Play With Fire (Kai Parker)

Chapter 7

Its been six days since Kai left for his Thanksgiving road trip to Oregon and I honestly don't know when he will return. He had said a week but who knows if that is true.

The first two days were absolutely amazing. No Kai here to talk my ear off... just silence and time to myself. Finding stuff to do around the house was difficult though. The Salvatores weren't ones to do much of anything besides drink and occasionally play pool. I did however find an old TV in one of the bedrooms that I watched until I became bored. One can only watch the same shows over and over again.

Like I said, the first two days were fun but then it started going downhill. By the fourth day I ran out of things to do. I found the newspaper that Kai had shown me the first day I was here and noticed a crossword puzzle.

It was pretty easy until I came across the last clue: Old Tongue Twister, Eddie turned top 40. I could not, for the life of me, figure it out. When I started to feel irritated that I couldn't answer it, I would walk away and not return to it until the morning.

Now it is the morning of day six and I walk down to the kitchen to make myself a coffee and some pancakes, which seems to be the only breakfast food there is in this house. Once the food is done I take a seat in front of the annoying crossword puzzle.

As I eat my pancakes I start to stare at the clue until I feel my eyes go cross. Between the aggravation of not knowing the answer and the deafening silence, I have had enough. I grab the newspaper and fling it across the room. I stand up and grab a backpack lying by the door and head into town.

I would give anything to hear birds chirping or even the croak of a frog but there is nothing. Just the wind lightly blowing the trees. It has only been six days and I now feel like I am losing my sanity.

I'll give props to Kai... I don't know how he did it for 18 years. All alone with no one to talk to and I will admit it, never to his face, but I wouldn't have been able to survive this if I had gotten sent to a prison world of my own. Now I realize just how lucky I am that I accidentally got sent here with him.

I run into the towns grocery store and grab a few supplies I need like shampoo and conditioner- since I have been using Stefans this whole time I want some of my own. I grab snacks off the shelf tossing them into the metal cart and then I grab some eggs to make for tomorrows breakfast because I don't know if I can eat another pancake. I get everything I need so I start to push the cart back to the house.

In the kitchen I put the groceries away ignoring the newspaper sprawled out on the dark wooden floor. I step over it numerous times pretending its not there. Finally giving in, I pick up the crinkled pages and start to place them back in the correct order when I see a news story I hadn't notice before.

Family Massacred in Portland.

I read the words on the paper. A young boy, age 22, murdered his entire family in Portland Oregon. His younger siblings all dead leaving only one sister and his father alive. The boys name appears in the next sentence. Malachai Parker.

"Oh my god." Kai did this to his family...this is why he was sent here... but then why would he want to go back to Oregon for Thanksgiving when he killed his entire family? Sure they won't even be there but still...why visit a place where you did such a terrible thing? I drop the newspaper back on the ground and head upstairs. This is too much for my mind right now.

In Stefans room I change into pajamas and climb into his bed not sure if I'll be able to fall asleep now. As my mind is racing, I feel my eyes start to fall heavy to the point I can't keep them open. I start to drift to sleep.

"Do it!" He yells in my face. I beg for him to not make me do this. I can't do this, not to them. I watch as his eyes grow dark with anger at my pleas.

He focuses his eyes hard on mine. "Kill them.. now."

Something switches in my body after he speaks. My eyes are on his and then to my friends. He tells me once more to do it and I don't fight him this time. I walk over to where Stefan is standing, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Quinn...please don't.." his words are cut off as my hand raises, bringing it up inches from his chest. He looks down at the placement and starts to gasp in pain. My eyes don't move from his until his heart is out of his chest and is sitting in my hand. I watch as his lifeless body drops to the ground and I feel nothing. I let his heart roll out of my hands letting it land beside him.

"No no no!!!" I wake in a panic as tears fall from my eyes like a flood. "No... no... I'm so sorry. Oh my god.... no-" I choke on my words and then I scream. My hands are in my hair as I cry and I am screaming so loud that I don't hear him at first.

"Quinn!" His voice over powers mine now. His hands make their way to my face turning it to face him. Tears are still coming from my eyes, blurring my vision

"Kai?" I whisper.

"It's okay...you're okay." He pulls me into his chest and I let him hug me. I continue to cry into him as he strokes my hair. "Shhh... it's okay... I'm here now."