Chapter 1

I looked down at my bloodied hands and smiled. I had just killed a man who'd tried to mug me in a dark alleyway. I know murder is supposed to be all bad and stuff, but you wouldn't understand me or my family if you met us.

I cleaned my hands in the bathroom of a nearby restaurant and stuck my sickle in the hidden pocket in my backpack and walked out as people stared. Let them. I don't care. It's none of their business anyway. I glanced up as I crossed the street and my eyes widened as I saw her. White mask, black dress and blonde hair. Jane. Oh crap! I mentally smacked myself for not allowing Jeff to come along like he asked. This was only my fourth kill. And Jane hated me because I "knew too much." But I was one of them now.

"Hey, you little bitch! Get your ass over here! You thought you could get inside our system and get away with it? Well, not anymore!" She started stomping toward me, weapon drawn.

I pulled out my cell phone and speed dialed Jeff, as Jane slowly walked across the highway. "Jeff! Jane is here! I can see her right now! I'm at Barney's Burgers, the restaurant. You know, the one down the street! I need your help! Come quick! Gotta go!" I hung up and my sickle automatically appeared in my hand (that's called summoning our weapons. Only certain weapons do that, and they have to go through a ritual). As I readied my weapon, she bolted across the street at bullet speed. Masky appeared right in front of me just in time to slice her arm off. I stepped out from behind him and gasped as a rusty hatchet flew by my head. I ran as fast as I could at Ticci Toby and sliced his whole arm off. He shrieked and blood oozed everywhere. It felt so good to kill after being frightened by Jane.

We slashed and sliced and eventually we defeated Jane, Toby and Clockwork, an army of Rake, a gruesome human-like creature that is out to kill anyone that Lord Zalgo programs it to. Lord Zalgo, by the way, is sort of like the deal making devil of our world. He made Clockwork to kill Jeff, in case we'd already killed his other two "henchmen". If Jeff died, I would probably commit suicide. That's how much I loved him.

This is probably a good time to introduce the family. There's Masky, as I said before. He normally wears a white mask with eye holes, a red sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers. He is also the translator for Slendy, sometimes. Slendy is like, the leader of the group, or the peacemaker. He heals us, and he keeps us from killing each other. He wears a black suit and red tie, but doesn't appear to have any facial features, like a mouth. Which means he needs Masky. But he can speak to us telepathically through our minds, whenever Masky isn't around. There's also Eyeless Jack. Jeff calls him the house mother because he keeps the place clean. And he cooks. Oh my god, his cooking is amazing. No offense to anyone else, but he makes the best chocolate chip cookies. Then there's Hoodie. He wears a white mask (we have a lot of those), blue sweatshirt with a hood (which is always up) and jeans and sneakers. We believe Masky and Hoodie may be dating, but none of us have the balls to ask. And Ben. He is about 15, but he's stuck in a 10 year old's body. That's when he was killed, to be exact. Then there's Sally, Jeff's little 'sister'. She protects him from anything bad. And he protects her (because no one else will). At first, she tried to kill me, but once I'd moved in with Jeff, she'd been a little bit nicer because she saw how Jeff cared for me (her words, not mine). She normally wears a paint splatter patterned skirt, knee length tights, a white tank top and a white denim half-jacket. She has blond hair and she is a demon. Recently, she had been in a younger girl's body, but we figured out how she can change bodies willingly because of the demonism. We only figured it out because Jane had attacked before and nearly killed me for real. Anyway, that's Sally. Then there's Smile. He is a demon husky. He gets his name from when he shows a human-like smile. To a random stranger, he would be freaky, but I like his smile. Then there's Jeff. He has burns all over his body (though I still don't know why). He wears a regular gray tank top and sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers (we have a lot of those, too) and his face is cut as though he were smiling from ear to literal ear. But if you know him well enough, you can tell when he's actually smiling. It's kinda cute. But he is mine, so don't even think about it. That pretty much sums it up.

I smiled and touched Slendy's arm slightly. Everyone but Slendy (of course), followed my lead and I felt the head rush of teleportation.

Chapter 2

As we arrived at home, the buzz of killing Jane and the others was loud. I got caught up in it and eventually we were all shouting and laughing. Slendy had to use Masky to calm us down, several times. We did end up calming down around 1 am and I fell asleep in me and Jeff's room. I think he eventually came in and fell asleep, but I really don't know because when I woke up, Eyeless was sitting in a chair next to the bed sketching and Jeff was nowhere to be seen.

"Um, hi….. What are you doing in here?" I tried not to sound like I was angry. I was just awkwarded out and curious, too.

"I decided to draw a picture of you sleeping. Look." He showed me a picture that was almost exactly like me. "Wow" was all I could get out.

"Thanks. Also, I was supposed to "protect" you while Jeff is gone. He went to go kill for awhile to get his mind off stuff. How good is the picture on a scale of 1 to 10?"

I studied it for a few minutes, memorizing every detail before I settled on a number. "About a…. 8.4. I have to change so, if you could leave the room for a few minutes, that would be greatly appreciated." He left and I jumped up as quickly as possible and grabbed the first outfit I saw. A green long sleeve and skinny jeans. I figured Jeff might like the skinny jeans. I smiled and stepped into the hallway. Sally's door was radiating cold. I quickly walked into the living room and realized there was no one, and I mean no one in the room. It kinda freaked me out a little, but then I noticed the sounds of a fight outside. I raced out and slammed the door, putting on my "mother" face, as Eyeless called it. That stopped them all in their tracks. Eyeless was scarred up and bleeding. Did I mention Eyeless has ichor for blood? Anyway, Jeff was sliced up on the forehead a little and Hoodie and Masky were on the sidelines, watching.

"Um, hi Alex, what's up?" Ben tried to ease the tension by trying to casually ask that.

"What is going on?" A lot of acid went into that first word. I had not meant that, but it strengthened the intensity of the question.

"Um, well…. After Jack left so you could change, Jeff freaked out on him for leaving you alone and wouldn't allow Jack to explain. Jeff punched Jack and they started fighting out here, then Masky started betting on who'd win, so it turned into a fighting match. Quite entertaining, actually," Hoodie gulped under my intense stare.

I turned toward Eyeless and Jeff, and I think I saw Eyeless cringe a little. I think. "You two have got to stop fighting. It's unhealthy. Seriously. If you want to let out your anger, go kill or something. God. Or go to a freaking therapist," I turned around and walked back into the house, summoning my sickle. I trudged through the back door into the woods, to the walkway that leads to civilization. I was pissed that everyone had to fight each other and I'm pretty sure that make Jeff unhappy, but right now all I wanted was to kill someone. Murder calmed me, in some sick way. But it was part of my world now, and I couldn't help it.

Once I reached the town, I noticed a gang. Three scruffy dudes and a tattoo-covered girl. They walked up to me and the tallest of the group, the one I assumed was the leader, eyed my sickle. "What, are you planning on murder?" He barely tried to make the dude and girl laugh, but they were laughing like idiots on crack.

I smiled in my creepy way. "Yes. Actually, you look like a good group to….. eliminate." I twirled the sickle in my hand, the leader's eyes going wide. He pulled out a gun. The other two had gone serious and then each pulled out a knife. Before he could shoot, I raised my sickle, slicing off his head entirely. But it wasn't enough. I hacked at the rest of him, until he was in small pieces. The girl had been frozen in place as the dude ran at me. His first mistake was slicing for my head, which I dodged easily. His second mistake was trying to trip me, which did nothing because after a few second of his nonsense, I just ended him. The smell of blood was amazing. Ew. I have a sick mind. As I raced after the girl, she tripped on an untied shoelace (which actually belonged to the second dude, lol). This was my chance. I jumped into the air, and came down at lightning speed, slashing her clean through the throat. Blood was all over my pink sweatshirt, staining it to a dull maroon. Cool. I went to the nearest gas station and as I walked through the door, a lot of the crowd had gasped. I washed my hands and wrapped my sweater around my waist so they wouldn't notice the blood as much. Not that I cared what they thought.

I walked through the woods back to the house and thought about what happened earlier today. I couldn't stop thinking about Jeff, about being with him. As I walked up the front steps, I was so deep in thought, I bumped into Hoodie. "Sorry! Sorry. that was an accident." I blushed and stepped around Hoodie. H chuckled and kept walking. As I entered the living room, the buzz quieted down until no one was talking anymore.

"What did I do?" I was a little worried because I didn't see Jeff anywhere. Or Jack. I so hoped I wasn't in trouble for leaving randomly.

"Uh, nothing. We were just talking…. Anyway, who wants to go play Mafia?" Ben asked in a really enthusiastic tone, trying to direct my attention elsewhere. It didn't work so well, but I didn't let on. Just then Jeff entered the room. He came over with a real smile on his face, wrapping his arms around my hips and kissing me. God, I missed this so much. We pulled apart, and I went to my room. I had to finish this book. It was amazing. It was The Lost Ones by Margaret Peter Smith.

As I finished the last page, Jeff came in and sat right next to me. "Whatcha reading? Is it interesting so much that you must miss two hours of the party?" He smiled.

This took me off guard for a second. "Two hours!? Holy crap! You didn't come get me?" I felt angry a little at myself and worried that they'd had another fight while I was reading. Jeff saw my face and he said, "Nothing bad happened. It's Ben's birthday. C'mon!" His excited tone was intoxicating and it made me excited. Oh yeah, Ben's birthday is held on the date of September 12 because he died in the 9/11 attack but he couldn't remember his real birthday, so we picked one out. Slendy's birthday is on August 27, Eyeless on January 7 and Jeff on March 8. Hoodie and Masky somehow share a birthday on October 15. They say they're brothers in real life, but whatever. My birthday is on November 6. No one knows what day Sally's birthday is on. She won't tell anyone. She hates celebrations unless they're for someone else.

As we walked past Sally's room, I got very cold. I started to get dizzy and stopped walking. I fell to the floor. Jeff caught me before I hit my head.

"Alex! Alex, are you okay?" That was all I heard before everything went dark.

Chapter 3

I awoke at the sound of clattering pots and pans and the screeching sound of metal being pulled out of it's shape. Someone walked past me, obviously steaming mad by the sound of their breathing. I suggested it was either Jack or Jeff. I hadn't opened my eyes see yet. The person stopped as I yawned and stretched . Then I opened my eyes and was surprised by Masky. He had a devilish glare on me. In one quick swoop, he clutched my throat, holding me upwards. "You should never have come here! You need to die!" I couldn't breathe. I was slowly slipping into unconsciousness and the last thing I saw was Jeff coming in and punching Masky in the gut. I fell toward the floor. My head hit the couch and I went unconscious.

Chapter 4

I woke up a little while later and instantly summoned my sickle before anyone could hurt me. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, stretching. The first thing I noticed was that Masky was in front of me. He had an angry look on his face. I braced myself and readied my sickle. "Don't touch me." I put as much acid as I could into that. His reaction was to just walk out of the room. This caught me a little off guard.

I wandered into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge, grabbing a green apple and sinking my teeth into it. As I bit off the last bite, Jeff came in, dressed in just a pair of jeans and sneakers. He started chopping carrots, the muscles in his wrist moving quickly. Next, he chopped tomatoes, onions and a variety of other vegetables. Also, potatoes and steak. The whole time, I couldn't keep my eyes off his abs. I hadn't noticed how the fighting and weight lifting had an effect on him. Mostly because he was always wearing his baggy gray sweatshirt. Wow. He noticed me staring and smiled. I looked up as he stopped slicing and dicing and came over to me. I smiled up at him and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Hey." That was all I could get out before he pressed his mouth against mine forcefully. I closed my eyes and he did the same. The sensation of it was amazing. So was the taste of blood. I kissed him back. We were like that for a few more seconds before we heard a voice and parted.

"C'mon guys. You have a room. God." Jack passed us and put the chopped up vegetables into a pan.

"What are you cooking this time?" I tried to keep my tone light. I didn't want to sound like a bitch.

"Stir-fry. Chicken to be exact." He glanced over at me and gasped. "What's with the purple on your neck?" He sounded grossed out.

My hand instantly went to cup my neck. OUCH! It really hurt. Jeff stared and stared at me without saying anything, a shocked look on his face. "Say something instead of just looking at me!" I whined. He took a step back, then ran down the hall. I just went and sat on the couch, tears welling in my eyes. What had I done to deserve this? First, Masky attacked me. Then Jeff ran away.

A shriek came from down the hall and Jeff dragged Masky out onto the front yard. I was about to go outside but I realized I was still in my Pj's. I quickly changed into a pink tank top and skinny jeans and ran outside, barefoot. Masky had been sliced right across the face and Jeff hadn't been injured just yet. As I watched, Jeff threw a knife into Masky's shoulder. He crumpled like paper in the rain. I ran to him before Jeff could hurt him any further. Even though I was super bad at using knives, I took it out of his shoulder and flung it at Jeff. He caught it and looked up at me. "Umm…Hi? That was a good throw. If I hadn't caught it, it would've hit me in the shoulder. Pretty good." He smiled sheepishly and threw his knives in the ground, on each side of him. He walked over and hugged me to him. I hugged back. I like hugs from him because somehow our bodies fit perfectly together, as if we were meant to be. I let go of him and walked over to Masky with a cloth I had brought out with me. He'd bled a lot. There was a medium sized puddle under his shoulder. I pressed the cloth to it and he moaned in pain. Finally, Slendy appeared and healed him. Masky didn't have as big a grudge on me for whatever I did, so it was a win-win situation.

Finally I had a chance to ask what was on my mind, while everyone was together. I clapped my hands twice and everyone looked at me. "I have a question. What did I do to deserve the purple marks from Masky? Or the grudge he's been holding against me, too? What did I do?" I was very confused.

Jack looked at me funny. "You should remember. It was only a few days ago, ya know." He stalked inside. That confused me even more.

"I don't remember anything before Masky choked me out." This made Ben and Hoodie uneasy. I could see it in their eyes.

Jeff stepped forward. "You don't remember? You were at school when it happened. A dude walked up to you and said some stuff so you blacked out and sliced his head off. Then you ran home. Apparently, before you sliced him, he managed to cut your shoulder open. You were bleeding pretty heavily, so you ended up passing out on the front step. The police came and we dyed your hair before they arrived, so they couldn't prove it was you who'd killed the dude. Masky was totally pissed that they found us. That's why when you woke up, he tried killing you so it wouldn't happen again. I can't believe you don't remember that." He sighed and sat on the blood stained grass. I came over and sat next to him. Eventually, we were all sitting on the front lawn. If you could call it that. There were dead bushes and a creepy dead tree in the yard. The best yard ever.

I sighed and walked into the house, ignoring the clanging and beeping in the kitchen. Probably just Jack again. I walked down the hall to the bathroom, closing the door gently behind me. I stared at my face and neck in the mirror. Terrible blue and purple bruises. It would take a lot of makeup to cover these. Oh well. I decided to deal with it later, when an overwhelming urge to puke came over. I rushed to the toilet and puked out all the stuff I'd recently eaten. I wiped off my mouth and headed out of the bathroom, to my room to lay down. On the way there, I passed Sally's room. It wasn't cold anymore. Yay.

I crawled under the sheets and fell asleep, just as Jeff entered the room. The last thing I heard was "Alex? Are you feeling well?"

I awoke the next morning around noon. The smell of bacon, eggs, pancakes and sausage filled the house. I smiled as Jeff wrapped his arm around me. I turned and smiled wider. I could tell he was smiling too. We kissed for a few seconds before he touched his hand to my hip. I grabbed his hands and his eyes widened. "I'm sorry! Alex, I didn't mean-"

"It's ok. Just do what natural." I winked and kissed him some more. I would explain further, but it's kinda private. So anyway, after that happened, I slept like a baby for 3 hours straight. Literally. When I got dressed and had stumbled into the living room, everyone had laughed at how I walked. I laughed and sat at the breakfast counter in the kitchen. A big plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon with a piece of french toast appeared. Awesome. I dug in, finishing within 20 minutes. Yum.

Suddenly, there was a loud shriek coming from outside. I jumped up and ran outside. Apparently, Ticci Toby hadn't died, but had gotten away. A rusty hatchet flew by my head, sticking into the door. I watched as his head jerked around and couldn't help but start laughing uncontrollably, while he watched me with a confused expression on his face. Once I'd calmed down, I summoned my sickle and ran full speed at him. He suddenly caught me off guard by cutting a gash down my arm. I shrieked in pain and collapsed. Jack, Hoodie, Ben, Masky and SLendy had come out. Jeff was nowhere to be seen. My arm hurt, then for exactly 1 minute, I felt nothing but blindingly white pain. But I knew it was just Slendy, healing me. I got up off the ground and wiped away the excess blood on my arm. I once again summoned my sickle and joined the fight once more. This was war.

Chapter 4

SIX MONTHS LATER

Jeff…

"Let me out! You can't do this! I will find you and kill you!" I tried to put as much acid into that as possible. It didn't work. The demonic serial killer's voice laughed.

"You couldn't if you tried! Ha!" He continued chuckling, as if I'd told the funniest joke ever. I snarled in response. "You won't be let go until you kill the girl. Then I will let you go. Hahahahaha!" He laughed and I threw my taser at the screen. It did nothing. Suddenly, a giant anvil was hanging above my head, the rope ready to snap. "Bye bye, Jeff! Bwa hahahahahahaha!" The rope snapped and the anvil came onto my head.

I awoke around midnight, panting. Sweat was making my shirt stick to me. Alex was asleep next to me. It was all a dream. It was just a dream. If I kept telling myself that, I might believe it. It felt so real.

Alex stirred and went back to sleep. I sighed and laid next to her again, wrapping my arm above her big belly. She was pregnant with two little girls. Next month she was due, if everything worked out okay. So far, it was going pretty good. So far.

As I fell asleep, Alex stirred and fell asleep again. I slept through the night and woke up, stretching. I rubbed by eyes and stood up. I didn't see Alex anywhere. She must have gotten up for breakfast.

I got out of bed and got dressed, walking down the hall to the living room to door to find Alex asleep on the couch, a bagel resting on the floor near her dangling hand. I wiped the crumbs off her face and grabbed the bagel, setting it gently on the table. She was always so tired. She must've fallen asleep while watching one of her shows and eating breakfast. Slendy appeared suddenly and Masky was right behind him. Masky spoke for Slendy.

"Hello, Jeff. We need you outside now. There is trouble." Slendy and Masky disappeared, teleported somewhere. I ran outside and found hell waiting for me.