kai parker • villains of circumstance ✔️

EPILOGUE

"When did you start noticing strange behavior from your son?" She asks, leaning on her desk.

Joshua and Diana exchange glances as they think for a moment. Joshua begins takes a deep breath before speaking. "He was a good kid growing up. He loved going to school and playing sports. He was pretty obedient and never caused us much trouble." They nodded at each other, agreeing. "Around sixth grade he started lashing out. He was getting into a lot of physical fights at school—"

"Did he ever feel... remorse about the fights he was in?" She asks. "Did he ever act upset about them? Embarrassed, or regretful?

"That's the thing," Joshua shakes his head. "He thought it was fun. It was like a game to him. The more unnecessary chaos he can cause the better. And he was proud of himself after it." Joshua says. "Then he just— shut off one day. He stopped talking to us, he would run away for days then come back and act like nothing happened—" Joshua stops, and thinks before speaking. He swallows, and whispers as he speaks. "We got him and his twin sister a guinea pig for their 12th birthday. One of our therapists says that animals can bring people like him a lot of comfort and stability." He swallows again. "He killed it." He says, with a face of regret and concern. "He says it was an accident, he was trying to hug it— and it might've been— but he squeezed the thing to death." He shook his head and tried not to think about it. "That's when we knew something was wrong."

The therapist wrote a few things down on the paper she'd been taking notes on the whole time, then looks up and gives Joshua and Diana a nod and faint smile. "Okay," She begins. "I'm going to talk to Malachai alone for a little bit, we'll come get you from the waiting room and then we can discuss as a family. Does that sound okay?"

Joshua and Diana nod, standing up and shaking her hand. "Thank you, Doctor." Joshua says.

The three of them turn to the couch where Kai had been waiting, only to find an empty couch, and an open window next to it.

—

Kai shoved his hands in his jacket pocket as he walked along the empty, dark sidewalks around the town of Wayward. A cigarette dangled from in between his lips, and he parted his lips to let out a breath of smoke.

He looked around at the small town as he walked. Small, family owned businesses lined the streets, their lights were off for the night and only streetlights guided Kai's way down the street.

A car flew past Kai, loud music pumped from the speakers, and Kai caught glance of a bunch of kids who appeared to be his age inside of it. They took a sharp left into a neighborhood, barely stopping at the stop sign at the end of the street.

Kai, curious and bored, decided to follow the car to wherever they were heading. It was a Friday night, there had to have been parties happening somewhere.

As he made his way down the street, he found a house with tons of cars parked outside. People walked inside with kegs and cases of beer, some were passed out in the yard, and music boomed from inside. He smiled a bit as he walked towards it, taking the cigarette from his lips and blowing out a puff of smoke before following everyone else inside the house.

As expected, the house was full of what had to have been people from Wayward High. They were filling up every empty space of the house. He was immediately hit with the smell of weed and cigarettes, and it fogged up the air as he walked past a group of stoners.