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2013
I walked into my room, examining everything that I had grown so familiar with to find a change. "Kai?" I yelled out, pleading he would annoyingly talk back.
"Fuck," I exasperated after a moment of silence, going to walk back when I collided with his chest. "Hey, I've been calling for you," I said with a scowl on my face, crossing my arms over each other.
His gaze was hauntingly blank, like he wasn't really even acknowledging me or the fact I had come back. I dropped my arms down, "Kai?"
He looked ill, actually. Sweat beaded across his forehead, his eye bags were noticeably pronounced, and he had an unreadable expression.
Not a single second passed before Kai's hands were wrapped around my throat, throwing me to the ground. I fought back kicking him in the leg to bring him down to my level. He groaned and I took the opportunity to kick him in the chest.
But when my boot met his chest, he disappeared. Okay, I was officially going crazy. Had I just hallucinated that entirely?
Distracting me, my scar had begun to burn once again and I winced at the growth of the wound. I ran to the nearest bathroom in the boarding house to look at myself. Black veins had sprouted from the scar's origin site and it only continued to grow, the symbol still etched into my skin.
I took the shirt I had on and ripped it slightly , determined to get a closer look. It felt like something was inside my skin.
I needed to get it out. So, I resorted to using the shaving blade on the counter and took a deep breath before plunging in at the scar. Before I could go any further, a thud sounded in the house. I chose to keep the blade in my hand, as I looked for the source of the noise.
"Who's there?" I yelled out, going down the stairs and coming face to face with it. My hallucination of Kai was staring at me, and with the same aura that accompanied him before.
"Get away," he warned me, brandishing a kitchen knife in one hand and keeping me at a distance with the other. "You're not real. Get the hell out of my mind!" he closed his eyes, his jaw was tensed and shakily breathing.
"It's happening to you too?" this sentenced had stirred something in the air, and Kai opened his eyes back up. His grip remained tight on the knife, but he seemed... real.
"You're playing with me. You're just trying to get me to be weak and keep me stuck in here," he began taking a more aggressive approach toward me, but I backed away.
"Kai, it's me."
"That's what you said last time, before I shot an arrow through your head," he snarled, almost like he was confident he had figured it all out. "When I get out of here, don't worry, I'll pay you a quick visit," he smirked, but the tension in his stance gave away his lack of confidence. He thinks I'm his dad?
"It's me," I pulled my hair back to reveal the scar running along my left collarbone. "It's happening to me, too." He didn't show much of a reaction, but him putting the knife down was enough for me.
"Damn it." He was angry, which meant this was done by the coven and they knew about me. He leaned onto the mantel of the fireplace, watching the dwindling fire as he was deep into thought.
A weak crackle of the fire triggered me to speak up, "Kai, they know about me." He merely scoffed, pushing himself off the shelf of the fireplace and walking up to me.
"And remind me why I should care?" he raised an eyebrow, practically challenging me to rebuttal. His face was so close that we were sharing the same air and I turned my head away, not really wanting to look at him anymore.
Regardless, he leaned into my view and I swiveled my head to face him again, "You should care, Kai," pausing to point at him, "because you have the same damn scar." I narrowed my eyes at him, and matched the energy he gave me. His eyes flickered with amusement, which pissed me off even more. He had been shirtless, that's how I'd seen the scar and it looked as sickly as mine.
My eyes drifted to it and then back to him, "Obviously, the coven has some sort of agenda against us and I think we need to be prepared." My lips flattened and my face wore a look of seriousness.
He moved back slightly, giving me space to breathe normally, "We? There is no we." He laughed tauntingly, and it reminded me of my own words that I had said before.
"Really? You're choosing now to be petty?" I looked at him incredulously, crossing my arms.
Truthfully, I needed Kai's help. If he could siphon from me, we would have a better chance at whatever the hell is happening to us. Then the alternative possibility clouded my mind: what if there's nothing either of us can do?
"After all these years of you working to get out of here, you're going to let stubbornness still be your downfall?" I must've hit a nerve, because his eyes snapped back to meet my own and his jaw tensed. I pinched the bridge of my nose, before lifting my head up again, "Kai, let's not forget why I left in the first place. Now I'm offering you a chance to get out of here."
"That's funny," he dryly laughed, "because I don't remember you being here the entire time and I sure as hell don't remember you being the one that's truly able to get me out of here." He tilted his head at me, challenging me to speak so he could throw me down. "Stop acting like some God that's doing me a favor. If anything, I'm the one doing favors around here."
"And whose magic did you need to get out of here?" I looked around, feigning confusion before stopping to look at him and pointing to myself, "Oh, that's right. Me."
"Yeah, that's as easy as siphoning from you and leaving you here to rot."
"You let your pride cover your eyes, Kai. I'm trying to work with you. I mean, I was until I saw exactly what you had been planning," the fight had grew to another level of intensity, "This entire time you had planned to leave me. Knowing how it is in here, you can understand why I wasn't too elated about that... right?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
The burning sensation bursted across my chest once again and I paused to buckle down to the floor in discomfort. He didn't seem to react, until about five seconds later when it happened to him too. The torture of feeling my flesh being burnt through distracted me from my anger and I couldn't think a single thought, except for the fact that I needed to survive.
