The Static In Your Eyes - Tim Wright x Reader

It was the next morning bird calls that urged me to wake and guided my limbs to stretch the sleep away. The dread that stalked me home last night had long been forgotten, bathed away by whatever dreams I couldn't recall having. It wasn't even a minute after I sat up to start the day, when my phone buzzed on the nightstand next to me, the noise it made against the wood was piercing into my skull and drilling my still sleep-fatigued brain. I groaned and reached over, letting my thumb slide over the edge of my phone, effectively muting the call so I could silently flip open the phone and see that it was Jay calling. I debated for a hot second if I should answer, only for my finger to subconsciously press the green button that linked our lines. "Hello, Jay-" My voice was more groggy coming out than I anticipated, which almost urged me then and there to lay back down and curl up. "I go to work later tonight, yeah." I answered his curiosity without hesitation but didn't hold back today on the annoyance I felt, letting it drool from my words like spicy honey. I couldn't shake the feeling that Jay was lying to me. About the movie, about the camera and everything else. "I actually wanted to talk to you today, so sure, you can come over." I was finally ready. After months of hiding myself in denial and isolation from this man, I wanted to confront the issue face to face. So, Jay and I made plans to meet up this evening right before work so he could also offer me a ride when we were finished. I lazily completed a morning routine before realizing how tired I still felt. Lately, it's been like a dark cloud raining lead over my shoulders. I could sleep all day if I had the time. Right then and there, on the couch, I had somehow curled into a comfortable position to fall asleep in. I did not dream. It was like my brain was filled with darkness and static..

It must have been hours because I was ripped from my half-sleep like state. I didn't feel much more rested, and I could sense something akin to guilt brewing in my gut like a bad meal. There were a few quiet knocks on my door, the timing making me suspect that my body woke up in anticipation of Jay's arrival. I didn't have time to stretch or yawn, only standing up to cross the floor lazily, slinging the door open. Jay seemed a bit surprised as our eyes met, and I didn't understand why. My eyes immediately landed on the camera mounted to his chest, the light alerting me to its spying gaze. "Hey. Can you just... Turn that off?" I didn't step aside until Jay was done agreeing and fiddling with his camera to turn it off, letting him inside once my privacy was ensured. "You look incredibly tired.." His comment brushed my spine, rattling up towards my shoulders, forcing me to realize how heavy they were. "I am tired. Y'know, work and... Late nights-"
Jay made himself comfortable at the table set in the kitchen area, being very good at maintaining eye contact with me, or as much as I allowed.

We made small talk for a few minutes, while I mentally debated bringing up Tim, who had previously brought up his encounter with Jay. I decided against it. Once again, I convinced myself that it wasn't my place to get involved with whatever was happening between the two of them. It eventually came up, a bit forcefully, but it needed to be spoken about. "What happened that day, Jay? In the woods, at that barn thing-" he took a long pause, averting his near-somber gaze to the surface of the table, like it was more interesting than my words. "I don't know. We probably just got sick or something. It was cold." I felt my brows furrow together, I knew he wasn't being truthful, I could feel it. I also knew I wasnt sick that day, or at least not enough to bring me to my knees. "Are you really finishing Marble Hornets for Alex?"

"Uh. No."

Finally, I felt like I was getting somewhere with this man. He was very eager to prod at business that didn't belong to him and seemingly kept his own very firmly hidden. I didn't like lies. They only caused problems. "Then why are you recording everything? Why did we go out there? Because it definitely wasnt to look for movie sets, was it?" He stopped to think for a moment, and I assumed he was racking his brain for more excuses for whatever it was he was truly up to. "I was actually looking into the movie, Alex did give me the old tapes instead of- I dunno throwing them away. I showed them to you." I had to stop myself from smacking my forehead at the obvious dodging of the question. "Did you show me all of them?"

"No."

I didn't get much of anything out of Jay before the evening sunk into my time for work. He told me he didn't wanna talk about it, but that I would be told everything in due time. He never brought Tim up, and it was unlikely that he knew the two of us had interacted at all. This situation seemed like it was something deeper under the surface, the rugged surface of an old college project, more complicated than old friends and acquaintances.. I thought about it while I stood at the counter at work that evening, hearing the repetition of the bell alerting me to paying customers. I felt myself thinking of the situation between me and Tim and what it had to do with Jay, if at all. I even caught myself staring at the bell and through the glass door around eleven and midnight, almost eagerly waiting to see a pair of familiar brown eyes coming to greet me. It was something that didn't happen that night, much to my own disappointment. I closed up shop, and another disappointment came when Jay didn't reach out to me with his usual offer of transportation. My own pride made me swallow my pleas for help, and my feet hesitantly carried my weight down the sidewalks after locking the doors to the gas station. The roads, once out of view of the lights of the store, were swallowed by the night, and the closer I got to that damn park, the heavier my feet felt. I couldn't help but to think about how I would whip out a camera to record if I had one, because the feeling of being watched was severe, and I could swear I saw something odd in the treeline of the park. I brushed it off as paranoia and sleep deprivation, hurrying my pace home. It made me wonder about Jay and his camera, and it twisted my gut almost painfully in some sort of sudden realization. Maybe, through Jay's camera lens, it was something similar, just an eager attempt to capture whatever caused the feeling of being stalked. I needed to pull myself from my denial and admit that this wasn't normal, maybe some form of contagious psychosis and I needed to reach out to the clinic downtown.