SNAP! "Damn it!" I yelled, throwing my paint brush on the floor. I had just broken the handle and completely messed up the portrait I was working on. The portrait was of a dangerous man, the mafia boss that practically ran the small town I lived in. And if he found out I needed another week to fix it, he'd cut my head off then and there. I sighed and placed my forehead against the wall, now I would have to stay up all night perfecting that one mistake. "Damn..." I muttered again. I lit a cigarette and stared at the painting, I know smoking is a bad habit but, it was probably the only thing that was keeping me from just falling to the floor and crying. I looked at the clock on the wall, 12:00 at night. Time to get to work. I walked over to the TV and turned on the news, then walked back to the portrait. The crime news usually came on at this time of night, so I usually tuned in. "There have been a resent string of devastating murders on Butcher ST. in our beloved town of Oakside. Investigators say that they have yet to find out who this horrific killer is, and are looking for any evidence that might say who this person is." The Anchorwoman said, obviously pretending to feel sorry for any of the victims. "So far the only thing we know is that this killer takes pleasure, in mutilating his victims and his calling card is the phrase, 'Go. To. Sleep!'. If you have any information that might help stop this maniac, call the number at the bottom of the screen. We now turn you to Bernie with the weather." I sighed and went back to painting. Honestly, it was no surprise, I lived on Butcher ST, and its a pretty bad neighborhood. There is so much crime that, once you've lived there a couple months, you've seen it all. But the apartments were actually really nice and cheap, so I learned when it was safe to go out and when it was better to just stay indoors. I went to go grab another bucket of my paints when I realized that, I had left them in the basement of the apartment building I lived in. "Well then..." I said, to myself. "The world hates me today." I walked out of my apartment and went down to the basement, I found the paints immediately. However, they weighed a ton and I had no one to help me carry them up. So, I dragged the bucket across the floor. I was almost to my 5th floor apartment when, suddenly, the bucket felt lighter. I looked behind me to find Helen Otis, my neighbor and, at the time, best friend. Helen had black hair and royal blue eyes, he always wore black jeans, a black T-shirt and a blue trench coat. Helen lived in the apartment right next to mine, and he was a fellow artist. "Hey." He said, holding up my paints. I smiled. "Helen! Thanks you saved me from a slow and painful walk up another floor." I said. He laughed. "Well maybe if you learned to ask for help, I would have saved you sooner." I rolled my eyes and Helen helped me carry the paints back to my room. "Thanks man." I said, once we got to my apartment. "No problem, I'll see you later." " 'Kay, goodnight Helen." "Goodnight." I walked into my apartment an dropped my paints on the inside of the door, it was dark and I know I left the light on. I carefully walked into the apartment and shut the door, I went to the kitchen there was a knife in there that I kept for safety. I searched in the drawer but couldn't find it. My heart raced. "WHERE!? WHERE IS IT!?" I thought. "Looking for something?" I froze at the dark, raspy, voice that came from behind me. I turned around slowly, and came face to face with a man. I tried to scream but he put his hand over my mouth. "You make one sound and I'll rip your head off." He growled. I stood completely still, and had no idea what to do. Chapter 2oThe man stepped closer and I got a good look at his face. His crystal blue eyes were bordered in black and they never blinked, his skin was as white as a sheet of my sketching paper, and his mouth. It took me a minute to even realize he had one, because it was hidden by the blood coming from the long horrifying smile, carved into his cheeks. I took a step back in terror. "P-please I'm just a artist, I don't want to die." I stuttered out. The man chuckled. "Oh really?" He said. The man was quiet for a few moments, he seemed to be thinking. I realized that probably was bad as well and started mentally crying, well good bye world it's been nice knowing you. Suddenly I heard the boy laugh. . .laugh. . .He was laughing. My heart began to hammer and my mind went blank, what was he laughing at?! "Just how good of a painter are you?" He asked. I gulped. "W-well I guess I'm o-okay." I answered. "Oh, I think your better than good. Randy wouldn't ask just anyone to paint his portrait." He said, pointing his knife at me. Randy? This man knew Randy, the gang boss Randy. How did he know him? Is he an Assassin?! Did I take to long to finish the portrait?! I began panicking. "L-look! The portrait is almost done!" I said, leading him to my studio. "I'm almost d-d-done, just give m-me till tomorrow!" The man looked around my studio, at each and every painting. I stood there my hands sweaty, and trembling. "I don't work for him you know, Randy I mean." He said, looking at a Tokyo Ghoul painting I had done for fun. "What. . .So wait who are you?!" I asked. He burst out laughing. "Are you dumb?" He asked. "I'm the one causing all the trouble on the news." I stood there, frozen. I couldn't speak, hell I was lucky I could breathe. I took a step back towards the doorway, my body moving of its own accord. "W-what do you want from me?" The man grinned. "My name is Jeff, and I would like a portrait." I stopped, he wanted a portrait? WTF?! Well if it saved my life. . . "Okay. . .I'll do it." He smiled widely. "Perfect." Chapter 3I woke up, sweat covered my body. What a weird dream. I got up and shuffled to my kitchen, I put on some music and got some cereal. I wandered through the apartment, I felt as though there was something I needed to do. Then it hit me, the portrait. I put down the bowl of fruit loops and ran to my studio. I had 2 hours! 2 hours before my head was cut off if this painting wasn't finished. I threw open the door, then slipped on some paint. I was caught by someone, I looked up and screamed. It wasn't a dream, last night was real. I pushed him away from me, and then fell backwards. "Surprised, sweetheart?" He asked. "Very!" I spat, getting up off of the floor. His carved smile seemed to get wider. "You better get to painting." He said. "What do you know about art." I hissed, picking up a paint brush. "I wasn't talking about that." He gestured towards the painting. "I was talking about the one you agreed to do for me." I rolled my eyes, this guy obviously knew nothing about art. First comes the sketching, then the outline, then the erasing, then more sketching, then buying the art supplies, then finding the perfect canvas, then the repeating process of painting and letting paint dry. It takes months, maybe even years for some, to finish a painting. "You don't get it. " I hissed. "Art takes time, especially painting." He laughed. His laugh was cold, and evil. It sent shivers down my spine and gave me a feeling of dread, it made believe I wasn't safe. I quickly regained my composure and grabbed the heavy bucket of paints, dragging it next to my easel. There was an awkward silence between the 2 of us. It shocked me how quiet he was, it was almost as if he wasn't there at all. But I knew he was, I could feel his lidless eye's staring at me. It was as if he was trying to burn a hole into my back just by staring at me. Despite this my attention was focused on the painting and only the painting, and after about an hour and 30 minutes I was finished. I sighed and stretched out my arms and back, my gaze went to the clock. Seeing I still had time I got up, walked past Jeff towards the bathroom and took a shower. I got dressed in some jeans and a black T-Shirt, and put my hair in a pony tail. I walked back into my room and began to search for my glasses, they were a bright purple so it wasn't hard to find them. I stood up (my glasses had been under my bed), and was startled to see Jeff in the door way. He looked at me and held up three fingers. "Three months." He said. I tilted my head in confusion. "huh?" "You have three months to paint me and that's it, no more no less." He smiled underneath his carved one. "Of course I will be checking in on you in that time period, and I do expect to see you working." Before I could say anything, he walked past me opened my window and, with a glance back at me, he jumped out. I sat on my bed thinking about what he had said. 3 months? How was I supposed to complete a proper portrait in 3 months? I got up and grabbed the now dry portrait of Randy. I was going to deliver this, and then I needed to talk to Helen. Chapter 4I ran into Helen's apartment and yelled for him.
"Helen!" I called. "Helen!" No answer. He must be out. I looked around, red paint was everywhere. Except it didn't look like paint...I shook off the creepy feeling I had and quickly ran out into the hallway. Something just didn't feel right. I felt myself back into someone. "Hey Raven, what were you doing?" I jumped at the sound of Helen's voice and quickly turned around. "Oh, hey Helen...I was just uh looking around..." Helen tilted his head and his blue eyes pierced straight threw me. I knew he didn't believe me. I could have told the truth, but something wasn't right here. Helen seemed different, almost dangerous. That wasn't paint in his room, paint doesn't emit a foul smell. Nor does it flake when its dried. I smiled sweetly at him. "You know I just realized I left the oven on." Before Helen could say or do anything I ran to my apartment and locked the door. I sighed and slid down the door, my brain not processing what I had seen. Was that really blood? It couldn't have been...could it? I couldn't deal with this, my life was on the line and I only had three months to save myself. "So I see you've found him out." I looked up from the floor to see Jeff standing in front of me, a smug grin on his face. "How does it feel? Knowing that he's killed people?" A/N: Hey Guys! Look! I finally updated! Forgive me if its short but I have a lot going on so I haven't had time to update. I hope you enjoy! :)
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