Chapter Fifty-Two

Harsh Truths

Anthony sighed as he collapsed on his bed, grasping his mobile phone in his right hand and playing with his chestnut-coloured hair lazily with his left. His previous attempts at getting into contact with Sally over the past few hours had proven to be futile and now he had resorted to simply giving up for now; his mission was to get a hold of his gaming friend and make sure that she was alright after everything that had happened in the last couple of days, and maybe figure out a strategy plan in relation to what they were both going to do next – Anthony now had no idea whether they should leave Jessie be and let her be with Jeff, or try and stop the killer from corrupting her any further than he already had – however, all the calls had rang and rang and rang and then sent him to her voicemail – he had never been so irritated to hear that voicemail, or even Sally's voice before, although hearing her actual voice would uplift his spirits dramatically and give him some type of comfort. He had even tried her home-phone, but no one was answering – not that this was new to Anthony. Her family were pretty lazy, so he was used to not being able to get a hold of her that way.

He knew that she defiantly couldn't have been at school and ignoring his calls because she was in class, due to the nature of their situation; no matter how important school and education was to Sally, there was absolutely no way she would be able to concentrate in lessons knowing that her best friend was in cahoots with a homicidal maniac like Jeff the Killer, so it was extremely unlikely that this theory was why she wasn't answering her phone. Also, it was unlikely that she had gone anywhere and left her phone at her house since she didn't seem too keen before about running around the day before. Plus, her phone was her only way to contact Anthony or even Charlotte Maypoles and Phillip Curtis in case of an emergency, so she wouldn't have left that anywhere she went. So, he had no idea why she hadn't answered her phone or even attempted to get back to him.

Also, this would seem to be an easy option to take, however Anthony was incredibly uncomfortable with leaving his house to head to Sally's place and make sure she was okay – where he thought she would most likely be. He hadn't left his house since the night they both found out about Jeff and Jessie and he didn't want to break that pattern now. This was partly because he wanted to stay in and keep an eye on Jessie's house just in case she and Jeff attempted to make a quick escape and he would need to stop them and confront them about where they were going, but it was mainly because he was too frightened to walk through his front door. Jeff could attack him easily if he went outside – and God forbid, Jessie could as well. She had proven that she was capable of murdering people close to her and he couldn't throw that information aside just because she was his friend.

If Sally knew that he was too scared to go and see her, she would've called him pathetic and told him to 'man up', and he knew it, but that wasn't motivating him to exit his house at all. If she were there yelling at him, then it would be a completely different matter, but then he wouldn't have any reason to go outside.

"Damn it, Sal..." he mumbled to himself. "If you're gaming, I swear to God…"

The notion that Sally was simply ignoring his calls and gaming online with her friends – none of which Jessie or Anthony had ever actually met, and they were pretty sure Sally had never met either – in order to temporarily ignore everything the two of them were going through was an idea that was plausible, but unlikely. Sally's gaming sessions weren't a form of escape from the 'real world' as they were for most people; they were just something she did for fun or to procrastinate her school work. With everything that was happening, Anthony doubted that Sally would want to just take a break and want to 'have fun'.

Anthony only wished he could have something that could distract him from everything going on around him. He couldn't eat, sleep or even breathe without thinking about Jeff and Jessie. It was explicitly clear to him Jessie had changed and that she wasn't the innocent, cute, happy-go-lucky otaku that he had come to know and love, and that now she was off-limits to him, but he couldn't help but still feel love for her.

He had spent most of his life with Jessie, watching her grow up and taking care of her; to him, she had developed and blossomed into a beautiful girl that was perfect for him. They had the same taste in shows and books, they both occasionally gamed, they both liked Manga and Anime, they both had the same taste in music, they both had the same sense of humour; the list went on and on. The only thing that alienated her from him was her murderer research, but he could live with that as long as it made her happy – he wasn't so sure now though.

For years he had managed to keep her away from other guys who were interested in her – the Lord knows that there were a lot of them – without her knowledge, however because he was acting stubborn and letting his pride get the better of him, Jessie was hurt and violated by one of the many guys that Anthony wanted to keep away from her, simply because she wasn't acting very reluctant to stay away from him because she hoped that after one date, he would leave her alone. If he'd of just watched her like he had for all of those years, then maybe she wouldn't have been raped and then maybe she wouldn't have even thought about killing John, and Jeff the Killer would've just left her alone.

The troubled teens sighed once again and stared at his ceiling, wondering what Jessie was doing right now, with the knowledge that she was most likely with Jeff.

"What the fuck does she see in that guy anyway?" he asked the air as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

He had thought about this many times over the past few days. Jessie had never specified to either Anthony or Sally what her 'perfect guy' would be like – he knew this because he had asked Sally to get the information out of her many times, but his gaming friend had received nothing. This was probably due to the fact that she hadn't dated anyone before, so she had no idea herself. Since her first boyfriend – even though Anthony despised calling him that – was someone like Jeff, the only conclusion that Anthony could come up with was that she admired the murderers that she had studied for so long and had eventually become attracted to them. Maybe it was the adrenaline from being with Jeff when she knew that she shouldn't be around him. Maybe it was the fact that she loved watching him kill. Maybe it was the fact that she had always taken an interest in the way the killers did their business and she had finally gotten a chance to see it live when she met Jeff and enjoyed watching it. Whatever the reason was, Anthony knew that he couldn't compete.

His eyes eventually drifted towards the framed photograph on his desk of him and Jessie cosplaying as Takagi and Takeshi from High School of the Dead; the one thing that he remembered a clear as daylight about that trip to their first big Anime convention was the fact that more geeky otaku then he could count were attempting to flirt with and grope Jessie, making her feel extremely uncomfortable and – quite frankly – ruining her first Anime convention, and he spent most of the time swotting those perverted guys away from her and telling them to back off. He nearly got into quite a few fights as well. Despite all of this, Jessie still kept smiling at him and saying that she was just happy to be there with him and that she was having fun – which made the whole trip worth it in Anthony's eyes.

"Damn it…" he muttered. "Why couldn't she have…been in love with me…?"

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Suddenly, the sullen boy turned his head towards his phone as he felt his hand vibrate; when he rotated his head towards the mobile screen, he was expecting it to say that Sally was the one calling him back after the ridiculous amount of calls that she had missed to see what he wanted, however that wasn't the case at all.

The screen read 'blocked number'.

For a split second, he contemplated whether he should actually answer the phone call or not. He was pretty sure that it wasn't anyone he actually knew had his number on the other end since they had no reason for blocking their numbers to call him. There was absolutely no way that it could've been Charlotte or Phillip since they would've defiantly want him to answer the call immediately – they knew that people were less likely to answer the call if someone is blocking their numbers – besides, the police wouldn't block their numbers if they were calling innocent civilians. This meant that the person calling him could've been anyone.

It could've even been Jeff.

Anthony swallowed his saliva harshly and hesitantly answered the call, pressing the phone to his ear with caution. The caller couldn't been Sally for all he knew; he had proven that not answering calls was a bad thing recently. He couldn't even imagine what would've happened to Jessie if he hadn't of answered her call the day she was raped. If Sally was in a similar situation, he would need to go and help her.

"H-Hello…?" He said with genuine concern in his voice.

The one person he wouldn't have expected replied to him with a dull tone to their voice and no emotion on display, answered him.

"Hey Anthony."

The teen's bright eyes widened.

"Jessie?"

"Yeah…hey."

Confusion ran through Anthony's mind as he wondered many things about this scene. Why was Jessie calling him with a blocked number when she knew that he had her number already? Why was she even calling him in the first place? Was Jeff with her? Was that why she was using a blocked number? He had to know.

"Jessie, you have a phone and I already have you're number…" he stated bluntly.

"I know that." She replied with, sounding slightly puzzled at Anthony's response. "I'm using Jeff's phone. He said that it's not smart, you having his number."

"Why not just call me with your phone?" He asked sitting up and leaning against his bedroom wall.

"I can't actually find it." She stated. "I think I left it somewhere, but I don't know where."

Anthony scoffed and without realising that he said it, asked "Did you check your pockets?"

Once he realised that he had just asked that, he flinched and stared into the distance, not sure what he was thinking when he spoke. Back before Jessie had met Jeff and gotten involved in this 'murder' business, she would lose her mobile on a regular basis; whenever she did, her first action would be to call Anthony on her home phone and ask him for advice on what she should do and if he had any idea where it was – after asking him so many times, Anthony was sure that she would've known explicitly what to do by now, but Jessie had managed to surprise him every time she called. The conversation would usually end quickly since Anthony would mention obvious places, such as her school bag or her desk draw, that she could have left it in and most of the time, she would swiftly locate her phone safe and sound.

The memory flashed through his head of that one time when Jessie called him with the usual problem and they ended up spending an hour on the phone trying to find it; she was even close to crying since her mother would be extremely angry with her when she came back from her business trip and probably wouldn't buy her another one. Although, suddenly she realised that the mobile had been in her jean pocket the whole time after she received a text from Ann-Ann and felt her pocket vibrate. Anthony was frustrated because he had just wasted an hour of his time for nothing, but Jessie began to laugh from relief and he couldn't help but join her. That day he realised just how ditsy Jessie could be – and how adorable.

Although, now that he had just spoken to Jessie like an older brother – as he used to all the time – out of habit, he inwardly scolded himself, asking himself over and over why he was such a moron in his head. She wasn't who she used to be anymore and he needed to stop acting as if that wasn't the case and just face what was happening in front of him.

Jessie stayed quiet for a moment, but soon, a small chuckle could be heard on the other end of the phone.

"No…I'm sure."

The urge to smile at their reminiscing moment was strong, but Anthony resisted. After finding out everything that Jessie had done, he couldn't treat her as if she were still his near and dear friend as he would like to. He had to be stern with her.

"But that's not what I called to speak to you about…" Jessie continued.

Anthony couldn't help but ask "Is Jeff with you?"

"Jeff's in the shower right now." It was quite clear that Jeff had been staying the night at Jessie's for the past couple of days now; he wouldn't be showering in Jessie's house casually unless he was already comfortable with being there and had been there either a lot, or for a while. Thoughts of Jeff and Jessie spending the night together in her bed flashed through his head, but he quickly discarded them. Those thoughts wouldn't help him now and he had no need for them; they would only make him angry and not want to speak to anyone, let alone Jessie.

"Why aren't you calling me with him around?" Anthony asked.

"Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not like I can't speak to you with him here. It's just that I saw something on the news just now that you clearly haven't seen, but I thought you'd be interested in it."

The otaku winced. Almost immediately, he went to head out of his room and downstairs to turn on his family television and check the news, but was just as quickly stopped in his tracks.

"Don't watch it." She demanded calmly, pausing Anthony's movements. "I'll just tell you what happened."

Not sure whether to do what she had said or not, Anthony slumped back against the wall and waited for Jessie to continue speaking. The relative silence allowed her to know that Anthony had done what she told him to do and she continued to talk.

"Yesterday, a murder took place on the school roof."

The four-eyed teen jolted. "Was it Jeff?"

Jessie could be heard softly laughing. "I'm so flattered for Jeff that you would assume that it was him. He's not the only murderer in the world, you know…"

Anthony let his head drift backwards to the wall. "Sorry, but you'll forgive me if I don't believe that he wasn't involved."

"I understand…and you're right, well, kind of." The killing teenager revealed. "It was both of us."

Anthony became stiff. "Both of you? Who did you kill?"

"It wasn't really me…I wanted to save her, but Jeff…didn't."

"Jessie…don't avoid the question. Who was it?" Anthony growled.

"I'll give you a clue." Jessie said with no feeling in her voice. "She's close to us and her name rhymes with Tally."

Anthony dropped the phone in shock and jumped off of his bed. His instantly headed towards the door to his room, down the stairs and through his front door without his shoes or anything to prepare him for the blazing sun shining down on him.

"No…no…no…" He muttered to himself as he sprinted down the road, towards his school, praying to himself that Jessie was pulling a cruel joke on him.

Oh, how he wished that Jessie's sense of humour was that twisted.

~:~

"Anthony?"

Jessie pulled Jeff's mobile away from her ear and came to the conclusion that he had hung up on her to head to their school as she expected him to do. She sat in baggy t-shirt and underwear on her bed, a dulled expression on her face and a bottle of water in front of her. She had only just woken up and realised that Jeff was showering, and the first thing that came into her mind when she opened her eyes was Anthony.

She had to call him and at least give him fair-warning as to what she had done.

"I hope he can cry enough for the two of us…because I know that if I try, Jeff'll be mad…" She whispered to herself. "He'd be so…angry…if he knew what I'm thinking right now…"

~:~

Anthony was gradually approaching his school, tears forming in his eyes as he prayed that Jessie was just playing mind games with him as a sick joke that she and Jeff had concocted to mess with his thinking and to even make him come outside unprotected; he didn't care if he was in danger of being attacked by them out in the open as he sprinted towards his school – that he should've been at already – as long as it meant that Sally was actually safe and sound.

As he turned a corner, it became clear that there was defiantly something wrong with his school's image; the place was stormed with police cars with their silent sirens flashing red and blue and an ambulance was sat outside of the building with its back doors open; there was also a line of black and yellow tape across the school grounds, preventing people from entering unless they were in uniform. Students, teachers and general members of the public were surrounding the area, either seeming distressed or uncomfortable, and the police simply stood around, seeming as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, as Anthony was right outside of the school, he witnessed two paramedics pushing out a stretcher with a white sheet – that had splashes of blood on it – clearly covering an immobile human body. The body appeared to be a young, feminine body, which caused Anthony's heart to be filled with dread and aching. Instantly, a pale, blood-covered arm fell out of the stretcher and dangled limply over the edge, as if it was desperate to escape the position that the body was in – or even escape the undeniable fact that its owner was dead.

This caused Anthony to begin to sob softly and run towards the stretcher, however just as he was approaching the border into the school that many policemen seemed to be guarding, Phillip Curtis noticed him approaching and prevented him going any further by holding onto him and pushing him back.

"No, lad! You can't!" He pleaded. Charlotte Maypoles noticed the commotion from afar – as many of the people around the area had – and jogged over to the scene.

"Let me see her!" Anthony cried out. "It might not be her! Please! Let me see her!"

"It's defiantly her!" Charlotte pointed out. "We've checked it out! Please, Anthony stop!"

Anthony ignored her. He reached his hand out over Phillip's shoulder and towards the stretcher, still wailing like a child, eyes puffy and cheeks crimson from running.

"No! Please! Let me see her!"

"You can't!" Phillip shouted. "I know it's tough, kid, but you can't!"

"PLEASE! LET ME SEE HER!"

Once the stretcher was in the ambulance and the paramedics were preparing to drive off, the stressed boy stopped yelling and began to just cry on Phillip's shoulder, clinging to him and pressing his damp face into his collared shirt. Charlotte made a sullen face as she glanced down to the floor, and Phillip simply took the face of a worried father.

There was one thing that Anthony kept repeating quietly to himself as he sobbed on this man he didn't know's shoulder.

"Sally…Sally…Sally…"