt scars and callouses.
Whatever that poor man has been through made Liu feel pity for him.
“Earth to Liu? Good night, huh.” Jane murmured, pinching him with her cigarette, following so Liu flinched at that and finally distorted his attention to her.
“What, you know that man?”
“No, I don't think so… but look at him, poor man.” He tilted his head to the side to point towards where the man was supposed to be, but…
He left.
They both looked at each other in silence.
“You know..” Jane re-followed. “It’s been so many years and we don’t even know if he’s alive, so, what did you have in mind?”
“You’ve given up already?”
She didn’t bother replying, if she agreed to come all the way here because she clearly hasn’t given up yet.
“Don’t worry about that, Jane, he’s very much alive.” After a brief pause, feeling her interest rise up, he took a deep drag out of his cigarette, exhaling some seconds later. With his gaze fixated on the floor, he continued:
“While buying some cigarettes from the kiosk, I saw a girl… I don’t remember her appearance that much, but in the other line of her phone, a man- ‘Jeff’, in this case, was talking to her, telling her she should just steal the stuff instead and come back quickly…”
“You’re saying Jeff’s alive and the proof is a phone call a girl’s done?” Jane interrupted, skeptical.
“You won’t even let me finish. But yes, his voice’s identical to his, even if it’s a little raspier.”
“Shh, i know what you’ll say, but there, overhearing the police at their station yesterday, they were talking about a girl and a man that were being hunted by the police from other states.”
And suddenly, a few bells rang for Jane.
Nodding and silently asking him to continue, Liu exhaled.
“They were talking about that same girl I saw. So, my theory’s that they’re around here, I don't know where, but it’s definitely a good start, am I right?”
“You might be onto something there, Liu… Won’t hurt searching around there, after all, we’ve been wasting many years trying to know if he was alive or not, only for him to be staying at the closest state from Florida.” She hissed, throwing the cigarette after pushing back down her mask, stepping on it with her heel.
She did skip the part where she did encounter him at some point.
Not recently, obviously.
But three or four years ago.
She regretted being so weak back then, he managed to corner her up and humiliate her.
“Maybe we should try finding that girl first and then follow her, she could lead us to him.”
“You don’t even remember how she looks, how are we supposed to do that?”
“I’d be able to recognise her, of course.” He coughed and then finally threw his own cigarette on the floor, stepping on it.
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So unfair. Nina kept repeating in her head, her face covered in make up to hide many of the scars she had done to herself-and of course, to avoid people or police to recognise her.
Her feet kicked many wooden sticks she randomly found on the grass, her hands were tucked into her hoodie’s pockets.
She left right after Jeff did, fuming with impotence: How dare he? They were partners in crime! She had to go with him!
She didn’t care where her legs were leading her to, so she just walked regardless.
However, she didn’t realise she was entering the forest known for being the main interest to go camping, telling scary stories and never making it out of there.
What did she have to worry about anyway? She was a killer too, after all! She could handle whatever’s going on here.
But the more she progressed, the thicker the atmosphere became.
It didn’t feel really comfortable, at all, and it was giving her the creeps.
The teen stopped mid-step, analyzing her surroundings. Not only was it awfully quiet for her taste, but when she checked behind her, it seemed as if she had walked a lot.
So much that she couldn’t differentiate between in front of her and behind; the trees all looked the same and.. it was very, very dark.
What kind of intelligent being adventured herself into a forest known for more bad than good?
At night, at that.
Feeling even more incongruous, she decided it was time to leave; what if Jeff already came back? Time felt endless there and she could swear from the moment she stopped walking that time moved slowly.
She’d only have to turn around and walk the same way.
Or… so she thought.