A Week With Him

Chapter 3 - His Arrival

The next morning I awoke pretty late, I turned on my phone to check the time, it was already half eleven. I sat up in bed and stared around my room, remembering what I heard last night. I hoped it wouldn't happen again. It was completely silent now which felt weird, I was used to hearing mum and dad rushing around for work. I sighed, starting to miss them already.

I hopped out of bed then fetched some clothes from my wardrobe, the same outfit I wore yesterday. They were still clean so it didn't matter. I shut the window properly then made my way to the bathroom to take a steamy shower, using mum's hairdryer which she left behind afterwards. I tried smiling at my reflection in the mirror above the sink as I brushed my long dirty blonde hair, I didn't like how I looked but tried to stay positive, I considered myself more as an optimistic person. I twiddled the ends of my hair and decided I'd get a haircut before I go back to college on Wednesday, I thought it was time I get a new look.

I brushed my teeth and skipped breakfast, I didn't feel hungry. I wondered what I was going to do for two days, it's going to be pretty lonely until I go back to college. I was starting to think my mum was my best friend. I sighed sadly then turned off the bathroom light and walked down the empty hallway to return to my room, taking out my phone to check for any new messages. There was none.

When I opened my bedroom door, a cold wind sent goosebumps up my arms, I looked to the right where my window was and stared with wide eyes when I saw it open again. I definitely closed it before my shower. I put my phone down on the bed then rushed to the window and stuck my head out, expecting to see some kids trying to throw glass at the house, or a teenager trying to break in. But there was no one in sight of our garden or in the distance. I closed the window again then swallowed, now feeling a lump in my throat. I should tell someone about this.

I walked back over to my bed and reached for my phone, but I immediately dropped it again when I heard someone say casually behind me,"I'm back." I jumped out of my skin and felt my heart pump so fast it hurt my chest, I knew that raspy voice from somewhere. When I finally turned to see the intruder I screamed. He had pure black and soulless eyes which stared into mine intently, his skin was abnormally white like paper, he had slick black hair which came down to his shoulders and stood up in all directions, but the thing that creeped me out the most was his smile. His lips were dark red and slit into a long scary smile from ear to ear, his perfect white teeth showing. He touched his own cheek and tried frowning. "What's wrong? Is it my horrifyingly ugly face?"he asked me. But he smiled at the end of his sentence and started laughing maniacally, I stared in shock and the fear left me when I realised who it was. "J-Jeff?!"I exclaimed, the name coming back to me. I held my chest and he laughed again like a mental patient. "Well it took you long enough,"Jeff said gruffly, his mood changing within seconds. I rubbed my eyes to see if this was truly real, and he was still there in front of me. He laughed again at that.

I'm not willingly imagining him, am I hallucinating? I rubbed my forehead but I didn't feel ill. "H-How are you here?"I asked stupidly. He stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket, the exact same white hoodie from long ago. He wore the same black trousers too, he didn't look much different apart from him growing taller and being my age. "I came through the window you idiot,"he said harshly. I started sweating the more I looked at him, if he was imaginary then how am I seeing him so vividly? But this can't be real. "No, you're not real though! You're just my childhood imaginary friend!"I protested. He narrowed his eyes, seeming quite offended by the word. "Imaginary friend?"Jeff repeated. He stepped closer to me and with that I cautiously moved away, nearing my bed and further away from the door like the idiot I am.

"Tell me Casey, if I'm imaginary then how can I do this?" Jeff shoved me hard in the chest making me fall backwards onto the bed. Just from those actions I remembered when those mean girls did the same thing to me on the playground, and I remembered Jeff saying he killed them for me. He's actually real? My head was flooding with thoughts as I held my front where he pushed me, it hurt a little and that was enough to prove he's alive. He smiled wide from my shocked face and pulled out a fucking knife from his pocket, alarm bells rung in my mind and I remembered all those games we played together of us fighting and wrestling, he loved it for some reason. I stood up quickly. "Jeff don't! I don't want to play with you!"I said firmly as I held up my hands, but there was an obvious tone of nervousness to my voice. He chuckled. "I know, I just want to fidget with it,"Jeff said, balancing the blade on his fingers as if it's a toy.

I slowly put my hands down again then held my elbows, looking down a little. "Jeff why are you back?"I asked quietly. His eyes shifted from his knife to me as he continued playing with it. "You don't remember what I promised, do you? I told you I'd come back,"he said, sounding irritated. I was starting to remember the last night we had together, he stopped seeing me because he couldn't get into school grounds and dad had set up cameras around here. I looked up at him and explained,"You know there are still cameras here! It's recording every moment so my dad will catch you sneaking in when he gets back." Jeff shrugged and flipped his knife in the air. "Then I'll delete the recordings,"he said.
"But my dad will notice there's a file missing,"I retorted.
"Then I'll kill him,"Jeff said, his eyes gleaming. I stared at him with worry all over my face, scared of him killing my parents, but he just laughed at me.

"Aren't you grateful for what I've done Casey?"he asked me. I blinked in confusion making him sigh and roll his eyes, as if I were really stupid. "So clueless as always. I've been killing criminals in this town so your stupid dad will stop worrying about burglars and remove the cameras,"Jeff said. I hated his way of thinking, I didn't think murdering criminals would make all crime stop and my dad wouldn't think that safe at all anyway. But I asked him a different question instead,"But why are you wanting to see me anyway?" He stopped flipping his knife to hold it and turned his head away a little, looking angry. "I don't want to see you, it's you who's lonely so shut up!"Jeff said, raising his voice. I jumped from his sudden outburst, why did he get so mad from that? He then turned around completely, walking towards the window. "Well doesn't look like you need me anyway, I'll fuck off then." I felt quite stunned from his swearing. He was about to open the window when I stopped him by tugging on his sleeve. If I let him leave then he'd likely continue killing people, criminals or not it was bad in my eyes. Plus, I felt a little guilty from him feeling unwanted. "Wait! Don't go Jeff, I do want you to stay!"I said quickly. He stared down at me for a while, I gently pulled on his sleeve and asked him to stay again when he went silent. He then sighed, as if I'm being unreasonable. "Fine, just stop pulling on my sleeve, you'll rip it stupid,"he said. He pushed me back a little. "And don't get too excited, I'm only staying because you keep asking." I ignored his exaggeration and decided to forgive his rude behaviour in case he decided to run off and kill.

He smirked and stared around my room as he kept his arms folded. "I see your bedroom is still as babyish as ever, it's exactly how I left it!"Jeff said. I blushed in embarassment while he walked around, inspecting everything. He crossed his arms behind his back as he crouched down to see my toy ponies on my makeup table. "Yes, I remember these horses,"Jeff said, poking and then flicking each one down so they'd fall off the table. I rushed over to pick each one up from the floor. "H-Hey! Please don't make a mess,"I asked him nicely. He continued to smirk and walked around the room some more as I placed the ponies back in their space.

When I was done I turned to see him rummaging through some toy boxes. He chucked the ones he didn't like or recognise behind him. "Hmm, don't know you, don't know you,"he muttered to himself. I caught each one he threw in the air and tried stopping him. "Jeff please stop!"I asked again, shaking his shoulder. But his eyes never left the box as he kept digging. He suddenly gasped when he found my old snake plush at the bottom, he pulled it out and glared at me. "Why would you keep Seth squashed and buried beneath all these ugly toys?"he asked angrily. I tried keeping my temper as I put away all the other toys back in their boxes, Seth was his favourite toy of mine, we both named him that when we were younger and he played with him the most. He swung Seth in the air happily and smiled to himself as I pushed the boxes back in their spot, feeling exhausted with him around already.

Jeff chucked Seth on my bed and said firmly,"He's staying there." But he then looked disgusted as he found another toy on the bed, my old bunny Emily. I tried grabbing her but he seized her first, holding her up in the air out of my reach. "Jeff please don't! She's fragile!"I squeaked, fearful of her head falling off. She was an old ragdoll, and mum had to stitch her up several times. Jeff kept it up high so he could observe her, squinting his eyes while he twisted her floppy ears. "How ugly,"Jeff said, poking her button eyes. I tried not to punch him just from that. I tried snatching her back again but he lifted her higher when I grabbed her foot, nearly ripping her leg off altogether. "Stop! You'll break Emily!"I shouted like a child, my face going red from the effort of getting her back. Jeff's face turned smug from that. "Emily? You still name your toys? You're such a baby Casey,"he said. Even though he was doing the same thing by still calling my plush snake Seth, I was near tears when he said that, I bit my lip hard. He sighed a little. "Jesus christ don't have a shit fit,"Jeff said, dropping Emily. I caught her quick and smoothed out the green dress she was wearing, checking for any rips and tears around her ears. I sighed in relief when she was fine then tucked her in the wardrobe in case he nearly breaks her again, this will be a long day.