{Jack's POV}

            "Are you sure I shouldn't come too?"

           "Yes, I am."

            "But what if you fall asleep again? Or start hallucinating?"

            "I won't, I promise. I got a couple hours of sleep last night."

            "Only a couple?"

            "That's better than nothing."

            "Still..." If Jack had eyes, he would have rolled them as [Name] hovered near him, fussing over him endlessly. Another near-sleepless night had passed, and he was now getting ready to head out. He was already dressed in a freshly cleaned hoodie and dark gray jeans, and was currently in the bathroom checking his reflection, tucking stray tufts of chestnut-colored hair into his hood. It had been a while since he'd last seen Masky and Hoody, so he was a bit anxious.

            Of course, [Name] kept trying to insist that she should come too. Entering Slenderman's territory was always risky for a human. Masky and Hoody probably wouldn't try to kill her, but if ordered by their master they'd have no choice. Even if it was clear that she was with him, she could still get killed or hurt anyway. At this point, he was too attached to her to risk that.

            It was nice to know she worried, though.

            Nodding in approval at his reflection, Jack turned to face her. "Look, I'll be fine. It's not that far away. All goes well, I'll be back before evening." Doubt was still reflected in her [e/c] eyes as he spoke, clearly not comforted by his reassurances.

            "If you're so sure everything will be fine, then why are you taking your scalpel?" This one made him pause. Actually, he expected that they'd ask him for a favor in return for the pills, most likely involving murder, so he figured he'd take the appropriate tools with him. However, he wasn't so sure he wanted her to know that part. Telling her he intended to possibly kill someone seemed like something that would make her worry even more.

            "...Self defense. You know, just in case." A simple lie, but it didn't ease her worries like he'd hoped. He realized this when she stared at him in horror, her [e/c] eyes wide.

            "Self defense?" she repeated. "Wait, do you think your 'friends' might HURT you!? Jack, that's it, I'm coming along too!" He sighed, shaking his head as her fussing grew. Was there anything that wouldn't make her worry?

            "[Name], just calm down," he said, cutting her off. "No, I don't think they'll hurt me. I'm the closest thing they have to a doctor. If they get on my bad side, I can refuse to treat them." Technically speaking, Slenderman could heal them if they got hurt too badly (probably, he didn't really know the extent of Slenderman's powers), but he never did for some reason. "I'm just taking it in case I run into trouble along the way. Or if I see some easy prey."

            The last sentence made her face go a bit pale, and a victorious smirk crossed his face under his mask as she quickly looked away with a small "oh". Talking about his diet ALWAYS made her shut up, it was an easy way to end unwanted conversations. Apparently, the thought of him tearing into a person and extracting their organs just bothered her. Satisfied that she wouldn't pester him so much anymore, he headed for the front door, the [h/c]-haired girl trailing behind him. "Anyways, I'll be fine. I promise."

            "...If you say so," she muttered reluctantly. "But be careful, okay?" At this point he paused, and then turned to her and briefly patted her head.

            "I always am," he assured her with a soft smile. And with that he left, closing the door behind him.

  {Reader's POV}

            Waiting for Jack to return left me anxious and impatient.

            Not even an hour had passed and I'd just been sitting on the couch, staring at the front door as if it would open any second. I didn't even try turning on the TV, though that might also be because I knew that there was nothing good on during the day. It was funny, how worried I was about him. Not that long ago I probably would have been happy if the door never opened again. When did I become so attached to him? Looking back, it was probably that day we went to the clearing and I saw the photos...

            The photos. Suddenly my blood ran cold and I gave a small jolt, my eyes widening. Head snapping to the side, I stared at my laptop, resting atop the kitchen table. Jack hadn't taken it, and he would probably be gone for a good while. This was the perfect chance to delete everything.

            Immediately I jumped up and ran over, opening the laptop and logging out. Switching to Buddy's account, I could feel my heart pounding as I waited for everything to load. At last, I could delete all the photos. No longer would I have to worry about Jack somehow guessing Buddy's password, seeing them and triggering a panic attack. Soon enough the computer had loaded, and I opened Buddy's document and went to the folder with all the photos of Jack, quickly dragging the cursor down the screen to select all of the thumbnails.

            Unfortunately, I didn't drag the cursor fast enough.

            As I dragged the cursor down the folder and scrolled through it at rapid rates, I suddenly froze. After a moment I slowly scrolled back up for a closer look at one of the thumbnails. While it was pretty dark like all the others, this one had an extra color in it: red. My blood ran cold at the sight, and hesitantly I clicked it. Filling the screen was a photo of Jack's face with duct tape over his mouth, blood trailing down his cheek from a large cut. Staring at it in shock, I suddenly felt the familiar sensation of bile rising up the back of my throat, and I had to jump up and run to the bathroom to vomit.

            Why? Why was Jack bleeding? None of the photos up to that point showed Buddy doing anything physically harmful to Jack. Everything suggested that it was more psychological torment than anything, never once hitting or cutting him. Wiping the vomit from my lips, I shakily made my way back to the laptop, sitting down and scrolling upwards to look at the photos before it, looking for some sort of explanation. Above another row of thumbnails containing more pictures the bleeding wound was a thumbnail for a video, making me freeze. After a moment, I sucked in a breath and clicked it.

            The video opened up onto Buddy's smiling face, making me instantly feel nauseous. "Hello," greeted his familiar voice in that sickly sweet tone, adding to the nausea. "Today we had a little... accident." As he spoke he turned the camera to face Jack, arms still suspended in those metal mittens with his head bowed. Crimson blood streaked down his ashen gray skin from the cut already on his cheek, and even with his head bowed I could see a piece of duct tape over his mouth.

            I stared in horror at the image, my stomach lurching, while Buddy continued. "As you can see, Jacky got a little cut on his cheek. I was feeding him like usual, but he got a little TOO excited and moved his head a bit too fast, and the tip of the skewer ended up scraping his cheek. Now, don't worry, I won't leave it untreated," he added, as if to reassure the imaginary viewers. "I'll put a band-aid on it later. But for now, I wanted to document it."

            As he explained all this he approached Jack, allowing a better look at his face. His hollow eyes were half-closed, and even though he didn't have eyeballs they seemed to somehow be emptier and more hollow. As I stared at him, only one emotion came to mind: defeat. I realized that by the time this video was taken, he was just defeated, done. Buddy had completely broken him, and that realization made my stomach lurch even more.

            The urge to vomit came back almost instantly, but I didn't move, I just stared in pure horror as Buddy cupped Jack's chin in his hand. Tipping it back, he turned it slightly so the cut was facing the camera more. "As you can see, the cut's not that deep, even though it's bleeding. But what's interesting is that the blood is red." Buddy gently wiped his finger in the blood, letting Jack's head fall as he aimed the camera at his finger. "Looking at it, you'd think that it's perfectly normal blood, just like yours or mine. I find this very interesting, as Jack's 'tears' are black and oily. Right, Jacky?"

            He aimed the camera at Jack once more, but obviously didn't get a response. After a moment Buddy's hand reached into the frame to pat his head. Jack didn't even flinch or change his expression, just kept staring downwards with half-lidded eyes. This did not help the growing sensation of bile trying to climb my throat. "Jacky's quite an interesting pet. He has human anatomy, but he makes all kinds of inhuman noises and movements. And obviously he doesn't have eyes, but he can still see anyway. It feels like I'm always learning something new about him..."

            With that he reached out and carefully pulled off the tape over Jack's mouth. He flinched as it was torn off, but obviously only because it hurt. Otherwise he didn't react, his expression quickly returning to its original, defeated state. Buddy quickly backed away, giving him a bit of space. "Well Jacky, do you have anything to say? Any thoughts on all this?" Jack didn't respond right away, didn't even look at the camera.

            "Please... Just let me go..." His voice made me shudder. There was a note of helplessness to it, just despair, but also... that demonic quality. I instantly flashed back to the first time he spoke to me, to every time he got angry. His voice always had that demonic undertone that terrified me, making me shudder. Hearing it paired with such a despaired and weak tone, though... it just seemed wrong. As I tried to figure out how the two could even exist at the same time, Buddy patted his head.

            "Aww, Jacky, you know I can't do that," he chuckled, his voice sickeningly sweet. "You're my precious pet, I can't just let you go." At this point he set down the camera and there was a rip sound off-screen, a glimpse of Buddy crouching near Jack visible for a few seconds. After a moment he picked up the camera once more and aimed it at Jack's face, revealing a new piece of tape over his mouth. "Anyways, I need to take care of this little cut now, so that's enough for now. Ta-ta." With that he shifted the camera, and then the footage stopped.

            For a long while I just sat there, staring at the screen in shock. By far, this was the worst look at his captivity to date. Jack had clearly been completely broken by Buddy, he didn't make any attempts to fight back or struggle when Buddy touched him. Even when he didn't have tape on his mouth and Buddy petted his head, he didn't try to bite him. He had just... given up. Accepted his horrible fate. Honestly, it just made me feel even sicker than before.

            As I sat there in total shock, just trying to absorb everything and collect my thoughts, my thoughts were suddenly brought to a crashing end by a knock on the door.