I had found myself at a crossroads; something I hadn't been stuck at in a very, very long time. Jack had sent me a message letting me know that he was unable to get into (Name)'s house due to the entire place being swamped with police. I knew I had at least an hour and a half to make up my mind, and the thought ate away at me more and more the longer I brewed on it.
Jack was right in every sense. Just being in her presence was exhilarating. Her humanity was a breath of fresh air compared to the hostility I was used to. When her gaze was fixed on my own, her irises were soft, welcoming, warming. She hadn't been exposed to the vulgarity of the real world. She hadn't been captured by a faceless creature only to end up employed by him, following his every whim and doing his dirty work for him. She hadn't killed hundreds, thousands even, of people. None of them ever had a name to me; they were assignments, not people with children, wives or husbands, mothers or fathers. Assignments.
But (Name)? She was a person. A fully-feeling, sympathetic person with intimidating (eye-color) eyes that bore right thorough my every thought and movement. She hadn't known me from Adam, yet I knew her.
At first I didn't get it, but then, I understood. Through the small conversation I had managed to have with her, she recited her version of events from the last few days. She had been kidnapped because her fiancé had access to business accounts on his laptop; it wasn't like I didn't know all of it already, or that I hadn't been one of the people involved in the failed robbery of her fiancé.
I didn't listen intently because it was new information, but because it was her information. And for the first time in my entire career, I was introduced to the victim's side; the pain and confusion they would face from our actions, our meticulous planning to ruin their lives. We were playing God. It was simple to figure out someone's life information, like their address or their full name and place of work, but it was a whole different thing to account for what they'd go through. We weren't assigned to think about their feelings; we were assigned to murder, to be heartless, and to be resentful. But the longer her lush lips moved, her story falling from her lips and gracing my ears, her voice slowly molded into that of one I hadn't heard in so long.
"..I guess he must have been stalking me for a while to be able to remember my exact address.."
Alex's voice rang out from her lips, his words beating at my eardrums mercilessly. Tears began to well in the corners of my eyes as I abruptly turned from him, scouring the forest floor for my mask.
I knew I hadn't left it outdoors, but where had I left it, again? Come to think of it, when did I even leave the mansion? I was just there a second ago, right?
A soft hand landed on my shoulder as I stooped over myself, trying not to puke.
--(Name) POV--
"..Tim?"
He shot up rigidly, his eyes wide with.. fear?
I looked him over for any reasonable sign for alert, even glancing just beyond him, desperately scouring the tree line for something he may have seen that would set him off like that, ultimately seeing nothing.
A single tear had left a trail along his cheek.
"Hey, are you alright?"
He didn't answer, but what he did instead definitely surprised me, if not shocked me.
His strong arms pulled together around my frame as he held onto me; I knew he was crying, as his tears started dampening the collar of my shirt. Yet, I didn't make a move to stop him or struggle out of his hug. For some reason, I knew he really needed this. Tim wasn't a bad guy, I could tell that much right away. At some point in our conversation, he had mentioned not really wanting to hurt people or kill them, but growing accustomed to it as a means to survive. Then, after a period of time, it started to feel normal, and he realized it had just become a part of his life.
A part of me felt almost guilty for sympathizing with a murderer; he had most certainly broken families apart, left children with nowhere to go but into the system, or had taken someone's siter, brother, aunt, uncle..
But another part of me, a part I didn't allow to surface for too long, wondered if sometimes the people he killed were abusers, like Henry. Would it be such a bad thing to take out a wife-beater, or a child predator, or a general person of bad character? I morally knew that murder was wrong in every sense, but having morals didn't eradicate also having curiosity.
He hadn't broken the hug, and I didn't make a move to break it either. I warmly wrapped my arms around him, enjoying the intimate contact rather than the punches and kicks I had been receiving from Jack.
Jack.
The nightmares had been the only knowledge I had been able to retain about him, other than the knowledge his hot-and-cold behavior. One minute he was sociable and even making a snarky comment or two, and in the next fleeting second, he was rough and ready to eat the innards of anyone who crossed him. I couldn't figure him out, and for the time being, I didn't really care to try.
He kidnapped me, why do I care about figuring him out at all?
Because whether I personally liked it or not, I had found myself in some sort of weird infatuation with the creature. He was beautiful; unlike any mortal thing I had ever seen. His mysteriousness kept me interested even when his actions kept me distant, which was a comfortable, almost recognizable feeling. Henry had done much of the same thing; kept himself sparse and unreadable so when he'd finally give me a little scrap of his personality to hang onto, I'd grip it so tightly my knuckles would turn white.
But the main difference between Jack and Henry, in that same sense, was that Henry's flicker of hope had gone out the moment he had willed it to, while Jack didn't have a flicker of hope at all; what had happened to him had already happened and couldn't be changed no matter what. Jack's flicker was of something different entirely, and though I had an idea as to what it could be burning dimly inside of him, I couldn't know for sure. What I did know was that if I wanted to get a glimpse into his shrouded world, I'd have to give him a glimpse into my own; and with that thought, I made my final decision.
Tim's hushed sobs abruptly pulled me out of my thoughts as he slowly, gingerly, pulled away from me.
"F-fuck, man,"
He cursed to himself, wiping his eyes with his jacket sleeve. Though I wondered what had got him worked up in the first place, I didn't really see it as my place to ask. Everybody needs to cry once in a while, and surely, Tim was no different. His cross to bear was certainly heavy, and I was more than glad to raise it up for him for even just a small amount of time.
He finished wiping his eyes and reached into his jacket pocket for a smoke, handing me one after he had lit his own. I accepted it; though I didn't regularly smoke, the circumstances I had found myself in definitely called for a drag of some temporary relief.
I held out a hand, asking for the lighter, but he instead took the cigarette from my hand and put it into his own as he lifted the cigarette to my mouth, lighting it for me. I inhaled gingerly, and replaced his hand with my own, holding it to my split, bruised, and worse-for-wear lips.
He gave me a small smile, and flicked the ash from the tip of his smoke.
"You're a lot different company than what I'm used to, you know,"
I didn't know how to respond, so I took another long drag of the smoke as he stepped in front of me, not too close as to make me uncomfortable but close enough to hear him if he whispered.
Abruptly, he tossed his lit smoke onto the ground before him and stepped on it, putting it out. I watched as the smoke from the crushed cigarette curled and danced in the air for a bit before dissipating. It reminded me of my own life in a strange way; being free and able to maneuver myself around any obstacle only to be crushed by the boot that had stepped on me. Quite literally. My old life ended as soon as Jack had thrown me to the floor in my house, placed his thick black boot against my chest, and just stared down at me through his mask; realizing that I'd never make it back to my house, to Mary Lynn, alive, I let a few tears of my own slip down my cheeks as I smiled mockingly to myself.
"You wanna go eat somewhere?"
My eyes widened at his request; it would be a direct act of defiance against Jack. Looking the way he did, Jack wouldn't be able to just storm into a restaurant to fight Tim or try to wrestle me back into his cabin. And that made it an absolutely perfect idea.
I nodded, throwing my own cigarette to the forest floor before stomping it out.
"Well let's make this quick then. We have to go back to my house, and it really isn't safe, so stay close and for God's sake stay quiet. You've got yourself a few admirers there,"
My stomach lurched in disgust, instantly knowing who he was talking about.
Jeff and Toby. Great.
At this point, it was a risk I was willing to take for a proper meal and some time away from the wretched cabin.
"Let's go then. As for them, why don't we really rile them up and pretend you're my boyfriend or something?"
A playful smile graced my face as a mischievous one plastered his.
"Girl, you only wish,"
-- Okay so, (Name) has made a final decision about Jack! What is that decision gonna be? Man idk I just work here
And Tim is one of my all time favorite characters of Marble Hornets, and if you haven't watched the YouTube series, I highly recommend it as I'll be using quite a few references in this story
We haven't seen a whole ton of Jack action, but in this next chapter coming up, it's mainly going to be his POV and (Name)'s POV. I really hope i havent upset anybody with the terrible update schedule, i'm just getting recovered from COVID and would like to say that there is free covid tests online right now, they ship it to your house for free and they send four tests, not even any shipping or handling fees. I really suggest getting it as covid is starting to branch out again; I have it, my mother has it, and my step-father is well into getting it. Stay safe yall
And as always, if you're going to Meatball, do it Extravagantly. And, if you're going to wear a mask, don't be a soggy meatball and make sure to wear it above your nose and cover your entire mouth!--