Sin and Penance [Eyeless Jack x Reader]

2

When you awoke your head was throbbing and your whole body felt heavy.

You opened your eye and discovered you were lying on earth in a dimly lit space. A cave. You craned your neck and found that the mouth of the cave was behind you, spilling in early morning light. There was a thick, rough wool blanket draped over you and some cloth bundled under your head like a pillow. You could feel something was over your gauged-out eye. You forced yourself to roll onto your back and touched your face. Bandages and medical tape, maybe a cotton pad of some sort too. You looked at your hands and noticed there were reddish purple marks around your wrists, left over from the shackles.

When you sat up you felt fluid shift in your empty eyesocket. Oh god, blood? You put your hand up to the freshly dampened bandages, and drew your fingers away with weird black stains on them. No, not blood...it must have been the tar stuff they had poured in. Memories of the pain and the hooded men flashed through your mind, making you shake feebly.

The sound of two, quiet footsteps at the mouth of the cave shook you from your flashbacks. You looked over your shoulder and squinted your single eye against the outside light. Standing at the mouth of the cave was a silhouette. Male. As your eye adjusted you made out his blue mask with the round, black, dripping eyeholes. It was him.

The masked creature stared back at you, his blank features tying your stomach into knots. He tilted his head slightly. You almost jumped.

As the creature got closer your heart beat louder. You knew he wasn't human. Somehow, you just knew. But what did he want from you? Did you really want to know?

You gripped the edge of the blanket and pulled it toward you like a terrified child. He was crouching in front of you now, and you didn't even dare to blink. He leaned towards you until his mask was just inches from your face. His empty gaze was penetrating, watching you like a hawk. You could also see him more clearly. There was brown hair peeking out from under his black hood, like you remembered. The bit of his neck that you could see was ashy, almost grey. A trick of the light? You could faintly hear his breathing under the mask. He smelled like earth and pine trees. You finally dared to look up at his eyes, and your stomach flipped. There was nothing there. No eyes. Just impossible black, like staring into a void. He blinked, and you flinched.

The creature leaned back and you relaxed a tiny bit. He reached in the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie and held something out to you. A water bottle and a granola bar. You looked at them warily. He seemed cautious of you, too. Eventually he set the items down in front of you and crawled back a few feet. His movements were somewhere between human and animal. He almost reminded you of Tarzan.

This whole situation screamed danger, but looking at the water bottle made your dry throat and mouth feel like more of a priority. You snatched up the water and the bar and scarfed them down within a few minutes. You were still hungry and thirsty, but they brought a little relief. You looked at the creature again. He was still just sitting there, watching you. You decided you should probably try to communicate.

"C-can you...can you talk?" You asked, your voice shaking.

"Yes." He answered softly, his voice muffled slightly by the mask.

"O-oh...hi." You gave him a tiny, half-hearted wave. Suddenly you felt awkward. Now you were talking to him, but what should you say?

"Hi." He replied, giving you a small wave in return.

"Who...are you?" You asked. Seemed like a good place to start. You realized you hadn't introduced yourself either and rushed to rectify the problem. "M-my name's, uh, my name's (y/n)."

"They call me...Eyeless Jack."

Eyeless Jack. Appropriate, but pretty literal. "They?"

Eyeless Jack shrugged. You chewed the inside of your cheek nervously.

"You saved me." You said, "...Thank you."

"Maybe." Jack replied cryptically and leaned back against the cave wall.

Another spell of silence fell over the two of you. As the minutes passed you felt less afraid that Eyeless Jack was going to harm you. He seemed mysterious and reserved, but not malicious. The silence gave you time to remember things again. You went over the events of last night in your head. You went on a blind date. You were kidnapped. You were nearly sacrificed. Jack saved you. Now you were here.

You rubbed your eye, feeling the sting of tears coming on. "I want to go home." You said quietly to yourself as you pulled your knees up to your chest.

You heard Eyeless Jack let a sigh out of his nose. He stood up and held out a hand to help you. "I can show you the road."

You looked up at him and hesitantly took his hand. He helped you to your feet and kept you stable as you walked out of the cave. Now that you were up your body felt like lead. You had to lean on Jack heavily as you walked through the forest. It was chilly and a little damp. Every rustle and snap made you jump. Every little noise was a hooded figure coming to drag you back and finish the job. But Eyeless Jack never flinched. Ten minutes ago you were certain he was your doom, but now you wanted to cling to him for every bit of safety and certainty he could provide.

Eventually you came to a road that ran through the woods. Eyeless Jack stopped and you let go of him.

"I leave you here." He said, taking a step back.

"Wait! You can't just leave me!" You exclaimed, suddenly panicked. "What if they come back? What if no one comes down the road? What if- wh-what if-!"

"I'm sorry." Jack replied solemnly, sounding regretful for more than just leaving you alone. He turned and ran off into the trees, and in an instant he had disappeared.

"Jack!" You cried, wrapping your arms around yourself. "Jack, please!" You shook and squeezed yourself. You looked between the forest and the road. You didn't feel safe here, alone. But you doubted you could find Eyeless Jack if you tried. He'd left you, and you had no choice but to wait here for help to arrive.

You waited by the road for hours, jumping at every sound. You felt like you were being watched. But you were just paranoid, right? Paranoid, Paranoid...

You heard a car coming up the road and your heart lept. A mud-stained white truck came into view and you started waving your arms frantically, trying to get the driver's attention. The truck pulled over and a thirty-something woman in a flannel shirt and a ponytail rolled down the window to look at you. "Are you okay, kid? What are you doing out here?"

You had no words. Tears began to stream down your face and you stuttered random syllables in an effort to communicate. The woman looked at you with worry and opened the door, "Get in. We need to get you home."