Loser

9. Going Home

At the end they took forced me into the car and took me to the hospital. I jelled the whole time but no one seemed to care that I was getting kidnapped. Mark carried me inside the hospital and made his cousin, who was a nurse, check me for injuries immediately. 

My ankle was twisted and I wasn’t sure if it was caused by the car or the fall from the tree.

Tom stayed with us but kept complaining about everything and I couldn’t make him leave no matter how hard I tried. He even complained that he didn’t want to be there and then ignored me completely when I told him he could leave. He even refused to acknowledge when I ordered him to leave. He was getting on my nerves with his behaviour.

It wasn’t like I wanted to be in a hospital in the first place. 

Mark was only satisfied after his cousin assured him I was going to be fine but insisted on driving me home. I obviously didn’t want to walk anyway and he was no longer a stranger so getting into a car with him wasn’t dangerous. I graciously allowed him to drive me to my house. I was becoming better and better at human interactions. 

“So… Where do you live?”

I frowned. Maybe I was wrong when I believed they were safe to be in a car with. 

The question was too personal to share with somebody you just met. What if they turned out to be crazy?! I didn’t want them to know where I lived. 

They were acting suspicious. They were planning something, I could tell. They believed I didn’t see the look they shared when I didn’t respond to their question. They were up to no good and I didn’t know them well enough to trust them. People are a backstabbing bunch anyway. They hurt me every time I put my faith in them. 

“That is none of your business.”

I retorted. He grimaced and Tom snorted but I didn’t care what they thought. They were unimportant because I couldn’t be bothered with making friends anymore. Therefore they were only annoying acquaintances which didn’t give them much of importance. That included my address. I already had that guy from before knowing it I didn’t need to add these two the mix. 

“How am I supposed to drive you home if I don’t even know where that is? Why don’t you want to tell us where you live, anyway? Are you homeless or do you have abusive parents or something..? Did you escape from a mental hospital?”

He was fishing for details about my life while pretending he was worried. I noticed it no matter how hard he tried to hide it. I didn’t miss the twitch of his lips or the smile he tried to hide. 

“I told you she is a lunatic! She needs to be in a padded room because she is crazy as hell! You didn’t see what she did to my ball!”

Tom was suddenly interested in our conversation. He smirked when he noticed me glaring at him. He seemed amused that I wanted to strangle him and not let go until his face was blue and he had no heartbeat. 

“I don’t know you and it’s nothing personal but I’d prefer if you didn’t know where I live. You can drop me off a couple of blocks away and I go from there. I know the way and it’s not that far. I’ll be fine.”

Mark didn’t like what I was saying and insisted on driving to my house. “Your ankle is twisted! I cannot allow you to walk to your house with a twisted ankle! Do you really think your address is such a secret I could probably found out without your help! Can’t you see that I’m doing you a favour here! Why can’t you just tell me your address?”

I gritted my teeth together. He wasn’t listening to what I was saying. I gave up on them. 

Tom was still grinning stupidly in his chair. He was murmuring to himself something about driving me to a mental institution but I paid him no mind. Mark on the other hand was clenching the wheel, clearly agitated. He was still talking to me and trying to change my mind but I made a decision. 

I stopped listening and left the car at the next red light. He didn’t even notice. They were too busy with themselves to actually notice my absence and drove away. 

I preferred it that way. 

I walked home happily and ignored the slight pain in my ankle. I was so deep in my thoughts I didn’t even notice the neighbours’ son throwing garbage at me as I walked down the street.