Infinite Nights under the Moon.

Welcome Home.

"It was her. It, was Jill."

Jill stood in the hallway, holding the figure in her hands. She looked at a near replica of her face on the figure, she was blank-faced & furious. Her face contorted into a reaction that was unreadable even to those lose to her. She stood with the box on the group & 'her' figure in her hands. Not in the least bit doubting someone she didn't know did this. The most insensitive anybody had ever been towards her. She yelled, angry to the point of screaming, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!". There was distant shuffling in possibly her bedroom, she bolted to the door, whipping out her pocket knife, having it at the ready. She walked in, unfazed by the fact someone she didn't know was in her house. She decided to talk the horror movie approach.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are~" she chanted. Sure, she was worried but fake courage was a specialty she needed to dig out of her soul and place her in that part of her, delve into it. She smiled and waved her knife around, like it was a toy. She used jagged movements by when she heard a noise she'd whip her head and stop at where it came from. She heard a thud from in her closet so she ran to the door and slowly opened it, having her knife in her hand and a rush of thoughts go through her head. She felt stupid trying to be confident when it seemed obvious she wasn't. But, false confidence goes a long way. She poked her head in her closet, smiling and slammed it against the wall wide open. She walked in slowly, throwing clothes on hangers to the floor. She whispered, "Where are you?~" as she flung open her armoires and tore the clothes out, slamming the doors against the walls. Waving the knife, she stuck it inside the armoire, stabbing at things in there just in case, she had enough money to get new clothes if these got holes in them anyways. Another loud thud was obvious from above her. She looked at the ceiling as a paneling was set down and became level with the other ones.
    She moved her armoire under that spot and climbed on a built-in shelf, hoisting herself onto it and pushing the panel up, going into the ceiling space. She put the knife in the loop of her pants, letting it hang freely closed as she made her way through the ceiling space and through the small "corridors". Feeling each panel before climbing past it, testing to see if it'd fall. She saw glimpses of a shoe and a foot passing a corner and went as fast as she could after it, still testing each panel.
   She rounded the corner and saw a figure trying to hide in a small space up ahead to the right, like a small area where air went to a room. She pretended she didn't notice and kept her speed going straight ahead. She saw the shoe and foot try to retract, the person trying to hug their knees to their chest. She came on their spot and turned at them and then lowly lunged at them, both of them falling through the vents. They landed on the ground and the person under her groaned as she got her knife from her pant loop and held it to the persons throat.
    The person opened their eyes and she could clearly see who it was. It was that awkward man from the bookstore. He didn't have glasses on and he wasn't dressed in his sheepish attire like how he was. He was dressed in all black and was missing a shoe. His hair was scattered and put into a mess as she focused on his features, still holding her knife above his throat. He looked at her and they made eye contact. He was blank, a white canvas. She bore into his eyes, staring through him like he was nothing. Made of nothing.
She put the knife on his skin and spoke. He looked at her with the glassy eyes that showed no care in the world. He looked at her with soul-less eyes that were infatuated. His arms were at his side and flat on the ground as if he was completely dim-witted, as if there was nothing there. He gained his realization and spoke quietly, like people outside would hear him if he didn't whisper. "Sorry" with his blank face, he flashed a devil-may-care smile as he stared up at her with glistening eyes full of darkness.
    She watched with narrowed eyes as he looked her up and down as she sat on his stomach with the knife to his throat. He cleared his throat, "We gonna stay like this?" and she just scowled, pressing the knife into his skin. "Oops." he said, laughing lightly, not caring about the knife. She got off him and then put the knife in front of is face, "Stand up." she said with a firm voice. He got up slowly, not to get in the way of the knife. "What next?" he asked with a smile and raised eyebrows.
    She grabbed his arm and sat him down on a chair at her dining table, putting the knife to his face again, "Stay. Here." she spoke with traces of venom on her words. He smiled and shooed her away, staying in the chair and looking around her house. "Nice place," he said with a small laugh and a big smile. She didn't say anything as she open the cabinet under her sink, pulling out a rope. She tied him with it and to the chair as he sat, allowing her to. 'Allowing her to' is the phrase. He allowed her to, he could've stopped her but he didn't, he didn't need to and didn't want to. The ropes became tight, surely going to give him rope burn on his wrists and he groaned softly trying to get a reaction out of her. She gave nothing in return and focused on tying the ropes, her eyes bolting in different locations and directions. She put a chair in front of her front door incase anybody tried to come in from outside. She had her eyes narrowed to nothing, coming back to where he was and looking at her work.
   The knot was tight and the ropes were even tighter. She applaud herself in her mind for capturing him. He smiled as she looked him up and down. She saw the way his muscled looked small but were straining to be out of the ropes, veins obvious but not painful looking on his hands and arms. She thought about it, staring at him and through his eyes, thinking about how she got him here. With muscles like that, he could've gotten away and should've atleast fought back.
    She focused back and zoned back in, now realizing she had been staring into his eyes for the past couple of minutes. He smiled, noticing the change in her face. He tilted his head, causing pain but he still did it. She stared at him with a blank face and went up to him, going in a circle around him, looking him and the ropes up and down. Checking for mistakes, none. He smirked, trying to follow where she was moving around him, head turning and neck craning to look at her the entire time. She came back in front of him as he just chuckled in a low tone. "You are absolutely gorgeous." he said in a voice so suave that it could trick everyone that he was flirting at a bar instead of breaking into her house.

Time skip of 4 hours, time 8:10 pm

"What are you going to do to me? We've already played 200 questions." the man said while rolling his eyes and tilting his head to Jill who was watching tv on her couch, ignoring him. She had tried to reach out to Jackson but he wouldn't pick up and she couldn't call the police. In fact, her wifi had been spotty for the past couple of weeks and she couldn't make any calls from her landline or cellphone.
The man tried to rock the chair to face her, to sit towards her instead of facing the corner he had been put in. Failing, and falling on the floor, causing a loud thump and a groan from his throat. "Will you atleast be quiet? As you can see, I'm trying to watch the television." she said in a lower, annoyed tone. He just scowled at the now sideways wall as he head soft steps coming from behind him. "Coming to rescue me from the floor?" he asked. "Come to shut you up." she said.
     She dragged him on the floor and to her bedroom with the light off, slowly closing the door, smiling and waving at him. But he yelled out, "Please! Don't go, I'm afraid of the dark!" in a worried tone with panic instilled. She mocked him with a childish voice, opening the door and untying him. "Stay in here, don't go out, don't touch anything, don't go into my closet, and don't do anything weird." she said before turning on the light, closing and then locking the door with a key from the outside. She sighed and went to her office space.

End of chapter 7.