Trust
Evan and Barty continued living like they had for another day, then Barty came to Evan with a plan.
“I’m going to be honest with you. My friend hasn’t written back, I’m worried that something happened to him. I don’t want to keep you locked up here any longer, so I’m going to take you somewhere else”.
“Another prison?”
“No”, said Barty, determination in his voice. “I’ll take you to a house. A proper house, not just a wooden hut. You’ll be comfortable. And… You can leave. Once we get there, I won’t tie you up, I’ll leave the door unlocked, and you can leave”.
“Why would you do that?” asked Evan.
Barty looked at him sadly. “You deserve freedom. I don’t”.
“You do”.
“What?” asked Barty, surprised at these words.
“You… maybe you aren’t a bad person, Barty”.
“What, do you have Stockholm Syndrome?”.
“No”, said Evan defensively. “You still kidnapped me and you still are a murdered, but if you’re letting me go, then maybe you aren’t as terrible as I thought. Maybe you have some remorse for what you did”. Evan’s eyes glistened with tears.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah. When are we going?”
“The driver will be here in ten minutes”
***
It was peaceful, in a way. Evan’s hands weren’t tied anymore, his ankle was properly bandaged and healing. He could feel Barty’s slight movement as he breathed in the seat next to him. He looked through the window. Rolling hills, green meadows. The landscape was beautiful, but his eyes still preferred to steal frequent glances at Barty.
“I won’t hurt you, you know”, Barty said when he noticed Evans frantic glances.
“I can’t trust you”.
“You can, Evan. Please”.
“You literally kidnapped me!”
“I didn’t want to! I’m letting you go. I’m trying to make it right”.
“Nothing can change what you did. Even if you maybe aren’t a bad person, you still hurt me. Even if you didn’t want to”. The devastating sadness in Barty’s eyes made Evan question his own words.
They arrived at the house just fifteen minutes later. Barty cooked some pasta for dinner and gave Evan a map.
“We are here. As you can see, the castle is… there. It would take about six hours on foot. I can give you a bike because honestly that is an absurd amount of time”.
“Sure. Thank you, Barty”.
“You keep changing your mind. You were yelling that I hurt you either way, and now you’re thanking me?”
“It’s called manners, look it up” scoffed Evan.
“Sure. One more thing, Ev…”
“Ev?”
Barty panicked. He didn’t mean to call him that to his face. Real pretty face,too.
“Uh, be safe”.
“No, backtrack, Ev?”
Barty stared at Evan, unsure what to say.
“Ev?” the prince repeated.
“It makes sense. Short for Evan” explained Barty.
“Evan is short. It doesn’t need to be shorter”.
“If it bothers you I can call you Evan”.
“It doesn’t bother me” Evan smiled.
Barty tried not to read into that smile. He really did. But alas, he failed. He stared at Evan for a moment longer trying to figure it out. Firstly, it wasn’t a polite royal smile. It looked real. Almost slightly mischievous, like an actual person grinning to a friend. Barty knew he could never be that for Evan. He couldn’t even be his friend when he wanted… never mind. Second of all, why did he smile then. It doesn’t bother me, then a smile. Does that mean he likes to be called Ev?
“Barty!” he heard, fingers snapping in front of his face. “You were staring at my lips”.
“Huh? Uh, sorry I zoned out”.
"What were you thinking about?"
"You smiled".
"Huh?"
"You smiled", Barty repeated, scaring himself, not knowing why he was telling the truth. "Why did you smile?"
"I don't know", answered Evan. "I just... felt like smiling".
"Why?"
"For gods sake Barty, I was just happy!"
"Why?"
Evan sighed. "Doesn't matter".
Barty knew Evan would sneak out that night. He knew—despite trying to tell himself he would stay—that Evan would go. He would find his sister. He would be happy. Maybe he would recover from whatever trauma Barty caused him. But again, he mentioned just minutes ago that he was happy. He didn't want to say why. It bugged Barty. It bugged him that Evan wouldn't say why, the knowledge that Evan would leave. His Ev, his brain said. Barty was disgusted at his own thoughts. Wh would he think something like that? What kind of possessive kidnapper-murdered was he? He thought it again. Ev. His Evan. He looked like a daisy. Weird association, but okay. His beautiful daisy, in a field of- wait. Maybe Barty wasn't being a possessive , psychopath, maybe he... did he just... like Evan? Barty thought it would scare him, but it didn't. The realization was somehow peaceful. It felt like floating. Barty let his mind wander until he noticed it had gotten dark outside. He went to bed. He forced himself to fall asleep, because he knew if he heard Evan leaving, he would try to stop him. That would truly make him evil. He didn't want to be evil. Barty desperately wanted to be a good person. He waned to be good enough. Good enough for his Ev.