Ego's Trap | ✔

44 | Thinking and Overthinking

☆☆☆ Chapter 44 ☆☆☆

Thinking and Overthinking

*Jade's Point of View (POV)*

Rolling and rolling and rolling and── and then he let go of my wheelchair.

It was way too sudden when he came to a halt, but the moment let me know of one good thing; that we arrived. We arrived at god-knows-where, but we finally arrived after what felt like hours upon hours of constant driving and rolling. A sigh of relief escaped out of me before my brain could properly process it.

"Okay, we're here," Roger said behind me, smacking his lips afterwards. His footsteps, though usually silent and as present as that of a ghost's, were now loud and snappy. It felt awkward hearing them from someone like him, but they had a purpose: to let me know where he was at any given time, and right now, they were letting me know he was walking ahead of me. I must be in front of something. Something that should, in his eyes, surprise me. "You can take off the blindfold now."

"I swear to god, Roger, this better be worth it," I quickly replied, reaching for the cloth he had wrapped around my head earlier, before leaving the hospital. "They really didn't want me to leave, and honestly, I didn't want to either."

It's been weeks since the last day I was outside. Maybe even a month. Who the hell knows how much time has passed, really. All I know is that the time I've spent at the hospital has been better than the time before it, and that the real world has been dying for me to step out of there so that it could smack me across the face. I would deserve it, I know that fully well now, but I need more strength to face it head on. Obviously I'm not ready. Right now, I can't even stand up for a single second before gasping from the sadist that is pain. I mean, I deserve that too, but──

"What's taking so long, Jade? Are you scared? Nervous? Nothing will bite you here, and trust me, this is worth it," Roger said, chuckling softly. "Why else would I pull strings to get you out of there for a day?"

"The doctors weren't in on it, there's no way. It didn't seem like it."

"Say whatever you want, Barbie doll, but you're out today and that's a fact."

I didn't know what exactly I was expecting before taking off the blindfold, but what I was looking at was definitely not it. Before me, aside from a beaming Roger resting on a mailbox with his last name, stood a simple home, green and lively, with flowers basically everywhere my eyes landed on. The only exception to that rule was a decent sculpture of a nude woman focused on a bird on the palm of her hand. A small wooden birdhouse hung from two of her fingers like a Christmas decoration to a pine tree. Roger must've put that birdhouse there. Or his mother. Who the hell knows. It was alright.

Okay, it was beautiful. But why was I there?

I didn't hesitate to ask. "So what's so worth it 'bout coming over to your house, Roger?" I began, cocking my head to the side. "Am I here to have sex with you or somethi── "

"Ugh, oh god, no," Roger quickly exclaimed, shaking his head and stiffening up as he muttered something under his breath. By then he was stepping on his flowery yard, writhing in some form of cringe. It felt awkward seeing such a reaction from someone like him, but it wasn't just awkward. It felt... weird. It's not the type of Roger I usually see. It wasn't the cool-headed one, the wounded warrior. It kind of stung my pride to hear him deny me in such a manner, too. I may be ugly── if that's what he believes, but he didn't have to show it. Or maybe he just couldn't help it; maybe it was just instinctive. Hell, to think I had it in my mind that I was alright in that department. Guess I'm not.