The Honey Trap: a psychological thriller with a gripping twist by Theo Baxter

Author:Theo Baxter [Baxter, Theo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2024-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

24

On days that Chris didn’t visit Perry, he spent most of his time hiding away in his cottage, trying to keep himself occupied.

Over the past year, Chris had learned that spare time was not good for his mental well-being. If there was no task to focus on, there was nothing to keep his mind from wandering to scenes that he wanted to leave in the past. He’d visit his old workplace and watch nurses sprint through the halls to his late patient’s room to try to revive her; he’d stop by his old house in the middle of a fight or, worse, silence with his wife; and he’d watch himself decide if he really wanted to continue living while he poured the last drops of a vodka nip into his mouth at a day-use campsite. Sometimes, he’d even time-travel to happier times, like his nursing school graduation or a tender moment in bed with his wife while they talked about their life goals. This was sometimes more painful, given how things turned out. Now, he also included the memories of the nights he’d had sex with his boss’s wife, convinced the poor bastard that they should break up, and then plotted to kill him with said wife. In those moments, he tried to remind himself that there was a plan, and it would get better. It had to. He couldn’t go to jail.

Time spent ruminating on any of those failures would typically result in a period of depression that could last anywhere from an hour to a week. It brought him back to how he felt at the time, which was so painful that he could hardly stand to be sober. This was the reason why Chris never stopped buying booze at the estate, though he had found it easier to drink moderately.

These days, he forced himself to slip on his dusty running shoes and hit the country roads, running in one direction until he got tired, then making the long walk back to the estate. There was something about the physical exhaustion that quieted his racing mind so he could think without feeling terrible about everything that had happened. It allowed him to return to his temporary home with a clearer head. The running, along with the stress and the leftover diet food that Chris ate, caused the pounds to drop off in a relatively short time.

At this point, his looks made little difference to him. Kara was no longer infatuated with him, at least not like she had been before Perry went to the hospital, and he was mostly happy about that. There had been moments early on when she wanted him close—perhaps too close—for the present situation, but now she focused all of her attention on moving on from Perry, as if he were already buried.

He went back to his cottage to get cleaned up. After he showered, he put on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, noticing how his clothes were already starting to fit differently.

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