The Shrink Program

Chapter 110

Too little.

I tasted blood in my mouth, my heartbeat roaring in my ears.

Why do I always hesitate?

If I had... done something...Garmen...

Too late.

"No, Maddison!" Nigel cried. Desperate. Warning me of something I had yet to understand.

But I didn't listen. Blinded by rage.

He'd pushed me too far. Had crossed the line one time too many. And no matter what it cost, I was going to make him hurt.

I hate him.

Leaping at Jack, I grabbed onto his silky black curls, using them to climb to the top of his head. Any thought about how suicidal this was completely escaping my mind.

There was a lot of sounds, people shouting, but it was all background noise.

I was too focused on the task ahead. Everything else had faded to insignificance.

Jack's head tilted violently beneath me, forcing me onto all fours, my hands clinging to his hair for balance.

A shadow fell over me, and I threw myself forward as the giant hand grabbed at me. Rolling with the motion, I grabbed onto Jacks's hair just as I fell off the edge, sliding down it like a rope to hang...

Right in front of the giant purple eye.

Jack always was an arrogant fool. He was the one who gave me this opportunity, had put me on his shoulder in the first place. It was his own stupid fault.

Bracing myself with a foot on either side, I looked into that single, delicate eye.

And lifted my leg, ready to stomp the light from it.

I didn't know if such a small attack would be enough to damage the eye permanently.

But a large part of me desperately hoped it would.

The pupil dilated in fear. He saw it coming, but he wouldn't be fast enough to stop it.

The only thing that could stop it now...

I tensed about to slam my foot down.

...was me.

When I caught sight of my face, reflected in the eye's glassy surface.

I didn't look angry. I didn't look like I was handing out justice or trying to stop Jack from kidnapping us.

Maddison Tramph was a hot-headed idiot. She shouldn't look that calm, that cold...

That empty.

....I knew that Jack was a bad person.

A broken, insane person.

So why...

Watching my own reflection, I saw the moment the cold mask slipped. The moment my true feelings brought tears to my eyes.

...Did I feel betrayed?

I knew he was going to do it! There wasn't any doubt in my mind! There wasn't...

Deep down, had I really believed that he would go so far?

He was a bad person, but he was my age. We went to school together. He had suffered a lot in his life, and he was fighting for his life just as much as I was.

We had both been the Jack of the hill.

A desperate part of me wanted to believe that there was something still...relatable about him. Forgivable

I had hesitated because I had been waiting for him to....change. Waiting for him to prove me right. I just gave him a chance...

And Garmen was going to be the one to pay for that mistake.

Now that I had stopped my attack, I couldn't find the strength to continue. Jack could grab me at any moment, but strangely enough, neither of us moved.

I'm sure that he could see it.

The moment I gave up on him.

After all, even if I hurt him now, the pain wouldn't make him more human.

It would only make me less.

"You're not worth it," I whispered, not caring if he could hear the words. The eye widened, but that was the only reaction I got.

Before all, the strength in my hands disappeared, and I fell.

What a way for my ultimate plan of revenge to backfire.

Good job Maddison, pat yourself on the back. You get to go down fighting... Oh, wait, no, you don't, cause you chickened out at the end...

I suddenly slammed into a spongy surface, winding myself and shutting up my inner bitching.

Gasping, I glared up through the tangled mess of curls in my face. And was met with amused eyes.

And they weren't purple.

One eye was bright blue and the other a dark brown. Which was strange enough in itself, but the fact that the strange eyes didn't belong in the familiar face is what stumped me.

My stomach sunk as I stared up at the giant man who had caught me.

Even worse than Jack, it was...

"Peri?"

Grinning with relief, Peri winked down at me.

"The one and only. Here to save the day."

"That's..."

Even scarier than when Garmen and Havoc tried to do it.

"Would you hurry up and get out of the way Peri?" Winkle's voice snapped irritably, drawing my attention to the other supervisor, noticing for the first time that he stood behind Jack, holding the boy's hands immobile at his back.

Jack had his head lowered, and all I could see from this angle was the small, excepting smile.

Winkle scowled at me over Jack's shoulder, managing to convey both worry and relief in the grumpy expression.

"Maddison!" Nigel's voice called worriedly, causing me to glance over to Peri's shoulder, finding Artemis and Nigel sitting there. The smaller boy held onto Nigel's arm, keeping the idiot put as he threatened to climb down to me.

Pouting at Winkle, Peri took a step away from Jack, giving Winkle room to pin the boy to the floor.

I had opened my mouth to ask what was going on when the sound of voices stole the words from my throat.

"Get off me, Havoc!"

"But you're diiiieeeeing!"

"Only because you're crushing me, idiot! You know that they removed the anti-tech so would you get off...!"

Peri finally moved enough for me to see the scene going on at the other side of the room.

Garmen lay propped against the desk, pale but awake, with Havoc clutching at the front of his lab coat. He looked tired but still had enough energy to growl at Havoc as the man continued to have a panic attack on top of him.

Reece sat to the side, smiling quietly.

What was going on...

No. Screw it. I give up trying to understand this crap.

Looking back up at Peri, there was only one thing I could say.

"You're late, idiot."