AN: Cover picture by ArmageddonAddendum on Deviantart!
In an old abandoned cemetery out next to a rusty, dead railroad track, a boy- nearly sixteen years old now - stood with his hands shoved into his coat pockets... waiting.
The cemetery was choked with overgrown weeds that dominated the edges of the plot, nearly blocking out the sight of the tall, wrought iron gates that loomed formidably over the boy as he climbed over piles of trash and old tires to get into the makeshift cemetery.
Who is this boy, you ask? Well, let's get a little closer and see. But be careful, for to be seen and heard by this young man is to sign your death warrant.
He stands by two dirty old tires stacked on top of one another, hopping from one foot to another, trying to keep warm in the chilly evening air. It's already April, but winter has seized the small town in Northern Wales with an iron grip, and spring has not fought valiantly enough to free it. This boy is famous worldwide. He is the most wanted killer in the continents of North America and Europe.
His name is Jeff the Killer.
Now, he is trying to summon the ghost of his big brother, Liu, who he had slaughtered brutally so many years ago. Actually, it was only two years ago, but Jeff changed so much since he was burned; his former life felt like a distant dream that happened aeons ago.
The ritual was done, but something isn't right. Instead of appearing almost immediately, like Liu has always done for months now, he didn't show up at all.
That's strange, Jeff thought with a frown. There really was something wrong. Even the cold gusts of wind that whipped Jeff's hair all around his paper-white face gave him a the sick and unpleasant feeling of dread.
Liu is strong. Maybe not like BEN or Sally, but he would never be late when I summon him...
A shiver ran down his spine as he stepped forward to retrieve his brother's favorite scarf from the grass.
He didn't get far.
A faint mist, illuminated by the shafts of golden light that penetrated through the tall grass and looming trees suddenly appeared and condensed to form a light-bodied figure.
Jeff jumped back and gaped at the floating mist in front of him. It slowly cleared and morphed into a tall, dark-haired boy who looked about Jeff's age. His blue eyes that usually danced with amusement (even when he is dead), were stormy and cold, and in the wind, his crimson red scarf whipped around him threateningly.
"Hey Liu," Jeff breathed, sitting down on the stacked tires behind him. "Long time no see..."
The boy, Liu, floated down onto the packed earth beneath his feet and leered at his younger brother for a moment. They stared at each other in total silence, with Jeff waiting for Liu to explode on him or something; he looked so angry!
Without changing his cool expression, Liu stepped forward and reached over to tousle Jeff's black hair. His younger brother cringed at the touch of a cold, ghostly hand. Liu glared.
"I'm sorry I'm late today, bro. Things aren't looking too good down here, and it was a bitch finding you with all the ghosts and water everywhere."
Jeff leaned back on his hands and peered through his long bangs at his older brother. His gut feeling was right. Trouble was brewing.
"Mind elaborating a bit?" he asked. Liu sniffed and turned his head a fraction to the left, like he always did when something or someone displeased him. Jeff always thought he acted like a brat when he did that.
"Nothing's right down here, Jeff. It doesn't concern you. Things are stirring up, and that's all you need to know."
If Jeff had not burned off his eyelids, he would have narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Instead, he leaned forward and pinned his brother down with the same stormy blue eyes they shared, courtesy of their father.
"I think if a guy's immediate family is dead and... wherever you are... then, it does concern him."
Liu smiled bitterly and shot lasers through his eyes. "Well then, tell that guy that if he wants to poke his non-existent nose through realms, he shouldn't have sent his family through them in the first place."
Jeff gritted his teeth. So far, this conversation was not going so well.
The atmosphere was so intense that one of them was bound to explode. Most likely Jeff. A fight was something they definitely did not need right now.
"Okay, Liu. I'm sorry. How many times do I need to apologize before you finally forgive me? I'll say it again; I am sincerely and deeply sorry! But you know it wasn't my fault." Jeff casted his eyes down, "I would never do anything like that to my family. It wasn't me..."
Liu's facial expression softened a bit and he shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed. With his eyes closed, he said, "I owe you an apology, too. I already forgave you. I'm just taking my anger out on you... sorry."
A moment of silence passed between the two brothers, and Liu suddenly chuckled briskly.
"You're such a drama queen, just like always. Good to know you haven't really changed at all." At this quip, Jeff practically launched himself out of his seat. He laughed loudly instead.
"Me?! You're the one who's acting all macho-mysterious here, treating me like a five-year-old! Besides, you're still a fashion diva even when you're dead, so I wouldn't be talking."
Liu's eyes twinkled in amusement as he smirked flirtatiously and wiggled his hips, striking a pose.
"The ghost-ladies here like a well-dressed man, you know."
They both exploded with laughter; the tense atmosphere from before evaporated in an instant. Now they were just two brothers goofing around and joking one another like a couple of regular teenagers.
After their laughter had subsided, they grinned at each other amiably. "At least you're getting taller, though. And you actually change your clothes." Liu remarked warmly. This was true. Jeff wore a black hoodie underneath his navy blue coat and brown camouflage pants that were tucked into black combat boots instead of his traditional white hoodie and black dress pants. And in the last three years, he had grown an impressive four inches, so he was nearly six feet tall.
Jeff shrugged and grinned. "Yep. I'm not the shrimp you thought I was anymore. I'm not as careless about myself, either. But I see you're aging, too." he observed.
His older brother had a faraway look in his eyes. "There's a lot of things you don't know about us ghosts, bro. I know some stuff, but only the basics. I have a feeling there's a lot more to learn. So yeah... we age."
Jeff's mind went back to his two young cohorts, BEN and Sally, who were ghosts themselves. He remembered his conversation with BEN days earlier...
"You know I'm a lot older than you, Jeff. That's why I'm more intelligent and responsible." He remembered the confident smirk on BEN's elfish face. He snorted contemptuously. "Responsible my ass! Besides, if you're so old and mighty, why do you look like an eight-year-old?"
BEN rolled his glowing eyes. "You're so stupid, I'm surprised the police haven't caught you yet. Don't you know powerful ghosts like me can change their physical manifestation?"
"..."
Jeff glared as BEN laughed. "Of course you don't. Since I'm kind, I'll explain. Ghosts can be as young as the day they died and as old as the years have passed since their age of death..."
Jeff snapped out of his reverie when Liu's form started to flicker and grow faint, like a dying light bulb. He jumped up in alarm. "You're not leaving yet, Liu! So soon?"
Liu's face twisted into an expression of pain, and his hand fluttered up to his forehead. He shook his head as if to get rid of a haze, and opened his eyes.
"Sorry. It's so hard to stay... things aren't good here. I can't even..." Liu's voice sounded far away and weak, and his form shimmered and flickered a bit more until he solidified once more. When he spoke again, he sounded stronger.
"Something's seriously wrong. That never happened before." Jeff said darkly.
His older brother waved a hand as if to dismiss his premonitions. "It's fine. I don't know what's really going on, but the other souls say this happens regularly, so I don't have to worry. Just a faze in the portals between the realms, they say."
Jeff sat back down on the tires reluctantly. He quickly changed the subject as he eyed his brother suspiciously once again. "How are mom and dad?"
Liu glanced over his shoulder nervously and shivered. He rubbed his hands together and put them back in his coat pockets before he answered. "I don't think they're doing too good. Mom's sick and neither of them want to talk to you. 'Cause of... you know..."
Jeff was surprised. Not at the fact that neither Peter nor Margaret wanted to chat with him, but at the fact that his mother was sick. Ghosts couldn't be sick, could they? He didn't ask.
"Tell her I love her. Both of them. And... I wish she gets better soon."
Liu cast a glance of mixed pity and contempt at him. He nodded. Poor Jeff, he was so clueless...
"Hey... you never told me what the place is called... where you guys are drifting around or whatever. What's it like?" Jeff inquired, ready to change the subject again.
For a long time, the sound of the wind and swaying branches was all he heard as silence brusquely settled in the graveyard. Jeff waited for Liu to answer, but Liu just bit his bottom lip anxiously. He was afraid his sibling wasn't going to answer him.
"Liu..."
A powerful gust of wind almost knocked Jeff from where he sat, and whipped his hair all around his face. Liu almost disappeared in the wind, but reformed with fear dominating his eyes.
"You know... I-I don't really know what this place is called. I don't know where I am, and neither do mom and dad." Liu was speaking rapidly, as if to tell Jeff everything before... something happened.
The air felt charged and alive with energy, filling Jeff's chest with an overwhelming sensation of fear. It wasn't going to storm anytime soon, but he already felt like something was happening in the atmosphere all around them. The air was thick with something unnatural.
"It's certainly not heaven, I can tell you that." Liu continued, "There's a really dark river next to where we are, but nobody can cross it."
Liu's eyes snapped back to Jeff's face. "We're in a field."
"What?"
"Yeah, a green field! Like the one you see when you drive past farms in the countryside..."
Jeff was now totally confused. What was his brother talking about?
"And there are so many ghosts here... so many. This field is full. I just have to turn around and there's another soul four feet in front of me. There's nothing to do here, we just walk around and..." Liu threw his hands up, "there's just nothing to do but talk! There's no sky, either. There's nothing here, just people. No houses, no animals, no food. We don't sleep or get tired. I tried to dive into the river, but I ended up floating down to- can you believe this?- the field. I can't do anything-"
By this point, Liu was feverish and frantic. Jeff tried calming him down, but to no avail. He couldn't have possibly understood what his deceased brother's soul was going through, along with his parents.
While Jeff tried to calm Liu down, a tugging feeling abruptly invaded the back of his mind, and slowly crept to take over his whole brain. It was a dangerous sensation that nagged at him the more he stayed in the graveyard. He recognized this feeling almost immediately.
It was the urge of a psychotic killer.
Liu eventually noticed his brother was acting a bit... strange. He stopped being miserable long enough to give Jeff a quizzical look about his left hand twitching and his nervous glances around the plot.
Then Jeff suddenly got agitated.
"Alright, well... when you're done whining about how cold you are... I have some business to attend to."
That, Liu mused, is not the voice of my little brother. He does not sound like that.
Because Jeff indeed was speaking with the voices of all of his demons inside of him. Keep in mind that he is a vessel for Zalgo's minions.
He shot Liu a burning glare and both of his hands shot up to Liu's neck. He snatched his crimson scarf from his neck and it unraveled in the wind ruthlessly, whipping all around the two brothers like an airborne stream of newly shed blood.
Jeff was breathing like a dragon, almost growling. Liu gaped at his brother standing before him. What had just happened in the space of a second? One second Jeff was offering consolation, and the next he was acting like a violent animal.
But almost immediately, Liu started rapidly fading.
He lunged forward, but Jeff was too quick. He noticed the glint of fire in Jeff's crazed blue eyes, and that could only mean one thing.
"No!" He screamed, fading rapidly. Jeff had already thrown the scarf Liu used to manifest himself over his shoulder and turned to leave the cemetery. "Jeff! Do NOT kill any more people! Do you hear me... don't-"
Liu disappeared.
Jeff stepped over the piles of trash at the entrance with an evil, twisted smile and a burning flame in his eyes.
Wales lost 16 people that night.