They're Back

Dorran and Kaia sat beside each other in the waiting room. His head in his hands, while Kaia stared at all the people that came and went. His mother fainted when Kaia shot at her, missing her head just by an inch. Anger seeping through his body as he told them to watch her and stormed out the door. Kaia followed after him, giving the gun back to the man.

"You didn't kill her." Dor looked, Kaia.

"I know, I was there."

"Why?"

"You wanted me to kill her that bad?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. Ugh. I'm tired."

"Meet with her when you're calmer."

He laughed, "Sure. Calm. You're not exactly the epitome of calm are you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I know I'm not. But do you know that you're not?"

"Are you using my tactic against me?"

"What works, works."

"Seriously. You are a handful."

"I've been told that. Now, go rest up. It's late."

With that, she got up and walked to the door.

"Wait, Kaia. You still haven't answered my question. Why didn't you kill her?"

Halfway out the door, she stopped and smiled at him. "I never used a gun before, I just missed."

If you never used a gun before, why reach for it?

He ran after her, "Hey, Kaia. Wait up. Let's go together."

♣

Kaia felt movement as she tried to find a more comfortable position to sleep in. Turning she leaned her head against something hard, little noises could be heard from it.

It sounds like a heartbeat.

Her eyes shot open and she looked up to see Max looking at her. Panicking she pushed herself off him and landed on the ground.

"Kaia. Are you ok?" He bent to the ground and tried to help her up but she moved away from him.

"Sorry." He held his hands out and away from her.

Kaia looked around them, they were in a very living room of a very familiar marble house. She looked up and saw a spot where a chandelier was.

"Oh? What are you doing on the ground, Kaia?" Dorran entered the room from the kitchen. "Were you too heavy for Max?" He looked at her teasingly.

Kaia stood up and scowled at Dorran. "What am I doing here?"

"Well. We were on our way to your house and I was telling you my tragic back story then you fell asleep and since I still don't know the way to your house, I had to bring you here. I called Max to carry you inside. Was my back story that boring?"

Max snickered, "Maybe." He looked at Kaia, "When was the last time you slept? You look so tired."

She avoided his stare and signed, "What's that to you?"

"Kaia. I-"

"Ok. Kaia, you're sleeping here. If Caitlyn finds out that I let you go out at this time of the night, she'll be so upset with me, and, honestly, I'd rather be killed by you than see her upset. You can take the room next to Max's. Goodnight. Max, take her to her room."

With that he disappeared up the stairs and through some doors, leaving them alone.

"Uh. I'll take you to your room ok, Kaia?"

Without saying anything she began to walk, Max following after her. It was an awkward walk, not one of them talked and kept glancing around.

"So . . . How are you?" He tried to ask.

"I'm fine." She replied.

"Kaia. I just want to say, I'm so sorry about what I said that night. I shouldn't have said that without looking at it from your side. I'm sorry."

"No. You were right. I was a little too overconfident. Seeing what happened to Faith and my father, I realised how right you were."

"I didn't say that to be right. I really didn't. I was just worried about you. Killing a person will do things to your mind. Frightening things." He scratched the back of his head as he said that.

"You talk like you've killed someone?" She said, jokingly but his reaction didn't look like he meant it as a joke.

"Max, you've killed someone?" Kaia stared at him. They reached her room by that time but neither moved.

"This is your room. Goodnight."

She grabbed him before he could walk away. No way is he leaving this conversation halfway.

She pulled him into her room and shut the door. The room was so luxuriously furnished that she felt hesitant to take another step, in case she broke something.

"Tell me."

"Will you forgive me for that night if I told you?" He was much taller than her but he looked small at this state.

"Yes."

"Ok. I'll tell you." He walked to the bed and sat on it. His body sunk in, the moment he sat down. Kaia had to bite her lips to hold her laughter in.

He patted to the space beside him and she sat down. The mattress was so soft she could bounce on it, but she didn't. She only thought of bouncing on it.

"Remember whenever people asked about my parents, what I would say to them?"

Kaia nodded her head. He would get so offended, arguing with anyone that didn't believe that Aliya and her aunt and uncle are his parents.

"Well. I said that I don't remember them, but that's a lie. I know who my real parents are."

He looked into Kaia's deep blue eyes and felt like they could drown him and he wouldn't mind.

"Who were they?"

"They? Well. They were murderers."

"What?"

"I have memories of them. Very very vivid ones. I don't know much but every time they came home, they were covered in blood and all that stuff. I thought they worked at a jam factory or something. But that wasn't it and they didn't even try that hard to hide it from me.

"When I was old enough to talk, they would take me with them. Using me as bait to lure people then they would rob and murder them. They made me pretend that I was lost and ask people to take me home with an address in my pocket. I didn't realise what I was doing until I walked in on them killing the nice lady that brought me back home." He grabbed his head like he was in pain.

Kaia patted his back, she couldn't say anything else to him without him looking at her with her phone not with her. So she just resorted to letting him rest his head on her lap and stroking his hair.

"I was around nine. That time. When I saw what they were doing to her, that time they decided that it was time to 'teach' me how to properly dissect a human. At that moment, all those times they taught me how to use so many different items as weapons came to my mind and I finally realised what they were doing." His body trembled as he recalled this memory.

"I couldn't do anything. They gave me a knife to kill her, and I was so scared that I stabbed my father in the neck the moment he touched me. He was dead in seconds. When my mother came to me, I kicked the dresser down on her. The dresser was full of kerosene and when I knocked it down, it spilt all over the room. Drenching my mother in it. She was stuck between the dresser and the ground but she still managed to reach for a gun and start shooting at me."

"The woman was still alive, though barely. She looked me in the eyes and said, 'run' as she pulled a lighter out of her pocket. I ran as fast as I could and as far away as possible. I could feel the heat from the house burning on my back but I didn't turn around. I was so scared that I kept running until I collapsed from exhaustion. Some people found me and put me in the orphanage, that's where Aliya's aunt and uncle found me."

He stopped shaking by this point, slowly drifting off to sleep as Kaia continued to play with his hair.

"Until now, I still see the two of them everywhere I go. Every time I close my eyes they are there. In my dreams, they are there. Always. That's why . . . I worry about you, Kaia. You … have … to … be … c-"

He fell asleep on her lap, softly breathing in and out.

While the moonlight entered the room from the window, Kaia saw the people she killed emerging from the shadows. They looked at her with their hollow eyes like they do every night.

Here again? Seems like the mind is something else, are they really haunting me or is it just because of my conscious mind?

Her mind went to Dawn.

Did I haunt her in her head or not? If anything, I would like to do the haunting if I could. Sounds fun.

Kaia moved out and tucked Max in the bed. He slept so soundly that no matter how much she pulled him, he didn't wake up.

Heavy sleeper. Thank you for telling me, Max.

She sat on the chair and begun to think of a plan. The only incident left is Caitlyn's, but her's is so tricky she couldn't think of what to do about it.

Fortunately, they have a longer time to prepare and now that Shia knows about this also, she's ready to help.

Kaia had to physically restrain Shia when she heard about her death. She was ready to search the girl down. But Kaia made her promise that she wouldn't otherwise she wouldn't tell her the rest. She cheered for Kaia when she told her about the men she killed.

"I'm so proud of you, my little Kaia. Wait, you're older than me right? Should I have said little? Whatever. You're little to me."

Kaia stayed in her house until late evening and, much to the protest of Shia, she went home once her parents came back.

The people Dorran sent did a really good job, the house was repaired so well that it looked like nothing happened and they were so fast too.

Kaia left because Shia had to talk with her parents about the place and what happened, leaving out specific details.

The moment she reached home, she got a call from Dorran and rushed to the hospital to witness that happen.

Now she's here, trying to come up with a proper plan for Caitlyn.

♣

"Kaia?" A beautiful woman turned to face her, her face like a radiant angel with a pure white dress to match. They were in a field of white lilies scattered around them.

"Mum?" Kaia ran into her mother's open arms, sobbing her eyes out. She always felt the safest in her arms no matter what could be happening around her, if she was in her mother's arms, she felt safe.

"Kaia? What happened to your face?" Her mother pulled away and looked at her with disgust.

Kaia looked to the side and saw her reflection smiling back at her. Normal looking Kaia smiled back at her, waving. The white dress she wore began to be tainted with red

"You're not my Kaia." She pushed her to the ground, landing on a pile of bodies.

"Wait, mum." No voice came out of her throat as she tried to stand up but the bodies wouldn't allow her to.

She reached out with bloodied hands to the fading figure of her mother, as hands grabbed onto her and pulled her down. She kept trying to call out to her but she choked on the blood that entered her mouth while she sunk.

She trashed and tried to pry them off her but more kept grabbing and pulling her under.

Kaia screamed as she fell off the chair to the ground.

"Kaia!" Max jumped from the bed and ran the frightened girl.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Dorran burst through the door, switching just as they entered. His expression faded from annoyance and concern to an alarmed one when he looked at Kaia, gasping for breath on the ground.

"Kaia. Why are you covered in blood?"