Cursed Smile: Laughing Jack x Reader | C O M P L E T E D

Chapter 27

I chuckled at his sprightliness and grinned from ear to ear as we held each other in a playful hug. "Now can we see Master?", Jamie inquired as he brought his head back and stared into my eyes.

I froze again and immediately started to shrink back in embarrassment, "...He rejected me Jamie. He...do..doesn't love me..", my voice trembled as the memory pierced through my heart.

"Yes he does. Didn't you see he was lying? I thought it was pretty obvious..."

I blinked uncertainly and gawked at the little boy in my arms as he gazed at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"What..?", I muttered in disbelief as Jamie cocked his head in confusion, but then, as if a light bulb went off in his head, his eyes lit up and he began to clumsily dig through his pockets.

And, in a matter of seconds, he pulled out a silver watch with engravings on the back.

Jamie's fingers held the watch in front of me and as the light danced off the intricate designs, I stood there in total shock. My gaze was pinned to the watch and, as I caught glimpses of the writing, I knew for certain it was from me.

"How... How did you..?", my words barely a whisper reached Jamie and sent a playful smile his way. He proudly handed me the gift and used his tiny hands to wrap mine over the watch. I gripped it carefully as if it were made of the most fragile porcelain, and gazed at Jamie with my eyes wide.

"I went ahead and picked it up at the store. I thought this would make a perfect parting gift for when they ship Master off to a remote island in the Pacific, don't you think?", Jamie mused with a smirk as he watched my face pale at the sudden realization.

I jumped off the ground and stood at my full height as I gawked at Jamie. His smirk was evident and it was made clear that he planned for me to react this way. I bit my lip and clenched my hands into fists, "But what do you want me to do about it..? I'm just a..a human", I protested quietly and earned a sigh from the boy.

"Master is clearly powerful enough to escape on his own, however, he plans to do so without you. Now, Master believes it's for the best that he disappears from your life... Quote Gabriel to be exact..", Jamie clasped his hands behind his back and stared solemnly towards me.

"Quote...? Wait... What did Gabriel tell Jack..?", I asked suspiciously and watched as Jamie gazed at the floor in grief. "Gabriel beguiled Jack into believing that he was ruining your life. He promised Jack that he'd have you living an ordinary life again if he turned himself in."

My eyes widened and I felt my knees trembling from the shock. Before I knew it, I sunk down to the floor and blanked out for a bit as a few single tears streamed down my face.

"He was trying to protect me... That's why he..!", I slammed my palm against my mouth and weeped silently on the floor as Jamie gently rubbed my back. "Yes... But as you can see, not all of Gabriel's promise was true. He's placing you into an asylum—Jack predicted so—and sent me here to help you escape."

I sniffled my cries and wiped the last of my tears with my cold hands. I raised my head and stared at Jamie with bloodshot eyes.

He smiled in return and squeezed my shoulder encouragingly, "Jack can take care of himself. He's not exactly up for taking a vacation in Hawaii", Jamie giggled before staring at me with a straight face, "He's going to leave...and without you if we don't hurry."

I furrowed my eyebrows and hesitantly stared at the floor. Jamie let out a sigh and stepped in front of me.

He stretched out his hand and pressed the palm of his other against his chest, "If you choose to live the rest of your life with Master, there's no going back. You won't be able to live your life as a normal human woman ever again. You'll have to join our carnival of mayhem...are you up for it (Y/N)?", Jamie asked cautiously as I stared up at him in worry.

I bit my lip as I hung my head in defeat and began to sob again on the floor. I understood the gravitation of Jamie's request and knew very well that I'd have to sacrifice everything for Jack.

I slowly rose off the ground and stubbornly held back the rest of the tears that threatened to storm down my face. I pushed aside the memories of my loving family and ignored the daydreams I had for my future.

Images of Jack holding me in his arms flashed inside my mind and a pain struck my heart.

I love him too much to leave him.

That's it... I love him.

That's all the encouragement I needed to firmly grasped Jamie's hand and nod my head at his request. He smiled and nudged on my arm before dragging me away from the metal door.

The sound of guards muttering a conversation under their breaths echoed through the halls and I gazed back in fear. I watched in horror as guards stepped inside my room and exited in total shock and disarray. They shouted orders and quickly ran away from the scene.

I returned my gaze to Jamie and watched as his eyes lit up in joy.

The lights in the hall flashed and changed color to a more frightening shade of crimson. An alarm went off and engulfed the hallway in an ear-splitting noise as Jamie and I raced toward the end.

I gripped Jamie's hand tighter and watched as he grinned evilly as guards appeared in front of us.

We quickly sped to a halt and I hid behind Jamie as his white orbs turned pitch black. Dark blood streamed down his eyes and his smile widened as his forked tongue slowly licked the corner of his lips.

He was hungry.

Hungry for death.