Fated Risk || Completed

Chapter 7 || To Far Away

Maddox.

They say that nighttime is the prettiest in New York. I can tell you they are bullshiting you. Nighttime is when the loony's come out. The once's that wear no pants and try to chase after you well you're on a peaceful jog with your dog. Even Alvin wasn't impressed with the psycho man who ran after us. Given he didn't run to far, and I was definitely quicker than him, but what the fuck? And who runs naked at three am? Then again, who runs at three am? That would be me, the sleepless joker who can't bring himself to disturb Mateo tonight. His been fucken tired lately, and I'm the reason.

So instead of dealing with my own mind, and the chaos it's set on causing, I went for a run. Maybe if I tired myself out, I could fall asleep. Two years in New York, and two years of running and that hasn't happened yet. But I'll continue to lie to myself, maybe it will come true. A man can only hope, right? Three miles into our run, and Alvin was panting but running happily beside me. The good boy kept up with my crazy schedule and has no problem doing it. Even now, he runs beside me unleashed and panting stop he looks like he rather be nowhere else.

I scowled at the spasming ache in my back muscles, picking up my pace and he ran after me, tongue dangling. Then he speeds up, looking backwards at me as if to call me out on being slower. "Come on dude, you have four legs, I have two!" I huffed after him, picking up my pace more.

The only pretty thing about nighttime in New York is that it's cold. It nips at your skin and makes it the ideal running condition. It also numbs the pain in my muscles that I feel all the time thanks to my wonderful kidnapping adventure. After it, I was left with a physical reminder of what electrocution does to your body in the long run. It's only fair, I guess. After all, I have done my own fair share of torture. But in case you aren't clear on this, electrocution tends to fuck with the flex of your muscles. It wasn't that bad before, but lately it's been miserable.

In Texas, I couldn't run. The humidity could kill you there but when we moved out here two years ago, I picked up running. I find that I enjoy it, especially in the middle of the night. Don't ask what I'm running from, Kirsan already asked me to many times. And like I told him, I like running by myself without paparazzi following me and the only time I can do that is in the middle night. I might be fooling myself, who knows.

We were on our fifth mile when we finally got back to the apartment. The usual door-man pushed the doors open, and I nodded at him while walking towards the stairs with Alvin. I know I should take the elevator instead of walking up eleven floors, but I don't want to be confide in that box. Alvin didn't mind, he jogged up the stairs as I took them two at a time. This has turned into a weekly thing for us. The whole sneaking out in the middle of the night and running around NY.

Alvin was already waiting by the door when I finally made it up. I pushed it open heavily, and he walked past me to our apartment. Right now, I wish I had four legs because my two were about to give up. Unlocking the door, Alvin went directly for his water bowl, and I went to chug down a cup of water, or two. My mind felt calmer, maybe even a little quieter but the thoughts were still there. They weren't my usual thoughts, not the ones the consist of haunting memories. This was new to me, and I can't exactly say if it's better. Those new thoughts were of two truths and a lie games. Jokes, and compliments. Smiles, and laugher that came from blood red lips and made my blood pump.

Sophia shocked me, again. When she told me her two truths, I didn't want to believe it. I tried to reason with myself and tell myself I was delusional when I caught the lie. I told myself that there was no way the shoe one was a lie because the other two were too damn unreal. But I was a fool because I was right. The first two, and the once that were oddly hurting to know were the truth.