Stockholm Syndrome (Jalex)

Day Thirty One

Day Thirty One. Jack - 1:44

"Zack, please!" His name leaves my mouth as barely more than a hoarse whisper - a scream once gone, and it hurts more than anything to know that despite my screams and protests, he's never going to listen, and he's never going to stop.

I'm truly beginning to think that whoever this Rian kid is, he's driven Zack right out of the breaches of insanity, and to say it's hurting my heart would be an understatement, because I just can't help but respect him and trust him, because in my mind he's still just the older kid I had a crush on in school, and not this, not Zack Merrick who... went mad.

"Your boyfriend's fucking dead." He remarked, his eyes locked onto mine, almost burning into my pupils and I wouldn't be all that surprised if I was suddenly rendered blind or something. "Do you not get that, because to me it seems pretty fucking simple, you know?" His words cut into me like dozens of tiny little blades intent solely upon my utter destruction.

"You don't know that for certain, though do you?" I dared to ask, my voice piping up in an utterly pathetically timid tone, which I'm sure took all his self control for him not to laugh at. Not to revel in just how broken I was right now, because god, this wasn't Zack Merrick at all, this was a monster who'd stolen his shoes and run off in them.

"No, of course not." Zack rolled his eyes, sitting down on the bed and watching me as I continued to cower into the corner, looking at me as if my actions were entirely irrational and he had no bad intentions whatsoever, which was of course completely mindfucking, thank you. "But I would say my guesses towards the whereabouts of your boyfriend are much more realistic than yours, considering I'm not grieving."

"You're upset over Rian, though." I treaded carefully with my words, knowing far too well that the situation I was in was mostly certain not one of a safe nature, but of course, it's not like it could get all that much worse. "I can see that."

"Don't you fucking dare talk about him." He snapped back in response, his eyes however drifted elsewhere, and the fact that he couldn't bare to look me in the eyes was either a very good or a very bad sign indeed. I was going to go with the optimistic side here.

"Zack..." I let out a hitched breath, wondering if there was any way I could get myself out of this and possibly find Alex alive, because honestly, Zack was right, the longer Alex was missing, the lesser the chance he'd be found alive. And considering that Alex was Alex, if he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be, which certainly put us in quite a predicament.

"He's dead." He blurted out, almost like a set response, and perhaps almost like he was convincing himself with every word he said, which would certainly be confusing for the both of us.

I wondered if Zack was at all sane right now. I quite honestly doubted it, but there was of course very little I could do about it, so optimism seemed to be my best bet right now.

"Can we talk about Rian?" I asked, my voice barely audible but in the silence of the room it was as clear as fucking day; my heart barely beating in the silence that was consumed only by shuddered breaths, reluctant to be taken.

"What is there left to say?" He scoffed, rolling his eyes a little, and in that motion I could see that they were red and puffy and the reality shook me hard - he'd been crying. And oh god I hated the wave of sympathy that thrashed over me right then. "He decided he was better than me, and that's that... pretty simple to understand, don't you think?"

"Not really." I sighed, knowing that this conversation was within its entirety, a bad idea, but I just couldn't help myself, most likely because I was fucking stupid, but oh well, the odds were right now that I was going to die anyway, perhaps that wouldn't be so bad, perhaps. Who knows? If Alex were dead too then perhaps I'd see him again.