Jaz walked alone from school with her music blasting loud in her ear-buds. She played with their cords and felt the smooth surface glide through her fingertips. School had become so stressful and she really appreciated the walk home to clear her mind. She felt the crunch of fall leaves beneath her feet and smiled slightly; she had always loved fall. Halloween was her favorite holiday. She had always loved creepy things. Her life practically revolved around creepypasta and horror movies.
She finally made it to her house and collapsed onto the couch, dropping her back pack on the floor. She closed her eyes and let the music keep playing for a little while longer. Sitting up she checked her phone. "1 new message" the screen read. She opened the text.
"are you free tonight?" it was from her bestfriend, Rachel.
"yeah, of course." she responded with a smirk on her face.
"You should come sleep over." Rachel texted back.
Jaz ran to the calender to check she was free Saturday, before responding with a 'sure' and a smiley face.
An hour later the middle school let out and her brother trudged through the door, loud as ever. Simon threw his bag on the floor and joined Jaz in the living room. Sitting down he also pulled his phone out and began texting. After a while of silence he looked up from his phone. "You know they aren't allowing trick-or-treating this year." He said disappointed. "Man, that sucks. We are too old anyways." Jaz sighed. "Aren't you gonna ask why?" Simon asked irritably, clearly excited to tell the story. "Why, Simon, is trick-or-treating banned?" Jaz smirked. "There is a crazy man out there! He's been cutting people's faces open like the joker." Simon explained excitedly. "Has he now?" Jaz asked indifferently, not believing a word her brother said. "It's true! They are calling him Jeff the Killer!" Simon shouted. Jaz nearly choked before laughing out loud like a mad woman. "Simon, seriously? I spend my life on the internet, your gonna have to come up with a more creative story then that, i have read it before" She smiled darkly.
"What are you talking about?" Simon asked calmly looking generally confused. "Dude, look it up. It's a creepypasta. Who ever told you that was messing with you." Jaz explained more gently. "Are you serious?" Simon asked, his face going red. "Sorry buddy." Jaz gave him a reassuring smile and messed up his hair before climbing the stairs to her room. Once inside, she shut the door and opened her laptop. Opening the internet she checked the news. First article read, "Crazy Maniac Ruins Halloween" Intrigued she clicked on the article. Skimming through it she read that 'Jeff the Killer' had murdered three young girls in the neighboring city and there is evidence of him coming to her own city. She stared blankly for a while, determining whether the entire city was playing a joke on her or not. Checking the time, she realized it was already 7 and she should be heading over to Rachel's. Jaz threw a change of clothes, a sketchbook, and her phone charger in a bag and headed out the door after yelling goodbye to her brother.
Walking down the street she noticed less people than normal. She sighed deeply and turned the corner to Rachel's house. She knocked on the door and it immediately swung open to an excited looking face. "Dude! We need to talk!" Rachel dragged Jaz by the arm inside and slammed the door. They sat down on the living room floor and Rachel pointed to the televison. There was a news report about 'Jeff the Killer'. Jaz groaned loudly and fell onto the floor, staring at the ceiling. Rachel looked confused. "This is such bullshit." Jaz grumbled. "Okay, okay I know it looks like it but hear me out!" Rachel said pulling Jaz into a sitting position. "Think about it, a creepypasta fan gets a bit too enthusiastic, i mean you know what happened with those girls and slenderman.
Jaz thought for a moment, "So you think it's a crazy fan...Who cut their own face open?" Rachel nodded confidently. "I mean...I guess it's plausible but...it's not like he could burn his eyelids off and not go blind or something..."
"Maybe he wears make-up...Maybe he doesn't even have a cut open mouth or burned eye-lids. Nobody has seen him...nobody able to talk..., that is. They are calling him that because of the way he is tearing the victims mouth and he paints 'go to sleep' on the wall in blood.". Rachel explained.
"This is so creepy..." Jaz whispered, starting to believe. She leaned in closer and watched the report about the three murdered girls. They were found in their apartment. Faces cut open and 'go to sleep' written on the wall. This actually wasn't the first attack. A week earlier in a state away, a middle aged man was found in his home in the same condition, but still alive. He is currently in the psychiatric care, unable to form coherent sentences as of late.
Jaz shuddered and began to think of her brother. Suddenly she felt a surge of anxiety about leaving him alone. Their parents had gone away for the weekend and him being an eighth grader, Jaz assumed he'd be fine for a night. Now she wasn't so sure.