Wake of the Dead | Two

Chapter Forty-One | Jasper

The dark had always been lonely for Jasper. It was a place of emptiness, a bottomless void that left him alone with his own thoughts. No matter what he tried to divert his pondering, the echoes of haunting gunfire always seemed to ring in his ears after some time.

Being left alone with his thoughts for too long was never good. Eventually the voices would come back, the guilt, the fear. The horrible nightmares he relived whenever he'd travelled alone before he found Tom's group had left him with days of sleep deprivation and his own sanity deteriorating.

Jasper desperately shoved those thoughts away, closing his eyes tight and focusing on the rhythemic sound of his own anxious tapping. He had to move, but there was nowhere to go. He was going to die the next day. The sudden weight of his situation hit him like a train, knocking the breath from his lungs. His throat felt tight, his chest squeezing. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead. Cohen probably covered his tracks. They're going to find nothing and I'm going to die.

An uncontrollable, hysterical laugh bubbled up from between his lips, forcing him to take sporadically rapid breaths. You're going to die. You've taken care of these people for months and they're going to kill you. Running a hand through his hair, Jasper could feel the gradual piling of emotions weighing down on his shoulders, as if the whole sky had fallen down on top of him. Anger, resentment, fear, grief. You've been a horrible person. You've hurt so many people. What is this? Atonement? You're finally going to get what you deserve now.

The creaking of the basement door opening made Jasper flinch back, his hand immediately reaching for his knife at his belt, only to remember it had been confiscated. But that didn't matter anymore. Had the group decided his life wasn't worth the wait, to end it before the time he was promised? He dug his nails into his arms. The pain brought him comfort. He was still alive. He could still feel something, anything. But he wouldn't for long.

"Jasper?" That quiet, almost melodic voice sent Jasper's heart a flutter, but it was quickly replaced with an agonizing, sharp pain in his chest. So strong it brought hot tears behind his eyes. That voice, it was one he might never hear again after the next day. His beautiful, beautiful lover. Killian. Oh god, Killian. His lips quivered, his hand clenched harder against his flesh. I don't want to leave you. I promised to keep you safe. Jasper bit down on his tongue, digging in his teeth until he could taste the salty tang of blood. Don't let him hear you cry.

It was no use. As soon as Jasper spoke, his voice cracked and all of his emotions spilled over at once. "Killian baby, come here." The door closed again, plunging the basement into darkess. The sound of rapidly tapping footsteps rushed over, then two arms wrapped around his neck. Feeling Killian's warm body against his made the pain even worse. "Killian," Jasper couldn't muster any other words. He could only bury his face into Killian's neck.

"I'm here now."

"How?"

"Casimir and Harley were posted as your guards. I guess I'm lucky I'm on Cas' good side now, yea?"

Gentle fingers pried Jasper's hand away from his arm, running a delicate thumb over the indents pinned to his flesh. "I'm not scared to die," Jasper said shakily. "I'm scared, because it's...them." He couldn't explain it. The frightening thing wasn't death. No, death would be peaceful. But when it came sentenced from the group Jasper once saw as his friends, it changed everything. "I trusted them," He continued, forcing his words through the tight lump in his throat. "I trusted them and now they'll kill me."

The darkness slowly began to creep up over Jasper, shrouding him into that familiar safe space, the transparent box that detatched him from all of the pain, from the monsters outside. "They were my friends." He said sharkily. His voice didn't sound like his own, it was suddenly unfamiliar, a stranger. "They...let this happen. Tom was my friend. He ordered my death. I'm going die, because of him I'm going to be killed and left to rot. One of those...those monsters. That's what I'll be. That's what we'll all be in the end." Another morbid laugh rumbled through his chest. "The birds, they'll have a fun time picking me apart, won't they?"