Object of Desire ; Eyeless Jack x Reader

Chapter 44

        I was so invested in my book, I barely even noticed Jack finishing his meal, cleaning everything up and coming back into the living room to sit down next to me. Only when he cleared his throat, he startled me and I nearly dropped my book. Trying to calm down quickly again, I closed my book and looked towards Jack. He was sitting really close to me with his upper body turned towards me and his elbow resting on the back of couch. He grinned a bit when he noticed he unintentionally scared me just now but quickly changed his expression into a more conflicted state. "What's up?" I asked him a bit confused.

"So, you're gonna... sleep here again?" He asked, half mumbling so I barely understood the last part of his question. I thought for a moment. I wasn't really in the mood to run all the way back through the forest in the dark. But maybe I should get back to Alex and make sure he was okay. But I didn't want to leave Jack either. I gazed at Jack. He never really gave me a choice in anything. This was the first time he actually asked something like that.

"Oh? I'm actually allowed to choose for once?" I raised an eyebrow at him, smiling a bit cheekily. Jack seemed taken aback for a second before his expression changed once more. Now, he looked a bit more threatening though.

"No." He leaned towards me. He got so close to my face, our noses almost touched while he kept staring straight into my eyes. "You already said you wouldn't leave. I'm not going to let you even if you tried." I felt my heart beating rapidly in my chest. I wasn't sure if it was because of how close Jack was to me or because of what he said. Maybe both. I felt my cheeks heat up as I stared back at him, unsure what to respond. We stayed close like that for a few more seconds, before Jack moved away again. He got up from the couch and walked towards the hallway, pausing momentarily to look back at me. "It's pretty late. You should probably sleep soon." He said before disappearing into the dark hallway, probably to get into his own bedroom. I stayed frozen on the couch for a while. He was still really messing with my heart.

*~*

I wasn't sure how much time really passed but it felt like hours of just staring at the ceiling above me, trying to close my eyes and rest but to no avail. I was just worried. About Alex and his mom. About what they thought of me running out and disappearing again. Where they looking for me? Was Alex even okay? Did he get to a hospital in time? What about his mom? Was she okay? So many question were filling up my mind, I couldn't get my thoughts to just shut off for a little bit. I sighed and got up from the couch to get a glass of water from the kitchen. I opened the cupboard to get a glass, unfortunately they were a bit high up though. Not really out of my reach but with stitches in my shoulder it wasn't exactly comfortable to even reach up a little bit. I tried to just use my unhurt arm, yet as I was reaching up higher to grab a glass, I still felt a piercing pain run through my shoulder just from generally moving the area close to the wound and quickly pulled my hand down again. Accidentally hitting a glass with my hand, it fell down from the cupboard and straight onto the floor, crashing and letting shards of glass fly in every direction.

"Shit!" I cursed to myself, afraid to wake up Jack. I quickly bend down to pick up the glass from the floor when I heard footsteps running towards me with the light suddenly getting switched on. Squinting my eyes at the sudden light, I felt another slight pain in my finger. With my eyes slowly adjusting, I noticed I cut myself a little bit on the glass. Nothing bad, but it was still bleeding. Looking up, I saw Jack approaching.

"What are you doing?" He asked in an almost frantic voice. His hair was a complete mess and instead of his usual hoodie, he wore only a black t-shirt with grey sweatpants. Seemed like I really just woke him up from his sleep.

"Careful, there's glass everywhere." I said, turning back to picking up the biggest shards to throw them in the trash.

"What happened?" He kept walking towards me, avoiding all the glass on the floor before kneeling down next to me and taking my hand. "You're bleeding."

"It's just a little cut, it's fine." I gave him an awkward but reassuring smile but he just looked at me worried while brushing his hand through the bird's nest on his head to get it out of his eyes. Or eye sockets. Out of the black holes. He sighed before getting up again to grab a broom ad sweep up all the little shards of glass. Finishing off all the cleaning we both stood in the kitchen nest to each other, leaning on the counters.

"Why are you up so late?" He asked again.

"I couldn't really sleep and wanted to get some water. My shoulder hurt when I went to grab a glass though." I explained, a little embarrassed. He sighed and walked over to the cupboard to grab a glass out of it, filling it with water and placing it down next to me. I took a sip of it while he leaned back on the counter. "Thanks." I mumbled.

"You could have just said something instead of trying to do it yourself and get hurt during it. Don't you dare rip my perfectly done stitches on your shoulder for something stupid."

"They're not gonna rip that easily." I pouted. "Also, I didn't want to wake you up for a glass of water."

"And yet you did anyway." He yawned. "I thought you broke a window to escape again." He muttered, crossing his arms. So that was why he immediately rushed in here like that. I gazed at him, yet he just stared off into space. I didn't know what to say so we both fell silent for a bit until Jack cleared his throat. "So, why couldn't you sleep? Having nightmares again?" He looked at me with a concerned expression on his face.

"No. I just-" I cut myself off. Should I really tell him? I suppose he would notice anyway if I was holding anything back or lying. I took a deep breath. "I was just thinking about Alex. I'm just worried about him. I wonder if his wounds got treated. And I wonder how he's doing now." I gazed at the floor. Jack didn't say anything. It stayed silent for a few moments again. Just as I was directing my gaze towards him to see why he wasn't replying, he suddenly moved towards me, putting his hands on either side of me on the counter. He got really close to me again, looking down at me with another slightly terrifying look on his face.

"Why are you thinking about him the whole time?" He asked in a low voice.