Psycho

Day 16

I've been sitting in my room awake for maybe an hour, and Jason or even one of his workers had yet to come in to check on me.

I got up and out of bed, slowly approaching the door and then pressing my ear against it to see if I could hear anything...but nothing. I grabbed the doorknob and slowly started to turn it, prepared for someone to stop me, but no one did. I pulled the door open and peaked out to see not a single person in the hallway. I stepped out, walking out and deciding to head downstairs where I could hear some sort of noise.

Once I turned the corner, I finally spotted Jason at the dining table eating and discussing something with another gang member. He looked up once he noticed me, "You're up."

"Uh...yeah. I've been up for a little bit actually," I said, a bit confused as I walked over and sat down.

"Are you hungry? The chef's been preparing some sort of smoothie or something," he shrugged, eating his own food.

I stared at him, waiting for him to comment on the zero guard or checking on me thing. "Yeah, um..." I decided to speak about it when he never did. "There's no guards outside my door...and no one came to my room this morning...is this going to be a normal thing now or..." I slowed down as Jason stared at me. "What's going on?"

"Trust. I believe you don't need a guard standing at your door any longer. Don't you agree?" He questioned.

I raised my eyebrows, surprised at how fast all of this trust was coming, since I had only gotten out of the room a couple days ago. "Yes, completely."

A grin spread across Jason's face as he gave a nod. "Great."

I sat there, processing my increased freedom, and even just sitting across from him eating and being civil was still a new concept to me. A month ago he was nothing but a criminal to me, but now...he's a person.

"So, what room would you like to go to today?"

I looked up as I thought. "Well...you have a theater right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you want to watch something?"

"Sure, it's been a while since I've watched a movie," I shrugged.

"Look, I've said sorry countless times and I know it will never be enough..."

"Jason, it's not because of...this," I interrupted him. "I've always been too busy with work to really take time to enjoy myself with something like a movie."

He opened the door to the theater for us to walk in. "Oh...that's...actually sad..."

I shrugged. "I love my job, I got my joy from that."

"Well, now that you have time to watch something, what do you want to watch?" He asked, revealing hundreds of DVDs. "And you can really choose anything, I have some that aren't actually in theaters yet."

"But...how...actually, I really shouldn't even be surprised at this point. You have everything, you can get anything...this is just another one of those things," I sighed, looking at all the movies. "But...I will have to choose a classic, my favorite actually," I pulled out the DVD and handed it to Jason.

He took it, reading the title and giving a weird expression. "Not that I'm against your choice, it's actually one of my favorites, but why The Breakfast Club?"

"It's my favorite movie, a classic," I answered simply.

Jason nodded in approval before calling out, "Grant! Assistance!" A man then came out, as usual. "Put this movie on," he ordered.

I glanced between the two of them, adding, "Please...and thank you," when Jason didn't. Grant grinned, leaving and doing as told. I glanced at Jason as we sat down, not that surprised though and letting it go.

"So...why is The Breakfast Club your favorite movie?" Jason asked as we waited.

"Because...the concept is so simple but there's a layer of complexity as well. It goes off of different stereotypes coming face to face and using them, but since they're forced to be together all of them naturally knock down walls to find out that there's more to them. It just tells how everyone has their own problems, external and internal struggles, that shows that...they aren't really that different from each other, and in the end...connects them..." I slowly started to trail off from my ramble as realization came to me.

Jason stared at me, obviously not expecting a mini rant from me. "Wow," he breathed.

I looked down, thinking about what I just said and applying it. Different people, facing their own struggles but connecting because of it. Breaking it down, are Jason and I really that different? On the outer layer, yes, completely. But deep down...we both had family issues and felt alone because of it.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" Jason said softly, breaking me away from my thoughts...but not completely.

I turned to him. "We aren't really that different...are we?"

Jason sighed, looking down. "We do have some common ground," he nodded before looking back at me. "But we're still vastly different."

"Maybe now...because the commonality affected us differently...the circumstances may have been different, but...it's loneliness all the same," I explained, my eyes drifting to the side. "Maybe that's why..." I stopped myself, not wanting to say it out loud.

"Why what?" Jason questioned now.

I couldn't tell him...but I also had nothing to lose by doing so. "Why I was...drawn to you..."

There was a moment of silence, and I started to wonder if Jason even heard. At least until he repeated, "Drawn to me?"

I faced him again. "When I first met you...you said I was different...I wasn't scared of you...it's because I already felt some sort of connection to you," I started to explain. "After looking through your files, I got that we're basically the same age, your family didn't pay much attention to you, and now, even though you have a whole gang...you're alone...looking at it from the basics...I felt like that was me and I could...empathize."

Jason continued to stare at me, realizing the same things I had. Before he could say anything, the movie came on and I focused my attention there. Those thoughts never slipped my mind though.