Chains Eyelessjack X Reader

Chapter 20

        For a moment neither of them moved, just staring at each other in silence. Finally Jack slowly sunk his teeth into the chunk of liver in his mouth and bit it off, at which point [Name] sprung from the table and rushed to her bedroom, slamming the door. Funny, he expected her to go to the bathroom. After all, this was probably the first time she'd seen him eating. Usually he tried to be more careful about it. Oh well. Shrugging, Jack returned to eating, taking a seat at the table opposite the half-eaten bowl of cereal.

        After they'd arranged the food [Name] started coming into the kitchen more and would make her own meals, though she still asked him to get anything she needed from the fridge. For the time being they'd ditched the chain, since Jack didn't have much reason to leave the cabin. Sudden movements tended to exacerbate the pain in his head where she'd hit him with the rock, rendering hunting rather inadvisable. Again, he didn't hold it against her, though. However, whether the chain-free arrangement would persist after he recovered remained to be seen. He still didn't fully trust her, but at least they were getting more comfortable in each other's presences.

        Jack's gaze wandered to the laptop, and after licking the juice off his fingers he opened it and logged into her account. After a day of fiddling with it he'd determined that accessing the internet was impossible due to a lack of wi-fi hotspots near the cabin. However, there was still plenty to do with it; [Name] had downloaded a lot of pictures and stories over the years, and he enjoyed browsing through them in his free time.

        As he scrolled through one of her folders he paused upon seeing a fanmade movie poster for some movie about a female superhero. An idea struck him and he closed the laptop, unplugging it carrying it to her room. He knocked on the door and waited for her to call, "It's open," before pushing the door open and stepping inside. She was sitting on her bed (where else?), reading a book. Once he entered she glanced up in surprise, her eyes widening as she saw the laptop.

{Reader's POV}

       Seeing someone eating human organs does a number on your appetite. Thanks to seeing the photos a couple days ago it wasn't as traumatizing and vomit-inducing as it could have been, but I still didn't really feel like watching him finish. I returned to my room and tried to read a book to push it out of my mind, but was a surprised when I heard Jack knock a few minutes later. Weird, lately he's been giving me a lot of space. "It's open," I called. However, when I looked up to see the laptop in his arms, my heart sank. Crap, he knows I used it!

       Every worst-case scenario ran through my mind at once as I imagined what kind of punishment he'd give me for using it, probably assuming I'd tried to use it to call for help. My neck began to throb at the mere thoughts that ran through my head, when... "...You can watch movies on this, right?" It took a second for his question to register. So he wasn't here to punish me for using it? Looks like he didn't know about it. As I processed the fact that I wouldn't be killed, Jack got a bit impatient and asked, "Can you play DVDs on it?"

        "Y-yeah," I mumbled, nodding quickly. "DVDs and Blu-Rays."

       "Alright. I'll pick up some DVDs next time I go out." With that he turned to leave.

       "A-Actually, I have a couple movies downloaded on there..." Jack froze, turning to look back at me. After a few seconds he crossed the room and sat on the mattress beside me, placing the laptop in front of me. I looked at him in surprise, a bit taken back by his sudden proximity.

        "...Can you pull one up?" Was this really happening? I reached for my laptop gingerly, carefully lifting the screen. Soft light emanated from the screen, showing my desktop background in all its glory. It had been so long since I'd last seen it, so long since I'd last touched it... Smiling, I opened up the list of movies I'd downloaded and scrolled through it. Action, not in the mood... Horror was definitely a no... The cursor hovered over an animated one, [f/animated movie], and I cast a curious glance at Jack. He didn't seem to offer any objections, so I clicked it and pulled it up.

        Bliss filled me as the movie began. It had been so long since I'd last seen this one, it was absolutely beautiful. Silly as it sounds, it almost made me want to cry. Seeing it again was wonderful, just what I needed. I indulged myself in the silly animated world, laughing at every joke, even the ones that weren't funny. Jack didn't laugh with me, but he stayed and watched anyway. Once the film eventually ended, I immediately went to start another one, pausing to cast an inquisitive glance at Jack. He shrugged, which I took as an okay, and began scrolling through the list.

        Let's see... I had a bunch of classic Disney movies, and I scrolled through the list before pausing on a classic: Beauty and the Beast. I hadn't seen that one in a while. Fond memories of singing along to the songs prompted a smile to flash across my face as I pressed "play". Nostalgia flooded me as the old Disney logo appeared, and as the movie began I cast a glance at Jack. I couldn't see his face with his mask on, but I eagerly glanced at him throughout the movie anyway to see if I could notice any reaction.

        Beauty and the Beast is a classic. A beautiful introverted girl offers herself as prisoner to a monster in place of her father, thus beginning an unlikely romance. Actually, it kind of reminded me of my own situation, aside from the romance part. As the movie proceeded I became more immersed in the plot, almost forgetting about Jack's presence. Eventually Belle showed up at the Beast's castle and offered to take her father's place, and it was at this point I heard a small gasp next to me and snapped my head to look at Jack in surprise.

        He was hunched forward, his body trembling violently. Convulsions shook his chest, and he had his arms wrapped around himself as if to keep warm. Sweat clung to his bare arms, glinting in the dim light from the laptop. His breathing was ragged, little more than a series of small gasps for air. Seeing this, I quickly paused the movie and looked at him. "Jack?" I whispered, reaching for him. However, before I could touch him he sprung off of the bed and darted out of the room, nearly falling in the process from obvious dizziness.

        For a moment I didn't move, just sitting there in shock. Then I quickly grabbed the psychology book from the nightstand and flipped to the page I'd last left off, skimming a list of symptoms.

        Shortness of breath. Dizziness. Sense of terror. Chills.

        All symptoms pointed to a panic attack. And it hadn't been random, either: it had been triggered by seeing the dungeon scene. I groaned softly as I closed the book and put it back, mentally cursing myself for my stupidity.

        Once again, I'd awakened deep-seeded emotional trauma.

        Feelings are a funny thing. On the one hand, I felt bad and wanted to go after Jack to try to comfort him. On the other, I still had really mixed feelings about him. I felt like we'd grown a little closer over the past couple days, but not TOO close. Frankly, Jack still terrified me. Besides, I had no idea how to comfort him if he really DID have PTSD like I thought. I'd never met someone with it before, and the textbook didn't say much about how to properly deal with it.

        After some serious grappling, I logged out of my account and switched to Buddy's.