Death and Destruction (Jeff the Killer Fanfic)

40. A fresh start

Nina

I was hungover to hell and back when I woke up the next morning, a tissue stuffed in my nose and gray sunlight coming in through the window. In my groggy daze I almost expected to be back in my room in Tempe but the relief that washed over me when I remembered I'd never be going back was overwhelming. I pulled myself from the blankets, getting to my feet and peering outside to find fog filling the yard. Creepy. Nina likey.

While I could taste bile in the back of my throat I wasn't on the verge of puking and I called that a win, wandering out into the hall and downstairs only to find Jules up and moving in the kitchen. Something burned on the back of my neck but I wasn't going to let myself feel guilty for speaking my mind, it was the truth and—

"I'm sorry."

I snapped to attention as Jules spoke softly, holding a peace offering of hash browns and scrambled eggs out to me. There was a lot of emotions swimming in her eyes but I moved forward, curious about the sudden change of heart while I tentatively took the plate.

"There's a lot I don't understand about this situation but...you're right. He might've killed me but if he really regretted it enough to trade his freedom for your safety and my return...he can't be as bad of a guy as I thought."

Slowly my tensed muscles eased and I nodded, taking a seat across from her at the dining table while I mulled over it. I shouldn't have been as harsh as I was but I spent so long catching my tongue that I was going to speak my mind, even if it wasn't what someone wanted to hear.

"Jeff took care of us," I spoke softly, "when Kitty had a concussion from Tom he spent all week here with Aunt Ginny making sure she took her meds and didn't overexert herself. He could've killed Claudia that first night but it would've brought cops to my doorstep so he and Tom scared her instead. They didn't want to kill her, they tried to avoid it but she escalated things. He listened to me when no one else would. Jeff is...so much more to me than I ever thought he'd be and I know Kitty feels the same."

Jules nodded, taking everything into account before she let out a deep sigh, "I get that. I've been thinking about things. I guess in a situation like the ones you were all put in I could understand snapping, especially yours. Killing someone, knowing you took a life though, how do you live with it?"

"You're asking the wrong person," I admitted with a darker chuckle, "I take pride in wiping assholes off the face of this earth. I live for it. The only person..." my shoulders slouched as my smile faltered. "I regret killing my brother. I wasn't...here, though. I didn't snap out of it until I stole the car and was already halfway to Colorado, it's like I went on autopilot."

"Is there no way to do something like Jeff did? Bring him back like he did to me?"

"It wouldn't be a good life for him anyway. He'd probably be in chronic pain for the rest of his life from all the injuries, he'd be scarred and he doesn't have the constitution to handle a life like this. I like to think he's better off this way but I know deep down if I could change it I probably would. Besides, I already turned down Operator's offer to be a proxy. No one is going to tell me what to do anymore and I'll be damned if some gangly fuckstick tries to boss me around."

We shared a laugh and the room felt a lot lighter after that. Kitty meandered downstairs eventually, groggy and hungover as well but Jules was happy to make her breakfast. She slapped something down on the table in front of me and I picked the fabric mask up only to laugh at the sharp-toothed grin printed across it before I looped it around my ears.

"Oh yeah, that's definitely Nina," Jules laughed with an approving nod, "where'd you find that?"

"Buried under my bed with some old Halloween shit, I dropped a screw when I was trying to fix a knife and got distracted."