Have fun with the fanfic! This is part 1 by the way.
It was a cool, moist night when I first saw the girl. I had just arrived back home, my black leather purse filled to the brim with clues, when I opened my apartment door to see a middle, maybe high school student in my living room. Her muddy combat boots were soles down on my rose-printed couch as she was taking out every sacred possession I had in an unpacked box from the funeral. Didn’t help she was obnoxious enough to put the tv on Dateline and Cheeto dust was spread around. Dumbass. This has got to be her first break-in.
I rolled my eyes as I snuck into the kitchen to grab a frying pan. I don’t want to kill this kid, but I need her out. I grabbed the pan and tiptoed behind her. In a minute, I was close enough to this kid’s head to get that old whiff of puberty and smoke, when she turned her head like an owl to face me. Her face, it was burnt to the point you could see her eye sockets, her eyebrows were unable to grow back, and her smile… her smile is too damn familiar.
“Oh! Good evening Ms. Richardson! I see you’ve been gathering information!” Her voice was nasally as her pitch was too similar to a friend’s invite. “Yes, I did…” I glare behind my mask, uncertain if she’s an ally or not. What am I thinking, she’s a kid brutalized by the same monster as me, of course she’s an ally.
I was finally able to catch my voice as I uttered “and, hm, who are you…?”
“Oh! Right, sorry! I’m Nina! Nina Hopkins Miss Jane! My, it is an honor to finally meet you in person!” The girl was just about bursting with excitement, an enthusiasm that greatly disturbed me.
“And how, exactly, did you get into MY apartment?”
“Oh! Uh, your back door was unlocked.”
“It’s an apartment. On the 7th floor.”
The skeletal girl in pink grew flustered. “The back… window?”
Bullshit. This girl, Nina, can’t lie her way out of a paper bag if she tried.
“That’s it. Out of my apartment.” I grabbed the girl’s narrow wrist and pulled her off the couch in one swing as I dragged her to the door.
“Wait, WHAT?! Miss Jane, I get you are angry, but you mean the world to me!”
“Seriously, you are such an inspiration!”
What type of a compliment is that?!
“Don’t you get it? We are SO CLOSE to finding him! We can’t give up now!”
I stopped, hand hovering over the door handle. I turn to face her.
“What do you mean by ‘him’?”
Her eyes lit up. “Jeff! Jeffery Woods, the Devil in White! I’ve been looking for him too! I know you want to find him, hell, you just came back from gathering maps!”
I lost my patience as I pulled her into a deadly grasp, “How the fuck do you know ME?!”
The kid got sheepish again, as she tilted her head towards a camera and photos in her backpack. I walk over to inspect.
“I was in photography, and I was drawn to your story.”
I looked closely at the photos, and I realized, half of them are about me. Photos of me at the grocery store. Photos of me at my old house. Photos of me writing a letter as a mother bled out.
“Jeff’s not the only person I got evidence on.”
“You know, we could do a favors for favors?”
“What are you talking about?”
The girl managed to get out of my grip and started to walk in circles. “Well, we both want to get to Jeff, but you also want these photos gone. How about, we go to Jeff and I hand over the photos to you?”
I studied her body language, but there wasn’t much deception. “And what’s in it for you?”
“I don’t know, just hang out with you?”
I sighed under my breath. “Find, I’ll consider the offer.” I got nothing left to loose anyways.
“WAIT REALLY?! Woohoo! I hit the jackpot!”
“Chill. I didn’t say yes.”