Sorry this took more than a week! I was even optimistic about updating on Sunday because I had most of the reason written, but... it just didn't really work out. Sorry!
Thank you SO MUCH for the reviews, favorites, and alerts! I was nervous you guys wouldn't like the last creepy reason, but I'm so glad you did! :D
And have you guys listened to Liz Gillies 'Bam Bam Bam' yet? I'm currently addicted to it, and that was the background noise when I was writing this.
Enjoy! :)
Sinjin Van Cleef was, for the first time in a while, confused. After heading down to his headquarters and polishing everything up (he had been on a vacation of sorts and hadn't visited for almost 3 days), he had checked all of his usual cameras, which surrounded the school, Jade's house, Tori's house, Beck's RV, Burf's mobile home, and Sikowitz's apartment. Nothing seemed out of place, per say, but something was definitely…off. Trina wasn't home, which he knew she always was on Sunday nights, Tori was all depressed and lying on the couch, Beck was playing a sad song on his guitar, looking tense, and Jade was throwing things at the wall (although that wasn't exactly abnormal behavior for her). Turning off the school's, Sikowitz's, and Burf's cameras, he looked more closely at the screens left.
Trina's room was untouched, the bed made perfectly and her large array of makeup products neat on her vanity.
Tori was almost having spasms on the couch, lying face down and jerking ever so often. Turning up the audio, he heard a few whispered words. "Trina…no…..NO!" The last one she shouted, loud enough to startle herself awake, falling to the ground and getting a nasty bump on her head. Putting on her glasses, she stumbled to the kitchen. She went right for the freezer, but when she pulled out a bag of frozen peas, her face crumpled, and tears started to creep down her face. Sinjin switched screens quickly, uncomfortable from intruding so much into someone's personal life. Not like that had stopped him before, Sinjin smirked, before watching Jade on the screen intently.
She had been crying too, he realized with a shock. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her dark eyeliner was horribly smeared. Since when did Jade cry? He had been watching her for three years now, and he'd only seen her in tears twice, and both times were because of Beck. If he'd hurt her… Although he was (kind of) over Jade, and he and Beck were tight now, Sinjin was still a bit protective of his first love.
Frowning, he switched the camera to Beck's RV. Beck was still playing his guitar, belting out the lyrics to some old 80's song about regret and taking chances. Beck was cool and all, but sometimes Sinjin really questioned his taste in music. After listening for a few more minutes, it became clear he wasn't going to learn anything, and, with a sigh, he closed down his camera system and pulled up his Twitter, Slap page, and email, trying to get himself updated with all of the going-ons in social media. He'd just finished reading about an online fight two celebrities, Shelby Marx and some redhead who looked a bit like Cat Valentine, had had when a notice popped up.
'New email from Trina Vega' it read.
Opening the file, he saw 17 files. The first one was labeled with 'Why I Committed Suicide' and after that were 16 others listing Reason #1, #2, and so on. The only words the document had was, in all capital letters, 'Read all of them. I'm watching you, and I'll know if you don't.'
Before opening any of the files, Sinjin turned his cameras back on. More specifically, the ones surrounding his house. In one of them, a dark, hooded figure with binoculars watched the house. Shuddering, Sinjin opened the file, making sure to turn it on loud and make a big display of putting on his headphones.
When he got to the third file, what he heard shocked him.
"Some things make you feel invincible, like you're on top of the world and can never fall down. For me, that was singing. I know, I'm not the best singer, but that isn't really my fault, now is it, Sinjin? Actually, my singing voice isn't horrible, although I admit, I know I'm not the best. You never thought you'd hear me being modest, did you?Well, you'd probably never think I got blackmailed either. But I was. And I'm pretty sure you can guess who. You and your sister Courtney always were a little freaky, I admit, but I never thought you'd do something to me.
You sent a tape to me just after sophomore year started. I'd never talked to you, only smiled briefly at you when you were doing the tech work for my audition, and when you came up to me one day, discreetly handed me a tape, and left, I was curious. I never should've opened it. I should've thrown it away the second you handed it to me. It probably wouldn't have stopped you, but maybe, just maybe, you would've forgotten about it, decided I wasn't worth making another copy. It was a video of me, throwing up into the toilet.
I was sick that day, having eaten some spoiled cake, and I was throwing up at random times all day. I wasn't bulimic or anorexic then, just sick, but you… You edited the tape, making it look like I had forced myself to throw up. But you didn't stop there. No, you also got footage of me going into a bar, which was owned by your big brother, I might add, and drinking. It was iced tea,, I swear, but you made it look colored, like I was drinking underage and I knew no one would believe me if I told them otherwise. At the end, your voice, crackly and low, warned me. You warned me to back off, to stop singing well, and to act badly, otherwise you'd hand this into the school. I couldn't get expelled! I thought then, eyes wide.
Maybe it would've been a blessing, a ticket out of that hellhole, but I couldn't let go of the only thing that made me special! So I did it. I never sang well again. And I mean never. Even in the shower, or when I thought I was alone, because you could be watching at any moment, and you'd probably find something even worse to blackmail me with. Sometimes you pretended to have a crush on me, but only I knew it was you taunting me, you knew my secret, and whenever we were alone, you whispered things that you would do to me if I ever sung or acted well again. In public, I treated you like I would anyone else below my standards, which was pretty much everyone, and tried to forget the blackmail. It never worked, though, and it was all I could do to maintain any semblance of control around you. It's a miracle I tolerated you at the Prome and whenever you did technical work for me. Half the time all I wanted to do was scream at you. I guess I still had a bit of acting talent left after all.
You never actually told me why you did it, and, honestly, I don't want to know. But you were fawning over Jade even then, and my theory is, you did it for her. Maybe I was threatening to her somehow, or you were just desperate to get her attention and you knew she hated me. But really? It doesn't matter. None of it matters except that I did what you said and ruined any chance of a big break. I know what you're thinking. I lived for 3 years in submission to a weak nerd whose only friend is his sister? I tried to get that footage away, I really did. And I got 2 copies away from you, you didn't know what hit you that day.
But by then, it had been half a year and my vocal chords were ruined. I never remembered how to sing well after that, and my acting? Well, I'd never had much talent there anyway, and the harder I tried, the worse I seemed. Even now, I still don't know if you have any more copies… But I wouldn't put it past you to edit some more footage to threaten me with. At least now you never can, asshole."
And thanks for the suggestions on who I could add in! I did include a few, but it's amazing how little 17 reasons can become. I'm using Trina's mom and dad as separate reasons, although their reason is combined.
Also, this is kind of my head canon for creepy Sinjin. He's always watching people, and he uses his information against them. I just thought it'd be fun to write, and it was!
Please tell me what you think. :)