All credit goes to Valentinesdaygreen a great deviantart writer.
{Reader's POV}
Currently, I am waiting for my death.
After locking Jack in my room in the heat of the moment, I realized the full weight of my split-second impulse. I probably wouldn't live long once he got out, given his angry yelling and pounding on the door, though hopefully it would be a while before he escaped. As such, I decided to use my remaining time wisely and watch the video on Buddy's account. Maybe it wasn't the best way to spend my last moments, but I just had to know...
Bringing up the folder, I scrolled down the list slowly, looking for the thumbnail with the play icon on it. I could faintly hear Jack's yelling, muffled by the door and my headphones, and once I found the video and pressed "play" it was drowned out completely. A glance at the time bar revealed the video was about ten minutes long, so I settled in to watch it. It started with Buddy standing in front of the camera, setting it up.
"Is it on?" His voice rang through my ears and I unexpectedly choked back a sob, my eyes wide. Buddy's voice... It had been so long since I'd last heard it, I'd almost forgotten what it sounded like. Heavy emotions swirled inside me as he continued speaking, tears rising in my eyes as I was filled with nostalgia and sadness. He turned the camera around as he examined the screen, giving a glimpse of the room, before turning it back to flash it a smile. "Okay, it's on... So I'm going to show something special."
The camera moved to show Jack, chained to the wall with his head bowed, bangs hanging in his face. He was still wearing the headphones, making me quickly realize all his senses were still blocked. "This is Eyeless Jack, but I call him Jacky. He's my adorable little pet. A few days ago, he bit me while I was feeding him, so I punished him... I've given him a bit of water, of course, but I held back food. But today, I got something special." He set the camera on a tripod aimed at Jack and walked over to him, patting his shoulder.
Immediately Jack gave a jolt at the comment and recoiled, trying to pull away. I could hear his soft grunts, quickly covered by Buddy's chuckling. Ruffling Jack's hair, he rose and walked off-screen, soon reappearing holding something. My stomach lurched as I realized it was a kidney, and he flashed the camera a smirk as he held it up. "See this? This is a kidney, Jack's favorite. Since he hasn't eaten in a while, I figured I'd be nice and give him something special. It's fresh, too. Now, I've been blocking his smell the past few days using this cream I found online, but today I'll stop it..."
Reaching into his pocket with his free hand, he pulled out a cloth and dabbed at Jack's face under his nose. It made him jolt and he yanked at the chains as he tried to get away, the links rattling and clanking loudly. Even with it, I could hear him whimpering and grunting. My heart sank at the scene, able to see just how terrified and desperate Jack was. Buddy, meanwhile, just smirked, his smile sweet yet cold, making a shudder go down my spine. "There we go, Jacky... That's right, it's okay... Though I don't suppose you can really hear me."
Pocketing the cloth, he then held the kidney under Jack's nose. His struggling ceased, his body tensing, and he slowly leaned forward, sniffing it. Moaning softly, his body went almost completely limp, and his head moved forward as he tried to bite it, only for the duct tape covering his mouth to brush against the kidney. Buddy chuckled and patted his head, making him tense. He reached over and removed the headphones, setting them on the ground. Jack's body tensed even more, until Buddy waved the kidney under his nose. At that point his head lurched forward once more, but again it was blocked by the tape.
"Oh dear, I suppose you can't eat with it..." Jack froze at Buddy's voice, his stomach visibly lurching, and after a few moments Buddy placed a hand on his head, rubbing it slowly. "Frustrating, right? So close yet so far... I'd remove the duct tape, but if I did you'd probably bite me, and then I'd have to punish you more. And if I punish you any longer, you'll die of starvation, and I don't want that to happen."
His hand trailed to the back of Jack's head, and a few moments later the blindfold fell, Buddy pulling it away. Black ooze trailed from his hollow eye sockets as he stared at the kidney, his expression contorted in a painful mix of despair and longing. His body hitched as he gave a muffled sob, the chains rattling lightly. Placing the blindfold on the ground, Buddy wiped away Jack's "tears" with a single finger.
"Don't be so sad, Jacky... It's okay, you're fine." He whispered sweet yet taunting words for the next couple of minutes while waving the kidney in front of Jack's face. Throughout it all Jack whimpered and pulled at the chains, "tears" streaming down his face as he watched the kidney longingly. Eventually, though, Buddy took the kidney away and stepped off-screen, making Jack yank at the chains with a muffled cry. "Aww, I know you like me, Jacky, but don't worry. I'll be right back."
A few moments later Buddy returned with the kidney sticking on the prongs of a camping skewer, like a marshmallow or hot dog. He kneeled next to Jack, ruffling his hair and eliciting another muffled cry. "Now Jacky, I'm going to remove the tape. If you bite me, I'll put it back on. Got it?" Jack nodded slowly, and Buddy ripped it off, making him yell in pain. Quickly retreating a small distance, Buddy then waved the kidney in front of Jack's face, making his hollow eyes widen.
Immediately his head lurched forward, and I turned away before I could see him eat.In less than a minute the sounds of chewing ended, and I carefully turned to see his mouth rimmed in blood. Buddy stepped over and ruffled his hair, and Jack flinched. "Stop doing that!" he cried in frustration, recoiling at the touch, but Buddy just chuckled.
"Nope." Buddy ruffled his hair a bit more. "I hope you learned something. Keep this incident in mind next time you want to bite me, okay?" With that he pulled out a roll of duct tape and Jack's eyes widened, quickly pulling at the shackles.
"What are you doing!? I thought my punishment was over!"
"For biting me, yes. But you talked back just now, so obviously I can't let you talk just yet..." Jack pulled harder at his restraints as Buddy tore off a section of tape, and leaned away as the tape neared his mouth. Yelling one last time, the tape quickly covered his mouth, muting his voice. Buddy chuckled and patted Jack's head again, before grabbing his mask. "Well, I think you've earned this much..." He slid it over Jack's face, positioning it carefully, and then gave Jack a final pat on the shoulder. With that he rose and walked towards the camera, and there was a final shot of Jack's body heaving as he sobbed before the video ended.
For a while I just sat there, staring at the screen in silence. Finally I closed the window and logged out, leaning back and closing my eyes as I thought about what I'd just seen. It was a lot to take in. Buddy had been so sadistic, so cruel, and he'd enjoyed it so much... It was mind-boggling, hard to believe that was really the same Buddy I knew. And Jack... He looked so scared, so helpless, so... vulnerable. It was a side of him that was alien to me, and made my stomach sink. No wonder he kept having flashbacks and developed PTSD.
Throughout the video I'd also noticed some parallels between our treatments, but even so Jack still acted nicer. He scared me for fun, but he didn't go as far as Buddy did. He never taunted me with food, he never deprived me of my senses... Whenever he showed kindness, I could tell it was genuine. He was cruel, but he still genuinely cared about my well-being. There was something inherently cruel about Buddy's behavior that Jack lacked around me.
Suddenly I heard a slam and snapped my head to see Jack standing in the front door, growling. I ripped off the headphones as he lunged at me, jumping out of the seat just in time for him to tackle me. He quickly grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, spinning me around and using his other arm to wrap it around my chest, pulling me close to him. Struggling to break free, his grip tightened and I gasped as he twisted my arm even more, making me freeze in place.
With my struggles stopped he forced me into the bedroom, releasing his grip and shoving me onto the bed. As soon as I landed he'd wrapped the shackle around my ankle and locked it, the click echoing through the room. Grunting, I rolled onto my back only to find Jack suddenly on top of me, pinning my wrists above my head. His mask was inches above my face, so close I could see his empty sockets through the black gauze covering the eye-holes.
"Locking me in wasn't very nice," he hissed, his voice laced with that demonic quality that sent shudders down my spine.
"L-leaving me chained to a bed isn't very nice either," I retorted, narrowing my eyes at him as I tried not to shake so much. My response only made him growl, his grip sharply tightening on my wrists. I flinched but didn't break my glare. Usually I just rolled over and let him do what he wanted, but not this time. I didn't care how mad he was at me, I'm not some toy. After a few moments of glaring at him defiantly, he did something unexpected.
He chuckled.
"You know, you're right," he said, catching me by surprise. As I stared at him warily, he removed a hand from my wrists and brushed his finger along my cheek. "I had no reason to leave you chained to the bed, as you kept saying, you have no reason to run, no where to go, no one to help you... I shouldn't have done that, and... I'm sorry." His apology caught me completely off-guard. It was pretty rare for him to apologize, for anything. Honestly, it kind of worried me.
Confused, I suddenly flinched as he lightly dragged his finger down my cheek and towards my neck, still sore and tender from when he'd strangled me. A shudder ran through my body, and I swore I could hear him smirking. "I know how it is, to get caught up in your anger... You do things you don't mean to, hurt people without thinking..." He lightly traced a line on my neck, applying barely any pressure, but I flinched as his gloved fingertip brushed against the recovering scratches. I wanted to tell him to stop, but I was afraid the movement in my throat would make it worse, so I just whimpered. My message reached him, and he removed his hand.
"Don't worry, [Name], I won't hurt you... I didn't mean to do that, I still feel guilty... Impulses are a dangerous thing, right?" I could imagine his smile, hidden behind his mask. Releasing my wrists and getting off me, he stood and walked to the window as I slowly sat up, watching warily while rubbing my wrists. The window was open, and he closed it, chuckling. "If you really wanted to escape, you could have gone through the window. It's easy to open, after all..."
Escaping through the window? Amazingly, that had never really occurred to me. I'd always assumed it was locked or didn't open, but thinking about it, it didn't make sense for the lock to be on the outside. I didn't say anything, though, just watching him warily. He turned to me, walking back and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Impulse or not, you still locked me in the room, though," he noted, his genial tone sending shudders down my spine. Leaning forward, he tilted his mask slightly, allowing a glimpse of his sharp-toothed smirk.
"I still need to punish you."