Escaping Jack

Chapter 2

"Why did we park twenty minutes away from our destination?" I sighed, spinning the key in my hands, feeling the metal dip in order to form to my fingers.

"Because we don't want him finding us." Ten gave off a short laugh, jumping over a fallen fir tree.

"Obviously, but I'm not a fan of long walks." I nearly crawled over the tree, trying to not scathe my clothes.

"And I'm allergic to pine, but we all have to push through things." He held onto a branch above him in order to gain leverage to go over another tree trunk.

"And I still think that's the dumbest allergy to have." I huffed, walking around the pile of wood.

"We all have dumb allergies," He looked over his shoulder, "most are just unintentional."

I lowered my head a bit as I caught sight of his glower, "I'm sorry for bringing that up. I guess I've forgotten."

"Not your fault," He faced forward once again, "but Jack will pay for all he did." He spat the man's name out, as if it were venomous to him.

"Yeah." I lifted my head back up to see a worn down house, not much older than I am, "He'll definitely pay, but we have to be prepared."

"And that we will." He took the key out of my hand as we approached the door, "It's just sad that no one else was on board with this." He ran his fingers over the keyhole for a minute before using the key, "He will rue the day that he thought all of this was okay."

"Maybe he didn't think it was okay." I spoke in a soft tone, as if someone had been listening to us, "Maybe he just wanted to know if he could."

"If that's his mindset, then he truly is a sick, twisted man." He pushed the door open, letting out a slow exhale, "Let's just forget about that, for now, and get out of the cold."

"How do you know about this place?" I looked over my shoulder, making sure no one had been around, before entering the cabin. The only source of light was the moon, which was scarce as it is. Glass was shattered across the floor and a dark stain was barely visible in a corner of the room.

"A few memories are still here," He too looked around before shutting the door behind him, "but I don't think he knows we remember."

"I don't remember this place." My hands found a switch, which caused a dim light to appear overhead. I looked over to the corner of the room, which was indeed stained with blood from ceiling to wooden floor.

"Well, you weren't born, here." He slid down the side of the wall, exhaustion apparent in his features.

"You're not sick, are you?!" I frantically looked around for a rag or some sort of medicine.

"No, I'm not sick." He laughed.

"Oh," I ducked my head, staring once again at the corner that began to bring chills down my spine, "I am sorry for my behavior."

"I know you're conditioned to do that, but you can stop whenever you like." He stood back up, glass crunching under his shoes.

"But to apologize after performing any sort of error is-"

"I said if you like." He put his hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention far away from the large stain of blood, "I'm not telling you to give up yourself, even if Jack..." His words trailed off as he looked me in the eyes, "Listen, I've known you all your life. Do you think I'd want you to easily drop the characteristics I've associated with you?"

"No." I sighed, breaking eye-contact with him, "Hey, you know this place well, right?"

"All the ins and outs." He said in an airy tone, looking over the corner I had been watching, "You want to know the story about that, don't you?"