Chaos and Corruption (Jeff the Killer Fanfic)

8. El Chupacabra

Nina

Tears fell over my cheeks and soaked into my mask as I cruised through town. I wasn't sure where I was going exactly or what I was crying for, I just knew that I needed out of the house ASAP and away from everything, even from Kitty. She was still my everything but I couldn't stand watching her destroy herself anymore.

Eventually I slowed to a halt when I realized my feet had taken me to the skate park. A dry laugh escaped my lips as I figured, of course I'd end up here. It was empty but I was glad for the small amount of privacy while I took a deep breath and tried to get ahold of myself. I ended up taking a seat on the edge of the bowl, letting my feet gently kick the concrete while I let my mind wander in the silence, trying to imagine what life would be like if Jeff never came home. I couldn't image that Kitty would be like this forever, or that I'd never see him again. It made my chest ache in such awful ways.

"Oh God I can't wait for this whole shitshow to be over," I laughed to myself while I wiped at my eyes, taking my mask off to slap on the ground and let the wind dry my face. "If you're out there Operator, I hope he's been giving you hell like nothing else."

"Nina?"

Shit! I whipped around in time to watch Pierce approach, dressed a little more relaxed than usual. He was in joggers and a T-shirt, his leather jacket pulled over his shoulders to keep him warm. I noticed the sleep in his eyes and wondered what he was doing out so late, stopping beside me at the edge of the bowl and running a hand over his head.

"Hey, uh, what are you—?"

"I live right across the street," he gestured to the apartments behind us and my cheeks flared with heat, "I don't mean to seem like a creep, I was up playing game and saw you out here, just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Yeah, yeah I'm..." I let out a heavy sigh before shaking my head, "no, I'm not. I'm probably the furthest thing from 'alright' lately."

"Want to talk about it?" He asked as he took a seat; I liked Pierce, he was a little shier compared to Tanis and Vlad, but he always made an effort to talk to me one-on-one like this. I'm not sure how much I actually trusted the details with them yet but I figured I could at least scrape something together to explain to him.

"It's...complicated," I admitted, "I guess in simple terms, my cousin has a boyfriend who I'm really close with. I consider him like an older brother to me, he always calls me his 'favorite mini-monster'." We shared a warm laugh, dimples lining the points of his smile that caught in the soft lamplight. "He's um, he's basically been missing for over a month now and my cousin is absolutely destroyed over it because we're terrified he's never going to come back."

"Jeez, sounds like you guys were pretty close," Pierce hummed as I wiped at my eyes again, "why don't you think he'll come back? Is it some type of illegal, owes the mafia situation?"

"No," I laughed brightly, "though it does feel that way. He made an agreement with someone to keep them off of my cousin's back. We're a real shifty family if you can't tell by my psycho fit; we're trying to figure out a loop hole to get him home but I'm sure he has his own plan too. It's been nothing but doom and gloom at home though ever since this happened. Finding you guys out here has been like, my one getaway from it."

"Well I'm glad we could help," he offered warmly, "it does sound like you're all in a tight spot. I'd have a little more faith in the guy, after all it doesn't seem like he wants to be gone for long. Things are probably already in motion on his end."

"I like the way you think," I told him, my rising anxiety slowly beginning to fall, "sorry I dragged you out here just to see lil' old me."

"Nah, I was actually just thinking how I wished I had someone to hang out with right now, I hate getting left alone at night." He swept his gaze further out into the woods. "This place creeps the hell outta me sometimes."