Jeff the Killer

Mandeville

The day Jeffrey Woods and his family arrived at their new home, the sky was overcast and the weather was muggy. The gray skies seemed to punctuate his mood. Jeff was not thrilled to be here. Their new home was beautiful though, a true example of his father's new found success, but still, it wasn't the home he'd known.

A week after they'd settled in, Jeff and Liu woke up early. The sky was a crisp and gorgeous blue, and although the Louisiana heat was playing its usual cruel tricks, the brothers decided that a morning bike ride to explore the area would be just the right ticket to combat the slight pangs of homesickness that they'd both been experiencing over the last week.

"I miss home," Liu blurted out, as Jeff was smearing salsa on the microwaved burrito that would serve as his breakfast.

"Me too Liu, but I guess this is home now, so we just sort of have to make the most of it."

"I know, but all of our friends and stuff are back in New Orleans. Remember that building we'd always sneak up on top of and watch the city lights come on, I miss that," Liu responded, sounding down.

"Yeah, and ZM Video, the owner knew us and would always let us rent R-Rated movies without our parents, and he'd always hook us up with a free video game rental if we got a few movies... yeah, I miss that too, but Liu, we have to..."

Liu interrupted, "I know, we have to make the most out of this, but still, this place just seems so fake, and mom and dad still treat us like we aren't even here."

"Yep, they do. I was sort of hoping the new house would improve their mood, but what can we do?"

Liu had no answer.

Jeff finished his breakfast and the two boys left the house to mount their bikes and explore around a bit more. As it turned out, the subdivision they moved into was rather close to a cluster of stores in a small shopping center.

Village Shopping Center was the name of the short row of businesses. Within these were a Pizza Hut, a Chinese restaurant, a tobacco store, a Sprint store, and, what Jeff and Liu were most excited about, a video store.

"We'll have to get mom or dad to come down here and open up an account so we can rent movies," Liu mentioned as Jeff flipped a box over to read the description of a horror movie.

"Shit, you're right," Jeff snapped, feeling a bit of frustration at this thought. He knew getting his parents to actually come down here and set up a membership would take forever, since their usual after work routine was to go off into separate rooms until they got hungry enough to come out and speak.

Jeff glanced over at the girl working behind the counter, "Maybe I can go over there and sweet talk her into giving us accounts," he joked.

"Yeah right Jeff, one look at you and she'll probably ban us," Liu remarked back, a smile broad on his face.

"You doubt me little man?"

"Doubt you? The guy who's kissed two girls and almost touched a boob, never, please go on over and lay on all the charm."

"Whatever, I totally could have banged that girl, but her parents came home and...."

"Last time you told me that story, you said her parents were out of town and her sister came home..."

Jeff became flustered and while in the process of trying to make yet another come back, the girl behind the register removed all doubt by speaking to the boys herself.

"Hey, aren't those your bikes?" the young woman asked, pointing towards the glass window.