Chapter Forty Eight

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I was ecstatic to see Jack walking next to me, his lanky frame towering over mine and his blue eyes a stark contrast against his ghostly-pale skin and the rest of his monochrome attire.

"Where are you off to, Doll?" his voice was raspy but I could hear the laughter in it and I looked around the deserted street before speaking.

"I- I was actually looking for you."

"Hm," he used a clawed hand to stroke his bare chin in thought, "you came looking for me?"

"Yeah, I needed your help."

Jack was still walking with me along the sidewalk and after a while, he spoke, "you seem to have a lot on your mind, little one."

"Yeah, I just don't know what to do right now," I sighed, biting into my lower lip.

LJ nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets as we walked, "and what can old Jack do to help?"

Should I ask him?

It was possible that he didn't even know Masky's whereabouts and besides, I wasn't sure what I would even say to Masky when I did manage to find him. If I was being honest he was likely to find me first since he had apparently been keeping tabs on me without my knowledge all this time.

But if I didn't ask I'd never know, right?

"I... I just wanted to know if you could help me find Mask- um Timothy."

"Oh!" LJ grinned, clasping his hands together, "of course, I can!"

I perked up at that and where the sidewalk ended we crossed the street. I looked down at my shoes, a smile playing on my lips, "thank you Jack, I-"

"On nights like these, the stars seem to shine even more brightly than they usually do," Jack was talking and I looked up at the sky to see the myriads of stars that shone down on us. The moon was moving across the sky at a slow pace behind fat white clouds and I heaved a sigh, feeling a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

Jack would take me to him.

It was a beautiful night but I could hardly appreciate it fully with all my emotions rioting inside me. What will happen when I see him? What will I say? What will I do?

"Yeah," I finally responded to Jack's statement.

"Perfect night for a carnival."

I looked over at him with a raised brow, "a carnival?"

"Don't you hear the music?" it wasn't until he spoke that I heard the rising sound of carnival music somewhere in the distance and I furrowed my brows.

"Don't you hear the children laughing?" LJ held out his hands before him and I tried to sense where the sounds seemed to be coming from. The music was far off but just close enough for me to pick up on and I could hear the squealing laughter of children along with it. I didn't know there would be any kind of celebration out here in a place like this and besides, I couldn't see any lights either.

LJ's hand rested on my shoulder and when I turned to look at him he pulled his hand away, his long clawed fingers had left a warmth that seeped through my shirt and hoodie and as he grinned down at me with a sickly sweet expression, his sharp teeth glinted in the moonlight, "don't you smell the cotton candy, feel the heat of the bonfires and wish you were at the carnival too?"

I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath and my mouth instantly watered as my senses were bombarded with the smell of candy apples and fried ice cream. My stomach betrayed me by rumbling at the exact moment and Jack grinned triumphantly.

"Say, do you want to accompany me, morsel?" his eyes seemed so alluring and his smile so genuine that a smile erupted on my own face as well.

"Okay."

"Say it then." he grinned, "Say, 'take me to the carnival' and I'll surely get you there."

I chuckled at his quirky way of speaking, "well I-"

"Go on."

He seemed so excited and I thought of Masky for a moment. Seeing him could wait for a little while, I didn't want Jack to think I was selfish so I threw caution to the wind.

"Take me to the carnival."

I watched the smile on Jack's face grow and a laugh erupted from him that was so sudden my heart did a backflip in my chest.

The world spun and dipped and I tried not to stumble from the sudden dizzy spell. All around me were the sounds of laughter and when I finally caught my balance I looked around to see I was no longer on the deserted stretch of road with Jack, instead, I was in the middle of what seemed to be an old travelling carnival.

Colorful striped tents lay all around and small children in tattered clothes ran about with sparklers and cotton candy as the Ferris wheel creaked in the background, turning ever so slowly with its lights flashing.

Was this an illusion? I looked around at all the rides and food carts, confused.

"Jack?"

He seemed to have disappeared.

A crisp breeze disturbed me, my nose crinkling from the cold as I stuffed my hands into my pockets to help fight the chill.

"Welcome," Jack's voice rasped behind me and I spun around to see him looking down at me with a large smile, "let's have some fun shall we?"

I smiled and nodded, heading over to one of the food stands after him. There were no attendants but kebabs loaded with different cuts of meat were laid out for the taking. I took one, mouth watering as the smell filled my nostrils, but as soon as I took a bite my expression morphed into one of disgust and I immediately spat out what I'd bitten. The rancid taste of the meat was still left on my tongue and LJ burst into laughter causing me to flick the kebab at his head which he dodged flawlessly.

"That's not funny!" despite his size I pushed at him and he grasped my arms, lifting me off the ground and bringing me up so we were face to face.

I felt my face grow hot when his cone-shaped nose prodded my cheek.

"You're a lot more naive than I thought, morsel. Don't you know not to follow strangers into their domain? Now who'll save you from my torment?"

Torment? I didn't expect him to say something like that and I chose to ignore it, squirming a bit in his hold, "well you're not really a stranger, Jack."

"Good answer," he chuckled after holding my gaze for a few seconds.

He let me go and I dropped to my feet, steadying myself to see him already walking away.

"Wait-" I tried to grasp at his costume as he went by me but he hardly budged.

I followed behind him as he seemed to glide through the carnival, his long legs carrying him much faster than my own could.

"LJ wait!" In my hurry to catch up I bumped into one of the kids running by and caught her quickly, righting her on her feet before she could fall.

Dried blood was all over her jumper and her skin was ashen, almost as pale as LJ's. I was about to apologize to her when she turned her head up to 'look' up at me with empty eye sockets. I immediately recoiled, letting her go and she ran off again, laughing as she did.

What the hell is this place?

Jack was a few feet ahead of me now and I started running again, making sure I didn't bump into any more dead kids.

As I ran, colour was slowly draining from my surroundings and I almost caught up with Jack's long strides as he headed for one of the colorful tents.

"Jack wait! What about taking me to Masky?"

I saw him pause for a moment before turning to me with a malicious grin, "I have a question for you, doll."

I stopped in my tracks. A question?

He approached me and a slight chill ran down my spine as I raised my head to look up at him the closer he got until he was peering down at me, close enough for me to feel the warmth emanating from him.

"What is the difference between myself and other clowns?"

I was taken aback by the question. The difference between them?

"Uh, you're taller?" I let out an awkward chuckle, trying to ease the tension with a joke as I took a step back to at least give myself enough space to feel more comfortable. Even though I was supposedly under Zalgo's protection and LJ didn't seem the type to hurt me, with what I observed about these guys the past couple of weeks it wasn't safe to assume he wouldn't cause me any harm.

The smile he was sporting right now was too devious for me to not get suspicious.

He let out a laugh at my answer and before I could speak again the entire carnival was plunged into darkness.

I could see his striped outfit along with the tent behind him as he turned away from me, entering the tent that was now a monochrome black and white. I got to it a few seconds later and entered. I looked around, my eyes struggling to make anything out in the pitch blackness.

"Jack?"

"The difference is," I heard his voice close to my ear and stood rooted to the spot, holding my breath, "most clowns seek to entertain. Here, you become my entertainment."

Me?

I turned to look at him but I was still faced with darkness and I wondered why he was toying with me.

"I can't see anything," I complained, reaching out my hands before me as I started to take tentative steps forward, "and I don't know if you noticed but I'm pretty boring so you can forget being entertained."

There was no answer to my rambling and the silence was so deafening I really thought I might have lost my sense of hearing.

I started chewing on my lower lip.

"Come find me, morsel," his whisper sounded like it was all around me and I strained to see anything at all in the darkness but with no luck.

"Am I really supposed to be playing hide and seek with you or something?" I ask, slightly annoyed, "because I can't see shit."

LJ's laughter was all around and when the lights flickered on I found myself in a white room with no exits as far as I could see but the floor was littered with boxes of all different sizes and colors.

I deadpanned.

"Really? I don't have time for this Jack. First I thought I was going to get food and-" I was cut off by the familiar melody of "Pop Goes The Weasel".

'All around the Mulberry bush,

The monkey chased the weasel...'

I heaved a sigh, "Fine, I'll play your stupid game."

I started looking through the boxes on the floor, taking note of the different designs and inscriptions on them until I came upon one box that was far more vibrant than the others with colorful faces of clowns on the sides and the top had an inscription that read, 'Lovable Jack-in-a-box'. That's what LJ stood for, right?

I started to turn the metal crank all while the song continued to build and a sick feeling rose in my stomach with each turn of the crank, like I was going to throw up.

'Penny for a spool of thread...'

I stopped cranking as something in my peripheral caught my gaze. On the floor, I noticed one box was different from all the rest as it didn't look in good condition at all. It wasn't brightly colored, instead, its colors were faded and it was stripping in some places.

Could this be the one?

I put the previous box down and picked up the faded one, turning it over to look at it. It seemed much older than the rest and the clown faces that were on the sides were now disfigured due to the peeling. On the top of the box was an engraved text that read, 'Laughing Jack-in-a-box'.

I started cranking the handle slowly as the music was building to a crescendo and once the final verse ended with "pop goes the weasel!" I braced myself for the box to pop open but nothing happened. Instead, the music stopped and the room was deathly silent again.

I turned the box over to look at it before shaking it a bit and hearing nothing inside. Was it broken?

"Jack?" I spun around, looking for any sign of an exit, and that was when the lid of the box flipped open with a loud 'pop!', startling me enough to make me drop it.

The box rolled across the floor and a great shadow rose out of it, solidifying to reveal LJ who wore that same devious grin, "You've found me!"

Every fiber of my being wanted to kick him in that moment and I looked down at my feet, lifting one leg to see gooey red substance dripping off the sole of my shoes and back into the puddle on the floor. Blood was leaking out of the boxes as their handles turned and one by one they all began to pop open causing blood to flash up onto my clothes.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

I realized that I'd cussed out loud but I was too upset to care. Looking up again I saw LJ's smile wilt for the first time, his pupils now pinpricks of black and he appeared to grow larger in size, "you didn't like the game?"

I blinked at him for a moment before crossing my arms over my chest, "just get me out of here."

He cocked his head to the side, that malicious grin returning, "fine, let's play another game then."

"No, I don't want to play a stupid game I just want-"

The circus music started up again, cutting me off midsentence. It swelled and intensified to the point where I had to press my hands over my ears to block out the sounds as I squeezed my eyes shut. It was almost maddening.

"Jack, you asshole!"

When the music stopped abruptly I opened my eyes to find darkness and a shriek left my lips when I felt something snap around my wrists, and then my ankles.

The next second a spotlight lit up and I watched the light slowly move side to side before it rolled over to me, flooding my vision and illuminating my body now strapped to a circular slab that was painted to resemble a dartboard.

I watched LJ stroll out of the darkness onto the stage we were now sharing, grinning all the same as he lifted his hand that contained a few large throwing knives.

"Let's see if you're lucky, morsel. I'm aiming for a bullseye!"

Behind him I could hear cheering like we had an audience but the lights were too bright for me to tell.

I struggled against the restraints with a huff. This game was certainly deadlier than the first.

"I used to think you were cool!" I huffed as I continued to struggle, the metal clamps holding me in place securely.

LJ chuckled, "if you don't stay still this could end really badly for you, doll."

In the next instant the first of the knives landed dangerously close to my ear and I froze in shock.

He can't be serious.

"Oh I missed," he pouted dramatically and drew another knife.

I squeezed my eyes shut, wincing in anticipation. When I first set out to find LJ I didn't think he would ever have intentions to harm me. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I felt I could trust him when even my own boyfriend wants to kill me.

I really am naive.

I felt the restraints release me and I cracked an eye open to look at my surroundings, steadying myself on my feet.

I was back on the sidewalk and I watched Jack back away with a sheepish smile as he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in a somewhat shamefaced way. He had gone back to his usual height and his eyes were back to their normal blue.

The reason for his strange behavior became apparent when a large shadow fell over me and I spun to see Zalgo's glowing form towering over me.

"That's enough," he spoke low and placed a large hand on my shoulder.

"I was just poking a bit of fun at her," LJ spoke with a laugh, "I wouldn't have caused her any real harm."

Zalgo pulled me against him and I was tucked into his warmth, glaring at Jack.

I wasn't expecting Zalgo to come to my rescue but I was glad he came when he did. I'm sure I was only a few seconds away from peeing myself.

"While I can appreciate a laugh, let this be the last time you meddle with my property."

My eyebrows shot up as I lifted my head to look at Zalgo, blinking rapidly.

His property?

"Of course, Lord," Jack answered, bowing deeply, "I'll be more mindful next time."

I rolled my eyes at that.

"Come," Zalgo's claws dug into my shoulder and as a darkness enveloped us Jack raised his head.

I flipped him off with a smug smile.

His eyes met mine, a devious smirk playing on his own lips.

"Farewell, snack."

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Bit of a filler chapter :3

A/N:

I appreciate you for sticking around :3