Human Again (A Jeff the Killer story)

36. Determination

Emilie's pov

Here he is...Jeff.

It takes me some time to figure out it is truly him. Of course, because of the rain and the dark, it's hard guessing who this person is. Moreover, he has changed a lot. He has longer hair -nearly past his shoulders. It's still pitch black, contrasting with his deep white skin color. He seems older, like this 15 months felt like 5 years to him. He has bags under his eyes, like he hasn't slept in days. He seems tired, exhausted and on the edge. He's creepy...more than before, because he looks exhausted and angry. His whole body radiates anger, like he's more desperate and angry at the world than when I was with him.

But at the same time, here he is, on the other sidewalk from me, looking at me deep in the eyes and smiling like I'm the most beautiful thing he's seen in his whole life. It's weird and scary. He shouldn't smile at me and look at me like that. I expected him to kill me, kidnap me or torture me. But no, he's just smiling and looking at me respectfully, like he doesn't really believe I'm there.

But I won't fall on his trick.
Not now, not after all I've done to escape him.
I'm still with my hand in front of my mouth to suppress my previous scream, when I quickly turn left and start running. I won't let him catch him.
It must have surprised him because I hear him scream my name across the street. Even with my heels, I'm ahead but I now he'll catch me sooner or later. I just hope that Peter is on his way and that he'll protect me.

"Emilie, come back!!" I hear Jeff screaming behind me. His voice sounds desperate, and my heart breaks a little. He doesn't seem like the serial killer I knew before.  He has changed a lot.

It didn't take long before I see Peter. He is walking rapidly with his umbrella, looking at his feet to protect him from the rain.

"Peter!" I call him, and when he lifts his head up, he can tell something's wrong.

"Why are you running darling? What's going on?" He asks, concern in his deep voice.

"I'll explain you later, now we have to run!" I take his hand and start running again, even though I know Jeff has given up. If he has kept running, he'd have caught me before I could talk to Peter. The question is now, is he spying on us? If this is the case, I'm screwed. He'll know where I live, but do I have a choice?

I choose to keep running until we're safe at home. We're both in the living room, soaking and freezing to death, starting to regain our breath. I haven't noticed until then that I have been crying during the entire run. Peter suddenly grabs my hand and starts to rub it to make it hotter.

"So...tell me." He seriously tells me, deep in the eyes.

"I...I saw him, Peter! He came in front of the building. I don't know how he found it, but he did. Oh my god...He must have followed us here! What are we going to do? I can't-" I start panicking and Peter cuts me off.

"Calm down, honey. I told you, we're going to find a solution. Did he say something to you?"

"No."

"Did he try to hurt you?"

"No."

"What did he do then?"

"He just...looks at me, and smiles." I say, wondering about reasons of his strange behavior.

"Smiling? Like what, a maniac smile?"

"No...An happy smile. Like if he was truly happy to see me again. I know you'll find this stupid but...it was like he was seeing someone or something he liked. I know that sounds crazy, he couldn't be happy, he doesn't have emotions, especially for me." I say shrugging it of.

"I don't find this stupid, Emilie. From what you told me, he's a psycho. And psychos sometimes grow some emotions for their victims. You might have hurt his feelings by running away, so that he wanted to find you again. The more important thing is that he didn't try to hurt you. Maybe he won't. I hope so." He kisses me on the cheek at the end of his sentence, but that didn't relax me. I am so tensed right now.

"I don't know, he did send me threatening letters for days after all."

After that, I hug him tight. I want this conversation to end.
What if Peter is right? What if he is happy to see me again? It doesn't mean anything good to me. If he has searched me for more than a year, it just means that he won't let me go. I'm so screwed.

Seeing him again made my worst fears reappeared. And memories. Memories of what happened in that damn manor. What if I made a huge mistake when I kissed him? I know it was the biggest mistake of my life, but what if that's the reason of why he didn't let go of me? I did so stupid things back then.
He brought back emotions I felt before, like the determination to fight him and win.

By the way he looked at me and how he ran to catch me, I made my decision. He won't let me go.
And I won't run away again.
I will fight. I don't want to escape him all my life. Because deep down I know that even if I run to Africa, he won't give up and catch me sooner or later. I know now that this man won't give up until he gets what he wants.

And right now, he wants me.
Dead or alive, I still don't know. But he wants me.
And I won't let him win.

*************
So this was the (short) meeting of Jeff and Emilie! But don't be sad, Jeff will come back really soon.
I hope you liked this chapter even though it was short, but I wanted it to end here.
Next one will come sooner!
Xx