a chained heart

8 | sunrise

It'd been about a month since Adam killed Amanda, and he still wasn't handling it well. Most of his days were spent in bed, and he never left the apartment, as going outside would send his heart into a frenzy.

Lawrence on the other hand was doing great with his new prosthetic; he could walk easily on it without a cane, and his ability to pick up speed to a light sprint was increasing. He'd been back at work for two weeks, and finally felt he had a purpose again.

As happy as Lawrence was to be back into the world and making a pay check, he worried about leaving Adam at home all day because of what had happened two weeks ago.

***

Lawrence arrived home from work late that night to find the apartment empty.

He checked the clock.

It read midnight.

Lawrence shook the notion that Adam was gone out of his head. Adam hadn't left the house for weeks. He has to be in the bathroom or something, Lawrence told himself.

After checking every room, Lawrence peeked out of the window to find Adam's car parked on the street just below. Trying not to panic, he called Adam's cell, only to hear it buzzing on the table beside him.

Now he was worried.

Running outside, he frantically paced the dark, empty streets.

"Adam!" he shouted aimlessly. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he continued as he ran, "Adam!"

Upon arriving at a bridge, he saw what he never wanted to see.

Adam was standing on the edge, his feet halfway over the line between life and death. His white knuckles clutching at a flimsy cable were the only things keeping him from falling to his doom. His eyes were closed as a light wind blew through his hair. Lawrence was worried that even the slight breeze would push over his thin, malnourished figure.

"Adam!?" Lawrence screamed from behind him. "What the fuck are you doing!"

Turning his head, Lawrence saw his face was streaked with tears. "You shouldn't be here," Adam choked out barely louder than the wind.

"No." Lawrence corrected him. "You shouldn't be here."

Adam had turned back around.

Lawrence approached Adam until he was right behind him. He lightly grabbed the hem of Adam's jeans. "Adam, get down. Come on, let's go home," Lawrence cooed.

"I—I don't want to." Adam paused before continuing. "There is no home for me anymore."

Lawrence was frozen. He didn't want to pull Adam down in fear that he would mess up and Adam would fall off the other side. He didn't know what to say.

Adam's strangled voice cut through Larry's thoughts, "I killed two people."

That is all Adam could manage to say, but the pain he conveyed through those four words told Lawrence how much he was hurting. Adam truly blamed himself for everything that happened to Lawrence and everyone else caught in Jigsaw's sick web.

"Adam, you said it yourself! This is all Jigsaw's fault!"

"It's not even that!" Adam cried. "It's just me. I have to live with myself." Adam sniffled silently. He was talking more to himself than Lawrence as he stared out at the stars. "I was put in that room because I was a bad person—and I was never supposed to leave, because I'm still a bad person. I'm weak."

The wind made Adam's teeth chatter as he struggled to speak, "I can't even step foot into my own bathroom anymore without having a fucking panic attack."