When the figure stepped through the curtains, you nearly gasped. He was almost normal.

He was wearing a black sweatshirt and a pair of black pants. He had converse on, and it looked like he had dark grey gloves on. As he got closer, you could see what looked like claws protruding from where fingernails should be, and you realized that it was just his skin.

This is the guy they say is keeping you alive. It's not the weirdest thing you've seen all day. Just let him do what he wants, for now.

As the guy – Jack – came even closer, you couldn't help but be drawn to the only color on him. His mask was a deep, vibrant blue, like it had been freshly painted. It was completely featureless, besides the eyes, which were just empty black holes. You assumed that he had just put fabric over the eye holes so that nobody could look at him.

He stopped when he was standing right next to your bed. He looked up at the clown and nodded silently.

"Not even a thank you? Jackie, I thought we were better friends than this!"

Jack didn't seem to notice. He had looked back to you, bruised and mildly bloodied, on the cot. The clown huffed, and in a poof of smoke, disappeared.

You looked up into Jack's eyes. You realized now that he absolutely towered over you – he had to be at least six and a half feet tall – and that he was breathing rather heavily. He was, somehow, silent.

After a minute of just staring at each other, you decided to break the silence.

Getting on this guy's good side is your only ticket out of here.

"I...I vomited in the hallway."

Sexy.

He just nodded and walked toward a cabinet. You took this chance to get a good look at the room. It was clearly meant to be a sort of medbay, and you guessed that Jack was the doctor for these people.

Even psychopaths can get hurt sometimes, right?

There were four identical cots in the room, and two large cabinets on either side of the room between the beds. Jack was at the cabinet closest to you, clearly trying to keep an eye on you in case you moved.

He first grabbed two belt-like things from one of the drawers of the cabinet.

"...What are th—ow!"

He had taken one of your wrists and rather roughly bound it to a large handle-looking thing in the wall above your head. He did the same to your other wrist, and you winced at how tightly he had tied you. You flexed your hands, trying to at least keep the blood flowing.

Jack then grabbed a bottle of what you guessed was disinfectant and a roll of paper towels and went into the hallway. He propped the door open as he cleaned, most likely to make sure you weren't trying to escape.

It's not like I could get anywhere, you thought disdainfully, glancing up at your wrists, which you were sure were bruised by now.

Jack was done in minutes. He closed the door and put away the cleaning supplies, then looked to your hands in what you thought might be contemplation. He paused for a moment, then closed the doors of the cabinet.

"If you aren't going to take them off, can you at least loosen them? I can't feel my fingers." You were desperate to be even mildly comfortable, right now.

He walked slowly over to you and, albeit hesitantly, loosened your restraints. You watched his hands as he did it.

"Thank you."

He looked at you in what you could imagine was surprise and nodded. He knelt down slowly where he was, right next to your head, and put one of his hands on your jaw.

His skin was cold, but not clammy. It wasn't too soft, either, but it wasn't rough, and it wasn't uncomfortable against your face. He stroked his thumb against your cheek for a moment, and you marveled at how massive his hands were. You almost started crying at his touch – he could snap your neck if he wanted to.

Suddenly, he gripped your chin roughly and jerked your face away from him. He help you there with one hand, even as you struggled against his grip. You heard a rustling near your ear, and then felt a pair of coldish lips press to your head. He inhaled deeply – is he smelling my hair? – and then he began to speak.

"I could smell you from across the street when I got your neighbor. God, you have no idea how excited I am to have you here."

His voice was deep and gravelly, like he had something stuck in his throat. He coughed loudly a few times after he spoke.

"I'm going to make you love it here."