Chapter 42

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"I've worn it ever since.." Jack finishes as he sighs. Ooze or, tar, as I now know it as, dribbled from his sockets and dropped to the floor. Jack noticed this as his hand scrunched into a fist as he grinds his teeth. A pained frown falls upon his face. This was the first time I've seen any emotion from him. Normally it's just sounds of a growl or his teeth gritting together. But now I can see his real pain. His real emotion. I can feel it so much more, now that I can see his face.
"Jack.. I'm sorry you had such a rough past.." I sling my arms around his neck, pulling him into an embrace. His body tenses and I hear a slight breath of air peep through his lips.
As I continue to hug him, I feel something land on my shoulder. I pull away and tug at my shirt so I could see what it was. It was droplets of black liquid. I look over to Jack and he just sighs once more.
"Sorry.. After all this time, it still drips as if it were fresh and new."
"I-Its okay. Don't worry, I'll just give it an extra wash." Jack chuckles at my words. His face seems to light up when he chuckles. It made me happy to see.
"What's funny?"  I ask, tilting my head at him as I continue to hold into my shirt.
"You're such a girly girl aren't you?" He chuckles once more. His smile was wide and sharp. His teeth gleaming.
"I'm not that bad!" I protest. Letting go of my shirt and thumping my hands against the dirt. However, my hand lands in a wet, soggy patch of mud, which splashes against me on the impact of my hand.
"Gah!" I squeak as mud splays on my clothes and a little on my face.
Jack just laughs a little at my reaction and the scene he saw before him.
"Ugh." I groan as I start to try and wipe the mud away from my [f/c] jeans.  It smudged at first but began to fade as I rubbed more and more.
My hand finally reaches up to wipe my face but Jack quickly grabs my wrist and pulls my hand away.
"Not a girly girl huh? Okay. Let's see how long you can leave that mud on your face before you go mad and have to rub it off." He mocks and with a chuckle. I huff and slap my hands against my legs.
"Fine." I murmur like an child. 

We sat in silence as Jack watches me an I watch him. I stare at the black liquid as it seeps from his sockets, sliding down his cheek. The corner of my mouth begin to twitch, along with my eyebrow as I feel the tingling sensation of mud slowly falling down my face. The desperation to wipe it away was driving my head insane but I needed to prove Jack wrong that I wasn't a girly girl.
How can Jack stand having stuff fall down his face and not get irritated. I only have a single drop of mud whereas his eyes are full of black liquid. Ugh, this is making my face itchy!
My hand begins to tap against my leg as the droplet of mud grew more and more annoying. Jack notices my hand movements and  causes him to chuckle.
"Want to rub it off yet?" He mocks in a sarcastic tone.
"N-no. I'm fine." I lie between my teeth. It wasn't the fact that it was mud on my face and it made me feel dirty. It was the fact that as it slowly trails down my cheek. It makes my skin itch and twitch.
"Are you sure? You're looking kind of edgy?" He replies, tilting his head. Tar spills from his cheek, into the floor, causing my eye to twitch even more.
"Ugh!" I moan as I raise my hand, wiping away the mud with my sleeve. Jack laughs, pushing against my shoulder.
"It made my face itchy! That's all!" I say in my defence. Jack just stares at me with a smirk. His sharp fangs peaking through his lips.
"It's the truth!" I hiss, crossing my arms. Jack just shrugs. The smirk still in his face.

Jack sighs, dropping his smile.
"Well. It's your turn." He states as he stares at me with his empty sockets.
"Huh? O-Oh yeah.." I lower my head. I didn't really want to talk about my past, but I did make a deal and it's only fair that I share mine being as Jack shared his. I sigh and open my mouth to talk. But I soon slam it shut when we hear the loud sound of a branch or something else snapping. Jack stands to his feet, looking around. I also stand, hiding behind him out of fear. Whatever or whoever made the sound. It was pretty loud. It sent shivers down my spine just thinking about how loud it was.
"Wait here." He orders as he starts to walk away, picking up his mask and placing it over his face. No no don't leave me here alone! I wanted to call after him. But I didn't want to draw attention to myself.
I close my eyes and shrink to the floor, sitting down. Taking deep breaths to try and calm myself. Once I opened my eyes, I was stunned and confused. Everything seemed bigger. A lot bigger. The trees were taller, the bushes and rocks. Even some of the flowers looked the same height as me. I tried to walk forwards but I was moving so slow. Why was this happening? What happened? I tried to talk but my voice was very quiet and shy.
I looked around, looking all around me, trying to see if I could see a feature of myself so I knew what my body had formed into. I definitely wasn't in a human form anymore. But, I couldn't see paws or a tail. I could tell I didn't have fur. What animal has no fur.. and no tail... I mean, I could have a tail, but it's not long enough for me to see..
I kept looking around until I heard a loud noise, causing me to shrink my head back. But once I did, everything seemed to go shady. I looked up to see that I had hidden in something. Tucking my head away. I slowly moved my head forward, before pulling it back. The same thing happened. Oh god.. I know what I am.. I've become a turtle. Turtle? Tortoise? Ugh, one of them. I can never tell them apart. But whatever, I've become one of them.. This isn't good. If whatever made that noise were to come here, I'm helpless. I can exactly run away from it. And I've never morphed from one animal to another. I became a hybrid once, but I don't even know how I did that.

I continued thinking over what to do when suddenly I heard footsteps walk towards me. I shrunk back, hiding inside of my shell when suddenly I felt myself being lifted. I shrunk my head back even more as I was lifted to eye level with the figure. Starring back at me was a blue mask. It was Jack.
"[Name]. I know this is you." He states bluntly. Huh? What did he just say?!
There was a moment of silence as Jack continued to hold me, his gloved fingers latching around my shell.
"[Name]. Come out from your shell." He orders. I gulp a little as I slowly move my head forward, poking out of the shell.
"H-How did you k-know that I was a-"
"A shape shifter? I told you. I was there when this all happened."
"W-What do you mean?" My voice cracked slightly as I spoke quietly and shyly. Changing forms seemed to now adapt the way I talk. I need to control this thing more than I thought..
Jack lowers me to the floor, letting go and standing back up. There was a moment of silence again before I sighed mentally. Morphing back into a human form. Jack stared at me through his mask as I rose to my feet, lowering my head.
"You've known I was a shape shifter.. all this time?"

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