asylum [kai parker] editing/rewriting

Thirty-Six

"Sociopath." I bite back my insults.

"What?" Agent Cage looks confused.

"He's a sociopath." I shrug, like it is obvious.

"And why is that?" Agent Nichols squints.

"He's possessive." I pause, noticing they're not flinching. "He get's attached to something and he- he won't give them up."

"Are you speaking from experience?" It's not Agent Cage, or Agent Nichols who asks the question. It's simply Nick wondering out loud. His voice echoes in the empty room. It's full of emotion, one I can't yet decipher.

Or maybe I can.

I think back to the gas station, meeting the one worker- Luke. I think back to the expression on Kai's face when he walked in on Nick kissing me. I think back to his expressions, how he acted.

The tone in Nick's voice is jealousy.

"N-yes." I look up, fighting a smile when I see the look in Nick's eyes. Reactions. They're everything. I like seeing the discomfort and pain when someone is given brand new news in a situation like this.

"What happened to you?" Nick started towards the middle of the room, out of his corner. Agent Nichols walked towards him, stopping him before he could get any closer to me. "What did he do to you?" Nick starts shouting the last part. Veins in his neck show, telling me how angry he actually is. To be honest, I'm quite surprised that he's reacting this way. I expected less, because I never thought someone could care about me as much as Kai did.

"He protected me." I whisper, quietly.

Nick's face gets even more red, and he tenses against each agent. He looks startled, upset, and even more surprised than I am. He doesn't move. For the next minute he stands there. "What?"

I nod, repeating myself. "He did everything to protect me."

"Did you ever help him? Did you help him kill, Miss Alexander?" Agent Cage tries to use my vulnerable moment as a time to strike. It doesn't work.

"No." I spit rudely, trying to throw him off somehow. It's fun when he's mad, I don't know how to describe my love for his reaction-but I find it quite amusing.

"Don't lie."

"I'm not lying for once. I just sat there, and watched people die. Is that a crime?" I sit up in my seat, speaking through clenched teeth.

"Yes, it is actually." Cage dips his head, looking over to his partner. Then he just walks out of the room. Agent Nichols looks at me, before following the other out.

Nick turns to me. "What was that?"

I push away the emotion and feelings that come when I look over at him. "Interrogation."

"No shit, Sim. But you know what I mean. What on earth are you doing?" He clearly has trouble forming his sentence, probably to avoid hurting my nonexistent feelings.

"I'm being myself." I say coldly, drawing out the words so it seems as if we're in a horror film.

"Yourself? This isn't you, Simone."

"How would you know? All I see is pity in your glances. All you do is pity me, and you don't care how I feel, Nick." I shake my head, keeping still in my seat.

"Oh, and Malachai did?" He scoffs, opening the door.

Yes. I want to speak but I fall silent. If I said that I could be thrown into a mental hospital. That wouldn't get me anywhere.

Following Nick out of the room, I head out towards the front of the station. Familiar faces surround me, staring at me like I've become an alien.

So I sit on the bench. For an hour. Two hours, three. The hands of the clock continue to rotate. I'm left to my own terrible thoughts. That is, until Dad comes out of the back room with the agents trailing behind him.

"Let's go." Dad says to me, barely making eye contact. I stand, balancing on the balls of my feet.

Agent Cage stares right at me with a giant smirk. He looks happy with himself, which isn't good.

Sending a glare right at him, I make sure to make it look as if I'm shooting daggers at him. We hold gazes for a short amount of time before Nick grabs my hand.

I'm not even fazed by the warm hand in mine, because I'm too busy glaring.

"Next time." I whisper, my words directed at Cage.

"What was that?" Nick hums, acting as if the conversation in the interrogation room never took place.

"What? Nothing." I say with a straight face. But the second my head turns, it's replaced with a smile.