Rose Petals - Eyeless Jack x Reader

Chapter 17

   The ride home was a blur. You thought about what Nico most likely told the police, and decided to work from there when it came to making up a story. There was no point in lying about Jack, though, and at least you could play ignorant to certain details and keep your mouth shut about the hideout, and what Jack was really doing in town.

   You lumbered into your home, the first person you were greeted with being your uncle. At first, he looked as if he always did: angry and wanting to take it out on the first person that came into his sights, but then he saw the bandages around your neck and asked what had happened out of nothing but worry. You wanted to spit in his face and go to your siblings, but instead, told him you'd messed up, gotten into some trouble, and that the police were most likely going to show up tomorrow. This only worried him more, and he demanded you to answer all of his relentless questions. It could not be avoided.

   You answered to the best of your ability, hoping that none of it would come to bit you later. Uncle Luis did manage to fit in a few insults throughout, but left you alone afterwards. Compared to how he would have normally reacted, you would take it without complaint.

   Trudging upstairs, you went and found your sister in her room. Iris sat on her bed, reading a comic of sorts, and the first thing she had done when she saw you at her doorway was gasp. Then, she'd shot up from her bed, hurrying over to you.

   "What happened?" she exclaimed, concern plastered all over her features.

   You sighed, not wanting to have to run through the cycle of explaining all over again. "I'll tell you everything tomorrow," you began, voice dulled from your exhaustion, "but I'm fine. I don't need a hospital. I fixed it up myself. It's just a graze."

   "A graze?" she echoed. "From what? [Name], who attacked you?" she pressed, taking you by the shoulders.

   You held your hands up in your own defence. "Chill. I said I'll explain in the morning. Just wanted to let you know I was home."

   It took her a few seconds of pondering and processing, but she finally nodded, retracting from you. "Sorry," she said, fidgeting where she now stood. "It's just..." She shook her head. "God, I don't know. It's been so crazy as of late."

   You smiled softly, but your voice was empty. "Heh. Crazy. What a way to put it." This feels normal.

   She looked at you, brows knitting together in a mixture of worry and confusion. "What?"

   You shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. "Things have been this way our whole lives, haven't they?"

   Iris crossed her arms. "I mean, I— I don't know. I guess, but, just, not this crazy. I mean, you don't normally come home with a neck wound! We don't normally have creeps outside our window watching us!"

   Save for the smile on your face widening a little bit more, you were completely motionless, staring unblinkingly at her. "Luis beats you almost every week, and you took up the job you did partly to get away from it all and partly to cope with this reality and feel something other than pain. Liam has been running away for the past three years because he's so scared of what this family has become and can't take it anymore. He's showing trauma symptoms at school and it's been alerting the teachers and the counselor, but our uncle can't see it through the booze he's drowning in.

   "I spend as much time away from here with my friends as I can to escape the fact that I can't fix this broken home, and am stuck working a low-paying, low-respect job just to cling onto the idea that one day, I might be able to escape this place and leave this town that doesn't even feel real half the time." I leaned off the doorframe, facing her fully and watching her expression slowly become more and more uncomfortable with my words. "There's a stone in the graveyard with our parent's name on it and no bodies underneath to mourn. A wretched monster came out of that forest one night and took them away from us forever and left us with that piece of shit—"