Eyeless Jack by jess E.W. (speld decodable readers .txt) 📕

JACK

It was a very cold, very harsh, spring evening as nineteen-year-old Jack made his way back to the college dorm in which he lived in. As the sun began to set and the wind picked up, tossing his dark red, nearly brown, hair, Jack bundled himself into his hoodie and dipped his head into the collar.

“Damn, maybe I should’ve taken that winter jacket,” he thought to himself as he dug into his jeans pocket and reeled out the room key. There was a loud click as he twisted the key within the lock, then the door gave away and Jack stepped inside with the door slamming shut behind him.

The room he shared was sparse with furniture, only having two beds on opposite walls and a desk in between with a computer the duo pair shared. One very small hallway opened to a kitchen, another leading to a bathroom barely large enough to contain a six foot teen such as Jack himself. Clothes littered the ground around him, discarded pizza boxes and empty soda cans tossed about in an unorderly fashion. The small TV set with the Xbox glowed dully as it remained idle, and Jack’s roommate, Mark, was strewn halfway onto his bed, a beer can in one hand while his opposite arm rest over his shut eyes. He had one leg on the bed while his other dangled over the edge, loud snores emitting from his mouth and clogged nose.

“Fucking asshole,” muttered Jack under his breath. With a sigh, he removed his backpack and picked up the trash, quickly discarding them as he gathered up the piles upon piles of dirty clothes and tossed them into the hamper. “I swear he can’t do anything right…”

It was no secret that Jack hated Mark with a passion. Not only was he a total dick to his own friends and Jack himself, but he was a predator who preyed on innocent woman and could never clean up after himself. The man was an irresponsible, inconsiderate pig, and Jack took great displeasure in spending any time with this man who was his roommate for the remaining school year he had left.

“Hopefully my recommendation to switch rooms goes my way.”

As Jack rummaged through the mini fridge to try and find something salvageable to eat, there came a low moan as Mark began to awaken. Mark sat up straight in his bed and stretched out his arms, yawning loudly as he asked, “Jack, man, how long have I been out?”

Without giving him any attention, Jack responded grudgingly, “Most of the day. You missed exams in AP Biology.”

“Eh, Biology is for dipshits anyways.”

Mark belched loudly as he stumbled into the kitchen, roughly shoving Jack out of the way as he reached for the last can of beer. “Need more beer,” he mumbled, more to himself than to Jack. Jack merely shook his head in disgust as he watched Mark crack open the can and take a rather large gulp. “Seriously, how did a dumbass like you ever manage to get into college?”

With a smirk, Mark answered him. “Because I’m captain of the football team and have pathetic nerds like you do my work.”

“Don’t remind me,” Jack sneered, turning away and gazing out the window just as the sun slowly began to sink beyond the horizon. “How long has it been?” He thought to himself. The rest of Marks pitiful words faded out as Jack began to slip away from reality, his mind sending him to darker places as he wondered what it would be like if he could just stand up for himself against Mark and his shit-faced followers. But, he knew that would never happen. Even though Jack was just as tall as they were and was slightly muscular, Mark and his other “friends” were like gorilla’s compared to him, and he wasn’t going to fight against that. With a groan of utter defeat, Jack was about to face Mark once again, but then he stopped. Slowly, he lowered his eyes to the line of trees just outside the school’s gate. There, he saw a silhouette of a strange figure standing there, or rather, watching in wonder as the rest of the kids passed by, unknown to the mysterious man who appeared rather infatuated with everyone else. Jack rubbed his eyes and leaned closer to the window, hoping that maybe he was just seeing things. Unfortunately for him, though, the thing still stood there. Only this time, he was gazing at the window where Jack stood, gazing directly into his eyes.

A wave of fear and restlessness washed over him, and the back of Jack’s head began to throb painfully the longer he held the man’s stare.

“Yo! Look at me when I talk to you!” Mark shouted angrily, and within a second he whirled Jack around and tore him out of his trance-like state, slamming his back against the windowpane. “I don’t take too kindly to people who ignore me,” Mark growled, his grip tightening on Jack’s arms. A sudden feeling of anger slammed into Jack like a bag of bricks, and just as roughly as Mark had, Jack shoved Mark away from him and into the fridge. “Don’t push me into walls, asshole.”

Mark glowered back at Jack, but as he looked into his eyes, he noticed something… off…

He backed down from the heated argument and finished the rest of his drink before turning to the door.

“Whatever, man. Just calm down.”

Mark looked back at Jack hesitantly, then faced away as he headed to the front door. “There’s going to be a bonfire tonight. Why don’t you step out of your anti-social stage and join the rest of us? Maybe you’ll get laid.” He smirked as he said this, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Jack, however, was quickly unamused and turned back to stare outside, hoping to catch another glimpse of the strange man. But he was no longer there, yet the pounding in his head seemed to grow into a deep annoyance and thudded relentlessly.

“No, that’s okay,” Jack answered after a while. “I think I’ll just stay home.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Mark stepped out of their small dorm room and into the chill of the on-coming night. “Suit yourself.”

Without a second look back, Mark shut the door on Jack and made his way to the bonfire, leaving Jack completely alone.

“How long does a goddamn bonfire take anyways?” Jack thought bitterly to himself as he gazed at the TV screen, his eyes flickering back and forth between the characters in the show as he tried to keep himself entertained. As much of a dick as Mark was, Jack despised being alone at night, especially now since he saw that strange… thing… that–that creature who just stood right outside the gates only hours ago. Now it was well past one AM, and the longer Jack stayed awake, the more he thought he saw the shadows of that same being darting just out of his line of sight. More than once, he tried pretending that there was nothing there, that he was imagining it all and it was just the reflection of the moon’s rays or the headlights of a car just passing by.

But how could that explain the strange fits of laughter he heard? Or what about the heavy breathing, or that he could hear his own name being called by someone else in a whisper? He even threatened Mark out loud if this turned out to be one of his messed up pranks created by Mark himself and his followers, but there was no response except for the laughter which seemed to increase in volume.

Finally fed up, Jack shut off the television and crawled into bed, too tired to even attempt to remove his previous clothing. The ticking of the clock did little to soothe his nerves, only making Jack think back to time and how long it would be until the sun rose again. Anxiously, he ran his hands over his face and let out a pent-up sigh.

“Just relax and try to sleep,” said Jack out loud as he tried to calm his racing heart. “It’ll be morning before you know it, and you’ll be laughing about how stupid you were being last night.”

Jack took a few deep breaths before he shut his eyes again, drawing the covers well over his head just like he used to do when he was a younger, more vibrant, little boy. Jack could feel himself teetering over the edge that kept him from sleeping, and with a little push, he was falling into the pitch-black comfort of oblivion.

A sudden crash startled Jack awake. He snapped open his eyes and peered around the room just as everything began to settle. The uneasy feeling came back to him along with the painful headache, and as Jack tried to sit back up, something held him down… something with long arms and brute force. Slowly, Jack’s eyes climbed up past the arms to a very tall, very slender, man. His facial expressions were cast in shadows, making it impossible for Jack to try to identify him.

“I thought I told you to keep quiet!” the tall figure hissed, yet it seemed like the man’s words were actually going through Jacks head and not through the silhouette’s mouth. Within the darkness, Jack could make out two other figures. He blinked in shock by what he was seeing, not entirely sure if this was some sick, twisted dream or another one of Mark’s fucked-up pranks. But the longer they stood there, looking at him and realizing he was now awake, the more Jack felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was something more to this, something disturbing and sinister and Jack wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. But he had to escape, he just had to!

With a grunt of effort, Jack swung his free fist back and rammed it into the elbow of the man who held him captive, hoping that that would at least suffice some sort of break or tear in the arm. Alarmed, the man released Jack as he weaved his way around the three figures, desperately trying to get to the door and get the hell out of his dormitory.

Something with inhuman speed brushed past him, and when Jack reached the door, he saw the tall, slender man blocking his path. Jack took one look at the man and had to bite down on his tongue to keep from screaming.

Now that the streetlights were radiating off of his attacker, he saw perfectly that the man wore a black suit with a white undershirt and red tie. His arms dangled well past his sides and his skin was whiter than that of a ghost, but that wasn’t the worst of what Jack was seeing. His face was completely void of any features, just a blank slate with a small bump where his nose should be and indents of where his eyes should be. His ears too, were missing, and sprouting out of the mans back were eight, solid black tentacles that seemed to move by their own free will.

Jack was in complete shock. He didn’t know what to do against this… this thing. He spun around to attempt at an escape through the window, but the two smaller figures blocked Jack’s path, watching him intently. The pair were both around the same height as Jack was, yet different with their opposing features. One wore a plain gery hoodie, and his face was cut into a smile and his eyelids were gone. His hair appeared to be a shade of brown in the dim lighting available, tousled upon his head in messy locks. He wore dark blue jeans and pale skin. Next to him, the other man wore an orange hoodie with its hood up, hiding the