Night Monster (Eyeless Jack x Ticci Toby)

Rocky Past

I was sitting alone in Jack's room, Jack had suddenly left in the middle of the night and I didn't know why, I just woke up alone and now I just felt a little lost, I couldn't help but worry about what happened to make him disappear like that, I was quietly doing crosswords on his bed at the moment, I heard a knock on the door and I quickly pulled the book to my chest and crossed my legs.
"Wh-Who i-is it-t?" I asked.
"Hoodie." I heard him reply on the other side, "May I come in?"
I was quiet as I moved the book away from me slightly, I wasn't sure what he might want.
"J-Jack's g-gone." I said.
"I know." Hoodie said, "I came to talk to you."
My stomach dropped, I tried to swallow the lump in my throat before I spoke up.
"O-Okay..." I replied.
I heard the door open and I put the book on the bedside table, I looked up as he came in, I felt nervous the closer he got to the bed, I pulled my legs closer and quietly anticipated what was going to happen, he sat near the foot of the bed.
"What happened between you and Jack?" He asked.
I just stayed quiet, I wasn't entirely sure what he meant.
"Do you not know?" He asked.
I shook my head, I really didn't know what was wrong between us, all I knew is that we've been hitting a lot of rough patches lately and he's been more irritable than usual, Hoodie sighed as he somewhat rubbed the back of his neck.
"Jack's kind of an anomaly." He said, "It's hard to figure out just what might be bothering him, so I do understand why you don't know."
I was quiet as I lowered my head slightly.
"Do you want a bit of background on Jack?" He asked.
"Yes." I replied quickly, I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by.
"While Jack was in college before he became what he is, he got pulled into some cult." He said, "He was unaware of it at the time, and he wasn't even supposed to be part of it."
A cult, huh?
"His dormmate woke him up in the middle of the night and told him he could see a fire in the nearby forest." He continued, "When he got there he found a large group of Chernobog worshipers, and they claimed Chernobog had claimed him as one of his sons, and a quick ritual of removing Jack's eyes and filling the sockets with tar and blood lead to a mass suicide killing, leaving Jack the way he is."
He turned to me slightly.
"He is a demon." He said, "Even if he's just mostly an indirect possession."
I just nodded, showing I was actually paying attention.
"After his transformation he wandered completely blind through a forest for a year, barely able to survive on his own, eating anything he could get his hands on, even though a majority of his diet had become human based." He continued, "Seed Eater was the one who found him half-starved wandering around in a daze, and needless to say we were all a little surprised to see him."
It was a little upsetting to hear he was half starved when he was found.
"Jack was actually very different when he first showed up." He continued, now thinking, "In fact, he kind of reminds me of how you acted."
"Really?" I asked, genuinely surprised.
"I guess it was after that incident that he suddenly became so cold and harsh." Hoodie said quietly.
"Incident?" I asked, "W-What inc-cident?"
"It was when he was in another complex that's currently not in use anymore." Hoodie said, "No one knows who did it or why, but it was definitely a sight to see."
"W-What h-happened?" I asked desperately.
"Masky and I both went to check on him because he hadn't been seen for a good few hours." He said, "When we went into his room we saw..."
He was really quiet now, almost like he didn't want to talk about it.
"Someone had hung him with a noose." He finally finished, forcing my heart in my throat, "He had been hanging for hours and passed out, I'm honestly surprised he survived it."
I stared at him blankly, my eyes beginning to water, someone hung him?!
"He was a really sweet kid before then, he was surprisingly aware of his surroundings and actually got along with most of the other occupants in the complex." He said, "After he came to he didn't want to talk about it, so we were never able to figure out if he had done it to himself or not."
I now had tears rolling down my face, he looked up at me slightly.
"That's basically how he reacted when I told him about you." He said, "He sat quietly throughout most of it trying his hardest not to cry."
He looked away from me.
"Although he can't exactly shed tears now that his eyes are gone." He muttered.
He stood up and turned to me.
"Maybe that'll help the two of you understand each other more." He said, "Just know that Jack has problems trusting people after everything he's gone through, seeing as how a girl he had a crush on was the one to gouge out his eyes."
He then left me alone, I lowered my head, she gouged out his eyes? Is that why he was so willing to start this with me? Because I wasn't a girl? Did she just run him away from girls? It sure would with me, getting your eyes gouged out sounds painful as all hell, I looked over at the crosswords quietly for a second before I jumped up and ran to the door, I opened it quickly and looked down the hall to see Hoodie was still walking away, I quickly ran to his side.
"W-Wait!" I said.
He stopped and looked at me.
"W-What d-does Jack l-like?" I asked, "I-Is there a-anyth-thing I c-can d-do for h-him?"
He was quiet.
"He told me once that he really liked to read." He finally said, "He can't really do that now."
He turned and walked away, and I just let him go, I guess he was kind of a book nerd, and that's a little upsetting knowing he couldn't read anymore, maybe I should buy a book to read to him...? No, no, I can't! I've got a speech impediment! That would get so goddamn annoying!
But... I wonder if he'd care...?
And don't some people get over those kinds of speech impediments by talking a lot?
Maybe I'd actually go forward with this plan, I'd just have to find a book to read.