MANIPULATED Book A (Sequel to Tempted)

14. Just An Average Bro

You start walking to nowhere. Playing ping pong in your head with the pros and cons to going to visit Dark.

You walk with your head down and arms crossed, but when you look up, you are always able to see his castle looming above the trees. So you decided to keep your head down.

You have nowhere to go, no one to see, you're literally walking in no certain direction to an unknown destination. And whenever you feel like it, sometimes you just turn around and walk another way for the fun of it.

You feel the inner conflict in your head, or maybe its just you recovering from your faint.

You want to deny everything that happened to you within the past hours- periods.

You don't want to believe that Anti was going to remove your soul. What would that make of you? You're more human than not, so if Schneep removed it, what all would be left!?

Anti had to have a good reason... Right?

He wouldn't just jump right into something without thinking through it first... Would he?

How can you know? You were just given the option to find out the truth. All you have to do is go to him.

You know Anti wouldn't explain himself, he even said he'll tell you once the process is over.

So you have the choice of either going to Dark and knowing the truth, or going back to Anti who wants to undergo a surgury that could possibly kill you.

You think about Dark's words to you. He hid you from Anti instead of bringing you to the castle. He is letting you make this decision on your own instead of forcing it upon you. He is giving you a choice. Unlike what Anti did.

Then something hits your head. Literally.

The impact wasn't hard, in fact, it was small and soft. You stop and look around confused, then on the ground you find something.

You pick it up, its smaller than your palm. It looks like a pouch of some sort, with a power inside and a string attached to the opening.

A tea bag?

"(Y/n)?"

From the direction of where the tea bag hit you, you see a startled and fragile Chase standing by a bunch of similar looking tea bags scattered on the ground.

"Did you just throw a tea bag at me?"

His eyes widen like a kid who just realized they were about to be punished. "I- I'm sorry I was just-" He starts to pick up the tea bags.

"No, no Chase, its fine! I was kidding!" You say with a laugh. He can't be this afraid of you. "Are you practicing your trick shots?"

He stops picking them up, and hold a few bags in his arms. "Uh, yeah. I was just... You know... Doing stuff I'm familiar with..."

"I get that." Chase must be really lonely here. You completely understand how he feels to want to do something you're used to doing. Something that brings you back to reality, but helps you escape at the same time. "Here, let me help you with that." You start to pick up some of the tea bags around him.

He seems hesitant. "Oh... Okay." He picks up some more. "Thank you."

When you both pick up the many tea bags he tells you to bring them with him. As you're carrying some you notice a tag at the end of the string that says 'Earl Grey'.

"This your favorite tea?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. I never really tried it. I've been too busy using them for my show."