Curse Of A Witch (Book 1)

Ch. 42 Wounds

*No One's P.O.V.*

After Jack's outburst he was returned to Gen after the boy had somewhat calmed back to down. The Guardians had told him that they would always protect him and that they'd figure everything out together. That seemed to help Jack's nerves a little bit at least.

After that, Jack remained up in his room for the next week. Gen would leave him food, which he'd eat some of, but never finished it. Not even lasagna, which he loved. The kids had even come over during the week to try and visit, but Jack wouldn't come out.

The snow from the blizzard had partially melted so there were people out and about, and school had opened back up. Gen knocked on Jack's door, "Sweet Pea? Please open the door.. I'm worried about you." Her voice carried worry and sorrow for the boy. She knew his mental wounds hadn't even had the chance to heal before the Man in The Moon spoke to Jack, but she didn't like that he was locking himself away.

At first there was no response so Gen turned to leave, until she heard the soft click of the door being unlocked. With that, the door opened just a crack so it can be pushed open. Gen's heart nearly leapt out of her chest at that. She gently pushed the door open and was met with a dimly lit room with the sky projector lighting up the ceiling, and the blanket bed still on the floor from when they had a sleepover.

Jack was sitting in said blanket bed and had another blanket wrapped tightly around him as he faced away from the door. Gen stood there silently for a moment, she had no idea what to really say. She hadn't seen nor spoke to him in a week so she wasn't sure how to start.

"Uh.. Sweet Pea," she paused to walk over and sit by him. He had his hood up so she could only see the lower half of his face. His lips were ever so slightly downturned into a frown. "I know you haven't healed yet, but you can't lock yourself away and shut the people who love you out.

Jack's arm shifted slightly under the blanket. "You know you can talk to me-" she began but was interrupted by the boy, who didn't even turn to look at her. "It doesn't matter." He stated. He loved Gen, she was like a mother to him, but he didn't want to burden her with any of it.

"Hey, it does matter. You're hurting and you won't let anyone help." She reached out to touch him but stopped when he suddenly turned his head to look at her, pulling his hood down. His peircing glowing eyes bore into her as if they saw right into her soul. "How can anyone help. Its not like a hug or a bandaid will magically make it go away." He spat, angrily.

He wasn't angry with Gen, he could never be angry with her. He was angry at Pitch and MiM. Gen's gaze softened at his words. She wrapped an arm around his soulder and pulled him close so he could lean on her and rest his head on her shoulder.

She rubbed soothing circles on his arm as he sighed. "I know sweetheart, but bottling it up will only make everything worse. Talking about it won't make it disappear either, but it'll help you to start healing." She rested her cheek on his snow white hair with a soft sigh.

"I agree with you that MiM shouldn't force you into this so soon, but you have so many people- and non-people, who love you and will be there to help you. We won't let you go through any of this alone, okay?" She explained and kissed his tuft of hair after finishing.

Jack nodded, almost hesitantly. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I just didn't know what else to do, I need time." He spoke quietly and softly. Gen nodded in understanding. "Its okay but everyone else was worried too, you should let them know you're okay." Jack nodded at her words, he felt bad for worrying his friends and family.

"Would you like something to eat?" Gen asked but Jack shook his head. "Then we can just stay here, but you need to talk. Take your time, I'll listen when you're ready." She assured, still rubbing soothing circles on his arm for encouragement.

TW: Mention of Harm/Death/Gore

It took Jack a bit to gather his words and thoughts, deciding to begin with what the nightmares were typically about. "Well.. the nightmares usually had the same or similar events in them," he paused, the thought of them making him lean into Gen more.

"Typically, it started kind of okay at first and then, I would start to hurt either you, the Guarians, or the kids.. I would do such awful things l-like stabbing, cutting, or tearing you all apart with my bare hands-" at this point he curled into himself and Gen even more.

"B-but it was so vivid I could feel everything as if it was real. I could feel the tendons and ligaments snapping and ripping. I-I could smell the awful smell of blood, a-and the screams-" he began to shiver at the memory of the nightmares. Gen's eyes were wide in absolute horror.

She finally realized just how bad it all was. She had seen how shaken Jack would get after waking up but never realized it was because he experienced it as if it were all real. She pulled him closer and hushed him, not needing to hear any more and not wishing to make him go into the subject more.

"Its okay, Sweet Pea, its okay." She shushed him as he let out a shaky breath. She understood the extent of the nightmares now, she could help a little better now, he was a few steps closer to being able to recover now.

She was dreading the subject of his captivity, however. She had a feeling that it will be a lot more than the nightmares.

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Hey Snowflakes.

This story is obviously quite dark but I'll tey not to make it as dark as I was thinking of doing. But Pitch is a villian and he has done some very bad things. But we will see how things will turn out as time goes on.

Hope you enjoyed.

*Jack Frost*