Shattered Inside (Yandere!Cheater x Reader)

VIII

"Kayla? Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, James!"

The two children lay on the soft grass, the green blades softly tickling their exposed arms. Their other friends in the kindergarten were running around the area, chasing each other until their lungs almost collapsed. James and Kayla though had excused themselves quite a long while ago to catch their breaths and had walked off to sit down under an old oak.

Now, while the adorable girl was making flower crowns from the little daisies growing all around them, James' mind — being no longer occupied with other thoughts — drifted off to topics darker than the night.

"James?" the girl called out and poked his side playfully, her large doe eyes shimmering under the sun. He jolted slightly, hitting the back of his head against the hard bark of the strong tree. Concerned, she tilted her head. "You wanted to ask me something."

"Oh... yeah..." he trailed off. All out of a sudden, anxiety pulled at his large heart. He tried to shake it off, but struggled quite a lot. His eyes unnaturally dull, his saddened gaze turned over to his friend. "Kayla, do your parents fight a lot?"

"They do... sometimes..."

"Just sometimes?" James asked, digging deeper when curiosity overwhelmed him. His clammy hands dug into the soft soil they sat on, ripping small tufts of grass out to calm his nerves. "Is it normal for parents to fight almost every day?"

"Every day?" Kayla raised her eyebrows. "I don't think so, James."

At her answer, his face paled slightly. "Oh, I see..."

"Do your parents fight a lot, James?" Kayla set her work-in-progress down onto the ground next to her and slightly leant over to look into James' blue eyes that seemed to avoid hers. The boy bit his lip, not knowing how to answer her question. When the girl received no answer from the boy, she softly put her hand onto his. "It's alright, James. Every family is different; no family is perfect!"

"Those magazines always say my family is perfect..." James admitted with doubt clouding his distant eyes. "And we are a perfect family... aren't we?"

Kayla stayed silent when her mind couldn't come up with an answer. By now, her friend was more talking to himself than to her. "Maybe, James. But magazines lie, don't they? Mom recently tried some life-hack one of those magazines suggested and she almost burnt down our mansion—"

"No, Kayla, I'm alright. My family is doing fine." James' lips curled up into a reassuring smile, albeit emptier than normally. Kayla shot him a look of disbelief, which he easily ignored. "You don't need to worry about me. My parents don't fight... not all that often, anyway."

"If you say so." Kayla didn't want to pressure him into saying anything he didn't want to, but even she — as young and naïve as her peers often described children to be — could see through the façade her friend tried so hard to uphold. "I'm always here though, James... if you need to talk about anything—"

"I appreciate that." His words started out innocent, but soon, he became more defensive and aggressive than he intended to be. "But I can handle myself, Kayla."

"James," Kayla exclaimed in sheer surprise, tears starting to appear in her eyes, "did I say anything mean? Y-You just yelled at me..."

"I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. Yelling is bad." James quickly pulled his friend into a hug, to which she calmed down quickly. Kayla, too engrossed in calming down, didn't hear as James whispered, "I don't want to yell... not like Mommy and Daddy..."

Their sweet moment was interrupted when James recognised his name being called from a distance. The voice seemed so familiar, so comforting; it was his mother's voice.