The hallway was clear on both sides from any living creatures aside from Jamal as he stepped through the doorway, the bare strips of light that emitted from the ceiling flickering on and off as the filament began to die away from years of use. Night or day, the lights would be on, flickering, and it was a miracle that they hadn't worn out completely yet. Quickly double checking, he hurried down to the far left end where the nearest staircase waited for usage, the faster he was in his task, the less the chances of a human seeing him. He shifted the weight of the box under one arm as he ran on the balls of his feet, mind relaying the kiss and wondering if it was too much. He really was apologetic about having needed Terra's comfort, but neither did he want to simply say it for fear of her saying it wasn't his fault, because it was. It had to be on just this one thing. So he would rather simply show his apology and understanding, for a showing of feelings was a much harder thing to deny or refuse.
At the bottom of the stairs, he pushed open the wooden door with a metal bar across it in absence of a doorknob, a large, red sticker stating that the door not only was an easy entrance and exit point for nekos, but also doubled as a fire escape. Outside, it was a simple, freezing jog across the back parking lot before he reached the cover of a small woods, where he did not stop until the apartments were out of eyesight, even if they remained in earshot. Only then did he cease his movement, the sharp, deep inhalation of the icey air sending shots of pain through his lungs with each breath, but for the time being the exercise would keep his body warm.
There was an old, rusted shovel that he had found some months ago in the trash when he was scavenging in the city and since finding it, he had been using it to bury the contents of their mail, deciding it better off underground than in the trash where their senders would expect him to put it, turning it into a simple job of just placing it into a new box. That was what they had done. If some real labour was required to poison their minds though, outside of killing innocent creatures, then it was beyond their interest. Hole dug, Jamal reopened the box and threw in the tissue paper into the ground until only the parcel in the box was left, alongside a small index card that stated,
'Peek-a-boo, we found you,
won't be long 'till we find him, too,'
with the remnants of the card having been nibbled at by the rats. He flung the card into the hole and stared for just a moment at the thing left inside. It was a head, the head of the male neko who he had killed just yesterday. His lips were sown shut with staples and eyes missing, being replaced with two cameras that stared at him with their glassy, immaculately blood free, lenses, their occasional turning rotations showing that they were sending live feed to whoever had sent this, although he had quite the idea already. There objects had clearly been implanted into the neko shortly before he took his last breath, for their were claw marks across his mouth and cheeks from where he must have tried to scratch out the shards of metal. Jamal stopped the thoughts there, thwarting the images of how the cameras must have been implanted into his eye sockets. The dark side of the boy came out just then as a small, almost psychotic smile came to him. "I'm going to find you, too," he spoke to the cameras, "catch you and kill you, catch you and kill, catch you and kill you. All of you." Then he raised the shovel over his head and with a blow of finality, smashed the metal within the skull, shoving the entire box into the hole, and burying it flat.
He spun around suddenly as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, the feeling of being watched in the air. Sure enough, there stood the teenage boy from earlier, leaning against a nearby tree, cleaning his nails with a pocket knife. He waited until Jamal left the shovel next to the mound of freshly dug dirt and was only a few paces away before stating in a very matter-of-fact voice, "Lovely day," which was only answered to with a grunt of agreement from the neko. "Just hope it doesn't pour later in the week."
Jamal froze. "That would be quite unpleasant. For everyone," he answered firmly. "Even those who have roofs over their heads have cracks up in the attic."
"Is that a threat, scum?"
"We're only talking about the weather."
There was a long pause before a smile broke out over the boy's impish face. "Indeed."
The warmth from his run was beginning to wear off and his standing still was not helping matters, but for safety reasons, he waited until the teenager headed off deeper into the woods before he continued on his way to the apartments, tracing his way back the way he came until he reached the front door, slowly pushing his way inside, nose and cheeks red. He smiled at Terra, hoping to bring back the light atmosphere. "All done," he said, sounding positive, despite the recent flow of events. He went over to the broken recliner and snagged his thin blanket, wrapping it around himself before sitting down on the couch.
