Vicky Genocidal: In Depth

Chapter Five: Hades

"Get away from me." She said, waving her hand desperately, as if she were swatting a fly.

"Miss Ross, how do you feel now that Hannah Jackson has been confirmed to be a serial killer?" The reporter persisted, chasing the girl, who was desperately attempting to escape him.

"Please, just leave me alone." She pleaded, walking faster as she clutched her school bag near her person protectively. "I already said no comment."

"What are your thoughts on Jane Arkensaw's disappearance?"

"I'm late for school, please go away."

"Are you afraid that Jeffery Woods will come back one day?"

"Please just stop."

"How have you been coping with your father's death?"

In a flash of rage and defensiveness, the girl quickly spun around, landing a hard, firm slap across the reporter's face. The man stood there, hand over his cheek, staring in pure shock as the girl ran the rest of the way to her familiar school building.

That night, the girl came home to a newspaper being shoved in front of her face, the headline and the blurred photo underneath it immediately catching her eye.

The headline read "Supposed accomplice of the infamous Jeff the Killer, Victoria Ross, assaults innocent reporter!" Beneath it was a picture of her slapping the aforementioned reporter in the face. Too tired to defend her actions, the girl went upstairs to her room as her aunt called after her, attempting to discuss the subject further. She slammed the door shut, ignoring her aunt as she sunk to the floor, pulling a box of cigarettes out of her backpack.

For the last three years, Victoria had been dealing with harassment from her classmates, reporters, and local serial killer enthusiasts. The reporters and journalists would find her whenever she was outside of her home or school building and would chase after her in an attempt to snatch an impromptu interview with the survivor. These interactions usually ended with Victoria running away from them, or Marge chasing them off with a baseball bat.

The serial killer enthusiasts and Jeff fangirls always managed to track down Victoria's socials, no matter how hidden she had thought they were. A few, assuming she was Jeff's accomplice or even his romantic partner, would send her threatening messages. Others sent her a barrage of invasive questions, while others would send her messages asking if she could arrange a meeting between them and Jeff.

Eventually, Victoria deleted all of her social media accounts.

However, she couldn't run away, be protected from, or cut off contact with her classmates. Everyone in her school was against her, it seemed. She would often receive phone calls or text messages from the boys at her school, claiming they were Jeff. They would proceed to send or say vulgar, humiliating things to her, or would describe how 'Jeff' would kill her when he came back. Victoria often found herself flinching whenever the phone rang. At school, Victoria would find crude drawings that recreated the murders in her locker, often accompanied by vandalized pictures of her friends, often covered in red marker, either with the eyes scribbled out and cartoony, large smiles drawn over their mouths, or with their throats crossed out in a slit throat style. Not only this, but there were also people like Kyle, who would verbally harass her.

Others, mostly girls, would approach her, claiming to have been close friends with her cousin Jane. These people often wept crocodile tears while feigning trauma from the event. Victoria knew why. They wanted attention. They had never even looked at Jane before the incident.

She hated all of them. Every last one.

The teachers all turned a blind eye. The principal found every chance he could to lay the blame on her, even when she wasn't involved in a specific situation. Victoria swore up and down that if there ever was a fight in the school between two guys she had never even spoken to, she would be blamed for it. None of it was fair. None of it at all.

However, as much as she hated the people at her school, Victoria persisted. She knew that if she ever wanted to leave Mandeville, to run away and become a successful doctor, to be able to support Marge so that she was in want for nothing any longer, she would have to get good grades. She would have to stay on her best behavior. To keep her mouth shut. To roll with the punches. It wasn't easy, but it was a necessity. She knew that. The thoughts of the future kept her strong. Besides, if that strength ever faded, she could always run to the nearest bathroom and snap her backup pencil in half.

"Alright, class. Remember to read pages 305 to 400 tonight and take notes!" Her biology teacher called out as Victoria, along with her classmates in a uniform fashion, packed up their school bags.

'Well,' She thought to herself with a small sense of relief. 'That marks another day without punching someone. Good job, me.'

Victoria left the school as quickly as possible, ignoring the normal idiotic insult thrown at her by Kyle as she exited the building. That was the routine, it seemed. A mind-numbing conversation with Kyle on her way to school, where he would insult her in any immature way someone could think of, and then a quick, extra insult by the end of the day. One thing Kyle did do well was his sense of punctuality. He was always on time; Victoria couldn't deny that.

What wasn't part of their routine, however, was the ginger haired girl approaching Victoria as she began her journey homeward.