Smoke And Smiles (A 2020 Jeff The Killer Story)

3

Jeff found himself sitting by an apartment building that looked as though it was broken into. The window above him was shattered with police tape around it.
As he looked up, he noticed the dark red sky filled with heavy black clouds.
A sickening dread came over him, making his stomach feel sick as he heard a ringing in his ears.
"All of them are dead... It's done."
He heard a strange voice play through the frigid air, that's when he looked down.
The dread turned into a dull numbness. Oddly enough, he felt more empty than shaken.
He was clutching a massive dagger above a limp body whose face was unrecognizable due to the mutilation.
The thick blood pooled around him and stained his hands and clothes. He looked around to see this wasn't the only person he seemingly mangled.
His body began to shake violently as his fear returned and the ringing turned into blood-curdling screams.

He jerked up to see his bed beneath him and his bedside lamp lighting the room.
The ringing in his head became excruciating as every bone in his body still trembled.
He covered his ears to hopefully muffle the sound with no avail. He let out an awful guttural yell as the pain grew stronger and his vision blurred.
He felt nothing but a scorching fury flow through him as his head and chest pounded simultaneously.

"Jeff! What's going on?"
The chaos was interrupted by a familiar voice at his door.
All he could do was stare at his door, attempting to catch his breath and stop himself from showing any form of upset or discomfort.
That would eventually fail him as his brother carefully opened the door, seeing his olive toned face drenched in sweat.
"Did you have a nightmare again?"
Liu asked in a gentle tone, not wanting to upset him further.
Through shallow breaths and soft sniffles, he spoke.
"Y-yeah.. sorry I woke you up.."
He apologized, feeling foolish for causing a scene in the middle of the night.
"Nah don't worry about it.. do you wanna tell me what it was?."
Liu offered, holding the door open.
"No, I'd rather not.. you can go back to sleep now, I don't want mom or dad to wake up and be pissed."
Jeff declined shakily, he knew that his brother would grow more uneasy than he already was.
"Are ya sure?"
His older brother asked in reassurance as Jeff nodded.
"Okay... I'm here if you need me, goodnight little bro."
Liu comforted as he was about to close the door.
"Goodnight."
Jeff replied as the door shut, he then lied back on his pillow and failed to fall back to sleep.

"Hey Spikes, you okay? You look like you're gonna pass out."
Melanie giggled softly as she walked behind Jeff, going to their next class.
"Yeah, I just.. didn't sleep much."
He answered tiredly, rubbing his red eyes.
"What happened to that energy drink you had this morning?"
She asked, noticing his drink was gone pretty fast.
"Oh.. uh, Mr.Samsom made me pour it out."
He sighed.
"I'm sorry, try to stay awake okay?"
She giggled softly as Jeff gave a halfhearted smile.
"Its okay, I don't think that would've helped any way."
He shrugged.
"Hey uh... is Liu okay?"
She asked suddenly, he turned to her in concern.
"Why? What happened?"
She began to explain,
"On my way to health class, he was pacing around like he was freaked out about something and when I asked him what was wrong, he acted like he didn't know who i was and walked off."
He looked at her confused on why he would act that way, though it wasn't the first time.
"Oh uh.. I'll talk to him about it."
He explained as he noticed the three little tyrants walking in their direction.

"Hey, it's the Joisey boy!"
Randy exclaimed with a terrible New Jersey accent which made some of the other students chuckle.
Him and Mel just rolled their eyes, planning on ignoring them.
"Tell Snooki to call me the next time ya see her."
Troy added to Randy's antics which irritated an already antsy Jeff.
"Is "Jersey Shore" the only thing you can think of?"
He snapped, feeling that rage he tried so hard to suppress.
"What else is there to say kid? Does everyone from there look like they crawled out a trash can?"
Randy laughed obnoxiously and Keith began to speak in a hushed tone,
"Randy, shut up."
He snarled, finally saying something about his friend's behavior.
"Lay off Keith, we're just having fun!"
Troy exclaimed, Melanie softly grabbed Jeff's arm.
"Come on, don't entertain these assholes."
She began to walk with Jeff until Randy spoke again,
"The bitch have something to say?"
The time he said that, no one laughed. Students looked shocked as the hallway fell silent.
Jeff just stared at the greasy red head in front of him, tightening his fists but keeping his ground.

"Wow, you really are a coward."
He scoffed at him with a snarky grin. He noticed people looking and snickering at the brutally honest comment.
"The fuck did you just say to me?"
Randy asked, feeling his ego be shattered by this new kid, his stance looked like he was ready to do something drastic.
"I got somewhere to be.."
Jeff was just about to walk passed Randy but that action was soon interrupted by a blunt punch in the left eye.
The dull pain pounded throughout his cheek as his eye began to water.
Feeling the untamed aggression grip hold of his mind once more and made his logical sense dissipate, he glared at Randy.
"Hows that for a coward?"
Randy chuckled, seeming proud of himself.
Just then, Jeff lunged on him full force, knocking him onto the hard floor.
Randy attempted to kick him off but he was successful at pinning him down.
"Dude, get off me!"
Randy screamed which made a malicious smile creep up on Jeff's face as his vision blurred and fuzzy ringing returned in his mind.
His continuously punched him until Randy finally grabbed his arms and pushed him away.
Jeff could only see the sheer panic in his eyes which made that violent craving stronger.
As Troy helped Randy to his feet, Jeff knocked him down once more, everyone was yelling around him but he couldn't hear anything, he only cared about defeating Randy.
He grabbed onto his copper hair and started to hit his head on the hard floor.

"Jeff! Stop it!"
The noise was broken as he felt a pair of arms pull him away a bit harshly as he heard his brother's voice.
Troy and Keith grabbed Randy, helping him up as he wiped his bloody nose.
"What the hell is wrong with you, fucking psychopath!"
Randy shouted angrily, noticing Jeff's animalistic rage.
"Let me finish this Liu!"
He growled, struggling to break free from Liu's grasp.
"Stop it, you're done now!"
His brother commanded attempting to calm him down.
"Jeffrey Caito, Randal Ferman! What is the meaning of this?"
The principal shouted as she sped to the scene.
"He started it, Randy threw the first punch!"
Melanie defended.
"He tried to bash my fucking skull in!"
Randy barked back.
"I want you two to go to the nurse's office, then straight to my office! Am I clear? The rest of you, get to class!"
She scolded as each of the boys tried to collect themselves.
They nodded in agreement while the other students went back to their usual routines.
"I'll sign us out after you get out of the office, okay?"
Liu told Jeff softly before walking away.