Jack woke up disoriented back at home in Ireland. Immediately realizing something was...off, he did what he always did in that situation.
Jack glanced down at the palms of his hands. Unsure if the double vision was from his crusty eyes or something else, he gently pressed his thumb into palm. It passed clean through. Shit. Not this again.
Lucid dreaming always fascinated Jack. It helped him get through the constant nightmares that accompanied the few hours of sleep that he allowed himself it get. It had turned from a fun hobby to a survival technique, as he rarely woke up during the night anymore, giving him much more energy during the day. The only problem was that most of the time he was unable to control his dreams. He was only able to be self aware.
Without any recall of getting out of his bed, he was sitting in front of his green background on his swivel chair, his hands on his keyboard in the right position to play Happy Wheels.
Before he could press any buttons, Mark ran into the room and grabbed him by the shoulders. He was covered in brand new scars and was missing an eye. He screamed some nonsense at Jack. Jack pulled back and ran into the hallway. The hallway looked nothing like any house he could remember going to. The walls were covered in old childhood photos of Jack. He squinted his eyes and spun in a circle, a thing that he always did when he felt like he was losing lucidity.
He reopened his eyes, feeling a little nauseous. He was standing back in the woods. His arm was hanging on to his torso by a thread. They say that it's impossible to feel any sort of pain in a dream. This became very obvious to Jack to be false. Every ounce of pain from the bite and then some swept over him. By this point, Jack started to fear that he would die in his sleep. Maybe this was what hell was, trapped alone there for all eternity. He collapsed from the pain. Oh god, Mark and Enis are going to think he died a painless death in his sleep. The pain unfortunately wasn't enough to knock him out, but far more than enough to make him forgot that he was dreaming.
With his free hand, he reached into his duffle bag. He searched around, feeling a sea of coffee mugs attempt to trap his fingers, and pulled out his own small, dull knife.
He closed his eyes, held his breath, and began to press the tip of the knife into the bottom of his neck, hoping that somehow this would put an end to the pain. Before he could puncture the skin in any way he heard a voice in the sky call out his name. With each call, the woods seemed to crumble.
"Jack!" the world started spinning faster
"Jack!" everything is blurry.
"Jack!" everything went numb, his shoulders felt funny.
"Ja-" Jack's eyes snapped open. He was sitting in an upward position. Mark was sitting on his knees directly in front of him. holding him up by his shoulders. "...oh my god you're awake!" Mark said with a sigh of relief.
"What happened?!" Mark asked calmly, but with a sense of urgency.
"Um…" Jack said, half awake.
"You were screaming bloody murder in your sleep."
"Oh...I um...I…" Jack spat out, starting to tear up. "I...I…" Jack was bawling his eyes out in front of Mark. Mark, unsure how to respond, gently put his hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I-it's gonna be okay bud-" Mark was interrupted by Jack tightly wrapping his arms around him. Mark's first instinct was to pull away, he hated anyone touching him for any reason. For just this one time, he allowed it and just let Jack cry into his chest for a while.
"M-Mark?" Jack gasped out between sobs.
"What's up." Mark said, gently rubbing Jack's back.
"Thanks...just thanks...for everything." Jack whispered, pressing his forehead into Mark.
"You're welcome." Mark said firmly, but warmly.
"A-a-are you guys ever going to kick me out?" Jack asked. The question made Mark's stomach lurch a bit. Even though they seemed to be about the same age, Jack felt to unbelievably small in Mark's arms. Only now he was realizing just how dangerously thin Jack was under his baggy sweatshirt. He felt like Jack would snap in half if he hugged him to tightly.
"Are you gonna stop asking questions?" Mark said with an eye roll.
Jack smiled and buried his head more in Mark's shirt. Mark adjusted his position so he was sitting against the wall. Jack leaned onto Mark's shoulder and played with his own thumbs. He gained more control of his breathing and drifted into a dreamless sleep.