The Psycho Is Innocent | ꪜ

Chapter 23: The Story

            The look on his face was the embodiment of hesitancy but behind that lingering gaze of uncertainty was concern and pity. He sighed in defeat, "you were right, son." He said as he turned his attention towards Larson, "I am here on witness protection. I didn't want to leave town because it's the place I was raised so the protection program put me here instead." Somehow within the few seconds that he was speaking, Larson had found himself standing beside me, his hands twitching at his side: A clear indication of his nervousness.

          It was a habit of his I realized now has never died. I guess this place and this entire situation is creepy. At the sight of me crying, he suddenly slipped his hand into mine, the twitching immediately subsiding. I don't know why my body prompted me to find Lewis' gaze but as I expected: she was the least bit interested in what Jack had to say and instead on Larson's and I intertwined hands. I did tell her if she wants him back she needs to stop being a whiny sulking bitch. Now she has to suffer seeing him cozy up to me.

          I don't like it one bit but if it means it'll push her to show me her true colours and intentions then so be it. I curled my fingers around his and caught the sneer of her lips as her eyes began to darken despite the lack of light illuminating her face. As much as I hate to say this, Theo is right. I can't trust anyone. . .especially those closest to me. "I didn't just write the article because it was simply my job to do so." Jack said, snapping me out of my thoughts, "I wrote it out of personal knowledge and connection to the case. I–I was close friends with Barry Roosevelt and I testified against him in court."

Past

          "Why do you have an ankle monitor?" I asked out of curiosity. Before he could reply, Jena crawled towards me excitedly, her bright gray eyes boring into mine. "That's just one of the wild dares we have in this game, beautiful. You see Finick was dared to walk into the town's precinct and pee on the rug in the main lobby. He did so of course but by the time anyone had realized what happened he ran out and jumped into his car. They went on a wild goose chase trying to catch this asshole on the highway. It didn't make big news because no media outlets had gotten word of it.

           Still, they were in hot pursuit and this idiot accidentally swerved off the road and crashed into a tree. They tased him, arrested him then dragged his ass to court. He got 30 days in jail for indecent exposure and the other serious charges were dropped because his daddy in England bribed the crooked assholes to keep quiet. So they released him on probation and he can't leave the house for a month." Wow, rich assholes really do get off easily when they throw money in authorities' faces. My mom is a Doctor so she makes six figures a year but no one knows that unless they ask.

          I don't wanna be known as the girl with rich parents who bail her out of every situation. And I intend to keep it that way. "If your dad is rich why are you playing this game then? Isn't it to earn money?" Finnick nodded his head, "my dad is rich but I never said my mom was. They had a nasty divorce and my mom fell into bad drug abuse. She lived off of the child support he paid but I'm 21 now so guess how long that was? Ever since then she's only been getting worse and has no money to pay for shit so I work part-time because I got college and the money I make off of my job and this game is to fund her rehab stay. My dad pays for my school but he won't help her so I gotta do it."

           Looks really can be deceiving. He looks like your typical trouble-making punk when in reality he's a sweetheart who risks his life for his mother. That's dedication. I respect him for that. "That's amazing, Finnick." I mumbled, "I uh also need to use the washroom," I said as I stood up from the couch. Tobias snapped his head in my direction and parted his lips to protest but before he could, a hand lowered over his mouth, "she ain't gonna die, buddy. Let the girl go piss in private, geez. It's up the stairs in the main foyer. When you get there just take a right down the other hallway. It's the first door to your left." Finnick explained.