Adventure Pending...

Chpt. 6

TWS!!
S/H (Jackson scratches his wrists nervously because im projecting) and mention of various types of bugs. These trigger warnings carry on into future chapters!

-=-

Logically, Jackson knew their mom wasn't going to be there. They knew she was just as gone as everybody else, and yet standing in their empty living room with Frankie standing in the doorway behind them Jackson can't help but suddenly feel the weight of the situation hit them.

They're just a bunch of teenagers, their mom is gone. She's GONE and they can't bring her back and it's not okay and Jackson can't- they can't handle this alone.

Frankie's voice is distant behind them, but they're fairly certain she's asking if they're okay. The answer is no of course they're not fucking okay everything is WRONG their mom is gone, the entire town is gone!

Jackson can feel themself beginning to shake and makes a weird whining noise, reaching up to tangle their hands in their hair. Dull fingernails scratch at their scalp and a hum vibrates in their chest. They needed to calm down now before this got any worse.

They can feel Holt, the other inhabitant to their body was so much closer than usual and chances are the sudden influx of emotions has them with partial control over the body. This would also explain why Holt isn't saying anything, trying to calm them down. Fuck they wish Holt was trying to calm them down.

Jackson pulls in a funny breath and then holds it, pulling their hands away before they could start pulling hair out and beginning to flap them. An eerily steady voice comes out of their mouth, "Hold on, Frankie," and Jackson knows it's Holt, who could probably still hear the things going on around them.

Right, Frankie. Jackson needs to calm down and they need to get to Monster High so that they can figure out what's going on. Everything is going to be fine they just need to be able to breathe and they can freak out later when they aren't holding up the group. When they aren't around someone else.

Jackson pulls in another breath, having let go of the other one. They continue to breathe, trying to use it to calm down. Their skin is buzzing and they're wound up so tightly that another thing going wrong is going to cause them to suddenly spiral in seconds and Jackson knows this but they're going to force their eyes open anyways.

"I'm fine," Jackson says, and then they repeat it a few more times like they're trying to convince themself it's true, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm sorry," they pull in another heavy breath and turn back to Frankie, "Let's go,"

Frankie eyes them worriedly, "Are you sure?" they fidget, rocking on the heels of their feet, "That didn't look... good,"

"There's m-," Jackson runs a hand down their face and breathes for a moment, "There's more important things, I'll freak out later," they decide, and Frankie chuckles.

"Alrighty," she smiles– tight and fake, "I'm sure I will too, we should go," she nods to herself, turning to leave the small, painfully empty house.

Jackson doesn't spare a glance back into the yellow-sided building, closing the door behind them and leading Frankie on an alternate path through the streets. They don't find anybody else out there, but occasionally one of them would stop and stare at something with a frown on their face, then continue walking without an explanation beyond 'Nothing, sorry,'.

*Trigger warning for Self Harm in the next paragraph and a half. It's mentioned a couple other times throughout the chapter.

Monster High comes into view, and Jackson feels Holt pull their hand away from where it had been scratching their wrist for the last ten minutes. The skin was red and irritated, small bubbles of blood reaching the surface.