Believe in Me

Thank You

At first it was all dark, blackness coating over his confused and insecure expression, shuttering him from the relief of vision. The only noise that indicated any form of life at all was his own steady heartbeat, the silence so driven that he could hear the thumps echoing around the shadows despite having no signs that this was even a room. Thud… thud… thud… 

And then suddenly everything came to life.

The darkness was shoved aside, washed away as if purified by a second-long rainstorm, the bright glow of the sun both blinding and exciting his uneasy soul from the anxious state it had been in. The confusion, the cloudiness, it all faded away as this new sudden dawn overcame him. The sun… for someone who preferred the cold, it was so amazing to see the large mass of light above. He didn’t know where he was. The overgrown and slightly browning grasses clawed at his knees as he tore through them, running out of the pure adrenaline of freedom. What he was free from, he couldn’t even remember, but he was free. The skies were bright with the sun’s overcasting brightness, the air smelled clean and natural compared to the darkness from before, everything he had unconsciously been expecting given to him… except the one thing. He was still alone. Even as his soul cheered with this newfound excitement he felt that joy fading all too quickly, his running footsteps slowing until the crunches along the dried out grass fell quiet. His eyes wandered around him… The sunlight encased this entire world, brought him out of the darkness that he couldn’t even see anymore… but there was no one in sight. Then a new feeling filled up his glass, replacing the happiness that had been somewhat quickly poured out, a familiar feeling pouring in and weighing his heart down. Loneliness.

Wasn’t that how the world was before? He would run and play around all day with no one to tell him he couldn’t do something, but in the end he would long for company more than anything, not be able to see the good of his situation over the bad. The sun was still shining just as bright as before. The winds still felt nice and it wasn’t too hot, a perfect chill riding along the breeze… everything was just the same as that split second when his heart rose. But then he realized the bad. He looked around, questioning now if there was anyone there, wondering why no one was there, where they all were. Then he turned and wondered where the darkness had gone; hadn’t he just run out of it? As his mind began to process he looked down to his fingers, questioning why they seemed so intact when distant memories reminded him of a pain that rushed through them… was this a dream?

And then he was in darkness again. Just asking that simple question had snapped him from his unconsciousness, his eyes flickering open to the real world, the walls of the building of looming shadows and wicked memories bringing him out of the trance. Pitch had gotten bored with the nightmares that would wake the boy up in chills and muffled yells, the fear he once longed for greatly becoming too… normal. So to change things up he started plaguing Jack with dreams that were less scary and more just… confusing. Ones that would worry him, make him think for hours on to find the answer to why he had it, but he would never come up with anything logical, either that or depress himself with his answer.

It had been… well, forever possibly. He wouldn’t know how many days had passed, as he never left this room, this one, dull, empty room, for that amount of time. He was given food only when his arms would go numb from the lack of it, the constant hunger less of a painful experience and more of one he was used to by now. Food was a great thing but he’d get full all too quickly, so it hardly lasted… but that wasn’t really what was on his mind. Pitch caught him to torture him, to make him regret multiple things, or so Jack had thought, but that didn’t seem to be the case at all. Despite occasionally getting hit just to make the nightmare king smile at the wince the winter spirit gave out of it, there was rarely any real pain. Just a digging want to return home, a wondering if Ilia and Wind were okay, a longing to know if the guardians were alright.