Cruelest Of Hearts~Eyeless Jack X Reader Chapt. 30

Chapter 30 Time’s Up

---

There was a certain breathtakingly wild beauty hidden inside the white days of winter.

  Everything had been covered by the softest yet heaviest sheet of the purest white snow after an endless night of continuous blizzard, with the snowflakes cascading the vast skies gracefully and decorating the cold hard ground with nothing but pure beauty. The tall trees of the forest had their branches completely covered, acquiring what could be considered as white leaves of snow, making their black bole come in contrast with the beauty around them; it was a surreal scenery to be looking at, since the various shades of white mixed with black served to make Heaven and Hell collide with one another in a dangerous embrace that could both be deceiving as well as beautiful. The skies were covered by a thick sheet of white clouds which appeared to be peaceful right now, but to the trained eye of any living creature that called the forest it’s home, it was easy to see that there was another blizzard coming tonight; maybe this was why all life seemed to have disappeared from the once lively forest, all creatures running to find cover for the cold night that was ahead of them.

 The cold wind was coursing through the tall trees and gently wrapping the whole forest inside a cold blanket, making every breath drawn by a creature with body heat to come out as nothing more than a cloud of vapor. It was truly extremely cold to be wandering around.

 That applied to the living creatures of course.

 A steady sound of wood being cut in two was the only thing which disturbed the silence of nature, apparently coming from the only small lake existing inside these steep hills; it would be nearly impossible to find it without help and the tall mountains which surrounded it, offered their own grand protection. Next to this secure lake was the small cabin which Jack decided to occupy along with _______, using their surroundings to their own advantage. The small building had been almost completely covered by the snow by now and even if the chimney never seized to produce black smoke from the burning fireplace, it was still too hard to locate it; that of course, if nobody heard the eyeless man chopping away wood for the impending blizzard tonight.

  It was the first time in a long while that Jack had been dripping with sweat which cascaded the black skin of his forehead and sturdy back, only heightened by the extreme heat the man was experiencing from his tiring and hard chore. The extremely sharpened axe he was holding steadily among his hands had acquired a rhythmical pace, moving up and down with what would be considered more power than necessary, slicing the wood just as easily as a knife slashes warm butter; those poor pieces of wood were being cut in half with such an extreme power, that their pieces would frequently be catapulted towards multiple directions, with the man paying them no mind until they increased in numbers. Then, he would seize his actions for just a little bit and move around in a circle to gather up the wood and throw them on a certain spot he chose to gather them, before taking the axe in his gloved hands once again and continuing on. It hadn’t quite occurred to the eyeless man that he had cut wood for more than simply tonight; the huge pile was surely enough to pass a whole week without repeating the process at all and keeping the fireplace burning all day and night.

 Still, Jack continued. Even if he was finally out of breath. Even if he was literally bathed in sweat.

 Because this strenuous job was exactly what he needed to avoid thinking at all. It was more than simply strange for the otherwise sharp-minded and ready-to-act killer to keep himself from making even the slightest of thoughts, but it was surely what he needed at the moment to keep his murderous nature and impulsive urges at bay and under his complete control. In the past, he used to pride himself in being completely cold and collected no matter what dangers or foes lurked in front of him, and even went so far as to mock the hot-blooded natures of the rest of the killers that resided inside this cursed forest, yet right now, he understood them completely. He was feeling the very same anger urges like them. This is why he chose to chop wood today. This is why he purposely kept his gaze fixated on the large pieces of wood in front of him and carefully away from the windows of the house, from where your delicate self passed every now and then, going around with the chores of the house or just sitting to enjoy a TV show. Oh, no. He avoided looking at your form as if a mere glance on your frail self would be the final trigger to push him off the edge of what was left of his sanity. Who knew what the hell would happen then… and who knew if he would be able to prevent himself before doing any permanent damage.

Three days. Three whole days had passed from the moment he confessed the return of his memories and his will to continue things from where you left them when he disappeared and it was three days from the moment you had practically shoved him away, claiming that you needed more time. Yes, it was true that he agreed on giving you some time, but as the days went by it was evident that he was running out of his endless supplies of patience. Right now, he just couldn’t sleep; your image and crying face, along with all the rest of the memories that still lingered hidden inside his mind where now coming back to him like a huge tidal wave, making him wake up bathed in cold sweat and out of breath after just a few hours of sleep. Right now, he just couldn’t eat; even if his endless supplies on fresh kidneys just waited patiently for him to devour, every time he picked one out, he would just bite once and return them back into the fridge. You were literally in his every thought, in every pore of his body and of course wandering around in front of him with your hair waving gently to your slightest move and your sweet jasmine aroma blinding his senses every time you passed by him, did nothing to help him calm down. His consciousness and unconsciousness were practically having a fierce and unstoppable battle which was emanating inside his head like a true battlefield which screamed with the desperate yells of the wounded, with his consciousness telling him to be patient and wait for your decision, while his other part, the one that was consumed with dark and dangerous thoughts, insisting that he had his fair share in waiting.

 For now, it seemed like his consciousness was winning and thus he did not say anything or even did anything.

 But for how long was the peace going to last?

‘You pathetic f*cker. She turned you into her f*cking slave!’

 Jack was in the middle of slashing another large wood in half, when a gruff voice came through the woods, long before a tall and muscular figure emerged from behind a huge tree, making the auburn haired man turn his eyeless gaze to meet with him, as he was hunched over the axe. Don’t be fooled; Jack had realized Jeff as coming this way from a hundred miles away, since the forever-smiling man’s footsteps were not what you would call ‘silent’ or ‘careful’ not to be discovered. He just straight up marched to where Jack was, now coming out from the woods and looking at the eyeless man with what appeared to  be an angry and pitiful gaze, his carved smile desperately trying to form an angry frown. Jack sighed and straightened his posture, resting the axe on his right shoulder and wiped the sweat away from his forehead, using the back of his hand.

 ‘What do you want Jeff?’ he said coldly, a bit angry for the fact that someone interrupted his thoughts and certainly, the axe felt somehow light on his hand right now.

The smiling man seemed to be pleased with himself and the comment he threw, crossing his hands over his chest and plopping down to the pile of woods, sitting among them with the very same ease a true king would have ‘Just dropping by to see how the whole ‘moving together with the sl*t’ goes. You haven’t eaten her yet right?’

 If Jack still had eyes, he would have probably rolled them ‘She is no food Jeffery and do not dare call her like that; she’s not like the ones you hang around with. Plus, you should have kept your obnoxious self away.’ Jack comments and returns to chopping down the wood.

 ‘Wooooow lighten up Romeo; no need to act like a little b!tch.’ Jeff raises his hands in mock surrender ‘Guess it’s my own f*cking fault for coming over to let you know that sh!t is hitting the fan back at the house. But you are one ungrateful motherf*cker.’

 ‘Just spill the beans and get out of here already.’ Jack responds, never even turning to look at the man as he throws two pieces of wood to the side, almost hitting Jeff straight in the face with the man ducking right on time to avoid them.

 In his response, Jeff remains silent for a bit, his unblinking eyes fixated at the other male who did his best to ignore him. It was evident that something bothered him, but right now, there were more urgent matters to discuss. Maybe Jeff would get the chance to pry a little bit, later. But altogether, it was rather strange for the murderous man to see his otherwise calm friend failing to control his temper and it didn’t need a genius to understand that ______ had her fair share on Jack’s lack of calmness; I mean, Jeff always liked to mess around and try out the man’s nerves to see where they ended, but it was the first time he appeared to be irritated.

 Jeff pressed his lips together ‘LJ, Grossman and Ben are trying to turn this damn forest upside down to find both you and your little pet. Ben knows that Sally is aware of your whereabouts but Hallow-b!tch never allows anyone near the kiddo, so they can’t find out from Sally and the b!tch would rather die than tell them where you are to begin with- not that she talks to anyone other than Sally of f*cking course. No one f*cking suspects me for anything and Slender keeps quiet about your location as well. LJ’s thinking of using Tinne to track you down, so this means you must f*cking do something, or both you and the human will get mauled.’

 ‘I have already placed a circle of salt around the house, so Slaughterbeast can’t trace ______ at all. As for me, I’ve made sure my scent is all around the forest so he won’t be able to discern the right direction. Halloween told me the other night that they were searching for us, so I acted right away to seal this place more. Where you sure that they did not follow you here though?’ Jack says, resting the axe down and looking over at Jeff who rolls his eyes.

 ‘You think I’m a f*cking rookie? They will track sh!t if they try to find me.’ he spits on the ground, his coal black eyes burning with disgust ‘But of course Hallow-b!tch would have told you if they were searching the forest; the sl*t can pick anything up from literally miles away. Where they close?’

 Jack nods ‘Thankfully, no. They only reached near the waterfall but never passed across.’

 Silence succeeds Jack’s words, but Jeff’s eyes are drawn to a movement coming from one of the windows of the house; looking up, he sees your form walking to the kitchen, opening a cupboard and fetching a mug from inside. The lack of a response makes Jack follow his friend’s stare, only to locate you and almost immediately, he turns to the wood and starts chopping away; pieces of wood and snow are catapulted against every possible direction, reaching all the way to Jeff who looks over at his friend and smiles even wider if that was even possible.

 ‘What happened lover-boy? The girl doesn’t want to take your virginity?’ he mocks him smugly.

 ‘Shut the f*ck up Jeff and stay out of this.’ Jack replied coldly.

Jeff shrugs, keeping his smile unaltered nevertheless ‘You mad bro?’

‘No.’

 ‘Still’ the smiling man continues ‘She has a fine piece of booty if you ask me. Mind if I borrow her at some point?’

 The sound of a sharp object slicing the air reached Jeff’s ears almost immediately and the smiling man barely had time to raise his hand and grab the axe that was catapulted against his face, mere millimeters before managing to find its target. A low, deranged growl left his lips, but it was drowned away by the furious demonic scream that rose and two hands grabbed him hard by his shirt, raising him in mid-air with little to no struggle at all.

 Jeff cursed loudly and raised the axe to strike down his attacker, but once his furious eyes fell on a royal blue mask, surprise penetrated his insane mind and instead of attacking, he started laughing. He laughed so hard, that his voice echoed inside the silence of the forest like a gunshot and managed to make the angry-beyond-belief Jack be taken by surprise. His empty eye sockets widened behind his mask and his mind cleared, realizing where he was and what he was doing; he had just attacked Jeff, who was now laughing his cold heart out, for the comment he made about you. The comment he obviously made on purpose to extract the exact same reaction Jack offered him generously before thinking it through. He couldn’t help himself; the moment Jeff’s sly words left his mouth and reached Jack’s ears, the image of him and _____ flashed inside his mind and the beast took over faster than what he was able to register, consuming all of his being in mere seconds and turning him into nothing more than a demon. He was literally prepared to kill the smiling man with a single blow. He was literally ready to tear him into pieces.

 ‘Not angry my $ss!’ Jeff laughed ‘So she really doesn’t want to take your virginity.’

Jack released his grip around the black-haired man, who managed to fall on his own two feet before sitting down on the cut woods once again with his gaze fixated on his best buddy who turned his back to him and taking the axe in his two hands, he seemed to be studying it closely. It was evident that the sharp-minded man was once again consumed by his thoughts deciding what was important enough to share with his comrade yet would not expose too many things. It was the very first time that Jeff saw the man so deep in thought but once he opened his mouth to question him about it, Jack started talking.

 ‘I expect that you might remember me telling you that I was able to regain pieces and memories from my human days the moment she revealed my real identity, isn’t that right?’ he looks over at Jeff who only remains silent ‘You will also remember my inability to locate her inside my memories, as well as regain some of them with her as the main theme. Well, I have remembered her since almost four days ago; she is _____ ______ my childhood friend who was always by my side, even now that I am… well, a member of the Creepypasta. She searched for me all of those four years that I was gone and I wasn’t even able to remember her until now. And also, no Jeff, I am not a virgin and I never was.’ he says, sparing no glance to the forever smiling man.

 ‘Yeah right, and I am a ballerina. You haven’t scr*wed a single girl since I f*cking met you Jackie-boy.’ The forever-smiling man laughs out loud.

 ‘Then you should get on your dancing shoes right away Jeff; I would not miss you dancing to The Swan even if the world was coming to an end.’ Jack jokes but as he sees his friend’s puzzled look, he only continues ‘Me and ______ were romantically involved for a month before I disappeared; it appears that I was in love with her far before that –years and years before- yet I found the courage to confess to her only then. I was back to our hometown for the holidays and just a week before going back to college and two weeks before being sacrificed, me and ______ completed our romantic relationship one night that my parents were out of town. So no, I am not a virgin.’

 The look that Jeff gave Jack in this single revelation, was surely a precious one; the man’s cut mouth fell wide open and his eyes were ready to pop out of his head and roll on the cold snow beneath, as his shock was painted all over his pure white face, making Jack leave a silent sigh under his mask.

  ‘Well slap me in the butt and call me Mary!’ the man almost yelled out ‘Ben f*cking owes me a hundred bucks; I f*cking knew you got laid before turning!’ Jeff exclaimed.

Jack offers him no response, yet Jeff only continues.

 ‘So why the absolute f*cking hell aren’t you inside having some ‘fun’ with your lady and your pathetic a$$ is out here chopping f*cking wood?!’ for the first time, Jeff was sincerely wandering if Jack was so thick in the head to not see that all of his problems were practically solved. If it was him, you wouldn’t be able to walk for a few days after he would be done celebrating your reunion.

 ‘She told me she needs some time to think if she will take me back or not.’ Jack replied coldly.

 ‘’Xcuse me?’

‘You heard me Jeff; she doesn’t know how she feels about me.’

 Jeff couldn’t believe what he was hearing and surely, Jack’s calm reaction to the situation angered him even more ‘I call BULLSH!T! Get your f*cking lazy a$$ in there Eyeless and bng that girl senseless immediately. What the f*ck does the ‘she doesn’t know how she feels’ bullcrp mean?! She f*cking came all the way inside this f*cking forest, managed to live inside the Mansion and even bring back your memories and it is NOW that she doesn’t know how she f*cking feels?! And you f*cking let her decide on her own?! F*CKING MAKE HER SEE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT HER AS WELL. IT’S NOT F*CKING ONLY ABOUT HER!’

‘It’s not so easy Jeff; she needs some time to adjust to what I am!’ Jack was now the one raising his voice to his friend.

 ‘If I remember damn well, she’s already f*cking dying! You don’t have time to f*ck around! If you accepted her for who she is then why the hell doesn’t she?’ Jeff exclaims angrily ‘Love works both f*cking ways.’




~ * ~




 When Jack came back inside the house, the usual tensing of your nerves send a shiver down your spine and your senses were briefly thrown on edge. It was the very same feeling you were getting deep down in your gut for the last three days in which he agreed to give you some time to sort things out. And don’t get you wrong, you were trying your best to come in terms with everything that had happened lately in your lives, yet you just couldn’t help feeling tensed every time Jack was around you. Engaging in awkward conversations with one another didn’t help your case either –it worsened it actually- and it was really obvious that Jack was in fact able to feel this sudden change in the nervousness of the air, even if he commented on it or not. But once the man walked back inside the house tonight, his hands carrying as much wood for the fireplace as possible, and your head perked up from the couch to meet with the man’s form, you knew that his mood wasn’t what you would call the best.

 The greeting he gave you would be considered more like a low growl of a word than a word in general, with the man ignoring you completely and walking over to the fireplace, he started placing the wood to the side carefully, allowing you a full view over his back and his rich auburn hair that were more disheveled than usual, betraying that he shuffled them nervously more than once.
 A certain thing that made you most proud of yourself, was the fact that you knew when Jack was in a bad mood and in the past, your attempts to fix it seemed to work each and every single time. So wanting this anger, which was like a thunder cloud over the man’s head, away from the house at least for tonight, you took in a weary and careful breath and decided to talk to him.

 ‘You seem in a bad mood Jack. Is everything alright?’ your voice rang inside the dead-like silence, reaching your ears like a scream and making your broken heart pound inside your chest loudly.

 There was a long pause in which the man never even moved a single muscle.

‘No, nothing is alright.’ Came the cold answer from his part, with the man remaining with his back turned to you ‘Have you finally decided upon what we are going to do?’

 There it was!

Why the f*ck did you open your big mouth to talk to him?!

In response, you sigh ‘I’ve been thinking about it non-stop in the last few days, but I really need a bit more time… it’s…. not as easy as I would like it to be…’ you confess, feeling your heart sink inside your chest. All the wave of emotions that were washing over you these past days were enough to worsen your already critical condition and it required double doses of your pills to keep away the pain enough for you to just relax or even sleep.

  What Jack says next makes your mind be penetrated with pure surprise.

 ‘I am done waiting for your decision _______. So hurry up and decide right now.’

Your eyes open wide with surprise and your jaw drops ‘Well it’s not a decision I can make that easily Jack. You can’t be possibly asking me to decide on impulse.’ You throw at him, anger flashing like fire inside your mind and your angry eyes nail themselves on the form of the man who calmly removes his mask, setting it aside.

 ‘There is no time left. You should hurry up.’ he sighs.

‘Of course we have more time! What makes you say that all of the sudden?’ you yell at him.

 From all the things you expected Jack to do, nothing had ever prepared you for what followed your angry yell. You barely had any time whatsoever to register that the man had turned towards you, rising on his feet at the same moment, with his now unprotected face turning into a grim mask of pure anger and frustration. His hand shot up towards the small table that divided you, grabbing the left side and in the time your eyelids needed to blink, the whole table was catapulted against the wall on your right. The small piece of furniture hit the brick wall with such power, that the wood broke into pieces and whatever mug or ornament was on it, was crashed into millions of pieces before falling down on the cold floor, with your stupefied eyes following its movement. The moment it was down, you averted your gaze back at Jack, flinching and throwing your hands protectively around yourself when you saw his expression. Pure anger and malice were words not enough to describe how angry the man was right now, towering threatenly above you, ready to strike you down.

‘We have NO MORE TIME _____! IF YOUR BRAIN HAS FAILED TO REGISTER, YOU ARE DYING AND I AM FAILING TO FIND YOU A COMPATIBLE HEART TO MAKE THE TRANSPLANT YOU NEED! I HAVE SEARCHED AND SEARCHED FOR A HEART BUT NOTHING SEEMS TO FIT! SO NO, WE DON’T HAVE TIME WHEN YOU CAN DIE IN ANY GIVEN SECOND AND I WILL NOT LET OUR LIMITED TIME PASS. I. WANT. YOU. NOW!’

 Jack practically screams in your face, but oddly enough, a strong wave of anger washes over you, making you drop your defensive posture and rise on your feet in front of him, glaring daggers straight at the man.

 ‘You cannot expect me to hurry up! WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH AND I CAN’T DECIDE WHAT THE RIGHT DECISION IS! DO YOU REALLY THINK I DON’T WANT AN END? BUT I CAN’T DO THIS JACK, NOT WITH WHAT YOU ARE RIGHT NOW, AN IMMORTAL MURDERER THAT TAKES LIVES FOR FUN. I USED TO LOVE YOU SO MUCH BUT I DON’T KNOW IF I CAN LIVE WITH THAT! SO NO, I CANNOT DECIDE YET!’

And with those words, you turn and walk around the couch, trying to storm your way out of this room –and especially this situation- and return to the sanctuary of your bedroom. Even if you said horrible things to him, Jack’s face never even faltered so you knew that the one talking to you right now, was not Jack from the past, but the beast from the present. And you just couldn’t decide how you felt about it. How did you feel about the monster that your friend had become in the few years you were apart? It was a side of his personality that was more evident right now, with the insanity being a constant dark cloud hanging over your heads, but in reality, you just couldn’t decide what to do. The man was scaring you and drawing you at the same time and it was enough to drive you over the edge of sanity. How could you accept it?

 Still, you fail to even take two steps away from him before you feel a sturdy hand grab you hard by your hand and Jack yanks you back towards him, his face filled with a murderous determination and his lips so pressed together, that they become one thin, straight line. You try to struggle against his grip, but throwing his other hand around your waist, he pulls you against his chest roughly.

 ‘If I, the murderous monster accepted you mortal _______ despite your defenseless self and mortality, why can’t you accept me for who I am? I cannot deny the fact that I wish things could go back to how they were, with us being mortals once again, but THIS is the reality _______. We are no longer the same. We are no longer the mortals we were. The only thing that is the same is my burning love and passion for you and I will not stand by as you die and not claim you as mine. As I said before, I am done waiting. The time I gave you to decide is up.’ he shook you hard ‘Now I get to decide for the both of us.’

And with those words, his lips crash against yours hard.

Jack’s hand grabbed you hard by the back of your neck, locking you at place and leaving you no room to draw it back, as his mouth fell on yours with pure greed taking over as his body smashed against your own, giving off such an aura of lust filled with wanting that was almost intoxicating to your already weary brain. Almost. Your hands curled into fists and immediately flew to his sturdy chest in a desperate try to push him away, anger eating away your mind and heart; you wanted him away from you! This wasn’t fair! You cried out in pain as the man sank his razor sharp teeth on your upper lip and Jack took full advantage of your half opened mouth to slip his tongue inside it, searching for your own. His taste, the faint tint of chocolate and pepper mixed with a strong dose of blood and the feeling of his left hand tightening around your small waist, lead you to leave out a hoarse sigh which you simply couldn’t stop. Sensing it, the man altered his kiss to be deeper and much more intoxicating, making your knees give out from under you.

  And it was simply not fair. Because as he was kissing you hard, he made it all the more difficult for you to think straight. To think that this was not your once happy and carefree friend but the monster which had arose from the darkest and deepest depths of his unconsciousness. That this wasn’t the man you had grown to love all those years back, but in reality, was a complete stranger that was more than capable of killing you at any given time. Yet you just couldn’t hold on to these thoughts as the seconds in which he was kissing you passed; your brain decided to be the traitor and surrender all of your logical thoughts to your body, which was startled at first, but now was starting to give in to the man’s advances. Because you will be damned with such a needy kiss he gave you. With such filled with lust and love kiss that shot down to your guts and warmed them up dangerously. You would be damned to give in to him, but as it all clicked inside your mind, you realized that… it wasn’t important. It wasn’t important to stop yourself from having him just because he was different now than before; people change all the time and surely, not even you were the same.

 The man was right as well: you were running out of precious time to enjoy one another as your heart was preparing to shut down once and for all, so why not enjoy each other while you could? Why were you holding back? Why did you think that this wasn’t the Jack you loved when in reality, he was nothing other but that. The man had long ago accepted your dark side, the one that was not afraid of dying if that meant getting to live with her loved one for a bit before ultimately dying, so why could you not accept the fact that he was another man, yet exactly the same?

 This time, your heart exploded for a different reason than your condition.

 The moment your hands flew to tangle themselves into his rich hair and you pressed yourself more against him, turning the kiss into a desperate one, the tidal wave of your emotions drowned everything and destroyed all of your fears, making you realize what you feared the most: not leaving him alone with your death. Walking out on him just because you didn’t want him to see you die. And right now, as you kissed him with all the might that was left inside your bruised and worn out body, you realized that all this didn’t matter. You would fight anything that was on your way, even if that included Death himself.

 Why?

Because you loved him.

 More than anything else.