Helluva Family (18+)

Ch. 8: A Promise to Cover a Weakness (Part 2)

The rush of adrenaline. A taste of iron in his mouth. Blurred vision. Numbed hands. He felt as if he was reliving a nightmare.

Correction, he was reliving a nightmare. Her smirk faded right in front of him. His mind overloading with energy and stimulation. The life drained from her face as he stood there. Her corpse met the ground with a hard thud. He didn't know what to feel. Pride? Disgust? Fear? Sorrow? Satisfaction? None of which he felt. He stood like a child lost in a supermarket, except he was lost in himself. His mind was like a graveyard.

Small sounds came from the corpse. A gargled giggle escaped her mouth, to his horror. Jack stood in shock and was unable to move as he watched. Her body began to rise in the most horrid way. The legs stood up before the rest of her body, then her torso, then her arms, then her face. It felt as if his soul had exited his body. The smile on her face was identical to the one she had in the beginning. The blood on her neck only made her more unsettling to look at. A chunk missing where he had done what he did.

She slowly edged closer to him. He tried to back up but found his feet wouldn't move. Jack's legs seemed to be as solid as concrete. His fear rose higher and higher. The blood in his veins felt as cold as ice. The crooked smile only grew closer much to his objections. Her snout made contact with his nose. His eyes were now locked onto hers. Her eyes were plain white pools of nothingness.

"Only the weak benefit from others' strengths."

It was the voice from his nightmares, mocking him. It scared him to the core hearing this voice coming from the hellhound's mouth. Two horrors feasting upon his flaw.

"The weak become cowardly when they fear the consequences of their actions..."

Jack felt like he couldn't breathe. His throat tightened in desperation. He fell to his knees clutching his neck in distress. His eyes felt like they were on fire. A bright light blinded his vision.

"Wake..."

"Up..."

"WAKE UP!"

Jack jolted upwards, breathing heavily. He was back on the couch. No more of her. No more voice. No more. Back to safety, if he could even call it that. A flick to the back of his head brought him out of his spaced-out position.

Loona: "Quit sleeping in. You wouldn't get up so I grabbed your nose. Seemed to do the trick. We got work today, c'mon."

Jack felt a hot flash of anger. His fear drove him to quickly react. With a response, he lamented immediately.

Jack: "Don't fucking do that!"

Loona looked at him with slightly widened eyes. He never spoke like that before. It was unusual hearing him angry. Jack felt his anger immediately turn into guilt. He couldn't even look her in the eye.

Jack: "I... sorry... sorry."

He stood up from the couch and went to the bathroom as fast as he could, slamming the door behind him. Loona looked from the couch to the bathroom door and back again to the couch. What was that all about?

Jack stared down at the sink before him, not having enough will to look himself in the mirror. He could tell Loona saw it too. She was going to mention it but he cut her off. Maybe she didn't think it was dried blood around his mouth but he knew... he knew. Cold water rushed out of the faucet as he turned the handle. He dipped his hands in and brought them to his face. Once again, he was on the verge of tears. How pathetic could he be? Yelling at someone who didn't know... who he was sure couldn't know.