Chapter 7: Interrogation

Fishing. It's mostly pretty boring, but calming when you consider a bunch of paniacing things that happened to you yesterday. Today everyone was getting a day off of Caine's "adventurous" games because he somehow felt bad or something. Most people went to the carnival, but Jax felt the need to be alone for a while, even if he almost always was alone in the digital circus.

Nobody would even notice that he was gone, he was sure of it, and was fine with that-fine. Like the voice said, Jax was still lying to himself, he still was pretending he had no problems whatsoever. He was probably the best liar out of everybody here.

He sighed, staring at the water with the digital fish in it. "Could you eat the fish somehow? Meh, it's the digital circus. Who knows. Anyway, the only way I can find out is for me to see how to catch these annoying little puckers."

"Hi Jax."

"GAH!" Jax was so focused on trying to catch the fish and indulging in his thoughts that he didn't realize Ragatha had approached him. The result was him jumping into the air like his pants had caught on fire and landed in the digital lake with a splash. Jax sat in annoyance as she tried to keep back a laugh. He climbed back out, appearing to have digital water droplets falling from his wet clothes.

"Whatta want?" Jax finally said, annoyed he was the butt of a joke. That didn't happen to him most of the time, at least when he had his pretending mask on.

"Sorry about that, Jax. I didn't mean to startle you like that. I was just bored, y'know?" Jax stared back in confusion. Ragatha was bored of being with the others? When did that happen? "Uh, cool. Whatever." He said, then sat down and picked up his fishing rod again.

After a moment's hesitation, Ragatha sat down beside him. Jax wondered what was going on with her and why she was acting so weird. Nobody really paid any attention to him, unless he was either pranking or messing with someone. "So…how's life?" She said, breaking the awkward silence. "Uhhh I dunno, it's…good?" He said, choosing his words carefully.

"Hey, why did you not want to participate in the game capture the gloinks the other day?" "I really don't like those block-ish things. They're so annoying, and the first time we played it the gloink smacked me, and that kinda hurt, plus, do I really need to see the gloink queen again? I mean come on, she's the most stuck-up person in the circus!" He said, relieved he could put his opinion safely on this topic.

"Heh. The first time I never got to meet the gloink queen, but after the other day…she's even worse than you!"

"Oh…that's…that's cool."

Jax laughed, but it hurt to hear those words. Did anybody ever care about him? Ragatha looked a little embarrassed at mentioning how she felt about Jax and his pranks, which made him feel a little bit better…but not much.

"...Are you ok? You've kinda been quiet for a while, and being by yourself…it just doesn't really fit you."

That got Jax's attention. What was he going to say? "I…uh, I don't know what you're talking about! What do you mean it doesn't fit me?! I do whatever I want! Why are you even talking to me like that?!" Jax took one look at Ragatha's face and knew he made a mistake choosing his words.

"Hey…"

"It's ok, Jax…I just…promise me you'll be safe with yourself? If you're upset about something, just tell one of us. Please." Jax froze. How did Ragatha know so much about him? Did she notice any of his flaws? His problems? But mostly…did she care? Or was this a trick to get him to reveal what his state was so she could hurt him somehow?

Jax stayed quiet, he didn't want to be rude if he wasn't right, but he couldn't afford to say anything that he'd regret in the future.

"...I'll just say this. If you really are concerned about me, you'll leave me alone. Got it?"

Ragatha somberly nodded. She walked away from him, getting the answer. Jax huffed in frustration. Why didn't people leave him alone like they always did? If they were going to do it anyway, then why don't they do it all the time instead of making things so complicated? He wouldn't have to hurt them so much. Jeez.

Jax turned his eyes back to the lake, but his reflection looked different.

It was the other evil version of him, staring back!

Jax's eyes widened in fear. "Still lying Jax? You should show them what we can do. Who we really are. Together, we could be so much more. Nobody would ever threaten us again. Just let me out. As simple as that." "What the-leave me alone, you jerk! Nobody told you to interrupt my life! I-I have no clue what you're talking about!" The reflection frowned. "You really are almost as bad as the gloink queen. Those "friends" of yours? They don't care. They're just waiting for you to mess up. Which you will, unless you accept me. I'll be watching, waiting for the time, Jax.

Watching…

Waiting…

The reflection finally disappeared, taking his ominous, jerky voice with him, leaving Jax with even more questions and doubts than ever before.