CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
[36]

song: giver by k. flay

KAI DIDN'T EAT THE FOOD THAT HIS AUNT PLACED IN FRONT OF HIM. He sat at the table besides his Uncle Glenn and leaned on his palm, staring out the kitchen window at the ocean view with bored eyes.

"Are you not hungry?" His Aunt Sherry asks, sitting down across from him with her own plate of mashed potatoes and steak.

"No." Kai says, keeping his gaze focused on the window.

Uncle Glenn glances at his wife, then back to Kai with a frustrated sigh. "Don't be rude, Malachai." He says. "Sherry made you dinner, you should eat it."

Kai lazily turns his head back to face his relatives, before leaning back in his chair and letting out a huff. "I'm not hungry." He says, with an annoyed expression.

"Malachai James eat your dinner." Sherry says loudly, slamming her napkin on the table. Kai didn't flinch, he just stared at his aunt with the most unamused expression he could muster. "We've welcomed you into our home the least you could do was be thankful." She said frustratedly.

"You didn't welcome me into your home my dad dumped me here because he didn't want to deal with me." Kai scoffs, rolling his eyes and turning to watch the ocean out the window.

Glenn grabbed Kai's wrist, yanking him back to face him, to which Kai turned back around quickly, grabbing Glenn's arm and siphoning him as soon as he got the chance.

Glenn groaned, letting out croaks of pain as Kai tightened his grip. Sherry stood up from her seat and started mustering spells under her breath, to which Kai stuck his free hand out towards her and triggered an aneurysm.

Power rushed through Kai's veins, as Glenn and Sherry fell to the ground. He let go of his uncle, stumbling back a bit as he panted quickly. Kai glances at Sherry, who was knocked out on the ground, he then turned to Glenn who was weakly trying to crawl away.

Kai leaned down towards his uncle and let out a sigh, watching him struggle. "I'm gonna need you to tell me where your keys are." He says, frowning a bit. Glenn weakly brought up his hand towards Kai, beginning to start a spell, to which Kai lazily waved his hand towards Glenn— knocking him out too.

Kai stood up, looking at his aunt and uncle with a huff. He stepped over his uncle's body with a scoff. "I guess I'll find them myself."

—

Daisy paced back and fourth in her living room, glancing up at the landline every five seconds before going back to pacing. She fidgeted with her sweaty hands, holding down nervous vomit that kept creeping up on her stomach.

She didn't realize that saying goodbye to her mother as she dropped Allison off at college would probably be the last time she saw her before she was behind bars for the rest of her life.

Her mother said regrets were 'moral residue.' Like something hard to remove got stuck on her when she did something against her better judgement. Daisy didn't understand it now. Now the residue seems impossible to remove, like an indelible stain on her cerebral cortex.

Daisy was terrified. She was terrified of what was going to happen to her. The police were going to come to her house, flashing lights filling her small neighborhood. They were going to put her in handcuffs, maybe come in with guns armed and ready. They were gonna shove her into a cop car and take her to prison. She didn't know. She didn't know how any of this shit worked. She's only eighteen.

She's only eighteen. And her life was over.

She didn't know what would happen to Kai, either. She didn't want to think about it, she didn't want to think about him at all right now. Both of them were going to get what they deserved— like it or not. They had to. There was no other way to continue.

Her lips trembled as she turned to the white phone that hung on the wall, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before reaching up towards the phone, only to stop when she heard loud, quick knocking at the door.

She spun around, glancing at her front door, the moon shining directly through the window above the door. She clenched her jaw and shook her head, ignoring it as she turned back to the phone, when knocking came from the door.

Daisy wanted to let out a scream as she spun back around and charged towards the door, swinging it open frustratedly. "What—" She begins, her sentence falling short as Kai stood on her front porch.

"Hi." He said smiling faintly, panting a bit. He stepped inside before Daisy could say anything. She turned around to look at him, shocked that he was stood in her house right now. He looked around her house frantically. "Is your family home?" He asks, raising his eyebrows.

She narrowed her eyebrows at him. "What? No?" She said confusedly. "I thought you were in San Francisco?!" She shook her head.

"Come on." Kai says, quickly grabbing her hand and dragging her towards the door.

She yanked her hand from his grip. "What are you doing?!" She says.

Kai was moving to fast, he looked excited, yet anxious. "Let's get out of here." He said, turning to Daisy with a smile. "Let's just leave. Let's get in my car and just go somewhere. Anywhere." He spoke like this was a good plan, like this was something that Daisy would want to do. He stepped towards Daisy and cupped her face. "And never come back." He said.

His eyes and smile were soft, but Daisy could only see the cold, dead, expression that he wore under it. She breathed heavily, looking up into his pleading eyes. "I can't." She let out, watching his expression fall.

"What do you mean you can't?" He asked confusedly, still holding her face.

Daisy slowly reached up and removed his hands, hesitating before speaking. "I mean, I can't do this." She said, her heart pounding with an unknown feeling of what could come next. "I can't do this anymore." She shook her head, her mouth trembling as her eyes began to water.

Kai's face grew panicked and worried, his eyes darting to every part of her face for any source of recognition. "What are you talking about?" He asks, letting out a little laugh to try and make the situation feel less tense.

"This isn't me. This isn't who I want to be." She says, letting a tear fall down her cheek. "I'm not— I'm not a killer." She said, letting more tears fall.

"Daisy, come on." He scoffed, stepping towards her. Daisy quickly stepped back, and he noticed. His eyes grew concerned as he breathed heavily before speaking again. "You're being dramatic."

"Jesus christ, I am not being fucking dramatic!" Daisy yelled out of nowhere. "Are you even fucking hearing yourself right now?" She flailed her arms out towards him

"I killed her to protect you." Kai said back.

"I know." Daisy nodded her head quickly, walking into her living room hastily, Kai following. "That's why I'm turning myself in."

She reached for the phone, only for Kai to literally rip it from the wall before she could even touch it. She widened her eyes at the phone then up to him. "What the fuck?!" She said.

"You can't do that." He shook his head, beginning to sweat. With every second he practically felt the rise of his blood pressure.

"You're fucking crazy." Daisy spits, charging past him and towards the front door.

He grabs her wrist, pulling her back from the door. "Do you understand what you're doing?!" He looks at her like she was the crazy one.

"Perfectly." She snapped. "I'm getting us what we deserve." She spun around and opened the front door, only to have it shut right back in her face from Kai's magic. She turns to face him. "Get the fuck out of my way." She says, her lips twitching from anger, her body shaking from adrenaline.

In that moment Kai's world collapsed— where there was light became shadows, the pain coming and going like waves on frigid sand. Though his mind called out for hers the connection was gone... she was gone... and he had to do something to get it back.

"They won't believe you." He said. "You have no evidence."

Daisy swallowed harshly, her eyes falling from Kai's to the floor as she thought frantically of her next move. "Yes, I do." She says, before quickly reaching beside her to the table sat next to the door, grabbing a candlestick and hitting Kai over the head with it.

He fell over immediately, landing with a thud almost as loud as the hit itself. Daisy's eyes widened as she looked from Kai's knocked out body, then to the candlestick, "Fuck." She let out, almost impressed with herself.

She dropped it as she swung open the door, sprinting out the front door to her driveway, running barefoot through the half frozen grass to Kai's house. As she got to the front door, she pounded on it loudly. "Josette!" She screamed, glancing over to her house then back to the door. "Josette please let me in!" There was no answer, there weren't even lights on in the house.

She twisted the doorknob, to find it unlocked. Her eyes widened, as she stepped inside to the dark house. She locked it behind her, swallowing harshly before trying to center her thoughts. Her palms were sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through her system was shutting down her ability to think logically.

As soon as she regained a thought process, she sprinted up the stairs, up to Kai's room. She ran inside, and turned on the light, looking around frantically before her eyes landed on the floorboard below his window.

Daisy ran to it, lifting the loose board up and off of the floor, revealing the brown chest that housed the knife Kai used to kill Jenna, and Daisy used to kill Tommy. She pulled it out of the floor, sitting it in front of her and opening it, grabbing the knife and holding it in front of her face, examining it with wide eyes.

Dried blood still remained on the blade, and she thought about the last time she saw it. The first night she was absolutely infatuated with Kai, and the first night of the rest of her long, miserable life.

As Daisy began to shut the chest, she noticed there were two more smaller boxes inside of it. She glanced up at the window, then back to the chest, curiosity getting the best of her as she opened one of the boxes.

As she lifted off the lid, hundreds of rolls developed film was sat inside. She grabbed the stack and held them up in front of her face, her heart beat increasing as she realized what the photos were as she sifted through them quickly.

Each and every single photo was of Daisy. There were pictures of her at the gas station, at football games, at church, at school, on walks, in her bedroom. Hundreds of them. All taken without her knowledge.

She dropped the stack and let out a gasp as she began to find pictures of her from years ago, from before she even knew Kai.

Adrenaline floods her system, It pumps and beats like it's trying to escape. She thought her heart would explode and her eyes were wide with fear. Her body wants to either run fast for safety or to grab something to defend herself from whatever will come next.

Her shaky hands reach for the next box, opening it up quickly to reveal things that she had lost, panties, bras, necklaces— she turned away and gagged, vomit creeping up from her stomach.

Daisy's mind was starting to fail, like an engine that turns over and over, never kicking into action. She couldn't formulate a thought. The man she had been so in love with all this time— was not the man she thought she knew at all.

"You weren't supposed to find that." Kai said from behind her.

Daisy snapped her head around quickly, to find Kai standing in the door way. She grabbed the knife and stood up quickly, trembling with fear. She held the knife out towards him. "Who the fuck are you?" She tried to seem confident, she tried to seem unafraid, but the uncontrollable shaking and crying was not helping.

Kai shook his head and he walked towards her, his pleading eyes filling with tears. "Daisy, I love you." He said, as she backed up, the knife still out towards him. "Please believe me." He begged, holding his hands out reassuringly. "I did all of this for you." He scoffed. "I— I knew I had to be with you from the moment I saw you two years ago at a party and I— I followed you and we even— we spoke once! Yes! I told you I liked your Talking Heads shirt at the grocery store once! But— you never noticed me again and I knew I had to find a way to get you to see me." He talked rapidly, his words barely forming rational sentences. "I mean—" He scoffed. "As soon as this house went on sale I knew it was a sign! I literally set my old house on fire so my family had to move here!" He smiled, like his words would make all of this better. "I love you." His eyes were desperate and wide.

She shook her head, tears falling from her eyes as she continued to back up. Everything was falling apart. This couldn't be happening. "No, no. You're crazy." She cried. "You're fucking crazy!" She screamed suddenly, beginning to laugh.

Kai watched her. He watched her hold that knife out towards him with her trembling hands. He watched he mix laughter and sobbing together. He watched her struggle to gather all of this information. He gave her one last chance. "You don't love me?" He asked calmly.

Daisy's hysteric smile faded as his words sunk in. Her mind raced with responses, even though she knew exactly what she was feeling. "Fuck you." She breathed out, a hint of regret surfacing on her tongue as she spoke.

Kai didn't feel anything at that moment, not heartbreak, not sadness, not anger. He just knew what he had to do next. He straightened his posture and let out a sigh, before lifting his hand up, and muttering a spell, and before Daisy could even react, she was knocked out cold.