Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 52: Only Makes It Worse

Chapter 52: Only Makes It Worse

Cheng Bo Jing had been driving for about an hour now. Neither one of us really said anything, but the silence wasn’t awkward. It was comforting.

"Have you been to the house yet?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.

"No," I admitted. Bai Long Qiang only told me that he had bought a house for the two of us, but that was the extent of the information.

"I guess that is a stupid question since you haven’t been here since –"

"The funeral," I said, finishing his sentence. I still felt the pain of their deaths, but it was no longer as crippling as it was before.

He nodded. "I didn’t know if he had sent you any pictures or anything along those lines."

"Nope," I answered with a shake of my head. A home never really meant anything to me. As long as there was a bed I could sleep in, I didn’t care about the rest of it. When he offered to bring me here to help him look, I just brushed it off, letting him choose what he wanted.

As long as he was happy, I couldn’t live with it.

We had entered one of those middle class, suburban area on the outside of City D. Most of the homes looked the same and I knew that I would be getting lost for the first few months while I was here.

"How far is the General Hospital from here?" I asked, my eyes scanning the neighborhood. This was definitely not the place I would have expected to see the Bai Family heir... or the head of the Song Family either.

Maybe that was a good thing. I would have the chance to make new memories instead of chasing ghosts.

"It’s about an hour away."

Ouch. I flinched at his statement. That was a long commute to work every day. And considering that I worked twelve-hour shifts, that left only ten hours for sleeping, eating, and whatever else normal people did when they weren’t working.

I nodded my head. I didn’t help him choose it, so I really couldn’t complain. I would have to get a car, though. There was no way I was taking public transportation. That would almost double my commute time if I did that, and I was an absolute bitch if I didn’t get enough sleep at night.

We pulled in front of a cute little bungalow, and Cheng Bo Jing turned off the car. "Welcome home, Little Rabbit," he said, nodding toward the house.

It was... a house.

I shrugged my shoulders as I undid my seatbelt and got out of the car. The dwelling was almost exactly the same as its neighbors. White spackled exterior with a black roof and a black door. The bright green grass on either side of the path to the front door was enough to cause me to panic.

If this didn’t scream HOA with a Greg and Karen neighborhood watch, I didn’t know what did.

"I will have to admit that I was surprised that he picked this house, but he said that you would love it," said Cheng Bo Jing as he came around to stand beside me. He had my suitcases in each hand, a strange look on his face.

I shrugged my shoulders. It didn’t matter to me, but I really hoped that I was off base on the idea that there was a homeowner association. Both Bai Long Qiang and I worked too much to worry about the length of our grass.

"Come one, Rabbit. Let’s get this over and done with so you can relax in front of the TV," he continued, nudging me with his shoulder.

"Why Rabbit?" I asked as I stepped forward, walking up the beige cement pavers to the front door.

"Because it looks like you are going to run the first chance you get," shrugged Cheng Bo Jing as he put down my luggage and unlocked the door.

"I’ve learned a long time ago that running from your problems only makes it worse," I replied, stepping inside.

The house was open concept with wooden floors as far as the eyes could see. To my left was the living room; the furniture looked comfortable and cozy, even if there was a lot of it for only two people.

From there, the living room transitioned into a dining room, with a marble table big enough to fit eight people. Finally, the kitchen was at the very back of the house but easily seen from the front door.

I could just picture having people over and them getting a look at a messy kitchen. It was going to be a pain in the ass to keep everything clean.

There were two doors on my right-hand side, but that was it for this floor. Strange....

"Closet and guest bathroom," said Cheng Bo Jing, nodding toward the two doors.

"So, we bought a house with no bedrooms?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. There was no second floor to this place, so where were the bedrooms?

"There are three bedrooms in the basement and a rec room," answered Cheng Bo Jing as he placed my luggage down on the floor and toed off his shoes.

"I’m sorry... what?" I asked, sure that I didn’t hear that right. Not once in either of my lives have I ever seen a master bedroom in the basement, let alone all of the bedrooms.

There must have been something in my voice because Cheng Bo Jing’s head snapped around to look at me, his eyes narrowing on the expression on my face.

"You didn’t know?" he asked slowly.

I blinked at him. I hated basements...

No, that wasn’t strictly accurate....

I was terrified of basements. I hated the idea of being trapped underground with no way to get out if something happened.

All of a sudden, I could hear the screams echoing in my head as I felt the heat of the flames on my face and hand. Scorching pain radiated through my hands, and I could feel them start to shake uncontrollably.

’No! Please! No! I’m down here! Save me!’

I shook my head, trying to get the sound of my own screams out of it. Different life, different body. I wasn’t trapped in the basement; the house wasn’t burning down around me.

"Wang Tian Mu! Look at me!" demanded Cheng Bo Jing as he gripped my shoulders. "I am here. You are safe."