Re: [The Motel: Cat & Reece]
One day Reece would be allowed to feel bad about something. One day, he could feel sorry for himself and how he was treated, without having to be pulled from it by the reminder that it wasn't deserved and everyone else on the godforsaken planet had it worse. Or, without being reminded that there were legitimate reasons for it. So what, was what he wanted to ask Cat. So WHAT if all of that was true. If he'd ever done anything remotely similar, for even the same reasons, she would never, ever forgive him for the trespass and obvious lack of trust. But, God forbid he feel that way.—Reece didn't give on the blanket when she yanked it. He stayed and he stayed still and he didn't look at the boy who was Cat. He really didn't want her reasons. He didn't. He was sick of being logical and understanding to everyone on the planet. It got old, and he had no one he could really even talk to about it, which made it all worse.
Once more, Reece was thinking about how, if he did face off with the scientists, he was going to take himself down with them. Maybe in his last seconds, he would be able to focus on himself. Maybe.—But, for now, he couldn't. Cat was making it impossible. He wasn't looking at her, but he could hear her, and she was telling him he hadn't woken up with a pussy, he hadn't been strapped to a gurney, he hadn't been scared.—Reece curled into a ball and didn't move for a long few minutes. Cat, of course, kept talking. She said she didn't want to talk about the scientists. She wanted to figure out how she felt, etc. "Fine," was all Reece said to her from his cocoon, before he suddenly shoved the sheet from his face and pulled himself out of it, at least to the hips.
He sat up, looking extremely pissed, his hair a mess, and he looked at Cat and how she sagged all forlornly. For the first time, he actually wished she had just been some lost kid. At least he could be angry at the lost kid. With Cat, his anger just made him a jackass. He shoved it aside, as he always did, and he sighed. He scrubbed at his face with his real hand. "Be Eddie's ward, but don't think it means they can't find you. They found this body and prepped it and everything else. They'll know what you look like. They'll have a file on the kid. Even if it takes a new set of scientists to recover it, they will, and it doesn't take them long." Reece pushed a hand through his hair. "Anyway, whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm glad he helped you, like I said. It'll take you a while to get used to the body, so you should do like, physical exercises and stuff. It'll help. And definitely practice aiming, because most of us are at least okay at it by the time we're using public restrooms. That'll give you away. Or at least make less people want you over to their houses, for sure." It was a dumb joke and Reece didn't even smile. He shrugged. It was like, 6AM. He was fucking tired and he was sick of being told over and over he had no right to feel what he felt. "Are you going back to Eddie's to sleep?"