Chrysalis (Jeff The Killer) DISCONTINUED

Chapter 18: Sick

I spent the next day like normal, only that it was apparent that the cold had managed to break through my immunity and curse me with a mild cold from the previous day. As a result of that, Samantha denied me all access to go outside, meaning I wouldn't be able to see Victor at the hospital like I had intended on. Also, I never received any update on his condition whatsoever, so I could only beg that he was in a better shape than he was the last time I saw him.

Axel left that day, and I hadn't seen him since. Believe it or not, but the asshole was actually more tolerable than he initially appeared to be, at least to me, though I would lie if I said he wasn't a major pain in the ass from those few earlier encounters I had with him. I was still puzzled though as to why he decided to come to me of all people with those fucked-up drawings he had found inside of Victor's home. Seriously, they freaked me the hell out, and I could only imagine what went through his head when he drew them. If I didn't know better, I would say that Victor was already on the verge to break down, if he had not already done it.

I cursed his parents for whatever was happening to him; all of the bullshit they had told him through the years was finally starting to take a toll on him, physically and mentally by the looks of it. Victor was my best, if not only friend, and losing him would undoubtedly make the world a dull place indeed, more than it already was. Of course, I had Samantha and all, but she was more of a cautious sister than anything. Besides, I shouldn't bother her with my problems now that she had her own to deal with.

I felt a cough build itself up in my throat, and with a few gags, I successfully managed to make it back off, but as I looked down at my hands after I had coughed into them, I could see clear reddened drops of blood. The sight was alarming at first, but a little later, I paid them no mind. They were just something affected by my recent nose bleeding. It wasn't anything to worry about, at least not yet. Samantha initially insisted on taking me to a doctor, but I said I would be fine in not too long so that she wouldn't have to bother herself with trivial things.

I dried my mouth and walked over to the sink in order to wash my hands and clear of the stains. There was no need for a contamination to spread around the home on my behalf, especially not during times like these. I turned off the faucet and looked up to see how things were outside. The back of our house faced the same forest the local park stood against, only on another part of it. It was clouded outside, like the autumn. The ground was coated in snow and frost, and anyone who dared step out without being properly dressed would risk being just as sick as me, if not a little worse. Of course, I was only bothered with a mild fever, so there was nothing really to it than that, but it was easy to detect why Samantha didn't want to risk me getting any worse if I stepped outside in the cold.

My eyes moved from one side to the other, observing every tree and every branch with little yet still an existent amount of interest, there was... Something about it, I just didn't know what. There was nothing really to it other than blackness, so that was probably the reason why most of the children feared going inside. Like every horror movie, they believed something ominous lurked in there, waiting to grasp their lives and all. I didn't buy it, though I had to admire their imagination. Childish.

However, as I looked further in, I thought I saw something standing amongst the trees. If I hadn't looked close enough, I would've undoubtedly thought it was just another tree, but upon inspecting closely, leaning over the kitchen sink to get a better view, I could swear I saw... What looked like a huma-

Ding Dong!

I was startled out of the bell ringing, and my gaze immediately fell away from the woods and to the living room towards the hallway leading to the entrance door, where I could see the silhouette of someone on the other side. "Who is it now?" I muttered sullenly and proceeded to look back again to see if I spotted what I saw earlier, but there was nothing there anymore. Just trees. Must've been my imagination or a side-effect of the fever. With one last glance, I turned around and walked out to the entrance and peeked through the peeping hole. To my surprise, I saw someone I knew was associated with Samantha and barely hesitated to open up to him, though I was curious as to why.

"Investigator Cross? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on Snow's behalf." He said. "She wanted me to give you this." And he proceeded to pull a bottle of pills out of his coat and hand them to me. I took it and figured it was aspirin by the label.

"Thanks," I said and looked up at him. Now, Cross and I weren't on speaking terms, but I could tell that Samantha did trust him as her partner at the station, so I wasn't entirely distrusting against him and all. Judging by his exterior, he was a rather passive man with a formal set of clothing and a sense of justice even I could admire. Samantha was mostly in the job to get some proper work done to contribute to the town's safety, but Cross was in it because he wanted to do something right, to be a hero. "Anything else?" I added, but he shook his head.

"Nothing else, but I have to ask you, are you alright, Black?" He asked out of the sudden.

"Any reason why?"

"I know a lot of people bear hostility towards you, and I know you have faced some tough times, but I just want to say that I'm on Snow's side in this, and I do not believe you are involved in this mess the town is facing."

I had to blink in disbelief, and since I didn't quite know what to say, so I just said whatever entered my mind at the time. "Are you on drugs?"

He looked baffled at me. "What? No!"

"Sorry, didn't know what to say," I admitted casually and then prepared to get back inside again before the cold could reach me. "But thanks, by the way," I said and cast him a glance from over my shoulder.

I caught him smiling. "Just call if anything happens."

"Will do," I replied and shut the door. I walked inside into the living room and placed the bottle on the table before proceeding back to the kitchen in order to retrieve a glass of water to help swallow them down. As I returned with a glass in hand and ready to open the bottle, my eyes wandered over to the pages scattered onto the table-surface, having been left there since yesterday. The images were still just as visible as they were the day before, and without even realizing it myself, I placed both the glass and bottle down again before picking one of the pages up.

"Seriously, Victor," I mumbled to myself as I browsed through each and every page, growing more and more alarmed of something far more sinister by the moment as I looked at each and every picture he had drawn, every word, every symbol. They were all just as equally disturbing to the lesser mind. "What the fuck was going on with you?"

Sorry for the fucked-up chapter!

Rewritten