Painted Smile: The Return of Jeffery Woods

No mercy...

Bella woke up during the night, head sweating and heavy breathing. Baxter's head still low on the bed as he was still asleep, undisturbed. The young girl wiped the sweat from her forehead and took at least five deep breaths. She noticed that one of her teddy bears were on the floor, like they fell off the shelf. Bella stood out of bed and picked up her bear. This one was her favourite. It was white, fluffy and had a little bow that went around the neck. She knew she was too small to reach the shelf so she climbed back into bed, her teddy bear tightly held close to her heart. She heard her mother and Amy talking downstairs so she mustn't have fallen asleep for a long time. She hugged her teddy and looked at her window, which was across the room. The red and white spotted curtains let in a bit of light through the gap in the middle. With her teddy, Bella got out of bed and slowly walked towards the window, hoping not to wake Baxter. She was startled when she heard the floorboards creak as she tiptoed. Strangely, she was getting nervous as she got closer and closer to her window. She quietly whispered a song to try and keep her calm. "Round and round like a horse on a carousel, we go. Will I catch up to love? I can never tell. I know, chasing after you is like a fairytale. But I, feel like I'm glued on tight to this carousel." Once she was finally in front of her curtains, she hid half of her face behind her teddy and moved the curtain with her hand, not opening it but letting her stand in front of the window where she could see outside. It was all calm. Not even a small breeze disturbed the sleeping trees. Bella scanned her eyes around, hoping that the boogeyman wouldn't see her. Her body shook when she felt something move next to her. It was Baxter. She whispered to him, "It's ok Baxter. There's no one out there, everything's alright." After looking at Baxter, Bella observed back outside. Then, she turned around to go back to bed. Baxter watched her as she did so. He then looked back outside the window and growled. He didn't bark, just growled. Bella quickly turned around and said, "Baxter, Baxter what's wrong?" All Baxter did was growl at whom he saw out the fragile glass. Bella walked over to look out the window and froze once she got there. Near the apple tree in the garden, looking up and staring, was her father. He held his finger over his mouth as though he was telling her to be quiet. The girl caught eye contact with his bloody knife. The blade covered in a crimson liquid. This wasn't something Bella should be seeing. She went to turn around and run under her covers but she screamed when she turned to see the boogeyman behind her. Whilst grabbing her arm with an incredibly tight grasp, he spoke the words "Found you sweetie."

Bella woke up screaming, sweat dripping down her forehead and tears streaming down her eyes. Becky and Amy sprinted upstairs to Bella's room as they heard her squeal. Becky ran towards Bella to comfort her, along with Baxter. "Honey, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Bella caught her breath and managed to say, "T-The boogeyman g-g-grabbed me. He said he f-found me. He tried to h-hurt me." Becky kept Bella close to her heart and tried to calm her down. "Shhhh, it's alright. It was just a nightmare, we all have them. Anyway, you know the boogeyman would never be able to catch you. Not with us around, especially Baxter." She gently kissed her forehead. "Do you want to sleep in my room tonight? Baxter can be with you, of course." The frightened girl nodded her head with a smile and Becky escorted Bella and Baxter to her room, where she tucked her daughter in. Afterwards, Becky again kissed Bella on her forehead and whispered, "Goodnight." Bella smiled and turned over, with Baxter laying at the end of the bed. Becky closed the door and she and Amy went back downstairs. Once they were sat back on the sofa, Amy commented, "This is horrible. I don't think I've ever seen a child so scared before." Becky replied, "I don't know what to do. She keeps having these nightmares and every day I keep getting this, feeling in my stomach that he's... he's..." Amy finished her sentence, "Watching you?" Becky shook her head whilst gently biting her lip, "More like, her. I keep feeling that he keeps getting closer to her. It's like a disease that'll never be cured. And it makes me sick to my stomach. I don't know why, but I keep getting another feeling. A feeling that he's, using her." Amy questioned, "What do you mean, using her?" Becky sighed and scratched her head, "I'm not sure. But it's a feeling I have. I'm not really sure what it's supposed to mean though." Becky then went into the kitchen to pour both of them a glass of red, sparkling wine. Amy was still sat on the sofa, now watching The Big Bang Theory. She looked out the window to her left and caught eye contact with the killer. She gasped and her breathing speed increased. He was gone in a blink. Was her mind playing tricks on her?

Becky carefully entered the living room with the glasses of wine. Quickly, she put them on the brown, wooden coffee table as she saw and heard Amy. "Amy, what's wrong? Did you see something?" Amy took five deep breaths and replied, "It was him. I saw him. But, I don't think he was really there. I think it was just my mind playing tricks on me because he just disappeared." Becky quickly made her way to the window to look out of it. She saw no one and replied, "Your mind was either playing tricks on you, or making you see something that was there. But there's nothing out there now. I think it'd be better if I close these as well." Becky then grasped the curtains and dragged them so they couldn't see what was behind the glass outside. The girl on the sofa sighed. "Becky? What are we going to do? Jeff's still out there, Bella's having nightmares and there's only a matter of time before one of us is..." Becky cut her off. "I know, please don't say it. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about this. We need Jamila here with us. The group isn't complete without her." Amy stood up and said, "Becky I told you, Jamila doesn't come out of the house. She won't even let you go in. Something's going on with her but I don't know what." Becky then took her phone out of her pocket. "Then we'll call her." Becky dialled Jamila's number on her phone and they both waited. After a while, someone finally picked up. "Jamila? Is that you," asked Amy. A female's voice replied, "Yes it's Jamila. Who's this?" Becky responded, "Jamila! It's us, Becky and Amy!" Both girls heard Jamila's gasp. "Becky? That's really you?! I thought that you were in..." Becky cut off her best friend. "Yes I know, I know but they let me out. I even have a daughter, Bella." Jamila squealed, "Oh my god! Damn girl, who's the father?" There was an awkward silence. Jamila asked if anyone was there, Amy responded, "We're still here. It's not a pretty story on who Bella's father is. It's, terrible. Awful. Makes me sick to my stomach." Becky didn't want to talk about who Bella's father is, so she said, changing the subject, "Anyway, enough of the sadness. Jamila can you come to my house? We're both here, but it doesn't feel like the friendship group we had when we were thirteen, we need you here with us." Jamila sighed, "Becky, I'm not sure. I don't feel up to it." Amy whispered to Becky, hoping Jamila wouldn't hear, "See what I mean?" Becky nodded. She then begged, "Jamila, please? Please? It doesn't feel the same. Please will you? I want to have the three of us together again, please?" Jamila again sighed.

"Alright, fine. I'll come to yours. What's the address?" Both Becky and Amy squealed with joy, making Jamila laugh. "The address is number 5 KingFisher Drive. It's actually not even far from where we live." Jamila responded saying she was on her way, then the phone hung up. Both ladies hugged each other, excited to again see their best friend. Amy couldn't believe that Becky actually managed to convince Jamila. Then Amy's smile faded, "You do realise that we have to tell her about, what Jeff did to you? She knows what he did to me, but it's you and Bella she doesn't know about. I know you don't like talking about it and trust me, it makes me feel uneasy as well. But we have to tell her." Becky nodded her head, an upside down smile on her face. Now, all she wanted to do was to talk about old times with Jamila. All the things they used to say about what they were going to do in the future. She couldn't wait to see Jamila's face.