CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
[28]

song: mount everest by labrinth

IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT IT IS THE REPTILE, the snake, that symbolizes evil in myths. These creatures do not require love to raise their young like mammals do. As such they do not evolve an ability to feel love, only to survive. Likewise the psychopath does not feel love, they are an evolutionary throw-back to our reptilian brains, an accident of genetics. But if we do not take the threat of them seriously they will continue to dominate our world, driving us into a hellish dystopia.

Kai weighed the knife in his hand. It was no heavier than a kitchen blade but would cut on first contact, even with minimum pressure. It's serrations were like waves, but not randomly so like on the cheaper knives. He stood in front of his bathroom mirror, examining his own face that seemed to change every time he caught glance of himself.

He wasn't human. He couldn't be. He was bigger, smarter. He saw and heard things that the human eye couldn't see, couldn't comprehend. He knew things that humans shouldn't know. He did things that humans couldn't do. He felt things that humans shouldn't feel.

Kai opened up his palm and clutched the knife in the other. He then dragged the knife over the skin of his palm, cutting a thin, deep line across it.

He still bled. But he didn't feel it. He didn't feel anything.

The corners of his mouth twitched upward, as the crimson red blood dripped from his hand and into his bathroom sink. He let out a bored sigh, as he grabbed some bandages and wrapped his hand back up.

A loud, angry knock rang from his bedroom door. Then a few twists on the doorknob. "Kai!" Josette yelled.

"What?" Kai said, continuing to wrap his hand.

"Open the door!" She yelled back.

He rolled his eyes, wandering out of his bathroom and to the bedroom door, opening it up to see his twin stand there with furious eyes.

"What are you doing with Daisy?!" She raises her eyebrows, her lips trembling.

He shrugs lazily. "Lots of things." He says. "You'll need to be more specific."

Josette shook her head quickly. "She's my friend Kai!" Josette says. "One of my only friends— actually. I care about her."

Kai leans towards his sister. "Not everything is yours to claim." He says. He leans back and wanders back into his room, dusting off the lint that appeared on his perfectly made bed. "Save the lecture, dad beat you to it."

Josette followed him into his room. "Dad knows?!" She says.

"Mhm." Kai responds.

Josette rubs her eyes. "Please, Kai, just leave her alone— leave her out of whatever the hell you're planning." She begs.

Kai clicks his tongue. "Bit late for that."

"Please—" Josette paused, as she processed his words. "What?" She says, falling still as she watches Kai continue to tidy his room. She shook her head. "What does that mean? Late for what?"

Kai walks back over to the door, putting his hand up to shut his door. Josette catches sight of the bloodied bandage that he had poorly wrapped around his hand. Her eyes then trail past him to the blood splatter filled sink in his bathroom. "What the hell did you do?!" Josette says widening her eyes as she grabs his arm to get a better look at his hand. "Dad!" Josette yells down the hall.

Kai rolls his eyes, too tired to do anything else besides just let whatever was about to happen, happen. Josette quickly took the bandage off to see his cut still bleeding.

Joshua quickly barged into his room, walking into Kai's bathroom to the mess, and then quickly tending to his son. "What did he do?!" Joshua says frantically as Josette throws the bandage to the side.

Kai just stared down at the ground, feeling his sister and father quickly try and match some sanity to the situation. He couldn't really hear what they were saying, he didn't care to.

Joshua rushed back into Kai's bathroom, grabbing the knife and searching through the cabinets for any other weapon that Kai might've been hiding. Josette came back with a first aid kit to try and clean up Kai, but he just sat on his bed and glanced behind him out the window, to look into Daisy's room.

Joshua followed Kai's eyes, and quickly walked over to his window, shutting the blinds.

"He might have to get stitches." Josette says to her father.

"He'll be fine." Joshua says, staring down at his son.

"It'll get infected." Josette shook her head.

"I said he'll be fine." Joshua snapped, making Josette jump a little. Kai raised his eyebrows towards his dad, an 'are we done here?' expression on his face. Joshua turns to his daughter. "Let me talk to your brother."

"No." Josette says, shaking her head. "No, I want to know why you knew about him and Daisy and you didn't try and stop it."

"I did try." Joshua sighs, rubbing his forehead. "There's only so much I can do without sending him away to a mental facility. He's still my son. He's still your bother."

"Why are we talking like I'm not right here?" Kai speaks up, Joshua and Josette turn to him quickly. Kai stands up from his bed, stretching his wounded hand, turning to his sister. "Why are you so obsessed with Daisy? Huh?" He cocks his head to the side. "You got a crush on her or something?"

Josette swallows harshly. "She's my friend."

Kai shrugs and turns to his father. "Should I give Josette the same warning I gave you?" He spoke, before forcefully latching onto Josette's arm and siphoning her magic. She winced in pain, as Kai's grip grew stronger. "There is nothing you can say or do that will keep Daisy away from me now." He spoke harshly. "She loves me." He let go of Josette and she stumbled back a bit, and she looks down at her arm, Kai's blood on her sweater sleeve.

Josette breathed heavily, and she exchanged worried glances with Joshua. She turned back to her brother. "You're crazy."

"I thought we established that a long time ago." He shrugged, he pat his father on the shoulder as he walked past them and out the door. "Have fun in New York, happy holidays, and all that."

"And where are you going?" Joshua says, as he watched his son walk down the hall.

"Daisy's." Kai says. "Her family's not home so we're probably going to have sex." He shrugged. Josette looked down and shook her head. "Josette," Kai begins, she looks up. "You should hear the way she screams when I—"

"Malachai!" Joshua yells, and Kai stops, with a giggle, as he happily makes his way downstairs.

—
song: daddy issues by the neighbourhood

Kai knocked on Daisy's front door, eager to see her and eager to get out of the cold. As the front door opened, his first reflex was just to start kissing her right then and there— but he stopped when he realized she was crying.

His heart sank. Her eyes were red and puffy, and tears still stained her cheeks as much as she tried to wipe them away. "What's wrong, baby?" He asked softly as he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.

Daisy fell into his arms, and he wrapped his around her body. Holding her close as he rubbed her back. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He whispered.

Daisy pulled away, sniffling. "I told your sister." She frowned, trying to hold in more tears. "And she didn't take it well."

Kai shook his head, "It's okay." He nodded, with concerned eyes. She closed her eyes and a tear fell. "Hey, it's okay." He brought her close again. "I don't care what she thinks. Neither should you."

"You're right." She nodded into the hug. "I just don't want to lose her as a friend."

That wouldn't be such a bad thing, but Kai didn't want that to happen if it would make Daisy more upset. "You won't, she'll get over it. Just give it time."

Daisy pulled away and wiped her tears. "I'm sorry." She shook her head. "This is embarrassing." She scoffs.

"No it's not." Kai says, wiping away one of her tears with her thumb. "Everyone cries."

Daisy inhales deeply and tries to calm down. "Come on." She says, grabbing Kai's hand to lead him upstairs, only to realize he was bleeding. "What the hell?" She says, eyeing the wound. "What happened?!"

Kai shrugs. "Oh, I cut it while cooking."

"Jesus!" She examines it. "What the hell were you making?!" She scoffs. "I have some bandages in my bathroom."

The two walk upstairs, into her bathroom. She sits Kai down on the edge of her bathtub as she shuffles through her cabinets. She gets out her first aid kit, and sits down on the toilet seat next to Kai.

Daisy coats a cotton ball in cleaning alcohol and grabs Kai's hand gently. "Hold still." She says, before wiping the blood off around the cut. Kai just watches Daisy, the way her eyes move, the way she focuses on what she was doing.

She throws the cotton ball away. "Did that hurt?" She asks, Kai shook his head. She grabs a bandage and begins to wrap his hand. "Were you just gonna come hang out with an open wound?" She laughs a bit.

Kai shrugs. "Maybe I wanted you to fix it for me."

Daisy rolled her eyes, tearing off the last bit of bandage before examining her work. "There." She says.

Kai smiles faintly. "Thanks."

As Daisy put her things away, Kai wandered back into her room. She shut the bathroom door and met him on her bed, sitting down beside him as she twiddled with her fingers.

He brushed her hair behind her ear, his touch sending chills down her spine. "I love you." He spoke, just in case she forgot.

Daisy blushed. "I love you too."

As Daisy looked back down, Kai's eyes trailed back over to her window, to his window, where the blinds were still shut, but where his father and sister probably still stood, contemplating on whatever the hell they were going to do about Kai and Daisy.

But Kai there was nothing to be done, he had already won.