BORN TO DIE | aiden clark

T H I R T Y - F I V E

Kaia grimaced, though nodded to confirm, her arm wrapping around Taylor to pull the girl closer as she feels her tense on her shoulder.

"At least... not here?" He continued to question. "Is he... are you guys... alive in the other... place?"

Kaia glanced towards Taylor on her shoulder as the girl lifted her head, only to bury it in the pillow she had in her lap. "I felt pretty dead when that flicker happened, so I don't know."

"I mean you were screaming, that sounded pretty alive to me." Aiden grinned up at her and Kaia rolled her eyes, flicking his forehead. "But maybe we just have dimension clones and if one dies, then another is made?"

"Or, assuming souls are a thing, then we could be separated from our physical bodies?" Logan proposed his idea of what was going on. "So we don't die from physical injuries there?"

"If that's the case, then why are the phantoms chasing us?" Taylor questioned, though her words were slightly muffled from the pillow she had stuffed to her face.

"Let's just focus on the hard facts for now." Mike tells them with a heavy sigh, a beer in his hands. "We can figure out the hypotheticals later."

"If spiky hair has a really big splinter, dad can pull it out." Lily suddenly spoke up from her place in Ben's lap. "He makes it not hurt! He uses a knife, so it's a little scary, but it's not painful at all! And if I fall and get really hurt, dad just puts a band aid on and kisses it and I'm all better!"

Kaia glanced at her, blinking at her childish response but couldn't help the smallest of amused smiles twitching at her lips. She wondered if a band aid would seriously work out for her, she thinks she was going to need a lot more than a band aid to cover up the injuries she received from that fall and she seriously doubts a kiss would be needed. Though... Kaia's eyes flicker down, finding Aiden's eyes already on her as he smirked up at her and Kaia scoffed lowly, looking away from him, feeling him shake with silent laughter in her lap.

"Lily..." Naomi called out to her daughter with a stern motherly tone that Kaia was familiar as her mom used the same one. "I said that you could only stay in here if you promised to listen to music."

"But I want to help!" Lily counters as she puts her ipad down onto the ground, pushing herself up and accidentally kicking Ben where the sun doesn't shine and Kaia had to place a hand over her mouth as she can hear her mom let out a snort causing Kaia to struggle to not laugh at Ben choking on his food from the pain. Aiden laughed lowly, attempting to cover it with a cough. "The monsters scared me, but I'm ready now! I'll beat them up 'coz I'm strong like bubba!" Lily said as she smiled widely, throwing punches at the air.

Kaia feels herself relax at the sight of her hopeful expression as she continued to fight the air and Kaia sighed. She wished it was nearly as easy as Lily was making it out to be, but she knew it wasn't.

Jessica sighs at the sight of her niece, not taking nearly as kindly to her childish approach as Kaia was, "you can take her to the playroom if you want, we'll catch you up later."

"Yeah, that's probably best..." Naomi sighed, taking Lily into her arms despite the young girl attempting to fight back. "Thanks, Jess."

Kaia watched the girl go with a frown tugging at her lips as Emma sighs. "She was right though, if Tyler and Kaia are still alive and Tyler's still on the tree, then it will be extremely painful for the kids to get him off, not to mention Kaia's case of possibly multiple broken bones and who knows how many injuries from a fall like that. They need something like a sedative, just in case."

"..." Daniel's lips pursed, "how are we going to get that?"

"... We might be bale to take care of it." James, Logan's grandfather, spoke up as he tapped his wine glass against his hand for a moment before standing up. "I'll make a few phone calls. Where was the bag dropped off for the kids?"