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He can hear them. At the back of his mind, slowly growing louder the longer he tossed and turned in his bed.
We don’t need sleep.
We need to cut into ourselves and find the secrets within.
We need to throw ourselves against the wall to see what breaks.
We need to drown in the river to see how much water our body can hold.
His body aches, its desire to satisfy their cravings growing stronger as the seconds pass. It finally becomes too much and he sits up from the ground, exhausted. The voices grew louder with every passing night. They were manageable before, but the sudden influx of killers seeking him out for help was starting to take a toll on him. More than he’d care to admit.
It was time for a distraction.
Eyeless Jack stands and adjusts his mask properly on his face. He drags his feet to the cabin’s door and leans against it. The smooth wood feels cool on his skin. He lets out a pleased sigh, but it’s short lived. The voices grow louder. He stumbles out into the night, his hands shoved into his pockets, as he walks into the surrounding woods. It doesn’t take long for the trees to start shifting, but without a set destination in mind, he isn’t sure where he’ll end up.
Right where you need to be, a voice in his head tells him. It’s his own voice, he realizes, but he doesn’t know how he heard it above the others.
The wind caused by the shifting trees feel great against him. He lifts his mask and allows the cool air to whip against it, it’s force enough to send him walking a few steps backward. His cravings do not subside, however. The voices beg for more, urge him to slam his body into one of the trees as it moves to see where he’ll land, how hard he’ll hit the ground. His body trembles as he fights every urge to give in. He puts his mask back on and trudges on.
After a few moments, the trees slow to a stop and form a path before him. It’s harder to see now, though, and he sees the trees have lined up so close together, with their branches hanging over the path, that he assumes they’ve blocked out all the moonlight that was previously shining down on him.
Nevertheless, he follows the path. The dirt beneath his feet is unexpectedly soft, much to the displeasure of the voices. He’s sure that he hasn’t been here, wherever here is, so his curiosity is piqued enough to ignore them. The dirt eventually gives way to grass and he looks up to see a lake in the distance.
Sweet peace, he thinks to himself.
He doesn’t make it to the lake, though. Not yet. He hears rapid footsteps approaching him from his left side and he turns to scan the trees for movement. There’s a flash of white that darts between the trees closest to him and in a split second, he finds himself side stepping out of the way as the white mass launches out of the trees and slams into a tree across the path. A loud groan escapes the white mass, and it takes a second for him to realize that the white mass is actually Jeff in his hoodie.
“You bitch!” Jeff hisses.
The voices agree with Jeff, disappointed that they couldn’t indulge the craving, but Eyeless Jack smiles as he watches Jeff slur out curses at him.
“It’s great to see you too,” he says simply. He reaches out to Jeff, who clings to the tree he landed against, and gently helps him up, much to Jeff’s annoyance. An annoyance that he doesn’t hesitate to voice, per usual.
“Stop touching me, that– OW FUCK– Stop treating me like I’m fragile – SON OF A BITCH– You’re an asshole, why didn’t you just let me–”
“If you ran quieter, you would have caught me off guard, Jeff.”
Jeff glares at Eyeless Jack. He expects Jeff to continue shouting at him, per usual, so he’s surprised when Jeff simply walks down the path, hissing and cussing under his breath. He follows him, in part to make sure he doesn’t collapse on him but also to investigate the reason for the sudden change in his demeanor.
The end of the path widens out into a clearing of grass that sat before a vast, calm lake. Its reflection shows the cloudy sky above them, but the clouds don’t indicate any signs of rain as far as Eyeless Jack can tell. But he wasn’t one to reject rain, anyway. There were worse things to be inconvenienced by.
Eyeless Jack turns his attention back to Jeff, who was now glaring down at the grass. Eyeless Jack realized he could see him better here, see the splatter of blood on his sleeves and the smeared blood on his face and neck. Jeff was hunched over slightly, his hand pressed against his side. Eyeless Jack recognizes the stance.
This idiot.
“Who did you get into a fight with this time?”
The question causes Jeff to direct his glare at him, a scowl now plastered on his face. Eyeless Jack figures he won’t answer him – he never really does, leaving him to find out weeks later when the other killers mock Jeff for it – but he can’t help but try to distract himself from the voices in his head. He knows they would just love to live inside Jeff’s head for a day.
“Why the fuck do you care? Wanna scold me like I’m a fucking five year old?”
The question takes him aback. Jeff’s tone betrays the hurt he was trying to conceal, but it’s also dripping with an anger that he’s only seen a few times. It slowly dawns on him that, despite the time he’s spent getting to know Jeff’s habits, they might not view one another the same. There’s no way to outright ask Jeff, however, without him mocking the question for what it is and storming off to do who knows what. So instead, he slowly lifts his hands in defense, hoping the gesture is enough to convey the thought to Jeff.
Jeff’s scowl softens a little and he looks out to the lake. He’s still for a moment, and Eyeless Jack wonders what thoughts are running through his head to leave him so quiet. He doesn’t get to ask though, as Jeff breaks his silence with a heaved sigh and runs a hand through his hair. Eyeless Jack notes that his palms and fingers are bleeding, but the cuts the blood flows from are particularly precise and straight edged. It tells him that the cuts were self-made, and that Jeff’s ticks have returned. He’ll have to convince Jeff to go back to his cabin somehow, but that would be for later.
Jeff shoves hands into the front pockets of his jeans and pulls something out from them. He shoves them into his front hoodie pocket before Eyeless Jack can see, though. He tilts his head back, staring up at the sky. His expression is relaxed now, albeit replaced with an emotion Eyeless Jack can’t quite pinpoint. The tension that was in the air had dissipated, though, so he takes that as some sort of victory. It isn’t until Jeff extends an arm out to Eyeless Jack that he realizes what’s fully happening.
A pack of cigarettes and a lighter sit in Jeff’s bloody palm.
Because Jeff was never one to apologize. Eyeless Jack was convinced he couldn’t, but that was neither here nor there. The message is clear.
A peace offering.
Eyeless Jack gingerly takes them from his hand and opens the pack to see that it’s full. He doesn’t ask Jeff where he got these items, knowing full well that would ruin this moment of peace, but he nods to Jeff and steps away from him. It’s enough to get Jeff to grunt in acknowledgement before his hands disappears behind his back.
The voices scream at him to stop as he stares at the pack of cigarettes. He feels a thrill knowing that they know what comes next.
He lifts his mask, just enough to expose his mouth, and presses a cigarette to his lips. He lights it and inhales deeply, feels the smoke fill his lungs, and the sting that comes with it spreads throughout his whole chest and throat. He holds his breath then, lets the discomfort sit there for a while as it fills every space left in his body and satiates his craving, silences the voices.
Everything goes silent, for a moment.
And then he hears the crickets chirping in the distance, accompanied by the sudden howl of a coyote. And he feels just about ready to pass out, so he tilts his head up to the sky and lets out his breath. The rush of relief that washes over him as he watches the smoke billow above him is enough to get him smiling again.
“EJ?”
For a moment, he forgot Jeff was there.
He turns to Jeff and sees him still standing a few feet away from him. Jeff’s eyes are trained on him but his clenched jaw makes it clear that he doesn’t quite understand what’s going on. Which, Eyeless Jack realizes, is a good thing.
“...Yes?”
Jeff opens his mouth to speak but immediately turns away from Eyeless Jack, muttering something under his breath. This change amuses him, but once he sees Jeff clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly, he quickly pivots back to concern.
“Do you…” Eyeless Jack hesitates on his next choice words. He knows Jeff won’t ask for help on account of his ego, even if he’s on the verge of another collapse. “Do you smoke, Jeff?” Jeff shakes his head, burying his hands back into his hoodie pocket. He doesn’t turn around, though, causing further concern for Eyeless Jack. “Do you want to try? If you’re interested, that is.”
Jeff doesn’t react at first. Eyeless Jack almost convinces himself that Jeff hadn’t heard him, but he notices Jeff’s hands stop twitching in his pockets. And then he hears Jeff cuss under his breath – in the way he does when he feels like he can’t talk himself out of whatever situation he’s put himself in, like he’s been defeated – and sigh. Jeff slowly turns around to face him, his lips pulled into a tight-lipped frown, and closes the gap between them.
“What’s so good about it?” Jeff grumbles.
Eyeless Jack wordlessly holds the cigarette out to Jeff, who takes it and holds it up to his lips. He watches as Jeff takes a drag and immediately lets the smoke out with a wheeze. His face turns to disgust as he looks at Eyeless Jack.
“What the fuck EJ.”
“You get over the taste after a while, if that’s what’s–”
Jeff shakes his head and glances out to the lake as he takes another drag from the cigarette. Eyeless Jack follows his gaze and sees in the water’s reflection that the clouds have parted. He walks closer to the water’s edge and looks up to see the stars, hundreds of them scattered across the sky, shining down on them. The sight leaves him breathless again and he’s suddenly filled with a flurry of emotions that run through his body faster than he can identify them.
He doesn’t realize his mouth is open until Jeff elbows him in his side and snickers.
“What? Never seen stars before?”
“They’ve never been so bright…” he murmurs.
He half expects Jeff to start laughing at him, but when he instead feels him standing right beside him, he knows that this night really is different. That this moment is just for the two of them, no matter how brief, and that things would be different moving forward.
They would be different.