FIREFLIES - Eyeless Jack X Reader

Chapter 11- Beware The Intruder

I toss and turn, my body aching from the poor excuse of a 'bed' I lay upon. After literal hours of silence I come to the realization that slumber will elude me this night, as it had so many nights before.

Although the gentle rainfall just outside my window is soothing, it doesn't ease the growing tension pervading my chest. My only solace was my little bird friend, who had lay unconscious against me. I pulled him close against my chest, hoping to soothe the sinking ache of my heart.

I thought sleep would provide me some much needed relief until morning, but clearly that wasn't going to be the case. I had too much faith in myself and naively assumed my mind would be kind to me in the somber hours of darkness.

I thought that if I managed to sleep, Eyeless Jack would be back by the time I awoke. Again, it seems I had gotten my hopes up too soon for this as well.

A faint beeping pulls me from my mind and shifts my attention to one of my own limbs. I slip my hand out from under the thick comforter covering me and turn my attention to the device wrapped around my wrist.

I sit in the silence, my eyes stinging from the bright blue glow of the digital screen. The artificial numbers scream a fierce 5:00 AM, confirming just how long I've been awake for; and still no sign of my captor. How long is this day going to drag out? It's barely even started and already I feel like I've been waiting for years. When will he be back? I don't wanna have to wait for the sun to rise, but it seems that is my only choice.

I hope he's at least back before noon.

Even the faded color of the walls seem to cry out for the familiar figure that's been missing for far too long now. I hold my friend close and roll over, turning my back to the window and the world it opens out to. The sky and surrounding areas are dusted with a melancholic, unsaturated blue that comes as the sun plans to make her entrance. That blue isn't the same. It's not dark enough, it's not vibrant enough. Everything tastes bitter and cold being alone, I don't like it.

I close my eyes, praying that if I lay here for long enough, time will fast forward to when the sun is up and Eyeless Jack has returned. The trees begin to rustle and shake as the wind and rain pounds harder on the unsuspecting surface of the Earth -now matching the sunken emptiness rippling throughout my chest cavity.

A hollow sigh escapes me as I continue to drift through my mindscape.

The sound of something thick and sharp -like metal- faintly scrapes against concrete, shrieking out against the ambiance of the gentle raindrops just outside. It pulls my mind back from its place of wandering through storm clouds. And with it, I find that my heartbeat's no longer mine to control. My eyes stare unblinkingly at the matrixing shadows growing and changing about the room. They shift and warp into frightening figures that surround me.

Something's here, something that very clearly wishes to cause me harm, the stench of iron and rot alone tell me so. A bright flash of white lightning sends a mangled shadow casting it's form on my wall. It's form is something I can't judge by the skewed way shadows stretch out. Just as fast as the light illuminates the shadow, the room is plunged into endless darkness once more.

I feel my breath catch in my throat, and I hold my friend against my skin as tightly as my arms allow. I have to protect him.

I hesitantly turn and look behind, towards the sound and the shadow's origin. My eyes catch sight of a silhouette, one that sends a rolling shiver over every inch of my skin. Goosebumps pimple my arms, blood once hot and boiling now turns cold and frozen. The shape looks human, but in all the wrong ways; twisted flesh making up a plastered and poor excuse of a face, glowing eyes that pierce through the darkness like something hunting for meat, blood staining it's mouth and chest-if you can even call that shrunken emaciated mound of skin and bone a body-, long claws like daggers instead of hands outstretched -threatening to grab whatever attempts an escape-.