Glass Eye (Eyeless Jack X Reader)

Chapter Forty

** I am so happy about how this book has gone so far, and I'm so excited for all the things to come. Of course, I was thinking of ending this book on a solid chapter forty, but there is much more to wrap up than just one more chapter would be able to cover, and I'm honestly happy about it! I hope everybody has been enjoying this fanfiction so far, and though it really isn't well known, it's known by a few, and that's what matters. Providing a fun story to read and keep people interested in was my goal, and I'm so happy it's been doing well so far. For our precious chapter forty, I'm going to be trying to make this one a bit longer than usual and make it a bit more in-depth than usual as well. I really want to cover any bases I may have missed or plans that I had made for way earlier in the book and hadn't quite found the right place for it. Thank you all for being here this long <3**

I wasn't really going out to hunt. Honestly, I didn't quite know why I had left. I needed some time to myself to let the details of her nightmares really sink in; not one thing she had described wasn't exactly how it had happened; even down to the masks that they had worn, the mask that I now wore nearly every day of my existence.

Not only did that new, startling information seal in my assumptions that the Operator had been involved, but it also brought to surface a series of new questions; why had he wanted to get involved? What was in it for him? What was his motive?

He had been toying with all of us in regards to her, that much I knew. When I had found her and Tim missing and had run into the woods blindly after hearing her scream, when I had found her, she didn't look to be in distress at all. Had I imagined it? I had brushed it off for quite some time, thinking the frail human had just been scared by her own shadow, but the longer I brewed on it, the more I was sure that I had in fact heard it.

Was he testing me, seeing how I'd react if I thought she was in danger? If that was the case, then it most certainly wasn't her that was in danger.

Emotions were never my forte; they were never something I found myself wishing to have, nor wishing to tolerate within others. Yet here I stood in the dark woods, mind circling with unknown feelings and unwanted thoughts about the girl I had left, alone and vulnerable, in my cabin.

I'd have to install a lock on the front door someday, but it could wait for now. What couldn't wait was a conversation with Tim. Had Henry been abusing any mind-altering pills that would cause him to forget where he had went, why he had went there, and what he had done, Tim would surely know about it.

My theories weren't always correct, of course, but something felt different about it this time. Something within the Operation had shifted since (Name) had become my hostage, and whether it was a positive or negative change was something I'd have to discuss with Tim. He had suffered the effects of her humanity, as had I; no doubt he would also be looking for some answers as to why that was.

I didn't doubt that the Operator had some sort of hand in everything that had been happening; at this point, it was nearly indisputable.

Sighing deeply, I spared a quick glance backward at the cabin. I had taken only a few steps away from the bruised little place I called home, taking a moment to grimace at the still-splintered and frayed wood from where I had thrown Jeff.

Why had I protected her so dutifully? Part of me summed it up to being repayment for when she had slipped from her restraints and had saved me, but I knew it was more. The bubbling anger I had felt from seeing Jeff's disgustingly pale, leather-skinned hand around her throat had sent me over the edge; I had acted on an emotion with very little thought behind it.

I could blame a lot of things regarding the current situation on the Operator, but not that. I had chosen to toss Jeff around like a ragdoll on my own accord.