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He didn’t wanna go inside.
He had left, despite Verity telling him it was worthless to do so. He had no idea why he did it. He didn’t really care whether there were villagers southwest or not. Maybe he just wanted to prove that he could still find things out for himself.
That no matter what Verity says, he can still count on himself for a second opinion.
So he had left in the morning, mentally blocking out the sounds of Verity begging him to stop, turn around, and come back. He heard Verity frantically shouting alternatives, that there were villagers northeast or- or across the river. There were villagers wherever he decided villagers were.
Mob trusted Verity. He knew that whatever Verity said was likely true, and even during times he feared for his life, Verity had never explicitly lied to him.
Sure, sometimes he went silent, or dodged questions, but they weren’t lies, they were just.. Avoidance.
Unsurprisingly, he had travelled around 30,000 blocks southwest and he hadn’t found any villagers. His legs ached with the weight of climbing, crouching and running all day, he knew he needed to turn back before it started getting dark.
But now he was back.
Staring at the door.
The one he had left out of that morning, refusing to hear Verity’s screams against that choice.
He began to regret ever leaving. This was so stupid.
If he knew there were no villagers, why did he bother?
Why did he travel 30,000 blocks there and back actively searching for something Verity had told him didn’t exist?
His legs hurt. He had abandoned his idea of getting home before dark after losing his sense of direction for an hour on the way back.
Mob should listen more. It seems nowadays that it’s only ever his choices that get him into trouble.
If he just listened to Verity, maybe he wouldn’t have to be scared of verity.
But fuck it, he was.
He willed his feet to move from their glued position on the grass.
He wondered if Verity knew he was outside.
Of course he did.
He must look pathetic, scared to enter his own house, afraid of some yellow… thing.
He thought for a second absently that it had become cold outside, before realising his shaking wasn’t due to the temperature.
He gave up on moving his feet first, and moved his arm out towards the door, fingers only coming close enough to barely graze it.
He stretched further, stumbling a few steps forwards as a result, and nearly falling against the door before stabilising himself.
He knocked,
Unsure why that is the move he chose to take.
He only realised as his fist met the door how ridiculous that was.
This was his house?
He had crossed rivers today, fought monsters, bridged across ravines he had nearly fallen into on his own volition.
Yet now, he was too scared to voluntarily open a door by himself.
It didn’t matter, though.
Verity wanted the door open, so the door opened.
He really didn’t want to go inside. He hated every second of this.
He hadn’t realised his breathing had picked up until he was out of air.
“Mob, welcome back!”
This shit was a lie.
Verity can’t possibly have forgotten about this morning.
He felt time close in on him, in less than seconds, it would be wrong for him not to step inside.
All he could hear was his mind chanting at him not to go inside, nor to run, nor to do anything.
He wished he could spend the rest of his life stood in the position he was currently in.
He didn’t want to stay.
He didn’t want to leave.
He didn’t want to make a choice,
Ever again.
He didn’t ever want to make a choice again.
He was fucking trapped.
He built these cobblestone walls, Verity had advised him too, it felt like they were closing in on him.
“Mob? Come inside!”
He took a mechanical step forwards, forcing his attention towards the sound it made when his foot transferred from grass to wood.
Verity.
Smiling, as usual.
“Hey, verity. I-”
“Did you find your villagers?” Mob recognised the hint of frustration and condescension in Verity’s tone. He knew that, obviously, Mob had not found any villagers.
“No.. I-”
“Hm.”
What was that? ‘Hm’ ..?
The word was too short for Mob to figure out a meaning or undertone. Was Verity shocked? Was that also condescending? What the fuck did ‘hm’ mean?
“..Are… Are you-”
“I told you there were no villagers that way, Mob!” He didn’t know what that tone was. It sounded happy, Mob knew better than to believe it was, though.
“Yeah I.. I know …”
…
Silence.
This was getting harder and harder to decipher.
What did Verity want from this interaction?
Mob just wanted it to be over.
Nothing had even happened but it just felt so.. Off.
“Umm..” Mob didn’t know what to say.
What did Verity want him to say?
He wished Verity would just tell him exactly what to say and how to apologise so they could be done with this.
He didn’t know whether to come closer or not. He was kinda waiting for Verity to tell him.
…
“You were gone for a while! Where did you go?”
“Uh.. I mean.. Just.. Southwes-”
“No, where did you go exactly?”
“What do-”
“Why were you gone so long?”
Oh. He wanted to know how far Mob had left him.
He didn’t want to answer that one
“Only 5,000-”
“Try again.”
Mob stopped breathing. His blood turned ice cold.
Of course Verity knew.
He was so fucking stupid to doubt for a second that Verity didn’t know.
He felt physically ill. His head felt like it was burning.
He drew his hands up, nervously scratching at his chest.
He didn’t know if he could breathe, he didn’t try.
“Uhm… 30…” His voice gave out.
“30 what?” The cheerful voice hinted at him to continue.
“Thous..and.”
..
Another beat of silence. Did Verity want him to continue further? What else was there to add to that?
“Blocks..” He added, feeling stupid.
He briefly noticed Verity had actually let him finish his sentence that time. He had no clue what that meant either.
Verity was looking at his hands, inquisitively, Mob thought.
He followed Verity’s gaze only to notice his shaking had intensified nearly double.
He held his hands together to stop the shaking.
Verity redirected his focus to Mob’s eyes.
Mob followed along again, realising his eyes had become watery. Holy fuck he probably looked miserable.
He blinked, hard, getting rid of the tears in his eyes under Verity’s watch.
Verity looked pleased.
He had fixed himself.
“Continue.”
“I… Wh…”
Where was he going with this? What left was there to say?
..
oh.
“I’m sorry, Verity.”
..
Verity said nothing.
Mob panicked again, continuing in an overcompensating fashion.
“Please, Verity I’m really sorry, honestly im so sorry.”
..
“I should’ve listened to you!”
“I won’t ever.. Not listen to you again..”
…
“Please, Verity, I’m genuinely so fucking sorry.”
“I won’t leave again. I'm so sorry I only left because… I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to.. Make some kind of… choice for myself...”
“It was stupid, I can see that now. Please I’m so sorry”
…
“Please say something, Verity im so sorry please just answer me I dont know what to do”
“I won’t ever do it again, I’ll make it up to you please… Just… Please… Just say something please.”
…
“PLEASE. Ver-”
“You are bleeding!” Verity suddenly cut in, stopping Mob’s rambling apologies and justification.
Mob looked down.
Fuck, he hadn’t even noticed that..?
His knee looked like it had been skinned, oozing blood slowly but clearly for a long time.
He brought a hand down to it, grimacing as his fingers coated with the sticky, red liquid.
He thought back to earlier, when he had tripped over a rock in his rush to get home.
He didn’t consider the possibility of actually being injured.
“Oh.. yeah.. I gu-”
“Come here! You must be so hurt! I have put bandaids in your chest in case of emergencies like these!”
A warm feeling swirled in his chest, He felt more aware of his surroundings, as if only just realising where he was.
He was in his home!
“Oh.. Th.. Thanks, ver-!”
“No problem! You’ll be patched up in no time!”
The door closed behind Mob.
He had never noticed how inviting the shade of Verity’s yellow was.
It reminded him of sunshine. He distantly felt guilty that he ever wanted to leave.
“I really am sorry.. I wasn’t thi-”
“Apology accepted! I’m here to help you, Mob, not to cause you any stress or harm!”
“T..Thanks..! But still-”
“Let’s fix up your knee first, then we can talk.”
See? Everything got so much better the second he stopped trying so hard to go against Verity.
He hoped Verity understood how sorry he was.
He hoped Verity wouldn’t ever let him choose ever again.
It was better that way.