Trust. The word burned. I had trusted once, and look where that left me.
Shattered, confused, hollow. Could I really trust him? Could I risk believing again when I was already drowning in disbelief?
But then his words started to slip into my mind, planting seeds of temptation. Escape. Freedom.
A life without their schemes, those fake acts of care.
A life where I was not a pawn in some ugly game.
I closed my eyes, trying to push the storm inside me into silence. I could not give him a direct answer, not yet. I needed to know something first.
Slowly, I opened them again, locking my gaze on him. My voice was quiet, but steady enough to ask the only question clawing its way out.
"What… was your plan, Josh?"
His face lit up instantly, hope sparking like fire in his eyes.
***
A WEEK LATER.
Dave's pov:
The first thing I felt was this strange heaviness. Not just in my body, but in my chest, in my head, everywhere.
