Rose Petals - Eyeless Jack x Reader

Chapter 23

   Jack reached out and took your hand, stopping you. "Let me go."

   You glanced at Liam, and then shook your head. "I'd feel safer if you were with him, in case something happens," you told him. Jack, at least, would be able to remain more composed in a frantic situation, and was more capable of actually defending your brother.

   The eyeless man was still for a moment, and then nodded, letting his hand slide off of yours.

   Quietly, you were snuck through the darkness of the house, searching for the killer. All was silent, save for the soft thuds of your footsteps on the wooden floor beneath you. Eventually, you found the staircase, and made your way up there, figuring the bedrooms were up there, and, in such, Jeff.

   Going down the hall, you eyed a door halfway open, and began to approach it. As you reached the door, the stench of blood was the first thing to hit you, confirming that Jeff was, in fact, in there. Peering inside, you were met with the sight of Jeff on his knees in the middle of the room, the edges of his form highlighted by the moonlight pouring through the window in front of him. His back was turned toward you, and a pair of bodies lay in pools of blood on the floor with gouged out sides. Jeff was covered in the same crimson liquid, and next to him lay his knife and what you knew to be a set of kidneys.

   For a moment, you stood there and stared, trying to piece together what exactly he was doing. Then, deciding to brave whatever it was going on before you, you stepped inside, hoping that the knife would stay on the floor. Jeff's head lifted at the sound of your footsteps, but he did not turn to look at you.

   "Jeff...?" you called out reluctantly, now standing not far from the doorway. If it weren't for his behaviour, the strange aura in the air alone would have been enough to leave you uneasy.

   "What?" His voice was gravel.

   Surprised you were not met with immediate hostility, you were silent for a few seconds. "Are... are you—"

   "Don't ask."

   You shifted uncomfortably. What is this? "Okay," you said unsurely, "What are you doing?"

   He huffed at that. "Oh, [Name], [Name], [Name]... you're just so fucking annoying, aren't you?"

   Not knowing how to respond, you didn't. However, it was clear to you now that whatever was going on, it was much more serious for him than you initially would have thought. He had taken the time he had alone up here to be in deep thought, and you had just interrupted it by coming in the room. Perhaps that meant you could finally get some answers.

   Jeff took your silence as a means to continue. "You know, I do hate you. I really do. No surprises there. You've been a pain in the ass for me ever since you first ran into Jack. This whole thing could have been done so much more smoothly, had you not arrived and fucked everything up." He chuckled, seemingly to himself. "Wouldn't have lost everything, wouldn't have needed to go on the damn run like we did... Hell, we probably would have already had that damn thing dead."

   "Jeff..." You hesitated, hands suddenly clammy. "Why does it want to kill you?"

   The man's head lowered, and for a long, long moment, your only answer was tense silence. "I've made some... mistakes, in my past years. Let's just say, that not all of its proxies have been mindless, rotten corpses. Let's just say that those are very hard for that thing to acquire, that those are quite the damn value to that faceless fuck. Let's just say, that, I took something quite valuable from it."

   Jeff rose to his feet. Finally, he turned around fully to look at you. His face was unreadable. "And you know what? I can hear it in your voice," he suddenly said. "You're in a lot of pain and grief, [Name]... and you're very, very scared. Saw it in your eyes when you killed your parents."

   You face screwed in confusion. "What does that matter? Especially to you?"

   He glanced at one of the corpses. "I, uh... I get it. I get it, that's all."

   Your hands clenched into fists. "What?" you pressed. "What do you mean?"

   "Killing your parents? I get it."

   You blinked. "I—"

   "Don't." Jeff could barely meet your gaze. "We're parting ways after this, whether we die a horrible fucking death or we goddamn beat this thing, or whatever the hell. And you know what?" He released a short breath. "I'll fucking admit. You were right."

   There was nothing you could say.

   "I can't do this shit alone. I needed Jack. It's..." He scoffed, shaking his head. "It's goddamn pathetic. I got used to his company. I didn't want it jeopardized. I didn't want it taken from me. I didn't know what I was going to do when that thing was dealt with. I didn't want to separate from him."

   You stared at him, eyes almost as wide as his lidless ones. "But now things are different."

   "Very, very fucking different," he said, now looking directly at you.

   Once more, you shifted where you stood. "I'm sorry, Jeff. For whatever happened to you."

   Jeff bent over, taking up his knife and the two kidneys from the ground. He wiped the blood off the blade onto his pants as he spoke. "Save your damn sorry for someone who gives a shit," he replied flatly, sheathing his knife. "I'm not telling you any of this for pity, or some other stupid shit."

   "Then what are you telling me for?"

   Jeff suddenly began to approach you, and you tensed as you started to step back. Then, he brushed past you and toward the door, and that's when you stopped and turned to look at him. He paused at the doorframe. "Because you've given me a lot to think about, [Name]," he said, and disappeared down the hall.