Liu Woods was a good boy. He always did as told, he got good grades, he always tried to keep his younger brother out of trouble, and he had his passion for Art and Poetry.
Good boys didn’t end up where he had been, but he had volunteered himself because he loved his brother too much to let Jeff go in his place. It had been a lonely, terrifying experience.
Now, it had been weeks since Liu had been released from that horrible place, only to see his little brother in such a delicate state. He visited as often as he could after school. Jeff couldn’t speak, but that didn’t stop Liu from trying to keep his brother entertained.
He told him about mundane things like what he had for lunch, how he still hadn’t made any friends, this one boy who kept calling him a prison reject, and how he was saving up to buy a new game for Jeff.
All Liu could think about at school was his brother, stuck in the hospital. Jeff did have a hospital roommate, but Liu had a feeling it was just as lonely for his sibling without him, as it was for Liu when he was in that joke of a correction facility.
Time passed by quick enough though, and the doctor was ready to release Jeff. Liu felt nervous as the bandages were slowly removed. He had to remind himself that no matter what his brother looked like now, he was still the boy who would play fight with him, play video games with him, and relied on him as a role model.
The cloth was removed and his mother’s scream told Liu that what he saw wasn’t an illusion. He swallowed back the feeling of his lunch crawling up his throat, and told his brother, “It’s not that bad." His first lie to his brother.
Jeff’s reply and laughter only maked the teenager’s hairs stand up on his neck.
—
That night, Liu fell asleep after some thought. He was sure he had already gotten used to Jeff’s face: It was still his brother after all, no matter what he looked like.
He woke up at the sound of a thud. There was a gut feeling in his stomach, informing him something wasn't right but he ignored it and tried to go back to sleep. There was no success in calming himself down and he looked up again.
A hand roughly covered his mouth, making him lash out, until Liu was pushed over onto his bed, his assailant pinning him down. Some kind of liquid hit his forehead, and he realized two things: The person above him was Jeff and he was bleeding from freshly-made gouges in his cheeks.
The kitchen knife reflected in the dim moonlight coming from the window as Liu thrashed, trying to scream under the hand. “Shhhhhh,” His younger sibling cooed softly, like a mother talking to her newborn. “Go to sleep.”
The pain of the knife digging into his chest chest lightly was painful. The cut that followed on his abdomen was the worst kind of pain the boy had ever felt. Not even the time Liu had cut himself deeply with the knife compared to the burning, sharp pain. The blade slid across his belly, increasing the pain and blood pooling over onto his sheets.
Jeff seemed to have given up keeping him silent, moving his other hand to Liu’s abdomen. The older boy was still screaming his head off as the lunatic stuck his hand inside the incision and gripped at something inside.
My organs… Liu thought in horror as the world blurred and finally went dark.
He wasn’t sure if he had heard Jeff say “Goodnight big brother” or not, before passing out.
—
Liu’s eyes fluttered, his thoughts too scattered to form anything coherent. “Oh good, he’s awake.” A female’s voice.
Everything was blurred and out of focus as a shadowy blob passed over him. “Hey kid, take it easy. I know everything’s been rough on you, but don’t worry. You’re safe now. He won’t be able to touch you here.”
He? Liu took a moment to process the word. He- He who? Who’s he? Where am I? Oh god, it hurts-
“Calm down, kid. You’re going to drive the heart monitor crazy.” A soft pressure gripped his hand and Liu closed his eyes, trying to relax. “I’ll tell the doctor to up your dosage. You’re a lucky kid. That psycho bastard has already killed quite a few people. He looks like a demon or something from the police sketches… Wouldn’t want to run into him in an alley at night…”
Liu frowned. He, he- Oh, right. Jeff. His brother had said good night to him after finally coming home, and then- Wait, did she just call his brother a demon?
His eyes snapped wide-open. It was only now he noticed the loud, rapid beeping noise of the heart monitor as he caught sight of the nurse by his bedside.
He hasn’t even realized he had started to sit up until she pushed him down lightly. Liu’s eyes trailed to her tools by his side.
Kill her, a voice insisted.
“Wow, you’re really rowdy. Please, try and calm down before I have to get the-” She didn’t get to finish as Liu grabbed scissors from her tray, jabbing it into her eye.
“Shut up.” He said lowly.“Shut up, shut, shut up!” His voice picked up as he pulled back, stabbing her again to the lullaby of her screams.
And again. A fourth time. He lost track after she has already fallen to the floor, her good eye staring up at him blankly and his hands covered in her blood. Dead.
Get out of here.
Liu didn’t think twice, he got up stumbling his way to the chair that had fresh clothes on it. There was a little card that said, “Get well soon -Billy.” He threw it aside and quickly got dressed, hissing in pain when he tried to bend the wrong way on his stitches. One look in the mirror revealed his body was littered with stitches.
Those are new, he thought as he finished pulling his shirt on, and walked back to the corpse. “You’re so goddamn annoying… And my brother is not a bastard or demon.”
I’d beg to differ but whatever.
The voice was ignored as he shoved the corpse under the bed, and used paper towels from the bathroom joined to the room, to try and clean up the blood as much as possible. Hopefully, that would buy him time as he left the room and slowly navigated the hospital for the exit.
Every once in a while, his stomach flared in a painful protest, but Liu knew he couldn’t turn back now.
Jeffrey Woods was a murderer.
Liu Woods was too.
