Matt & Doe | Complete

Chapter 16

I was confused at first, but then followed his eyes to the piece of paper in my hand.

“Oh,” I shook my head, “...Right.”

I looked at Carla eagerly. It wasn't as if she could have said 'no'.

“No.”

“Carla, that's not fair -”

“Well who will you go with?” she turned back to me.

I looked at Isaiah, who looked around the room.

“I'll ask...Roseline, I don't know,” I shrugged.

Reluctantly, Carla allowed me. I had mixed feelings about it, but went along.

I packed up my things, hoping to catch Doe in the kitchen.

“See y'around,” I patted Isaiah on his shoulder, who gave me a thumbs up.

Walking out of the room, I bumped into Helen Baker. She was holding Jackley's hand in a tight clasp and he looked at me with his bright, honey eyes.

“Did I miss something?” I scoffed.

“A 'sorry' would have sufficed.”

Helen tried to strut away but I blocked her path.

“I'm serious,” I furrowed my brows.

“Well, yeah. While you were out emptying your guts, I became Jack's temporary guardian,” she smiled proudly and pretentiously.

I didn't believe it. There was no way. I hadn't been gone for that long.

I slowly kneeled to Jack who wriggled out of her grasp and gave me a tight hug.

I ruffled his hair, “Watch your back with her, okay?”

“Are you still sick?” he asked quietly.

“No. I'm feeling a lot better.”

Helen interrupted our talk, claiming that she and Jack had a session awaiting them.

“Helen,” I turned back, “The key word in there is temporary.”

The woman laughed, “I wouldn't count on that.”

I mocked her words on my walk to the kitchen. I peeked inside and didn't see Doe, or Hannah.

I walked up to the girls' bedroom and found the two with four other orphans, including Ava, doing hairstyles. I stopped by the door, waiting for someone to recognise me.

“Matthew's here,” Ava announced, after briefly looking up at me.

I watched Doe mutter something, then put half of Ava's hair into a bun. The other half was already plaited.

Great. Now all I needed to do was convince Doe.

“No, no, no. Never,” she chided me outside the room, “You need rest.”

I groaned, “Please, c'mon.”

She looked at me in a condescending way, “How are you feeling?”

I shrugged off some of my discomfort, squinting at her.

“Are you going to pass out?”

Doe searched my face for unusual paleness.

“Dude, no. I feel fine,” I stepped away, “I really need someone to come with me. I won't ask for anything else. Ever. No actually, I'll go it alone.”

I could have told that Doe felt conflicted, but by the time she finished Ava's hair, we were in a taxi.

We had just a written address to follow, and after several detours, we pulled into the lot of a neat, modern structure. It was on flat ground, in contrary to our present location.