It hurt more than Jack could have imagined when she flinched away from him, even now.
“I know you didn’t m-mean to.” He ignored Bernard for the moment – all his attention was on the woman he loved. He let her keep the handkerchief as he went on, “You were drugged. Out of your mind, like that other time. You c-couldn’t help it.” Hesitantly, he tried to touch her shoulder. “But it’s over now. You can come home.” His voice quavered on that last word. “Please.”
“Exactly!” Bernard agreed, feeling even more guilty when she pulled away. At least she hadn’t rejected his jacket -in her state, maybe she even hadn’t seen it yet. “It was all Psycho’s fault, not yours. We know you didn’t mean to. We forgive you…”
He wanted so badly to take her out of that cage and hold her into his arms. But with Jack there, it wouldn’t be appropiate, last thing he wanted was to cause more problems to the couple.
“C’mon, Katelynn… Jack is here… He needs you now…” And me too…
Every word was like a stab as she winced, keeping her face away from them. “N-No..I..I can’t..” she whispered, feeling her heart break. Her evil self had already rejected Jack once, causing Katelynn to suffer such pain in her chest though how hard she had tried to fight it.
And lost.
And now she was doing it again. “I’m not…I don’t deserve kindness…I..I let it happen. I was weak..so weak…I didn’t stop it..I tried..I tried so hard..”
Her head lowered down, feeling so pathetic. Just like her other self had called her. Blood and tears mingled down her cheek as she soiled Jack’s hankerchief with her blood.
“I-I’m sorry for everything..but I can’t…”
Taking a shuttering breath, Katelynn tried standing so she could leave. She held onto the bars to support herself, face pale.
“Oh Katelynn, no.” A lump rose in Jack’s throat as he struggled not to cry as well. Unable to hold back any longer, he reached out for Katelynn, wanting to pull her tenderly into his arms and comfort her, the way he had so many times before. “Th-this isn’t your fault, none of it! It … we’ll fix it. It’ll be okay …”
He wanted so much to believe that. It had to be okay. Katelynn couldn’t have been brought back only to turn away from him again. The world couldn’t be that cruel.
Jack Maple 