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

~Basement?~

You cut off your screams as fast as possible, putting both hands over your mouth before sobbing into them.

"She got him..." You thought in distress, only to be swiftly interrupted by a familiar whimpering noise from beside you.

Your faithful companion was back, looking more worried than usual. With good reason.

"Miles!" You smiled through your cries, pulling him into your arms for a big hug. The dog barked and earnestly nuzzled against you, wiggling out of your grip at one point to lick your face.

"I'm so glad to see you, buddy... I had the worst nightmare..!" You weakly laughed, listening to him bark some more in response while rubbing his head against your face. His affection was all you needed right now. It was comforting and sweet, knowing you were loved by this precious dog.

"Oh--crap, are they up?" You asked out loud without meaning to, looking towards the door.

Miles was quick to get back into your line of sight, shaking his head before using his nose to point toward the window.

"They're out?"

He nodded, his tail wagging slightly as relief crossed your face.

"Good... I was not looking forward to explaining that." You sniffled, using your arm to dry your tears, but then you felt something strange, why did your arm feel so rough in some spots? 

You looked in confusion, freezing up as you spotted scars on your arm that weren't there before, the identical rips in your sleeve confirming the source.

"Sally." You gulped, hesitantly tracing the marks with your fingers. They were long and jagged,  clearly when you were attacked she had no preference as to how or where she got you, she just wanted to cause pain, as much of it as possible.

Miles was mortified, he barked and eyed the scars in a panic.

"I-It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore." You insisted, but this didn't seem to soothe the pup at all. He only whimpered and stared up at you with eyes full of confusion and fear. This was quite possibly the first time you saw Miles so completely afraid.

You sighed, knowing honesty was your only option... for once.

Going into detail about the nightmare wasn't easy with the terror still fresh in your mind. Part of you still dreaded the possibility that you were just in another dream world, and that the girl was just waiting for the right moment to scare you and finish what she started.

By the end Miles seemed even more concerned, but he managed to pull himself together and started comforting you again. The next several minutes were spent just savoring the feeling of safety even though you were still paranoid, and you couldn't help but feel torn up inside.

"I should be glad it's over... but what if I never see him again..?" 

In that moment you remembered his soft, confident smile before it all went dark, and you started second-guessing the thought.

"He didn't look defeated or sad... maybe he's going to be okay." You wanted to be optimistic, a sense you'd started to drift away from as your lies began eating away at you. You wanted to have faith that things would take a turn for the better again, despite the odds. So regardless of what the negative side of your mind said, you decided to do just that.

To believe in 'Poppy', and that you would see him again.

"Not gonna get anything done just sitting here, are we?" You put on a smile, almost laughing at the surprised look on your dog's face as you climbed out of bed.