Please, Kill Me (Jeff the Killer x Reader)

Chapter 18 ✓

"Our home?" I echoed, the words feeling heavy and strange on my tongue.

Jeff stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't turn around at first, but I saw his shoulders tense. "The hell did you say?" That's when he glance to look at me.

"You said 'our home,'" I repeated, my voice barely a whisper.

He finally spun around, dropping my hand as if it had suddenly turned into lead. His lidless eyes flared with a flick of something—agitation, or perhaps a rare spark of embarrassment. "I said my home," he snarled, his voice rasping. He turned away immediately, his boots crunching loudly on the forest floor as he headed for the exit.

Maybe I had imagined it. Maybe the static of the mansion had played tricks on my mind.

As we reached the threshold, Slender’s black tendrils pulled the massive oak doors open. The Dark Forest waited for us, the trees swaying in a rhythmic, skeletal dance. This time there is no threat waiting for us outside the mansion since we already deal with Slendrina earlier. I just hope she will be able to find how to lift the curse of her family. I looked back, offering a small, silent nod of thanks to the entities who had treated me like a princess in a nightmare. Jeff didn't look back once.

I will wait for him to change his mind, Slender’s voice resonated in my skull. I nodded again and hurried to catch up with Jeff’s retreating white hoodie.

We walked in a silence that wasn't uncomfortable, just hollow. I looked up, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, the canopy broke. A massive, silver moon hung in the center of a clear night sky, spilling liquid light over the twisted branches. I stopped, breathless.

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

"The what?" Jeff stopped, looking back over his shoulder.

"The moon."

He paused. He didn't mock me. Instead, he turned his entire body, staring up at the lunar glow as if he were seeing it for the first time—or remembering it from a life he’d burned down years ago.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked, though he kept his eyes on the sky.

"Nothing. It’s just... you look like it’s your first time seeing it."

"It is," he muttered.

The bluntness of his answer made my heart ache. How many nights had he spent in the dark, eyes wide and unblinking, yet never looking up? A dark cloud began to drift across the silver disc, casting us into shadow.

"When will you kill me?" I asked. The question felt natural here, under the fading light. "Are you going to finish it now? Because of what happened in the forest?"

He didn't answer. I stepped closer, my heart hammering against my ribs. Slowly, I reached out. I expected him to snap, to grab my wrist or draw his blade, but he remained still. My fingers brushed his scarred, cold cheek. I let my hand linger there for a heartbeat, offering the only thing I had left: a piece of my humanity.

"...until then, I'll be your friend, even if you don't need it," I said.

The cloud passed, and the moonlight hit his face again. Jeff stared at me, his gaze moving from my hand to my eyes, searching for a lie he couldn't find. He jerked away, turning his back to me again.

"I... don't need a friend," he rasped. There was a jagged edge of sadness in his voice that he couldn't quite hide. He started walking again, faster this time.

"Everyone needs one, Jeff," I whispered to the trees. "Even you."

The return to the abandoned house felt different. It was smaller, grittier, and smelled of old ash. I went straight to my room and sat by the window, watching the moon. My phone vibrated in my pocket—a sudden, violent intrusion of the modern world.

I answered without looking. "Hello?"

<Y/N!?  Its me, Nora! Oh god, how did you get your phone back?> The voice was frantic, breathless.

"It’s a long story. How do you have this number?"

<Your mom... she gave it to me before you graduated. Listen, I don't have much time, I just want to warn you—>

"About what?"

<My Dad— beep.>

The screen went black. Dead. I stared at the reflection of my own pale face in the dark glass. I needed a charger. I needed to get back to my house., I need to know what Nora meant about his Dad. All I know is that her family is an influential one.

I checked the hallway. Jeff was gone—likely out on another hunt. This was my chance, I'll be back without him noticing, I promised. And since I want to be faster, I can't just walk; it would take hours. I ran down to the basement, the smell of copper hitting me instantly. I ignored the blood-stained chair and the sharp tools, searching until I found it: an old, rusty bicycle tucked in the corner. I am glad he have this.

I hauled it upstairs and pedaled into the night. The moon watched me as I passed the invisible boundaries of the mansion and hit the highway. The wind whipped my hair as I reached the town. Almost quiet like a ghost town—houses are dark, doors bolted shut against the "notorious killer" they all feared.

And then, I saw it. My home, where I grew up, where I spend every birthday with my parents.

I stood at the door, the wood cool against my palm. I looked over my shoulder, half-expecting a white hoodie to emerge from the shadows, but there was only the silence of the streetlights. I turned the knob and stepped inside. The air inside was stagnant, smelling of dust and the faint, lingering scent of my mother’s perfume. It was a tomb.

"Mom, Dad..." I whispered into the darkness, my throat tightening and finally I managed to say with my cracked voice, "I'm home."