Fixation

Chapter 44: Anger

Hopefully, he's right.

~

Dec 19, Wednesday

Groaning softly, Ace turned her head to the side, nuzzling against a soft pillow.

"You're finally awake."

Her eyes snapped open and she flinched when a jolt of pain shot through her sore neck. Her head began pulsating, her feet throbbing. "Agh.."

She blinked a few times, trying to stabilize her swimming vision. "Kai.." She groaned, watching him as he leaned forward in his chair.

"You made quite the stunt yesterday," Kai said, keeping his eyes on her.

She shifted her hand, noticing that her left hand was cuffed once again. When she attempted to sit up, she jerked slightly as her feet suddenly stung, shooting sharp stings of pain up her legs.

"I would avoid moving as much as possible." He sighed, standing up and taking a seat on the bed. "You got some nasty splinters from trying to climb that tree shoeless yesterday."

The girl looked away. "It was the only option that was open to me." She sighed, laying back down in defeat.

Kai leaned over her, his head hovering above hers by a few feet. "Why did you try escaping? You hurt not only yourself but Raiden as well."

Her mind flashed back to when she swung her scissors instinctively through the darkness of the basement. "So that's who I hit yesterday." She let out a breath. "How is he?"

"He's fine. He's got a laceration on his forearm." He said, shaking his head slightly. "He said if it weren't for his clothing, you would have cut the side of his abdominal region pretty badly."

Ace pursed her lips, feeling a flare of guilt in her chest. "It was dark. I couldn't see anything. When I heard someone closing in on me, I reacted accordingly." She replied. "I never meant to hurt him."

"To be fair, we didn't know that it was you either." Kai said. "We thought it was someone who broke into the house."

She scoffed, meeting his golden eyes. "Anyways, where's Faith and Akia? You guys said they were in the basement but they weren't there."

He shook his head, walking away from her. "You don't need to know."

She felt her body tense up. "What did you do to them?" She asked, her voice becoming hostile.

"You wouldn't want to know." He said, shrugging nonchalantly.

She blinked at him, gritting her teeth. "What are you talking about? Of course I want to know. They're my friends!"

"You know I won't answer your question." He said, indifferent. "Why do you keep trying?"

The girl scowled at him. "That's almost as bad as keeping from telling me that you guys were behind Stephanie's death! Why do you keep silent about these things?!"

"For this reason exactly." He replied blankly. "And besides, she's in a better place now. She doesn't need to deal with life's cruelty like the rest of us."

The girl shakily rose her head from its slumped posture, her lips parting open in shock. "You.. You're not Kai.. You're not the Kai I know.."

A dry chuckle let his lips. "You're wrong, Ace. The generous, happy Kai that you know is a fake persona of the real Kai." He turned his gaze over to her. "The real Kai is a sad shell full of hatred for the world."

He began taking a few steps toward her, his right hand reaching over to the chain bracelet that adorned his left hand.

Ace slowly backed away from him, noticing how his eyes had seemed to darken considerably. It terrified her.

"Perhaps... I should release you from this world of misery as well." He said, snapping the chains loose from his wrist. She watched in horror as he assembled the metal pieces expertly, clicking and locking the metal together with ease. He slid a segment of the chain up, a blade emerging from its clever casing.

The cuff tugged against her wrist and her feet began to cause the girl pain as she backed away from him as much as she could. "K-Kai..!"

The male had climbed onto the bed, his free hand reaching out for her and pushing her shoulder down so she couldn't move. He slowly edged the blade closer to her neck, the steel making gentle contact with her bare skin. He held the blade there, steady and unmoving.

Ace could only look into his eyes, unable to move her head in risk of getting cut. Fear began to pulse through her body.

"I thought you would have figured that out by now.. Who I really am." He muttered.

She stayed silent, afraid of agitating him.

The blade was suddenly pulled back and away from her.

Staring in shock, she watched as the male turned away from her, getting off the bed and staggering away. "..I.. Not again.." He grunted, tossing the blade onto the desk forcefully. "Dammit.." He cursed under his breath, his hand clutching the side of his head.

He abruptly left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

The girl stared after him, trembling. Cautiously raising her hand to her throat, she ran her fingers across the unharmed skin. She turned her gaze toward the desk, where the craftily made blade sitting on the surface with its chains scattered about seemed to glint in the sunlight.

Kai...