Cripple

Chapter 4: Jane

I was surfing the net looking for their hideout. I wanted nothing more than to find them and kill them all.I wanted revenge for what he did to me.
There was a nock on my door. Or maybe they would find me first. I pulled my big chef's knife from my drawer.
"Who is it?"
"Package for room 442." Said the person behind the door.
Yup, they found me. I readied my knife. I put my ear to the door to try to hear who or what was at my door. I put my hand on the doorknob and yanked open the door. It was a teenager with a grey hoodie underneath a black trench coat and dark jeans. This was a trap. I lunged at him with my knife and put it to his throat as he jumped back with his hands raised.
"Woah!" He yelped.
"Who are you?!" I yelled back.
"Jeez you got a temper." He bounced back.
"Tell me now or I'll be the last person you'll see!" I exclaimed.
"Okay, okay, just calm down." He pulled back his hood to reveal the most scarred and grotesque face i've seen, besides Jeff and myself.
"Just because you show me your face doesn't mean I should know you and trust you!"
"No, but because I want the same thing you want," He said, "Revenge."
I was puzzled, and it might've risked my life because with that hesitation he pushed me back through the doorway.
"Jane, isn't it?" He asked.
I wasn't surprised. Everyone knew me after I put my story on that stupid website.
"I surfed the internet for the bastards that did this to me and I found you so I thought I could help you." He explained, revealing four different IVs underneath his coat connecting to him.
"I don't need your help."
"Then why haven't you caught him yet?"
"He's a lot trickier than you think."
"I only can imagine."

• • •

I stared at the teenaged girl with the creepy white mask and black dress intently. I read about her on this website that was supposed to have creepy stuff. Apparently she and Jeff the Killer had a history.
I pulled away the gauze and said, "Either way, I want my eyeball back."
She flinched, obviously grossed out my my yellow eye. I started getting nauseous from the bright light so I put the gauze back on. She paused, probably deciding whether to kill me or not.
"I understand," She said, "He crippled me too."
"How so?" I asked.
"I can't trust you enough, that remains to be hidden." She paused again, "I'll let you stay the night, but after, you're leaving."
"Well, it was worth a shot."
I looked around the shabby little apartment. The wallpaper was yellow and stained. The room I was in was small and a combination of the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, and the office. Next to the couch there was a door that led to a closet. The room net to the hybrid room was a bedroom with three twin beds, two of which were right next to each other for more room. In the bedroom there was two doors that led to another closet and a small bathroom that was so small that the sink, the shower, and the sink were all next for only a foot of room leading to the shower.
I went ahead and placed my stuff on the bed that was isolated from the others. It was sloppily made, the springs were very tough, and the sheets were rough. I remade the bed for it to look a little bit better with the "hospital bed" style.
"Nice place."
"What are you talking about?!" She replied.
Yeah, what was wrong with me? Was I still hooked up to the morphine? I just saw things a little brighter all of a sudden.
"This place is horrific! God, what's wrong with boys?" She said.
"I don't know! I just blurted it out!" I said sarcastically, "It only seemed polite."
I started looking around some more. I didn't see any cockroaches but I did hear some crickets chirping.
"So what do you do around here?" I asked while trying the TV. Nothing but static.
"I read. Sometimes I surf the net for them."
"Who's them"?"
"The people we're hunting! Oh, well i'm hunting." She explained.
"Oh, well Okay then."
I went to the bookshelf that the girl was right next to at the office. The first thing I noticed was her diary. She immediately took the leather bound book from the shelf. I kept looking. A couple textbooks, some survival guides, informational books about monsters, That Tall Man, Shadow People, Shrek, and a bunch of old classics. I went ahead and pulled out Shadow People, lied on the couch, and started reading.

• • •

I woke up with a book in my face. I must've fallen asleep reading. It was 1:00 a.m. I should sleep anyways. I didn't even care if I slept on the couch, both were very uncomfortable. Jane went to sleep.
I was in a forest in a large dirt pathway with trees on both sides of me. I was walking along it, trying to find my way out. There was a bend and then I stopped. I saw a very dark silhouette at the end of the trail where the forest ended. The blob of darkness started to move closer. I tried to walk back but my body wouldn't respond. The blob started to get more and more focused. It started to look like a person with darkness all over him. Then I notice that he has a hat on, a bowler hat and he was groaning, or growling. I was freaking out now. When the hat guy got right in front of me I was engulfed in darkness.
I jumped off of the couch and landed on the floor with another searing pain. I groaned. Or maybe it wasn't me because it kept going. I sat up to look over the couch and saw that same blob as before. I remember him from my book, Shadow People. He was the hat man, a shadow person that steals souls.
Oh crap. He was heading to the bedroom.
I jumped up ran over and yelled, "Jane!!!"
She jumped up and started flailing her knife everywhere. She must sleep with it all the time. I couldn't see anything it was so dark. Unless... Could I? I wonder... I pulled off my gauze covering my eye and I could see everything.
He was a shadow so I knew he couldn't be killed with a knife. I ran behind the hat man over to a lamp and aimed it at him. Jane was cornered, still flailing her knife, the hat man closing in. Then, I flipped the switch and heard a howl with an explosion of light everywhere. I slapped my hand over my eye hoping it would help but there were literally particles of light floating around the room. They were all floating away from the area where the hat man once stood. Some were dimmer than others. Souls.
While the souls were floating around the room I opened the window and all the souls started escaping through it. I turned around and saw Jane with her mask on. I saw her without it when she woke up but I was so distracted by the hat man I didn't see her face.
"Okay. That was freaking scary." Jane shuddered.
"Yup, you totally don't need my help." I said.
"Shut up. You have some quick thinking. I guess I need you. But I still don't trust you, you have to make your own weapons." Jane said, "In the morning i'll train you, get ready."
"Really, from you? Pff." I said, "All you were doing was flailing your knife."
"Okay. One, wasn't ready. Two, the hat man was stealing my soul, my consciousness. Three, i'll gut you open if you disrespect me again."