Alright! This chapter actually took me a while to write because I posted it on other sites before Fanfiction, but here's chapter 9!
LJ might be a bit OOC, and I'm sorry for that, but this is how my story is gonna go. After all, the story would end too soon if he was completely in character. :p
So! I hope you enjoy! Leave a review and tell me what you thought or what you think could have changed!
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I watched, slightly amused, as LJ sat cross-legged in front of me. His brows were knit together as he leaned his elbow on his knee, resting his chin in his hand. I couldn't tell if he was just thinking or if he was irritated… or a mixture of both. Either way, it was funny to look at. LJ turned his attention back to me and narrowed his eyes.
" What're you smiling about, kid?" He asked and my grin grew.
" Your face looks hilarious." I replied with a snicker, causing the entity to roll his eyes.
" Glad you're entertained…. Little shit." He muttered, glaring back at the ground. I shrugged before tilting my head.
" So, Christmas morning?" I pressed eagerly and LJ huffed in irritation, crossing his lanky arms.
" Yeah, yeah. Fucking Christmas." He sighed. " Don't even know what the damn holiday is about, but fuck it. It was the day I was created, so—"
" Whoa, so your birthday is Christmas?" I interrupted, causing LJ to narrow his eyes at me again.
" I wasn't born kid." He reminded. " I was created."
" Yeah, well, I was created around August 15th, so shut up." I grinned. " You're totally a Christmas baby."
" I'm not a goddamn baby." He snarled. " Now let me fucking continue." I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing and waited for the entity to calm himself before he continued.
" Okay, so where was I? Oh yeah… Christmas." He sighed, looking up at the blank grey sky of the dream we were in. " Right. Day I was created to be a kid's best friend forever. Some bullshit that was…"
" So, who created you?" I asked. LJ shrugged.
" I dunno." He answered honestly. " I just remember being in that box and knowing what I was supposed to do."
" Wait, so you woke up in a box, just knowing that you were supposed to be Isaac's bff?" I said.
" Well… yeah. That's pretty much it." LJ replied. " Had to wait a few hours for Isaac to actually wake the fuck up, but yeah." I nodded slowly as I listened to the entity.
" Yeah, anyways, he woke up, wound up the box, got disappointed, yadda yadda…" LJ waved his hand boredly. " Then I showed up and made his fucking day. Kid, you know this story, don'tcha? Why do you want me to tell you?"
" Because," I chirped. " I want to hear your side of things. Duh."
" What makes you think it'll be any different?" He snapped.
" Because it's your thoughts and emotions, not the author's." I shot back. " Now quit being a baby and go on!" LJ snorted, muttering something about hating kids and bratty teens now-a-days.
" Fine, so the kid got in trouble because he told his mom about me and I had to hide. Then he got over it and we played stupid games and shit for a while."
" Three months is a long time." I pointed out. Jack scoffed.
" Not to me, kid." He groaned. " I've been alive for a long damn time now, months are like days." I nodded in understanding.
" Yeah, true… Okay then, what about the cat?" I asked and LJ stiffened a bit.
" Oh yeah…" He murmured, tapping a clawed finger on his chin. " I almost forgot about that…"
" So…? What happened?" I pried. LJ sighed, crossing his arms again.
" Honestly, kid? I'm not sure." He muttered, gaze on the dusty earth below us. " Isaac and I were just playing, as usual. Then the cat came up and we were so caught up in that stupid game that I just…" He paused, as if thinking.
"…snapped it in half?"
LJ shrugged and nodded.
" Yep. Never thought I would kill it…" He frowned deeply. " Then Isaac started fucking laughing. Laughing. Like it was the funniest goddamn thing he'd ever seen. It felt—" LJ paused again, brows furrowed in deep thought. He almost looked… disturbed. "…it felt wrong." I blinked a few times, intrigued. It sort of made sense to see that LJ was a bit put off by Isaac's reaction to the cat's death, since a normal seven year old probably would've been panicked, seeing death for the first time. But Isaac just… found it funny. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like Isaac was showing early signs of sociopathic tendencies.
" So, Isaac enjoyed it?" I asked and again, LJ shrugged.
" Don't know if he enjoyed it." LJ admitted. " But he didn't seemed fazed by me killing the thing. The only time he panicked was when I brought up his mom finding out. Kid just threw the cat over the fence like fucking garbage."
Yep, definitely sociopathic tendencies.
" Okay… what happened after that?" I inquired.
" Jeez, kid, can't you just go fucking read it?" LJ hissed and I shook my head stubbornly.
" No," I replied. " I've already read it like, five times. I wanna hear your side of it. How you felt about everything. I thought we already got past this." The entity rolled his eyes and growled in irritation.
" Right, whatever." He hissed. " So, Isaac got in trouble for the cat, got shipped off to a boarding school and completely forgot I existed. Little shit promised he'd come back for me… but I didn't see him for thirteen goddamn years. Fucking asshole… I waited every fucking day for him to show up and when he finally does he remembers jack shit about me." I furrowed my brows, feeling a surge of empathy. Sure, he went crazy and killed hundreds of innocent people, but I knew how it felt to be left behind and forgotten. I really believed that's what drove him over the edge.
" So, how'd you feel when Isaac started killing?" I asked, breaking from my own thoughts. LJ hummed in thought, leaning back a little bit.
" At first, I didn't know what to think." He replied. " It was… new. Never saw anyone get killed before. But I felt… great. Seeing the life drain from someone's eyes." LJ stopped for a moment, eyes flashing with… what was that? Regret? I couldn't process the emotion as it disappeared as quickly as it came. " I dunno why, but after not seeing much of anything for thirteen years, watching Isaac kill people was the most entertainment I had in a long time." I nodded again.
" And what about when Isaac opened your box?"
LJ's expression turned dark as he glared at the dirt below us. I could feel the atmosphere tense almost painfully as the silence stretched on.
" I…" LJ took a deep breath, shutting his eyes tightly. " I don't really remember. It was kind of like I was watching someone else. Like a movie, you know? A really fucking gory one." I grimaced, images flooding my mind just from remembering the description given in LJ's origin story. " It was the fucking weirdest thing I ever been through. For years, it felt like a goddamn out of body experience and all I could do was sit and watch."
I blinked at the rest of the description, brows furrowing. So, is that what happened? The link between LJ and Isaac just let the entity go into an autopilot-like state? Weird.
" …so when did you stop?" I asked softly, mulling over the information I had just heard. LJ shrugged halfheartedly and looked off to his right.
" Don't really know. It's all kind of fuzzy." LJ replied. " I remember starting to feel… odd. Like I was… tainted or something… something was seriously wrong. The more I thought about it, the more horrible I felt. So I kind of… went into hiding, so to say." I nodded, staring at the other thoughtfully.
" …wow." I muttered at last. " What about Cory? How'd you meet him?"
" That kid? Known him a long time…" LJ started. " Since he was two he could see me. I used to play with him all the time…" I blinked.
" Before the orphanage?" I asked and LJ nodded.
" Yeah… his father had a little… accident." LJ explained vaguely and my eyes narrowed in thought. I'd have to look into Cory's family history.
" Accident, huh?" I repeated. " And you haven't hurt anyone since you met Cory?"
" Yep," LJ agreed before hopping to his feet. " As much as I loved this nice chat we had, it's time to wake up, kiddo." I frowned and looked up at the entity before me.
" Really?" I muttered. " It doesn't feel like it's been that long."
" It has. Time works differently here." LJ replied, a smirk crossing his face. " See ya around, kid."
A loud snapping rang through the air and before I could say a word, my eyes were focused on the ceiling of the orphanage once more.
