Chapter 18: Special Child
A/N: This is probably going to be some of the darkest stuff I've written for any of my stories. I usually don't write this kind of stuff mainly because it's creepy and because I don't know if any of my readers would handle this level of creep. But after how the last chapter ended and since this is a Resident Evil story I'll give it a shot.
Today we're going to look into the mind of Jeremy and see why he's the villain of this story. Just how messed up can a person be? How far will a person go that they become a monster? We're going to find out.
If you guys want to skip this chapter and wait for the next one, I totally understand. I just felt this needed to be written so you guys will see what Jeremy is capable of later on in the story.
Let's get on with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, I just own my characters.
Trigger Warnings: Mentions of death, murder, stalking, mentally unstable person, mutilation, attempted drugging.
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Jeremy was a special child.
That's what his mother always called him growing up. She had always longed to be a mother and wanted a child so badly. When she got pregnant in college by her boyfriend she was ecstatic. Finally she could have a family of her own.
Her brother demanded she terminate this pregnancy. She wasn't ready to be a mother and it would make their family look bad that she got knocked up out of wedlock. She didn't listen to Simmons and declared that she was going to keep this baby. Simmons blackmailed her boyfriend into marrying her to save face. It wasn't that hard to do when your girlfriend's brother worked for the government and served right under the President.
After a quick, small ceremony the young couple were married and prepared to be parents. And nine months later they were blessed with a healthy baby boy.
They thought they were blessed but they would later find out it was more of a curse.
At the beginning, Jeremy seemed to act like a normal child. He was able to learn how to walk, talk and function like any other human. If anything he seemed to be a lot smarter than all the other children his age. He was like a mini genius.
But as he got older the signs started to show. He tended to lash out at his other classmates. If someone got a better grade then him, he would punish them. If the teacher showed more attention to another student, he would 'remind' the teacher who was the better student. If he wasn't the favorite, he would 'prove' why he was the favorite.
Childish? Perhaps. But was physically attacking students, blackmailing adults and destroying property considered childish?
His mother thought so. After all, her little baby could do no wrong.
He was a special child.
His father saw the signs right away. He wanted to institutionalize him. Something was clearly wrong with this child. His mother refused it every time. Nothing was wrong with her baby. Everyone else just didn't understand him.
The warning signs were there but his mother refused to see them.
One time in the fifth grade there was a girl that he fancied in class. She was a pretty little thing. She had red hair that she always had up in pigtails. He sat behind her and would yank on them to get her attention. Then one day the girl came into class and he was horrified to see that she had cut her hair and had it in a bob. Why would she do that when she knew he loved her braids?
It wasn't his fault that he lashed out at her and tried to rip her hair out. It was her fault. She should have left her hair alone. The poor girl ended up in the hospital after almost being scalped.
Least she learned her lesson.
The school had enough with his antics and kicked him out. If his mother wasn't going to do anything about his actions then they were. They didn't need any more bad eggs.
His mother refused to send him away. He was just a child, he didn't know any better. His father demanded he be sent away. If he could harm a girl over a haircut who knew what he would do next.
But his mother won in the end and said she would just homeschool him. He couldn't harm anyone when he was at home right?
He was just a special child.
For a while the home schooling worked out fine. He was the center of attention and his mother showered him with praise. When he did really good on a lesson his mother would reward him with treats. Even if he didn't do good on something, he was still rewarded because after all…
He was a special child.
This little routine worked perfectly for a few years. He did well with his studies and proved he was a very smart boy. What more could a parent ask for?
Well, it seemed his mother got a little too greedy and made a very big mistake.
She found out she was pregnant again.
She was over the moon. She was going to have another precious child to love and cherish. Jeremy would have a little sibling to bond with.
Who did his mother think she was? Did he ever say he wanted a sibling who would take the attention away from him? No! If he wanted a companion he would have asked for a pet but even that would take the attention away from him.
His uncle seemed to be on his side with his. He was against his sister having another child. It could be because he saw how messed up Jeremy was and that he was ruining the family name but he ignored that. All he heard was that this baby was a bad idea.
If it was a bad idea then he would fix it.
He didn't know throwing a plugged in hairdryer while his mom was bathing would kill her. Although is was interesting seeing how her body reacted when electricity touched water.
That was the straw that broke the camels back for his father. He went crazy. His wife and unborn child were dead and it was because of this messed up child that he had to call his son. He lashed out and tried to end the boy. If he was capable of ending a life who knew what he would do next.
His uncle intervened. Not for his nephew's safety. He didn't want his family image to be ruined even more. He never saw his father again after that. He didn't know what happened to him nor did he care. He didn't care for those who didn't give him attention.
Living with Simmons was bleak. The man was forced to raise the child that killed his sister. He had no time to take care of children. He had a country to protect. He could have thrown this brat into an orphanage. A mental institution would have been better but if he did that, word would get out and it would come back to his job where the President would find out. If there was a troublesome member in the Simmons family then that meant they weren't fit to run this country. So in Simmons like fashion he covered everything up. He covered his sister's death as an accident where she slipped and fell while getting out of the tub. His brother-in-law filled with grief gave his son up knowing he couldn't care for him properly. And poor Jeremy was just upset that he lost his family and didn't know how to process his pain.
Everyone would take pity on a child who was dealt a bad hand at life.
One wouldn't think to look closely at a freshly painted wall and notice all the cracks hiding behind it, would they?
So Jeremy spent the rest of his life under Simmon's thumb. If the boy did what his uncle said he would be rewarded. Stay out of trouble? Get a new car. Don't cause a scene? 100,000 dollars sent to his bank account.
This was all an act of course. Jeremy always did what he wanted and got what he wanted. He would act like the good nephew just to shut his uncle up. Simmons knew he was acting too but he was too busy dealing with the backlash of Racoon City. He had to cover his tracks and didn't have time to pay attention to his nephews antics.
One would think Jeremy was planning on that.
While Simmons dealt with hiding the information of the T-Virus and what Umbrella had done, Jeremy went back to doing what he did best.
After that incident with his mother's death he became fascinated with the human body. It was just a complex structure. What made it move, how it functioned and most importantly how a person died intrigued him. It seemed a person could die by just about anything. He secretly experimented while he was in school just to see how far he could go.
One time he stole a classmate's EpiPen from his locker during gym glass and put nuts in his lunch and smeared peanut butter in his bag. He was fascinated to see the boy's face swell up as he gasped for air while his throat closed up. Another time, he got angry that his girlfriend had cheated on him with the captain of the football team so he cut the breaks of her car. He could still recall what her mangled corpse looked like when they pulled her out of her wrecked car. There were other incidents such as these. He was smart enough to make them look like accidents so he wouldn't get caught.
When he went to college he got a little careless. One of his professors gave him a low grade on one of his reports. Since the man embarrassed him he decided to embarrass him back and spread a rumor about him sleeping with his female students. The professor was fired and blacklisted. However one of the students in his class snitched on him and revealed he was behind that rumor only because he failed an exam. He tried to get back at the student but it turned out his dad was a police officer and tried to arrest him. Simmons of course stepped in and paid the officer off and pulled Jeremy from that school. He couldn't wipe away the expulsion but he was able to cover up the reason for it.
Second school, a student was getting better grades then he was so he decided to 'fix' that by tripping him on one of the flight of stairs and watched as he bleed out. Simmons paid for the students medical bills but the poor thing wouldn't be the same again thanks to that brain injury.
His next school, he tried stalking a girl he liked. She kept telling him that she had a boyfriend but she was just confused. He was perfect for her, not this loser. He thought that by getting rid of the boy she would see that but it only resulted in him being sent to an insane asylum.
Simmons of course paid off a lot of money to get everything cleared. How could this girl know his nephew killed her boyfriend? Did she see him do it?
Simmons pulled him from the asylum and warned him if he acted out again he would be cut of and blacklisted so he could never be able to work. Can't do much if you live on the streets.
She he transferred to the one he was currently in. Fourth time was the charm, right? He made sure to hide his true nature. He wanted to be a doctor so people could praise him. Everyone looked up to doctors and went to them when they needed help. For a self centered nut job like Jeremy, this was perfect for him. He studied hard, did well on his studies. He excelled when it came to surgery. Cutting open a body and see what was inside was something that intrigued Jeremy to no end. Here, he could really see what happened to a body when it stopped functioning.
Things were going well. Fellow students looked up to him, he was Mr. Popular, girls worshipped him and fought to be his girlfriend. He was basking in all the glory.
And then she came.
Rachel Winters.
She came to the school when he was in his third year in college. She was quiet and kept to herself. She focused on her studies and tried not to cause trouble. When she ran into him the first time, she didn't fawn over him like all the other girls did on campus. She just said hi and went on her way.
He shrugged it off. She was new and didn't know who he was. He would let it slide. But when he ran into her again and again, she didn't fall head over heels in love with him. If anything she seemed indifferent. She would be polite and say hi back but wouldn't do anything else after that.
This intrigued Jeremy.
Who was this girl that she didn't drop to her knees at the sight of him?
Now he was curious. He found out she was studying the same field as he was and was trying to become a doctor.
So she was the quiet, nerdy type? He could go with that.
He tried to get closer to see how her mind worked. He offered to be her tutor and help her study for the exams but she just said she knew the stuff already. To prove her point when their grades came out he saw she was one of the top ten students to pass.
So she was smart like him? That's good. He didn't have time for idiots.
He made a comment one time about her looks and that she would look prettier if she put makeup on. He was just trying to be nice and look out for her. But she made a face at him and said she didn't care about dolling herself up. Her looks weren't going to save lives. That was interesting. Most of the girls who fawned over him spent hours making themselves look beautiful just so he would compliment them. Yet she could care less what he thought of her.
So she wasn't a silly bimbo? Perfect. He hated when women plastered so much makeup on their faces.
As time went on, Rachel would give him the cold shoulder. All the girls would scold her saying she was being mean to him but she shrugged it off saying she had other things to worry about.
In the past Jeremy would have been annoyed someone didn't give him attention but he was fascinated by Rachel. He was getting bored of all the girls fighting over him. His sights were now set on Rachel. It was fun trying to catch hard prizes.
He tried befriending her and being the 'nice guy'. What he thought was being nice, she saw as him being full of himself. He bragged about all his achievements and that he was going to work for one of the best hospitals. Instead of praising him all she said was 'good for you' and walked away.
When she said that something inside of him snapped.
He wanted her.
He wanted this quiet girl who kept to herself. He wanted to lock her away where no one else would see her except for him. To break her down and turn her into the submissive puppet she was meant to be. To hear her screams and cries as he broke her spirit bit by bit until there was nothing left. To see her crawl on all fours and beg him to punish her like the bad girl she was.
Just the thought of those images sent shivers down his spine.
Rachel would be his one way or another.
As time went on, he tried to get closer and closer to her. If only she was in his grasp, he would take her away and lock her up where no one would find her. And he knew no one would find her.
He had looked up her personal information. Having an uncle who worked for the government had its perks. He read her backstory and about her family. They weren't in the picture so they wouldn't cause a problem. When he read her medical files, he felt himself get turned on. The sights of those photos set his blood on fire. He would have sent flowers to her mother as thanks for turning Rachel into the quiet girl that she was. Now that he knew her past, he knew how easy it would be to break her.
He thought he would get away with his plans by inviting her out for drinks but that stupid friend of hers turned it into a party. This was a setback in his plans but this could work out. A bunch of drunk college students wouldn't notice him dragging a drunk girl out of the bar, would they?
So he made a special drink for her. He called it the 'Toxic Zombie'. It was strong liquor with a dash of sleeping meds. He added a couple of other gross stuff to mask the taste. All Rachel had to do was drink it and when she became drowsy he would take her out of the bar and hide her away forever. However when she refused he forced her to play a game. If she couldn't talk to the stranger in the bar she had to drink it. This would work since she was quite who didn't bother people. He almost succeeded but that stupid man stopped her and talked to her so she won the bet.
He was so angry with himself that he got drunk and dragged some random girl from the bar back to his place. He didn't realize until he woke up the next day that he killed her in his fit of rage. The normal thing would have been to call his uncle but when he looked at the corpse he couldn't help but see bits of Rachel. This girl had the same nose as she did.
Interesting.
Shortly after that, the campus went on lockdown because girls were going missing for some reason. Wonder who was the cause of that?
The school should have paid more attention to their students. If they had seen that the missing girls were last seen with him before they vanished they would have figured out who was behind it. He had to give these girls credit for being so stupid and gullible. They should have known better to ask him to walk them back home.
This went on to be his little hobby. He would spot girls that looked like Rachel and bring them back to his place where he would kill them and take the parts that he thought looked like Rachel. One of them got away but that was thanks to his uncle walking in on them having 'fun'. And this girl had the same hair color as Rachel too!
Why was he making his own version of Rachel when he could have had the real one? It was simple. He needed to test out his experiment to see if it would work. If he used Rahcel right away it might not work and his plans would be ruined. So he needed a mock Rachel to see if what he had in mind would work.
If he couldn't have Rachel willingly then he would just do so by force.
That annoying guy from the bar was going to be a problem though. He had no idea it was Leon Kennedy. If the President needed something done, Leon got it done.
He didn't like that Leon was getting close to his woman. He wasn't supposed to get to know her after that little dare. Didn't he realize Rachel belonged to him? Maybe he did and that's why he was hanging around Rachel. He was trying to piss him off.
Well he would fix that. Leon was a federal agent but he wasn't smart like he was. He knew how the human body worked. Once he got rid of Leon, Rachel would he his for the taking.
As he looked at the parts he had collected from his victims he saw he was close to making his Rachel doll. All he needed was to find someone with her hair color and he would be good to go with his final step.
This part was going to be tricky since it meant he had to see his uncle. He was on thin ice with the old man but if he wanted this to work he had to see him. Good thing winter vacation was coming up. He would have to visit his uncle for the holidays for appearances. While Simmons was busy doing government stuff he could grab the thing he knew was hiding at his uncle's home.
Once he had this thing, then his little project would come to life.
Rachel would understand what he was trying to do for them. When you're in love, you'll do crazy stuff for your special person. And if she didn't understand, it was ok because she wouldn't be alive to comprehend what he was trying to do.
Because after all…
Jeremy was a special child.
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A/N: Hopefully this wasn't too messed up. It was pretty weird writing a chapter where no one talked during the whole thing but I think that just made it creepier which adds to the theme of this chapter.
Jeremy really is a bad egg. It seemed he was messed up even as a child. If he was capable of killing his mom out of jealousy then it's no surprise he'll want to harm Rachel. Just what does he need from Simmons though? What could that man possibly have that he needs for his crazy experiment?
Sorry if this was a messed up chapter. But least now you have a bigger reason to hate Jeremy!
Please tell me what you think!
Take care!