Wide Eyes (Jeff the Killer Romance)

Chapter 22

My mom was in her kitchen, making breakfast with her boyfriend. Jack informed me it was James Red, the same Mr. Red who came to dinner, the one she made cookies for.

"After the "accident", your mom was in mourning for exactly 2 weeks before Mr. Red came and swooped her off her feet. She moved into his house immediately, and they have been living together for a month and three weeks," Jack told me.

"She wouldn't do that. She hates commitment."

She looked happy, almost as happy as him. There was still sadness from losing her only daughter, but she pushed it away.

"This was a bad idea," I whispered.

"We can leave," Jack offered.

I nodded, and he pulled me away before I could start crying.

We were on the outskirts of the forest when Jack stopped suddenly.

"I'm getting low on food. Are you ok to get home on your own?"

"Can I come with?" I asked suddenly.

He hesitated, then said yes. I followed him through the trees to the other side of the forest. I've never been on this side of town, and there was a reason. The streets were littered with garbage, liquor bottles and cigarette butts. It smelled like alcohol and pee.

"Stay close to me, and have your knife out. Keep your eyes open, let no one take you by surprise."

"Why are we over here?"

"These people are killed every day. These are mostly bums, slackers, and white males. We don't kill the bums, they have bad systems. But the slackers, they're easy pickings."

"What about the white males?"

"Who do you think the slackers are? They are the white males."

I pulled my new, fully functional knife out and kept close to Jack. He ducked into an alley and hid behind the garbage. I followed, waiting.

"Why are we here?"

"Wait," Jack murmured.

Suddenly a drunk guy stumbled into the alley. He stopped right in front of the garbage and began to relieve himself.

"That guy?"

"He's drunk. He won't react as fast, which means he won't even know what's happening until he's dead."

Jack snuck around the garbage and motioned for me to follow. The guy was almost done, so I hurried. Jack stood up and stabbed the guy in the shoulder, then the back. He let out a little gasp before he dropped to the ground. I grabbed his bottle of Jack Daniels before it broke. Jack worked on cutting his stomach open, while I wiped off the mouth of the bottle and took a swig.

"Are you of legal age yet?" Jack joked.

I rolled my eyes and stuffed the bottle in my sweater. Jack pulled the kidneys from the body and took a bite from one.

"Come on. We've been here too long."

Jack made me pull the body in the trash. He had gloves just for this, but I had none. He reluctantly gave me his, promising me he'd get Jeff on it.

"Why'd I have to throw him away?" I asked on the way back.

"Because you were a liability. If we'd have gotten caught, I'd have to help you first. So, you get body duty for making it more dangerous."

"I wouldn't be a liability if I got training."

"Training? We've all trained ourselves. Go out and practice on animals sometime. They're faster than humans."

I sighed and remembered when I said I'd never kill an animal. Now it seemed to be the only way to learn how to fight. I knew Jeff would give me the same answer.

"I can show you some stuff first though," Jack sighed.

"Thank you."

He shrugged, leading me back to the house. When we got there, he called Jeff into his room and they left me downstairs. I pulled Erin into my lap and she purred happily.

"You had no right to do that!" Jeff yelled.

I sighed and pulled the Jack Daniels out of my sweater.

"She's not just some human. She will be a..." Jeff trailed off.

"You think I don't know that?" Jack countered.

"She should be trained. She can be better than any of us!"

"She's too innocent, you said it yourself."

"That was before. She's a killer now."

"It's up to her," Jack said finally.

I pulled my legs up and rested my head on my knees. It seemed like everything I did ended badly.