The Confined

12. Ego (Part 2)

I cannot express the way that I felt when I set my first foot outside of the Confined and into the RL. It felt like I was a new-born baby and I’d just opened my eyes to the life that was waiting for me. It felt like I had first set foot on solid ground, and everything I had stepped on before was rubber. It felt like I had teleported into a new world, somewhere entirely different from the earth that I knew. The earth I knew was nothing but deserts. Everywhere. The sky was always gray. The walls were always ivory. The ceiling was always red. This was an entirely different place from where I’d been.

I gaped at our surroundings. Hundreds of people were busily running about on the fancy marble flooring. Some people were riding scooters, some on automatic bikes, and some people just walking. I never thought the RL would be so interactive. I thought everyone would be stuck on their sofas eating popcorn. Don’t underestimate me. I may not know jelly, but I do know popcorn.

The buildings looked modern and so brand new that they seemed like they were built just yesterday. The high skyscrapers blocked the sunlight so the only sunlight we saw was that reflected from the silver that lined the edges of the buildings. It seemed to never stop blinding us as if the light were following us like a spotlight. The buildings looked plenty strong too. The Confined bunkers looked like the walls were going to crack and the ceiling was going to collapse any minute.

I turned around to see Finn who was wearing a determined expression. He was calmer than me. He was adjusting faster than me. He was more mature than me. He was better than me. It was wrong to be envious of my best friend, but my heart didn’t say the same thing as my mind. On one hand, I was glad he came. But on the other, I didn’t like it. I had been going to do this alone. I had made a plan. He was going to start nagging me about what to do and it would cut down my self-esteem.

Of course, I would never be able to confess my jealousness towards him. He would think of me more as a child. I knew that I was acting like a child. I knew it but I did it anyway.

“We should get going. Do you know the way?” he asked. I didn’t. If I had come alone, I wouldn’t have felt as unprepared.

I shook my head. The place could be anywhere. There were thousands of roads and avenues in the RL and it would take at least two months non-stop to seek all of them. “I do have the address.” I showed him the letter envelopes that I had received. His eyebrows shot up at me when he saw the letters, but he didn’t ask any questions. He was being generous.

“Okay. We should ask directions.” He was about to ask a woman who was walking by, when I grabbed him.

“We can’t do that. They’ll think of us as suspicious. They’ll report us,” I whispered to him.

He just turned back around and grabbed the lady. The lady looked startled and a little disturbed as we had intruded into the schedule of her perfectly ordered day. She was wearing a purple jacket with a dark blue dress under it. Her white hair indicated that she was somewhat in her 150s, and her brown dull eyes were empty of enthusiasm at meeting us. Her high heeled shoes screeched to a halt as she studied us. I slapped my forehead.

“We’re looking for some directions, mam,” Finn started. “Parker Avenue. Could you tell us where it is?”

“Who are you? Are you thieves from the Confined?” The woman clutched her purse nervously.
Finn laughed casually. I looked at him and smiled uneasily. “Of course not. We just came up from the Confined because we were promoted. We need to find ourselves a home now, and for the time we search for a house, we are going to stay at a house on Parker Avenue. It belongs to a friend of mine.” He smiled brightly. I admired his quick responses that sounded so real that I almost forgot why we were here.

“Oh, I’m so sorry I mistook you for thieves. Parker Avenue is just around the corner from here. You see that post robot over there? You turn left there and a right on the next street, and you’ll be there.” She nodded happily as if she’d been a huge help. We could have found that in thirty minutes.

“Thank you so much. You’ve been an enormous help to us. We’re new here.” Finn shook her hand.
The woman smiled, clearly satisfied, and went on with strolling along on her busy day. Finn shrugged as if what he had just done wasn’t a big deal, but he was still the hero of the day. I smiled. He was better than me, but I was glad that he was. I needed someone better than me.

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Hi loves!
I hoped you liked this chapter. Ego is finally on his way.
Do you think you can empathize with what Ego is feeling right now?

P.S. I'm sorry I'm a tad bit late, I'm during loads of exams. (Like I told you, I'm a senior)
Please don't be mad or anything, I still love you guys and wanted to upload really badly!

Thanks for reading up to here.
Please give me comments and votes if you enjoyed the chapter. If you send questions by PM I'll answer them asap!!
Thanks so much again.
Till the next chapter♡