The Same (Russell x Reader)

Prologue

I'm a killer... I'm no better off than him. We're the same. We're just two corrupted humans suffering through this hellish world. We've both been abandoned; we're both all alone now.

    I entered the dream today. It was so strange; was this really the dream of a 14-year-old?! There were drugs, depression, financial issues, gangs, pedophilia... This dream had everything. I was a little worried; how messed up was this kid's mind? But that was before I met him. So he's an apathetic killer, huh? Interesting... I remember our first conversation, which was mostly me speaking. In fact, I don't think he said more than a few sentences. "You know... You don't talk much, do you?" He smiled at that. He has a really nice smile. I wonder... Did you smile like this when you killed them, Russell?

    My name, though unimportant, is (Y/N) (L/N). I am 19-years-old and a intern researcher for the Happy Dream Rehabilitation Program. I was assigned to our most successful patient yet, 14-year-old Russell, seeing as I'd met him before and I was our most successful intern. My superiors had matched us before I realized that I knew him and I didn't intend to tell them. They might move me somewhere else. To observe his Happy Dream, I was sent into it as well. In this way, I watched Russell silently suffer as he recollected the lives that he ended. I should pity him. But... I'm no better. Years ago, I killed a man. At the time, my family lived in Puddle Apartments and we were extremely poor. It was hard for my parents to get food on the table, but they still loved me. My father had a gambling addiction and my mother was constantly cheating on him. But my parents constantly feigned happiness for my sake. They both pretended to be all happy and acted as though we were a perfectly normal family. At night, however, I could hear them fight and yell at each other. At night, the facade dripped away. My father was in debt to a man, for a $5,000 loan to pay off his gambling debt. Because if his gambling debt, we had been unable to pay rent for 4 months. But, since we couldn't pay off the debt and that man kept threatening to have us evicted for not paying rent, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Whilst he was asleep, I stabbed him with a kitchen knife 6 times, then drowned the body so no one would find it. Now he's gone. And they never pinned the crime down on me. After that, I'd killed a few other people, for the same sort of reason. But I just couldn't forget that high that I felt from it. Every night for as long as I could remember, I was just crying and hiding underneath my bedsheets. But seeing people die and watching the miserable people around them was different. Through that, I felt freedom from my timid and pathetic self. It was almost as if I was a different person when I was killing someone.
When I heard about the Happy Dream Rehabilitation Program, I realized that I could finally meet someone like me. But... I did not expect to meet someone like Russell. He was a serial killer, but he didn't act like one. He was really nice and quiet. He was already beginning to show some emotion and remorse. He was making a shockingly fast recovery compared to our other patients. I was intrigued. I didn't think that I'd meet someone like him. This is our story together.