Jeff didn't want to start at his new school. He hadn't even wanted to move house. It was his father's fault, getting a new job in a new town miles away from the life and friends he had familiarised himself with in his short 14 years of life. Yes, the new house was a lot bigger than his old one, and yes, it meant he wouldn't have to share a room with his annoying little brother Liu and yes, it meant they had a massive garden, but it just wasn't the same. The new school he was starting had a stupid uniform, with a tie and a blazer, and he wasn't going to know anyone at all!
"Come on Jeffrey, you're gonna be late!"
The teen sighed, pulling on the brand new bright blue itchy horrible blazer that had been hanging from his bedroom door. Liu was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, dressed immaculately, as always. He seemed excited.
"It won't be that bad!" He reassured Jeff "I'll eat lunch with you!"
The walk to school was nerve racking for Jeff, seeing all the kids who were so obviously used to taking this route. Suddenly, as they turned the corner, a few roads away from the school gates, three boys jumped in front of the brothers. Each of them had a skateboard at their feet and were wielding small pocket knives.
"New kids eh?" The tallest of the boys said, looking Jeff up and down "I'm Randy, This is Keith and Troy," He jabbed a finger towards his mate. Jeff stepped protectively in front of his younger brother.
"I'm Jeff, and this is Liu- we just need to get to reception," He tried to step past the boys but Randy extended an arm and shoved him backwards.
"There's a fee for new kids you know," He put out his hand "All your money, or it gets nasty,"
Jeff quivered as the boys raised their knives "Look, we just wanna get to school yeah? No trouble,"
"Pay up, or we'll get you!" Keith and Troy lunged forward at the boys, knives outstretched. A sudden primal instinct took over Jeff, who grabbed the wrists of each boy, one in each hand and flung them back. The knives dropped to the floor with a metallic clang! As Randy charged forward, Jeff shoved Liu out of the way as he swooped the knife into his hand off the pavement. Randy stabbed towards Jeff, but he was too quick and the blade penetrated his white shirt, blood soaking through the thin fabric. Jeff smiled, but only for a second. He pocketed the knife and pulled Liu in the direction of the school.
"C'mon, we're gonna be late," They ran towards the gate, not wanting to get in anymore trouble "Don't mention this to anyone, Liu, you weren't involved," The11 year old nodded and walked in the direction of the year 7 office. Jeff flicked his long brown hair out of his eyes and looked around the campus. Where was he meant to go? The year 9 office, that was it. He made sure the knife was hidden and that there was no blood on his clothes before asking for directions to the office.
"Class, we have a new member! This is Jeffrey Woods," The teacher introduced a rather embarrassed Jeff to the 30 odd pupils sat staring back at him "Let's see- why don't you go and sit over there- next to Tate?"
Slowly, Jeff made his way to the seat at the back of the classroom, eyes stabbing him in the back the whole time. This school obviously wasn't used to strangers. He sat down next to 'Tate' - a scruffy looking boy with messy blonde hair and glasses. His desk was covered in strange but amazing drawings. As he took his seat, Tate struggled to gather all of his curious sketches onto his side of the desk.
"Sorry, no-one ever sits next to me,"
"It's fine- you're really good at art by the way," he whispered as he took out his pencil case and books. It was English, his favourite subject. Tate was very quiet and just got on with his work, whilst drawing in his sketchbook. At the end of the lesson, Tate rushed off as soon as the bell rang, dropping one of his pictures on the floor as he did so. Jeff bent down to pick it up. It was of a tall faceless man in a black suit, with a single word - Operator - scribbled in pencil underneath.
"Weirdo," He muttered to himself as he shoved into his pocket before hurrying off to his next class - Resistant Materials.
Lunch finally rolled around and as he expected, Jeff found himself alone. He wondered if he should go and find Liu, but decided against it. Everybody loved his charismatic younger brother and Jeff figured he'd probably already made new friends. So, instead, he wandered around the campus until he found an empty bench tucked away in a corner between two buildings. He sighed. Lunch alone. This would never have happened at his old school, where he'd been pretty popular, with a large group of friends. Now he had no-one. As he opened his lunch box and started to eat his sandwich - Jam, if you're interested - a girl with long black hair slid onto the bench next to him, making him jump.
"Um, hey?" He gulped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
She blinked her big blue eyes in his direction "My friends reckon you're fit,"
"Err, alright, thanks. I guess," Jeff stuttered, not sure what to do.
"I'm Nina by the way," She smiled, showing her perfect white teeth.
"Oh, uh, hey Nina," This was very awkward. Nina stood up, smoothing down the schools stupid tartan skirt the girls had to wear. She flicked her hair out of her eyes.
"I gotta go," She giggled before running off to her group of friends, who were standing around in the distance. They were the type of pink girly girls who gossiped about who was dating who and what celebrities were hot right now. The kind of girls Jeff despised. But even he had to admit that Nina was kinda pretty. What was this school reducing him to?
Finally, after one more agonising lesson, it was time to go home. He'd arranged to meet Liu at the back gates, and as he arrived he could see him standing there. However, the three bullies from earlier got there before him. Randy - The one Jeff had stabbed - had a bandaged wrapped around his shoulder. That was it, no-one messed with his brother. Jeff still had the knife in his pocket from earlier, so he took it out, clutching it tightly in his fist. A sudden impulse raced through his body and he charged towards the boys. Before he knew it, he was on top of Randy, holding the knife to his throat. The boy squirmed and tried to kick Jeff off, but he was too weak. Jeff wanted to slit the guy's throat, he really did, but not here. Not in front of all these school , instead, he stabbed again in the shoulder. Quickly, he jumped up and started running, Liu followed him, and they ran pretty much the whole way home without stopping.
Hearts thumping, they arrived home, and before opening the door Jeff turned to Liu.
"Don't let mum or dad see me, I've got blood on my shirt," The 11-year-old nodded worriedly and they both scurried inside. Jeff ran straight up the stairs to his new room, locking the door behind him. He shoved the bloody splattered shirt under his mattress along with the knife. As he changed into his usual clothes- a black t-shirt and jeans and a white hoodie - he realised how much he had actually enjoyed that. Strange. He'd loved the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins, the thrill of the run home, not knowing if he would be caught. The thoughts lingered in his mind for a while until he pushed them back and ran downstairs to see his parents. His mum was cooking dinner.
"You alright honey? You ran upstairs pretty quick - something wrong?"
"No - I uh, just wanted to get out of that stupid uniform," He grumbled, taking a glass out of the cupboard and filling it with orange juice that had been in a carton on the sideboard.
"Good day then?"
"Yeah, I guess. I -" But the doorbell rang before he could finish his sentence. His dad, who had been in the living room, got up to answer it.
"Oh, hello officer, how can I help?"
Oh God. Keith, Randy and Troy must have phoned the police.
His dad turned around to face Jeff who had edged out into the hallway "Jeff, this police officer said you stabbed a kid at school! Is this true?"
He opened his mouth to confess, but Liu pushed passed him.
"It was me, I did it!"
The officer looked at Liu with confusion "Really?"
"Yeah, I've got the knife and bloody clothes upstairs to prove it!" He ran off upstairs to Jeffs room and came back brandishing the evidence "Don't arrest y brother, I - I - It was me,"
"Liu - No!" Jeff cried out as the officer lead his brother out to the car. His dad held him back.
"Don't cover for him," he said "He admitted it," His dad went with them to the police station, leaving Jeff and his mum at home on their own.
That night, Jeff couldn't sleep. Liu was going to be staying in juvey. They didn't know how long it would be until he got out. Why had he taken the blame? Did he really love Jeff that much?
The next morning, his mother tried hard to be cheerful despite the pain in her eyes as she woke Jeff up.
"You're going to the neighbours birthday party!" She announced, opening the curtains. Light streamed in and Jeff groaned.
"But he's like, six!"
"We were invited - we have to go,"
Reluctantly, Jeff agreed and got himself dressed, trying not to think about Liu, but he couldn't help it. It was his fault he was in juvey now, he should've owned up, he should've - No, he had to stop thinking about it. It was done now. He couldn't do anything about it.
The party was for their new neighbours son, the now six-year-old Billy, who had decided on a cowboys theme. At first, Jeff just scowled and hovered at the edge, but eventually, he found himself joining in, running around with the little kids, shooting water pistols. Billy even let him borrow his prized cowboy hat. He was just beginning to forget about Liu when three boys jumped over the small wooden garden fence that divided the yard from the road. It was Keith, Troy and a bandaged up Randy, who all had new, bigger knives, and what looked like a can of petrol.
"Billy! Get your friends inside, quick!" Jeff shouted, hurrying the panicked kids into the conservatory. He turned to face the bullies "Look, I'm sorry for what I did, but I don't want any more trouble, especially now Liu's in juvey," He raised his hands in defence, admitting defeat. In all honestly, he didn't care if they did anything to him. He deserved it for letting Liu get arrested.
Randy was the first one to make a move. He didn't even say anything as he stabbed Jeff hard in the shoulder, just as jeff had done to him on two different occasions. Blood seeped through his favourite white hoodie and pain soared through his upper body, but he didn't do anything. He just kept telling himself that he deserved it. Troy then pushed him onto the grass, stabbing him in the other shoulder. Again, Jeff didn't do anything, not even when they emptied the entirety of the petrol cannister over him. He knew what they were going to do, but before he could even attempt to scramble away, Randy had struck the match and flicked it towards him.
"NO!"
The pain... It was unbearable. It couldn't be described. It was like when he broke his leg as a child -He'd never experienced proper pain until he fell out of that tree aged 7. But it wasn't like that at all. It was like breaking both his legs and arms over and over for what seemed like an eternity. In fact, there were no true words to describe it at all. The last thing Jeff thought as his body went limp and his eyes rolled back into his head was that he'd never gotten to say goodbye to Liu...
Jeff couldn't see.
Had he gone blind? Wait. Wasn't he dead? Didn't... - the horrible realisation of what had happened previously overcame him and he started to panic, twisting and turning trying to see. Two hands grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Calm down, you're fine," It was a woman with a welsh accent.
"I can't see!"
"It's alright- you've got bandages on your face, you're not blind pet,"
He relaxed a little. The nurse walked over to the door of the room and opened it "He's awake!"
His mum, dad and Liu walked in from the corridor, their faces filled with relief.
"Thank god you're alive!" Liu threw his arms around his beloved older brother.
Jeff smiled beneath the bandages "You're out of juvey!" It came out a bit muffled but everybody understood him.
"Yeah," His dad spoke up "Those boys admitted it was their fault, and they're in the county jail right now. I can't believe they did this to you Jeffy..."
"I'm so glad you're alright, my little baby Jeffrey!" His mum almost cried as she held his hand with a very tight grip. They all took turns hugging each other for a while before the nurse came back in, a doctor in tow.
"We're going to take off your bandages now- It has been a week," The doctor, who's name badge read Owen, said to Jeff.
"Wait, It's been a week? Was I in a coma?"
The doctor began to unravel the soft fabric "Yeah, you were in a very unstable condition to start off with, we didn't know if you were going to survive or not, you're very lucky!" The rest of the fabric slowly dropped down revealing his injured face. Everybody gasped.
"What?" Jeff question "What do I look like? Show me! I want a mirror!" His mum quickly stepped in front of the wall mounted mirror.
"No sweetie, I don't think that's a good idea,"
Jeff ignored her and jumped out of the hospital bed towards the mirror. Gently, he pushed his mother out of the way and stared intently at the reflection that he saw "Oh my god," was all he could say. His face was completely white and leathery in texture. What was left of his once fluffy brown hair was now coarse and jet black.
His mother began to speak "I'm sorry Jeff, Your face - do you mind? I'm so-"
"Are you kidding me?" He cut her off in a stern voice. His family looked nervously at him "I LOVE IT!"
"Are you sure?" Liu half whispered, looking at Jeffs distorted face.
The 14-year-old smiled and laughed in a high-pitched, spine-tingling tone "Yes Liu! Of COURSE I'm sure! I look beautiful, don't I mum?"
His mother shuffled her feet awkwardly "Yes darling, Of course you do,"
Jeff smiled even wider and continued to stare at himself in the mirror, obsessed with his new look.
The doctor said that Jeff was well enough to go home, and he was glad. He didn't want to spend another minute in that hospital. Not that he remembered the previous minutes anyway, but he wanted to show his new face to the world.
This wasn't the same Jeff that had entered the hospital, covered in burns and blood, millimetres away from death. No, this was someone else entirely.
SomeTHING else...
That night, whilst Jeff and Liu were upstairs in bed, supposedly asleep, their parents were sat in the lounge, worried out of their minds.
"I can't believe he's not the slightest bit upset about how he looks," His mum picked up her glass of wine from the coffee table and took a sip from it "He looks horrendous, I doubt he could ever go back to school,"
His dad placed a hand on her shoulder "It's fine, we'll figure it out. It's a miracle that he's alive so that's what we should focus on - Our family has been through a lot,"
"I know," She sighed "And I'm glad he's alright, but he's just not the same anymore, he's not my little Jeff, he's something different, and actually, I think I'm going to go and check on him," She put down her glass and stood up. Her husband looked at her. She worried too much.
When she got to the top of the stairs, she could see that Jeff's bedroom door was open and that he was not in bed.
"Jeff honey?" She called, making her way towards the bathroom. The door was ajar and jeff was standing there, staring into the mirror "Jeffy you should be in bed - you need rest!"
Jeff turned around to face her, and his mother felt her face drain of colour. His face was a mess. A bloody, disgusting mess. A huge smile had been carved from ear to ear, exposing his bleeding gums and stained red teeth. He had cut off his eyelids, exposing his eyeballs to the dim light and he still clutched the knife in his palm.
"Am I beautiful yet mummy?" He taunted, slowly stepping closer to his mother.
She backed away, horrified "Peter! Peter call the police!" She screamed to her husband. Liu had gotten up now, wanting to see what was going on, but stayed in his doorway. That WASN'T his brother. That was a monster.
His dad called back from downstairs "Margaret? What's the matter?"
"You lied mummy," Jeff laughed, noticing Liu "You ALL lied. You said I was beautiful back in the hospital, but I wasn't. I'm beautiful NOW!"
As quick as lightening he jumped forward and slashed his mother's throat. It was like slicing through air as the blade let the blood drip onto the tiled bathroom floor. His mother's limp body fell to the floor and the teen turned to face his younger brother
"Time to go to sleep, Liu,"
"The bodies of Margaret and Peter Woods and their youngest son Liu were found in their home this morning by police officers who were responding to a noise complaint by the neighbours. Each body had their throat slit and multiple stab wounds made by what seems to be a kitchen knife. So far the police have one suspect, the 14-year-old son of the family, Jeffrey "Jeff" Woods, the victim of a fire which occurred last week. If you have any information please contact the police immediately..."
Tate stared at the TV screen in awe. That was the boy he'd sat next to in English, the one who stabbed Randy. God, he looked awful, it was such a miracle he had survived, he must be pretty strong. He made a mental note to himself to recommend him to the operator, who was currently looking for fresh meat. A sudden knock at his bedroom door made him jump and he quickly turned off the telly "Come in!"
It was his twin sister, Tansy. She came in and handed him a brown envelope "This came for you in the post," He took it and stared at the writing on the front.
To Tate Sutton
1 Newhill drive
Christchurch, Dorset
"Go on then, open it!" Tansy urged him "You never get any mail, I wanna see who it's from,"
He turned it over and ripped it open. It was one of his drawings. One of the Operator. He'd lost it at school a while ago. On the back, there was a message, scrawled messily in red biro.
"Tate. I kept this. You left it behind when we first met. At first, I just thought you were a freak, but now I get it. I saw him too. Jeff,"
Tansy ripped it out of his hands "What's he talking about? Your drawings are just made up stick figures, aren't they?"
Hands shaking, Tate got up and grabbed his hoody and mask from the end of the bed "I've got to - I've - I gotta go out. Be back later," And he left her there, wondering what her weird brother was up to now.
He pulled on his green hoodie and pulled the mask over his head as he ran out of the house and towards the thick woods that separated their land from the rest of the town. He needed to tell the others. The operator had been going on for months now about finding someone new, and now maybe he had. Jeff would've been his first pick too. Dodging through the trees, he began to think- How had Jeff gotten his in the first place. The only time they'd ever talked was in that English lesson, and it wasn't like Tate had any other friends who could tell him. In fact, Tate was sure he'd never given his address out to anyone at school. Tansy couldn't have either since she went to the girl's grammar school in the next town over. This kind of creeped him out, but he shook the thought out of his head. The ones the operator chooses are clever. He smiled. They needed some new proxies badly.
This was brilliant. A new face. A new member. A new friend.