20. Aaron

"Stupid Professor Dolph" I thought, after Professor Dolph told me I didn't need to shoot.

He didn't know anything, I needed to release all my tension before he fell into madness.

I went to my workshop after leaving the academy, although I didn't even think about continuing to work. My body needed more than just tightening or loosening screws. My body needed the adrenaline of living on the edge so I could get Carter out of my mind.

Carter had acted cute that day, the idiot had been worried about my cheek slap, what would he think if he saw my cut face? Or my bruised body? Surely the idiot would follow me everywhere to make sure nothing happened to me.

I put Carter out of my head when I got to my workshop, I had to follow Professor Dolph's directions and get on with my projects.

The afternoon passed. Few clients came that afternoon and few jobs I managed to finish, but at least Bill was there to help me.

Wallace suddenly appeared in the doorway, carrying what looked like a bucket of fried chicken dipped in purple gravy that I did not refuse to accept.

"Carter intercepted me on the way out of the academy" Wallace said as I was about to take my third bite of chicken leg.

"You can't talk about Carter here, those are Master Aaron's orders" Said the stupid robot, driving me out of my mind.

"The one who can't talk is you, you stupid robot" I said before giving Wallace my attention.

"What did that asshole say to you? Did he hurt you?" I asked, Wallace shook his head.

"He seems genuinely concerned about you, he told me to let him know if I saw anything suspicious" Wallace said causing a smile to break out on my face.

"He's an idiot" I thought, as I shook my head. "Thanks for telling me."

"I'm worried too, it's obvious you're hiding something" Wallace continued.

"He didn't hide anything" I said, but Wallace shook his head.

"I know I shouldn't butt in, but for a couple of weeks now you've been restless, during training you let your fury vent and today you shot like you were obsessed with killing."

I dropped my chicken leg in front of Wallace's accurate intuition, I needed to lie to him so he wouldn't continue investigating and discover my illness and my obsession with seeing blood.

"Listen Wallace, it's nothing, it's just..."

But the words didn't come out of my mouth, my right foot started dancing and suddenly I felt like I was drowning.

"I think I have a problem."

"Glen told me" Wallace said. "I didn't even have to ask that much, I just asked him if anything was wrong with you before I came and he told me about your problem with seeing blood."

"You need not fear, I will not return to the madness" I assured, although inside I longed to go to a fight club and take out all my frustration on the first opponent I saw.

"I can help you" Wallace suggested.

I arched an eyebrow in question, I was scared that he would tell me the truth.

"Listen, there is a video game that can help you with your bloodlust."

I had never actually played a video game, never had the opportunity.

After I left District 11, came to District 5 and left Glen's group, I was able to open my workshop. The whole time I was working with the idea of making money.

"You can try, the other option would be to tell Carter and have him help you with your problem. Maybe Bill will take it upon himself to tell him."

I looked at Wallace, he didn't know shit about my obsession was due to the lust I felt for Carter, it was better he thought my madness had resurfaced out of nowhere like a small flame that was never extinguished.

"Just kidding, you really should see yourself in a mirror" Wallace said unable to hold in his laughter.

"I'll come to your apartment after I close the workshop, I'll try."

Wallace nodded and after a while left.

I took the opportunity to be alone to get in touch with Glen.

"What the fuck did you say to Wallace" I texted.

"Nothing, I just told him your life story. Although your little secret that you've fallen in love is a secret, my little knave."

Damn it, I wasn't in love, all I felt was a need to behave by wanting to be touched by Carter and be a part of him. But I could control those emotions if I continued to vent my energy elsewhere.

I took a jacket as I closed my shop and told Bill I would be back soon.

I walked through the city to the apartments, feeling the lights of the city come to irradiate me and infect me with the music passing by in the background.

Sliders and flying cars flew past me, leaving me to think that if I got on a slider and drove at full speed until I was on the brink of death, maybe I could heal my insanity.

I smiled at the thought of Carter's slider and his stupid body in contact with mine. I shook my head at the memory of that impure thought. I had to hurry to heal my obsession with him.

I arrived at Wallace's apartment. Wallace let me in with a smile on his face. He had already prepared several snacks for the day as well as a small living room where he kept two virtual reality heads.

"You have embellished well" I said, pressing my little stability.

"A lot of my savings is gone, but it was worth it, I really feel at home."

"But that's not what we're here for," Wallace continued.

"It must have been hard to have heard my story, it's not something I would want to share with anyone" I said, Wallace looked to the side as if it wouldn't matter.

"I won't say anything, you must be calm. You're one of the good guys aren't you?"

I was one of the good ones, I repeated to myself. I didn't really know, at some point I thought I was, but the level of blood I liked to spill on my hands denied it.

Maybe the best thing to do was to confront Carter and wait for him to satiate my lust, but I didn't want to do that, I didn't want to suffer from another kind of disease worse than the one I already had.

"I'm one of the good guys," I said, lowering my head.

Wallace emitted a smile.

"Come on, this will be fun" Wallace said handing me the helmet to immerse me into the virtual world.

I sat down in his small room and took the helmet. Wallace was explaining me the detail of how to use it, once I had to have it in my head several letters would appear and with my thought I had to give orders.

I felt some fear, given that the helmet might detect my lust for blood and my lust for Carter, but I had no choice but to play along.

Before long, my body was enveloped in a world I didn't know, with something green that seemed to be the color of the grass and several trees that covered the landscape.

My body was covered with a military suit, in my hands I held a high impact weapon. Next to me must have been Wallace, with a face that bore little resemblance to him and a methodical smile that reminded me of space.

"This will be fun" Wallace said, giving me several gestures to follow him.

He explained to me that we were in a survival game, that on the server we were about a thousand people with the intention of being the last to survive.

It was a world that featured the wars of two centuries ago.

"The bloodiest game online" He explained.

The sheer idea made me feel like I could control my bloodlust somewhat and a smile broke out on my face, I was willing to fight for adventures.