Chaos and Corruption (Jeff the Killer Fanfic)

3. Gather 'round the Christmas tree

Kitty

Blood. Blood. I want more blood!

I jolted awake as I watched the last wisps of a nightmare flee from my vision. Every nerve in my body tingled and slowly the terror faded back into a hungover haze. My head throbbed and I knew that I needed water ASAP, throwing the blankets in the air and evicting myself from my sheets before I could fall back asleep.

When I made it downstairs I took a good look at the kitchen to make sure no one was lingering around like last night before I grabbed a cup and started chugging. There was still a leftover taste of bile in my mouth that I was eager to wash out and as I was going through my rinse routine the front door opened, revealing Chelsea and Thomas sauntering in after Jules. Well, shit.

"There's the gremlin!" Jules snickered as she came to join me. "Look how cute this is! We swung by the thrift store."

"I didn't even know you liked Pokémon," I wheezed as I laughed, reaching out and tugging on the gray shirt with a faded Gengar on the front. It had a couple rips and tears but it was soft.

"Duh! He's too spooky to not be cute," she grinned and Thomas's arms wrapped around me as he pulled me into a bear hug.

"You smell like wine and vomit," he furrowed his brows playfully as he set me back down and I tried not to burp.

"Very observant, that's because I drank wine and I vomited, thanks."

"Girl you need to slow your ass down, remember the last time you went on a bender?" Chelsea hummed while she squeezed me a little more gently. "Your mom called to have us help pull the Christmas tree out of storage."

"Yeah she's probably digging around in there now," I sighed, "I'll go grab her."

I set my cup down and trudged upstairs, making a sharp right and pulling open the latch to the attic to see the lights on. Mom was moving some boxes around and I poked my head above the railing to whistle at her, her head whipping back to see what I needed.

"Thing 1 and Thing 2 are here."

"Oh, good! Send them up."

The stairs creaked as I walked back down and waved for the two hooligans to come upstairs, ducking into my bedroom as they passed by and getting decently dressed. Jeans and my old Hollowfield hoodie that had become a staple depression piece; after washing my face in the sink and waking myself up a little further I walked back up into the attic to join them.

"Alright three, two, one, go!" Thomas laughed as he and Jules pulled on the box from the back, Chelsea making a sign before focusing and helping them to ease it over the rest of the boxes using telekinesis. I'll admit, it was pretty fuckin' cool to watch, she was really starting to blossom into her own power.

"There we go," Chelsea beamed proudly as they placed it on the floor, "do all these boxes need to come down too?"

"Just the three, I'm not doing anything big with the lights this year." Mom waved them off and I moved to assist, carrying a box downstairs and trailing after them until we'd gotten to the living room.

"It's going to be nice spending Christmas at home," Thomas started as he set the tree box down, "I think we were in New York last year in December."

"Maine," I corrected him, "at least I was."

"Yeah that's right, sometimes the days meld together," he laughed, "anything in particular you want for Christmas, Kitty?"

"Uh, no?" I grimaced as I tried to think of something other than the obvious, "maybe a new knife? Keep the tradition going."