Object of Desire ; Eyeless Jack x Reader

Chapter 30

        I slowly came to my senses again. The first thing I felt was throbbing pain in my head. Regardless, I still tried to open my eyes only to squeeze them shut again when the first thing I could make out was bright light hitting the white ceiling above me. Starting another try at slowly forcing my eyes open, I carefully let them adjust to the light before fully opening them up and looking around me. Not only was the ceiling white, but everything else in the room was too. Obviously a hospital room. I thought back to what I could remember before passing out. I managed to escape the forest. I managed to escape Jack. And luckily I ran right into the police that was probably patrolling the neighbourhood. And I passed out while they were asking question after question. I couldn't remember seeing an ambulance so it probably arrived sometime after I passed out and just immediately brought me to the nearest hospital. I looked around the room. Turning my still throbbing head to the left, I saw a chair right next to my bed. But most importantly, there was a person sitting there. My still slightly blurry vision made it hard to recognize them at first. Squinting my eyes slightly to make them out better, I nearly started crying.

"Alex?" My voice was weak and raspy. His eyes were closed at first, so I thought he was sleeping but they shot open as soon as my quiet voice left my throat. Seemed like he was just resting his eyes.

"(Y/N)!" He jumped up from his chair, grabbing my hand and squeezing it tightly while looking at me with pure joy in his eyes. Well, and dark circles around them. He looked exhausted, like he hasn't slept in a while. "Oh my god, what happened to you? I was so worried! When I heard what happened at your house I thought you were dead. But then they said you're missing and probably got kidnapped and I got so worried, I was staying up late every day hoping maybe you would call or something." He kept rambling. My tired head could barely keep up with him. I squinted my eyes as his suddenly loud voice sent more piercing pain through my brain. "I'm sorry. Are you in pain? Oh, I should call a nurse." He hit some button near the bed before sitting down on his chair again, still holding my hand. Only a few moments later a nurse arrived, calling up a doctor immediately when she spotted me awake in the bed.

Of course, I had to go through a lot of questions about my wellbeing and the events that took place to put me in this state. I only replied as curtly as possible, seeking some silence to calm down and get my brain fully working again. I sighed when the doctor and nurses all left again. Alex didn't move away from me for even a second and was still staring me down with happy but worried eyes. Looking at him I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'm really not in the mood to talk about what happened." He looked disappointed for a second but quickly changed back to worry.

"No no, don't apologize, I get it. Just get some rest for now. You probably went through a lot."

"Thanks. I just... gotta figure out a lot of stuff now." I trailed off slightly. I wasn't with Jack anymore. But I also didn't have a family anymore. And I missed a lot of school. And I had to get through the final exams soon. Freedom seemed very exhausting all of a sudden.

"Oh, don't worry." Alex squeezed my hand a bit more. "You'll stay with my family. It's fine, we got a guest room you can stay in. And you still got a a bunch of time before the exams. You can rest a bit longer before having to start with all the studying." He rambled on again as if he read my mind. He got it all figured out for me. I smiled at him. And I nearly gave up on escaping from Jack because I thought I had nothing left here. I never imagined Alex looking out for me so much. He really was a great friend.

"Thank you." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment, feeling relieved and just at peace for the first time in what felt like forever. "Hey, what did I miss while I was gone?" Alex looked at me confused for a second before getting the message. I just wanted to have a normal, casual conversation. I just wanted to hear something nice and funny. He smiled at me.

"Well, remember when Jen told us her hamster just disappeared a while ago? They were looking for it everywhere. Pushing furniture around and everything. Turns out it just somehow escaped its cage and has been living behind their fridge for like a month. Regularly came out at night to steal some food they had laying around on the table or something. And when they finally discovered it, apparently it just stared at them for 2 seconds and fell over to die."

"What? Why did it just die?"

"I don't know, heart attack from getting scared of being discovered? Hamsters die in the weirdest ways. Don't you remember the hamster she had before that one?" It wasn't the happiest topic for a conversation but it felt casual and nice. Just what I needed. I didn't have to be scared to be attacked, threatend or killed if I said something wrong. I could just say whatever I wanted. I could crack jokes carelessly. I could be myself.

I thought back to Jack. He was scary. But I felt like our most recent conversations got a lot more casual as well. He didn't threaten me that much anymore. But he still did. And I was still scared of him. It was better to be away from him. Surely. He was a psychopath.

Unfortunately, my nice conversation with Alex got rudely interrupted at some point by some police officers entering my hospital room. Right, I never answered any of their questions. They were probably eagerly waiting for it. "Excuse me, Miss (L/N), we just have a few questions." One of the officers said carefully.

"This is not a good time." Alex got up from his chair to face them. "She has to rest." He said sternly.

"Right, we realize that. But this is very important. We think her kidnapping is connected to the murders occurring lately in this town and we need all of the information she has to catch the culprit as soon as possible to avoid further damage." They approached my bed. "We nearly got ahold of who we think might be the culprit the night you were found. He was wearing all black, a black hood and a blue mask covering his face. He disappeared into the same forest you ran out of just a little while later. Were you kept inside that forest? Did you come across him? Was he the one keeping you captive?" They asked one question after another. Black hoodie and blue mask. They were definitely talking about Jack. And they were probably the ones hurting him. They really were after him. They were so close to catching him. I just had to tell them which direction I ran into to get to the street and they could probably find Jack's house in no time. They could catch him and arrest him. They only needed a few pieces of information from me.