Five

Margaret, Peter, Melanie, and Keith stayed awake in the dreary white hospital room all night. Jeff hadn't woken up within the hour. At ten in the morning, there was finally signs of an awakening Jeff.

The sheets rustled, "Uhh…." He groaned, "What... what happened?" When Jeff's hoarse voice echoed through the room, the four were definitely now awake.

"Jeff!" Melanie yelled, rushing up to his side. The bandages that covered his face were covering all but his eyes, mouth, and nostril area. His eyes flickered over to Melanie, a small smile dancing on his lips.

"Hey, Mellie," Jeff croaked, "How are ya?" Melanie scoffed at this, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I'm good, but it's you we should be worried about! You nearly died!" Melanie exclaimed, hopping up onto the side of the bed, crossing her legs, facing Jeff.

Margaret and Peter chuckled between themselves, staring at their children. Jeff sat up slowly, staring at his parents. "What happened after we went upstairs? I don't remember." Jeff mumbled, slowly.

"Well, I guess we should let Keith start." Peter said, making Jeff's head swing over to the boy.

"Why are you here?" He snapped, angrily.

Keith sighed, looking down at his lap as he fidgeted with his hands. "I'm really sorry, Jeff. Troy and I were threatened by Randy, but Melanie here snapped me to my senses. Troy was too dumb to notice we were being used, I guess." He muttered, slowly tilting his head upwards to make eye contact with Jeff.

"Okay, then. I believe you." Jeff said, raising a hand up to the boy. They connected hands, giving it a firm shake.

"I also live with you guys now." Keith said with a laugh, making Jeff join in.

"Wait why?" He murmured, confused.

"I'm an orphan, don't really stay anywhere permanently." Jeff nodded, the pair ending the conversation at that.

Peter and Margaret left the room for a while, doing who knows what, whilst the trio talked quietly with each other.

By eleven o'clock, Margaret and Peter were not back, and the three children were getting confused. Where had they gone, and why weren't they back?

The three talked on for a little longer before the door was opened so quietly that the trio didn't even notice the fact that it had opened. When a figure walked into the room, they still weren't noticed. "Wow, guys. Nice way to show you missed me."

The trio all froze and turned to look at the fifteen-year-old who had just announced his presence. "Liu!" Melanie was the first to react, jumping off the bed and running into her brother's arms.

"Heya, Mellie." Liu whispered, lifting her up and clutching her close to his chest. After a minute or so, Liu put her back on the ground, making his way over to Jeff. "Hey, little bro." Liu said, bending down and gently wrapping his arms around his brother.

"I missed you, idiot." Jeff huffed, smiling up at his brother. Liu smiled back, before turning to Keith.

"Thanks for what you did for these two. It takes a lot to stand up against a guy like Randy." Liu stated, offering a hand to Keith. Keith took it, shaking it with a mischievous smile on his lips.

"I should do it more often; I did get a place to live out of it!" He joked, but Liu wasn't even phased.

"Yeah, Mom and Dad told me. It'll definitely be interesting with you around." The four nodded, before bursting out into a random bout of laughter.

Jeff's been in the hospital for two weeks now. The day Liu came back they went back home, making sure to visit Jeff daily since the hospital was fairly close. During the two weeks, it's given the four now-unofficial siblings to have some four to four bonding time.

As Peter, Margaret, Liu, Keith, and Melanie were getting ready to visit Jeff, Peter's phone began to ring. He took the call, sounding surprised at the person on the other side.

"Yeah, we're on our way already," Peter muttered, "We can?" He asked, "Well then that's great!" He exclaimed, before hanging up the call.

"That was Jeff's doctor." Peter stated, looking at his family, "He's getting his bandages off and he's coming home today!" He happily yelled, making the four smile happily. Peter stepped on the gas, making his way to the hospital as fast as he could- without speeding.

They rushed to room 394, bursting in. It revealed Jeff with no bandages present, dressed in a plain white hoodie and black jeans that stuck to his skin, black converse coating his feet.

"Jeff?" Melanie questioned, looking at her big brother with confusion in her eyes.

"What's up Mellie?" Jeff wondered, looking down at Melanie with a large smile on his lips.

"Are you…. Happy with how you look?" She asked slowly, not trying to be rude.

Jeff shrugged, running a hand through his now black hair. "You could say that."

Margaret and Peter frowned, slowly stepping forward in front of the kids. "Jeff, honey," Margaret began slowly, "I'm not trying to be rude but... you look... hideous. Terrifying. Horrid. Freaky." Margaret whispered, making Jeff scoff and glare at his mother.

"I do not look hideous, terrifying, horrid, or freaky." He stated, deadly calm. "I'm beautiful."

Liu looked at Keith and Melanie, who had their eyes fixated on Jeff. "Guys," he exclaimed loudly, looking between his family members, "Jeff may not look the same, no, but he's still our Jeff. Still your son," He said, staring at Margaret and Peter, "Still our brother- kinda." He finished, looking at Keith and Melanie.

"He's right." Keith spoke up, Melanie hastily nodding at his words, a grin upon her face.

Jeff gave them a genuine toothy smile, rushing over to the three and pulling them into a hug. "Ah, guys, sorry but can't breathe!" Melanie squeaked after being trapped in the hug for a few minutes, which set the three boys into ripples of childlike laughter.

Margaret excused herself, going to the doctor and asking about Jeff's behaviour. "Ah, doctor, why is Jeff liking how he looks?" She snapped, frowning at the doctor.

The doctor only shrugged, brushing it off as a result of his pain killers.

The family all went home that day, spending the day playing games with each other whilst the children made fun of their parents, pulling miniscule pranks on them whenever they could. What could go wrong?

By the time it was 10 o'clock at night, none of the Woods' children were asleep. Melanie should have been asleep, but since Jeff was back, the four were having the time of their lives. Finally, Liu stood up from where the four were lounging on the couch. "Okay. I'm going to bed now, and I expect Mellie to be in bed, tucked in within the next ten minutes." He said, leaving the trio and making his way to his room.

Once he was gone, Jeff turned to Melanie. "Kiddo, make your way to your bed and get your pj's on, okay? Keith will be up in a few." Since Keith had unofficially became a Woods, Melanie refused to not have Keith spend the nights with her. They were the closest, after all.

"Okay." Melanie nodded, departing from the two as she made her way to her bedroom.

Once Jeff knew that Melanie was well out of earshot, he turned to Keith, his face expressionless. "Whatever you hear during the night, don't leave Mellie's room. Neither of you. And I'm sorry." He said sternly, before getting up from the couch and sighing, "Let me talk to Mellie for a minute?" He asked but didn't wait for a response. When he was halfway up the stairs, Keith cleared his throat from the bottom of the stairs.

"What about Liu?" Keith wondered, staring at Jeff. Jeff only shrugged, continuing to make his way to Melanie and Keith's shared room.

Once Jeff reached his sisters room, he knocked thrice. "Mellie? Can I come in?" Melanie ran to the door, opening it wide.

"Of course you can, silly!" She laughed, letting her brother in. The pair sat on her pink-quilted bed, staring at each other in silence until Melanie poke up. "Jeff, what do you need?" She questioned, and he frowned.

"Okay. Mellie, no matter what happens tonight and in the future, I'm so sorry. You, my little Mellie, are the best sister anyone could ask for. Stay with your brother okay? No matter what happens, stay with Keith." He said, making Melanie look at him confused, tilting her head.

"Jeff, what do you mean?" But Jeff didn't answer. He only shook his head, leaving the room, sorrow in his eyes.

That night, when everyone had gone to bed, Jeffrey Woods did three things. One: lock the door to Melanie and Keith's room from the outside. Two: carve a ginormous, bloody, amazing, beautiful smile into his face. And three: burn out his eyelids, so he could always see just how beautiful he'd became.

No doubt about it, Jeffrey Woods had gone insane.

As he was in the middle of making himself beautiful, something very unexpected occurred. Margaret Woods had awoken and discovered that he was doing something 'bad���. She gasped an inaudible gasp, rushing back to her bedroom. Jeff followed behind her silently, unblinking, blood dripping down his face and onto the floor from his carved smile.

"Honey, get the gun." Margaret muttered as Peter did as she asked. Jeff knew that they were going to kill him, and in his eyes, the only way to make it out alive was to kill them instead.

He clutched the knife he had used to carve his smile tightly in his hand, ready to strike as soon as his parents appeared. He crept his way through the passageway, sneaking into his parent's bedroom, where they sat quietly talking. He had blended himself into the shadows as he came closer, ready to strike. "Oh, Mom, Dad. Go to sleep, won't you?" Jeff joked, before hastily shoving his knife into his mother's skull, killing her instantly. Before Peter could retaliate or even make a sound, Jeff had his knife slashed through his father's neck.

He had just killed his parents, and he didn't regret it.

He was grinning from ear to ear as he left the room, but when he heard Liu's bedroom door open, his face fell. "Jeff? What's going on?" Liu asked, not seeing the blood or Jeff's face because of the darkness.

Jeff walked up to Liu and pushed him back into his bedroom. Liu stumbled back, landing on his bed. "I'm really sorry, Liu, but you have to go to sleep!" He exclaimed, before thrusting the knife into Liu's chest. That he did regret.

He left the house immediately, not looking back. That was how the Jeff the Killer was created.

Melanie and Keith were taken to Melanie's Grandma's house, which was in a small-town in Utah. She looked after them until Melanie was fifteen and Keith was twenty-five. They left to a town called Sunny Hills, Michigan. The only thing that the pair brought from their old life was a backpack that their Grandma gave Melanie. Other than that, the two siblings swore to start a new life, Jeff and Liu free. Melanie wanted to become a nurse. That didn't quite work out though, as somehow everybody knew Melanie as Jeff the Killer and a not-so dead Liu's sister.

How unfortunate this was.