Jim Lake Jr. x reader || Daylight

Ch. 40: Jimhunters; A New Reality

I'm a good person. I'm a good person... I am a decent person? Okay, well, maybe at most, I was an okay person.

Jim hadn't slept in his room that night it all happened. He had stayed with me for a bit but refused to tamper with anything that had been normal, that had been there when he was human.

I could feel in my gut how much he was hurting. This transformation of his was too much. I could feel the feeling of acceptance, but also grief.

The feeling I had felt when my magic went loose.

But maybe that was just an excuse I was telling myself.

Jim hadn't been given a choice. Merlin just turned him into a Troll. Me on the other hand...I had the power to say no to the magic. I had many opportunities to do so. But I didn't. If anything, I welcomed it.

My eyes slowly opened as I tried to pry myself away from my thoughts.

Maybe I liked it...the power. To stan up to a bully like Merlin, to be able to defend me and the ones I love.

I wasn't able to do that before.

 That memory, I liked to push down. It made my heart swell with anger and frustration every time it came up but for some reason, the magic in me forced it up. Like an object being pushed above water.

"We're going away for the weekend but there are all your favorite foods in the fridge and Grandma is going to check up on you." My mother kissed me on the forehead as she and my father walked out of the house.

I remembered her being really pretty. Before all the stress, the work, and me getting old enough to realize maybe she had always looked tired. But, even though my brain tried to fight it, I remembered having good memories of my parents.

My dad would build me toy sets, my mom would pick out the perfect stuffed animals. Bedtime stories, pancakes for breakfast on my birthday, and gifts from where they had traveled.

I used to always imagine my parents would go on these great adventures when they left me all alone. Maybe that's how I made myself feel better. Less lonely. I was heartbroken the day I found out they sold insurance, and most of the meetings they went on weren't even mandatory.

So, I got used to doing stuff on my own. It was habit. Studying and doing my homework? Always got A's, no matter how hard. Cleaning up the house and doing all the chores? I don't know why, but I always felt like if my parents worked so hard, so should I. Reading hours and hours of a book? Well, that was just to get away from reality.

I had a book that was my favorite out of all of them. It was a collection of fables and such that were about mystical beasts and heroes. True love and magic. When I thought about it, it sounded like my life right now.

This book was my everything. Whenever I would feel down, I would hide in a fort of blankets, reading it over and over again, wishing that it was all real. That the hope was all real.

That same night, I made a wish. I don't even remember saying anything. I just screwed my eyes shut, my head looking up at the night sky, and I held onto my book. Like a silent prayer.

Nothing happened right away as I had hoped.

But the next day, sitting in the library, my pile of books surrounding me, protecting me, a voice had peeped out from beyond my wall of literature.

"Can I borrow this book you have on dinosaurs? I'll give it back real fast, I promise!"  The voice was a boy, and as I tilted myself to get a look at him, I met a pair of blue captivating eyes.