Moonstruck ⟡ HS

05

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link: spoti.fi/3nfeMmI
RED FLAGS & LONG NIGHTS | SHE WANTS REVENGE
SATURDAY | DESIRE
HANDS IN THE DARK | CHROMATICS
ME AND YOUR MAMA | CHILDISH GAMBINO

    "Did you hear?"

The question sends him looking over his shoulder with his back still hunched, his hands busy underneath the hood of the car he was working on, and he turned back around when noticing that he wasn't the one being spoken to. That didn't mean he didn't listen though, because while he only knew about half of the guys he worked with, they gossiped more than teenage girls in a mall parking lot and he usually ended up knowing everything about everything in Chagrin Falls because of it.

"Hear what?" One of his coworkers, George, replied while working on the car beside the one he was currently working on. Along with Johnny, George was one of the guys closest to his age that worked at Paulson's, though the gap in age didn't define who he was closer to when it came to friendships. He didn't really like any of them, but he didn't like most people, so this wasn't a shock to him.

"That kid got taken in."

"What kid?"

"Randolph's kid, he got taken into the station earlier today." Suddenly, he stands up straight, not really meaning to do so, but he plays it off while rubbing his hands over his uniform and then through his hair. He can't help but wonder as to what Derek was telling the police, knowing the kid was doing everything in his power to get off the hook for whatever they think he did, and with a slight sense of knowledge about Derek, he knew that Derek hated him. So more specifically, he can't help but wonder whether Derek is dropping his name or not.

Regardless, if he is or not, worry never comes to him. This wasn't some experiment, nor was it new to him in any aspect, because despite the change of location and the change of what chest his knife sinks into, they all make him feel the same way and they all get disposed of the same way. He's effortless, and skilled in what he does despite the gruesomeness of the crimes, but whether Derek is uttering his name or not, he couldn't give less of a fuck.

He's clean, not a single string could trace Kelley back to him and he knows it, but the cause and effect of Derek being taken in concerning Josephine was what sent him straightening up, silently hoping she didn't actually care about the idiot after everything he did to her. Josephine's kindness extended to everyone, he knew that much, and as much as he hated it sometimes, he couldn't possibly see how she could ever feel bad for Derek. Especially when he treated her like a fucking joke.

He was the fucking joke.

If it was in his genetic make up, he would have had his hands wrapped around Derek's throat the second he laid a hand on Josephine, remembering the day so perfectly with anger coursing through his veins, but it just wasn't. There was always something different about watching the life leave the eyes of a guy than it did for a girl, it wasn't as seamless nor was it as graceful, and it didn't please him whatsoever. The only thing that would please him about Derek dying would be never having to hear about him once everyone got over his death.

But this? Having everyone think he was a killer? It was so much more satisfying than having the kid dead, he'll be the first to admit it. It almost amused him, sending a secret smirk tugging at his lips as he worked, as he listened and eavesdropped on the nearby conversation of his coworkers. He's sure he would hear about it from Josephine too, he hoped that he would anyways, but hearing about it from an outside perspective intrigued him as well.

    "You think he did it?"

    "Couldn't tell ya." The two working men go back and forth, talking and speculating about the recent murder that he knows more about than anyone, albeit it's a secret he plans on taking to his grave. "You know who could tell ya, the girl he dated—