A Little Laughter Left In Me... (Laughing Jack x Reader)

~Sally's Game~

"...Wanna play with me?"

You shot up from your bed like a bolt of lightening, your eyes darting around the pitch-black darkness of the room in a futile attempt to see whomever had spoken. You'd never heard that voice before, it was high-pitched like a little kid's.

How was that even possible?

Maybe it was just in your head--a dream you'd already forgotten. That would make sense.

But even so... it sounded real. Too real.

You could still feel Miles' furry body in your arms, and pulled him closer to try and ease your mind. But as you put your hand up to his head... you noticed he wasn't warm anymore. If anything he was cold, and as you breathed you noticed a strange smell lingering in your nose. Almost like...

"Miles..?" 

You looked down at your arms and nearly screamed, immediately releasing the... thing. It was something rotten. A corpse of a dog that looked similar, but thankfully wasn't Miles.

You instinctively scooted away from the cadaver out of disgust, eventually falling out of bed and landing on your back with a heavy thud.

"Ouch..." You groaned, slowly freeing your legs from the blankets and picking yourself up off the floor. But as you rubbed the areas that ached, you heard a faint noise from somewhere in the darkness. You quickly looked ahead, furrowing your brow in confusion and concern when you noticed your bedroom door was wide open. The walkway was hardly visible, but at the end beside the stairs, you could've sworn you saw the silhouette of a person.

Wait, no... a child!

You had to be dreaming, right? There's no way a child could be in your house so late at night, let alone without any reason. But then why did your back hurt..?

If you were dreaming, you wouldn't feel anything! So you really are awake..?

Without knowing exactly what you were going to do, you got up to your feet, keeping your eyes on the small figure. They seemed to be hunched over, and if you squinted your eyes you could see their shoulders shaking occasionally.

Were they crying?

You focused your ears on the noise you'd heard from before, and unless you were mistaken, it sounded much like tiny whimpers and sniffles. What was the matter? 

Although there were plenty more important questions like; "How did they get in here?" at that moment your sympathetic heart and mind demanded that you do something. You couldn't seem to think of anything else.

"Maybe they got lost and needed shelter from the cold..." 

Walking past the open doorway, you tried to find your own voice, having lost it when you first noticed the figure.

"Um... hello? Are you okay..?" You whispered, not wanting to frighten the poor thing. For some reason the thought of going to your parents and getting them involved was the furthest thing from your mind, it was like the child was all you could focus on. You'd even forgotten all about the dead animal in your bed.

After you spoke the crying seemed to pause, and as you got closer you could see that the child appeared to be a girl. She wore a pink nightgown that was terribly dirty and torn. With how dark it was you could just barely make out the stains. She was originally holding her hands over her face, but she started to lower them when she noticed you.

It, too, looked filthy. There were dark streaks of blood going down her face and eyes, and it seemed to be all over her arms, too. She was hurt... right? She had to be.