The Shrink Program

Chapter 117

"Hello Art, long time no see." He greeted cheerfully, his voice enthusiastic, but kept at a soothing tone. "It's been nearly four years. It really is a shame that we couldn't have met under... Better circumstances...."

Artemis said nothing, didn't react to the friendly words but to turn his face away. Anxiously looking down at Nigel and me from his uncomfortable perch in Alan's hand.

Which obviously brought Alan's attention to the elephant in the room.

Slowly, almost reluctantly the giant boy allowed his gaze to rest on us. For the first time since they had entered the room, one of the brothers finally looked at us.

Small and broken on the floor.

And he smiled. Not a cruel smile, or even a fake one. Just a rueful smile, gently excepting our betrayed expressions

At the attention, Nigel shifted, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his lap. I winced but was grateful to find that the movement didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.

Whatever Peri's nano-tech was doing, it seemed to be working... Or I was in shock... Yea... That's probably it, knowing my luck...

"Put me down, idiot," I muttered, too light-headed to pay much attention to what I was actually saying. "This dying swan position is so not cool. How am I supposed to scare away the baddies for you if you don't let me pose like a gangster ninja?" I struggled weakly against his iron-like hold, wanting to stand but not quite able to convince my body to do so.

Plus my stupid neck wouldn't hold my head up properly, forcing my head to loll onto Nigel's shoulder. Fine, you can rest there for a moment, but as soon as the ceiling stops spinning, you have to get up and go kick some giant backstabbing ass.

In the meantime, I settled for glaring reproachfully up at Alan, intending to intimidate him into surrender with my haughty gaze alone.

Instead, he started making his way to us, with steady, giant steps. The closer he got, the harder it became to hold the cold expression on my face.

It wasn't easy after all, pulling off a scary expression when your face is pale and withdrawn from blood loss... And when your eyes a just a tiny bit teary...

Soon enough, Alan stood directly before us, his long legs seeming to stretch far above. With the bright spotlight at his back, it was difficult to see his shadowed expression.

A problem he obviously didn't share.

"Come on, guys." He murmured softly, almost pleadingly. "You don't have to look at us like that. I know it seems bad at the moment, but you know us better than that right? I admit that we had ulterior motives, but that doesn't mean that we were faking everything." Alan suddenly crouched down, as if proximity would convince us of his sincerity. "Sure we lied... a lot, but that doesn't mean we don't care..."

"Was he telling the truth?" Nigel suddenly interrupted, the question bursting from him even as he refused to look up at the giant he had considered a friend. Only I was able to see the heartbroken expression on his face as he stared down into my dazed eyes.

"Did you really do this to Maddison, intentionally?"

Alan opened his mouth to reply, only to have someone beat him to it.

"Yes."

The small, simple statement brought my gaze to where Alex stood behind his brother, staring down at me over his brother's crouched form.

He looked sick. Haunted as he stared at the blood, staining my side.

"But..." Alan began about to justify their actions when Alex shook his head.

"Don't bother Alan. Actions speak louder than words after all, and our actions, the way we chose to hurt people for our own convenience, have told them a simple truth."

With one last look, he turned his back.

"This who we really are."

Alan stood, reaching his free hand out to Alex, who roughly shrugged the comfort away.

"Grab them." He snarled over his shoulder. "And let's get out of here. The Underground is waiting for our return."

Alex started to walk off, leaving Alan standing alone, hand still half extended.

Eyes still on Alex's retreating back, Alan crouched down once more. When his brother didn't say anything further, Alan sighed, turning his gaze down to us once more.

"Wait! Please, you don't have to do this!" Reece cried, pressing up against the glass of his bubble. Dully, I realised that there would be no rescue from the supervisors this time.

Slowly, Alan reached his free hand down toward us. As it drew close, Nigel suddenly stood, lifting me in his arms and backing away from the approaching hand.

Idiot shouldn't pick me up like that. He could pull his back out and not even notice...

Escape was impossible for us, but still, Alan hesitated, not closing the small distance it would take to grab us against our will.

"Please Nigel. Resisting here won't help anyone."

"I think the only thing my resistance does is make you feel uncomfortable," Nigel growled in a rare moment of anger. "And in this case, I really couldn't care less."

"Nigel..."

I don't know if it was the blood loss or just the ridiculousness of this whole situation, but I really couldn't help it.

I started giggling.

It started out as a snicker but soon grew to hysterical laughter, mixed with half sobs.

"It's not fair." I giggled to Nigel, who was looking down at me in alarm. "He was the one who lied. He was the one who tricked me." My voice began to slur.

"So why does he look like the one hurting?"

As blackness began to swirl before my eyes, I couldn't remember if I was talking about Alan or Alex.

Or.

About Vain.

"It's not fair. To betray me, then look at me like your heart is breaking."

End of Part Three.