asylum [kai parker] editing/rewriting

Thirty-Seven

"So?" My eyebrows scrunch together in annoyance, wishing he could just get to the point.

"And I think it would be smartest to start considering finding another place to live."

"Are you kicking me out?" I hiss, not bothering to stop the look of betrayal plastered across my face.

"N-no I just think you should start taking responsibility-" he doesn't sound to sure.

"Is it because of Kai? Is it because you think I'm some sort of psycho?" I am.

Dad rolled his eyes, clearly not happy with me at the moment. Crumbs from his piece of toast cling to his beard, falling down onto the table below. I've never thought that I could be kicked out of my own home before. I always just assumed that I'd never leaved until college. But here I am, nineteen years old and barely graduating High School. "I just think it is time for you to create your own path, and take responsibility so in the future, things like this wont happen."

"I am pretty sure that if someone wants to kidnap me, they will. It can't possibly be my fault-" I try to push the blame on someone else besides me. I'm trying to blame Kai. After all he is dead. He isn't here to disagree with me.

"It is your fault, Simone. You could have came to me for help, or even Nick. You could have just told someone. They say Malachai was in town for a while before he was sighted. I'm guessing he made his presence known. You didn't want help. You figured you could do this all on your own. So since you figured you could be so independent, I thought it would be nice to show you what true independence is really like." Immediately I judge his words-deeming them quite unfair.

"So you're making me leave because I couldn't protect myself from being kidnapped?"

Dad shakes his head angrily, frustrated with me. "I think you should get out of this house. You should get an apartment and pay for rent. Get a job in the future, maybe? You're nineteen. I'm not making you leave because you couldn't protect yourself. I'm making you leave because you thought you could do this alone."

"Nice excuse. You just want me gone. You want me out of your life before they put me in jail. This is a punishment." I seethe, quite angry with him at the moment. Does he even understand what I have been through? How could he? He was never kidnapped like this. He never attracted a famous sociopath and spent almost a month with said sociopath in a red truck. No, he can't possibly imagine my pain.

Dad falls silent. Somehow I thought he could understand what I have been through. While with Kai all I wanted was to be back here with my family. I wanted to be back in Dad's arms and call myself safe once more. But we always want what we cant have, don't we? It's only natural to wish the alternative. But now that I've been here, all I want to do is go back to that red truck and sink into its poofy leather seats once more.

"I see how it is, Dad. I was never your daughter, was I? You're just mad I couldn't fill the gap that Marcela opened long ago. Well newsflash. I never was Emily, and I never will be. She is gone. About time you accepted that." No remorse, none. Bringing up his dead wife and daughter was pushing it. But the reaction I get is even more thrilling.

"I want you out by Saturday night." That is the day after my court date.

"Okay. Too bad I'll already be gone." I bite the inside of my lip before turning and heading up the stairs. Not looking back, not once.

Sometimes I wish that school didn't exist anymore. Me being a senior just made me more excited to leave for the summer. Now that I have a court date, I just wish I could stop time. I know that summer will bring jail time. Agent Cage is a determined man, and I pissed him off. There's no way I can just sit here and wish it all away. It is happening. Agent Cage knows what questions will anger me. He knows if he plays the Stockholm syndrome card, he'll have any judge wrapped around his fingers. He knows he can get away with asking questions about Kai. Questions that can make me tick, and cause me to answer.