The Confined

14. Ego (Part 2)

Argon Mayson’s face turned so pale that I thought he was actually one of those zombies from the 21st century movies. Finn had showed me some movie posters that he had collected from the 21st century.

I cleared my throat loud enough for Argon to come out of his trance. Blood rushed back into his face. He let out short panicked breaths and started searching for something behind me. That’s when he finally saw Finn. “Who’s he? Is he safe?”

“He’s my best friend,” I said. He looked at me strangely as if I weren’t supposed to have a best friend.
He shoved me and Finn into the house quickly. He looked outside again. “Did anyone see you coming here?”

“No one knows me.” I studied the house’s interior. There wasn’t much in the living room. Just a sofa, a rocking chair, a 3D TV, a brown rug on the floor, and a wooden coffee table in the middle. Somehow this made me a little angry. If they had thrown me out, at least the two of them should have lived fully. They should have succeeded in doing everything they wanted to do.

“Sit down. Ego and… er… friend.” I sat on the sofa. “Vivian, come down here. Someone’s here to see us,” Argon called upstairs.

Vivian, again wasn’t anything like me. Opposite to Argon, she was small and as graceful as a princess. Although Argon and I weren’t handsome, Vivian was beautiful. She had beautiful long blond hair that came down her back, red full lips, and a pointy nose. Her body was light as she stepped down the stairs without a sound. I couldn’t tell what color her eyes were even though they were looking right into mine.

“Who is this?” she asked softly.

“Ego.” Argon buried his face in his hands.

This time, it was Vivian’s turn to become pale. She clapped her hands over her mouth and she didn’t move for a while. Finn coughed to let her know that he was here too. Her eyes swept him over but didn’t last long. She kept locking eyes with me as if she didn’t know what to do. I had to say something to break the awkward silence.

“You are my mom.” I scratched my head.

“No, Ego.” Argon sighed. “She is not your mother.”

“Argon! Are you going to tell him?” Vivian said in a nervous voice.

“We have to tell him what we know,” Argon replied as calm as he could.

I couldn’t tell if my body was reacting. I didn’t know what to say or think. What was he talking about? “You’re my dad?”

He hesitated as if he were choosing whether to be my father or not. “No,” he said.

“Wait,” Finn interrupted. “Then you are not Argon and Vivian?”

“We are Argon and Vivian. Look, we can’t give you much information.” He started talking frantically, like someone was watching us. Not only watching us, chasing us every second. “We were hired to be your fake parents, Ego. We were financially very unstable, and one day the government visited us and asked us if we needed money. Of course, we said yes, and they said that they would sustain us if we do a very important secret job that should never be told elsewhere. We had never told anyone about it.…”

I couldn’t stand it anymore. First they threw me out and now they were making up stupid lies to tell me that I wasn’t their son after all. I wasn’t the son who they had wanted then, or now. Argon’s words didn’t find their way to my ears and just drifted off into nowhere. I didn’t want to listen to him right now. I was their son, and not even lies could change that. I stood up. “Then, who are my real parents?” I yelled. “WHO?”

Argon and Vivian were surprised. “We- we don’t know, Ego. But please, believe us. If we had a child like you we would have never abandoned you.” Vivian was crying.

I didn’t think she would cry. It softened me and made me feel that she really was telling the truth. Still, I couldn’t be 100% sure. I mean, these people could be the ones who had left me in the hands of the Confined. They could be cruel enough to lie to me a million times.

“We need some place to stay,” I said calmly. “Whether I believe you or not, I don’t care anymore. Just give us a room for us to stay in during the night. We’ll do no harm. We’ll eat our own food.”

Argon nodded. “I’m sorry lad. This is all I can tell you, and it is the truth. I don’t know anything about your past life before we became your fake parents. The government said that it was top secret. No one could know about your profile.”

I didn’t trust them yet. But deep inside me, I knew that they were right. I knew that when I saw those names on the letters. They didn’t make me want to write back. It was because they weren’t my real parents.

“We’ll provide you shelter and food for the night. We can tell you stuff we know about this place before you take off,” Vivian said softly. “You’re my son that I never had.”

Finn was watching all of this in great shock. “I still don’t understand this situation,” he murmured.
“I’ll tell you later,” I whispered to him. He was smart, but he wasn’t a fast learner.

Vivian led us up the stairs and into the guest’s bedroom. Although it wasn’t a very good room in the RL, it was much better than being in our bunkers in the Confined. Tidy and dust free. The walls had no cracks. The ceiling wasn’t ivory or red. There was a crimson rug on the floor and a single bed. There were curtains on the windows instead of sealing bars. A great room.

“Thank you,” Finn said properly. I didn’t say anything. I was mad enough.

We unpacked, even if we didn’t have anything to unpack. We tried. We didn’t have anything else to do. Finn knew that I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. I was tired, I was angry, I was frustrated, and I didn’t want to think at all. I needed some time to myself. I needed to forget the busy thoughts in my mind that were making my head ache awfully.

I spread out some blankets on the floor. I gave Finn the bed because he must have been exhausted from following me here.

I went to the bathroom. It smelled of clean soap. In the Confined, we didn’t have clean toilet paper often. We were given old newspapers. Disgusting.

I brushed my hair. It was getting long and I couldn’t remember the last time that I had cut it. Maybe I’d go get a hair-cut after I broke out Violet’s parents.

Oh, Violet. I missed her. I wanted her company. Violet and me. We were partners now. I wanted to see her badly. I wanted to tell her everything that had happened here. About how my parents weren’t who I had expected them to be. I wanted her to hug me and say that it was okay. Her hand on my head, stroking my hair. Her sunny smile. Her beautiful eyes looking into mine. Just being with her made time fly. And I needed some time to fly right now.

I opened the curtains and window to get some fresh air. I looked out at the sky. It was a little gray now. I sighed and looked down to see if there were any pedestrians walking by. There was a couple strolling down the street, arm in arm. There was a child sitting on a bench eating something that I had never seen before. It kept melting and making a pool of creamy liquid on the floor. There was a brown-haired girl running frantically down the street.

And I recognized her.

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Hi guys!

How do you like this chapter?
Pretty shocking right?
Argon Mason wasn't Ego's dad?
What does he do now?
Try to find his real dad?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and liked Ego's POV as much as Violet's.
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