Magics: Escape (Book 2)

Chapter Seven

Kai was looking down. He couldn't see exactly what he was looking at, but his head was tipped down. He realized that his hands were clenched, and began to shake them out, but whatever his eyes were glued to came into view. The little girl's father was lying on his back, a large pool of blood surrounding him. His eyes were open and staring back up at Kai mysteriously. Kai tried to open his mouth, to step back, to do something, but all he could do was stare. He felt a shiver run down his spine as the man stared endlessly up at him.

Then he could move. As soon as he figured out that he could, his legs carried him as far away from the man's body as they could. He lifted his hands to touch his face, but froze when he realized his hands were covered in blood. He screamed and jumped back like his hands were on fire. He shook his hands over and over, hoping that the blood would leave, but it stayed on his skin.

He squeezed his eyes shut, unsure of what else to do. He didn't want to touch anything, fearing that he would hurt someone else. That had to be why there was blood on his hands. He'd killed man, and now he was paying for it. 

Kai heard a voice whisper his name behind him. He opened his eyes and turned around, letting his hands fall to his sides. His brown eyes widened as he saw his father standing there, facing him with a frightened look. 

Falte looked behind him, at the man dead on the ground, then looked back at Kai with a betrayed look. "Why, Kai?" he asked in a small tone. 

Kai shook his head three times. "No, that's not..." He trailed off, knowing that he couldn't argue with his father. What was he even trying to do? There was no point in denying it. Falte was afraid of him, and now he was disappointed in his son, too. 

Falte took a step backward, holding his hands out as though Kai was readying to pounce at him. Kai reached out, to try to stop his father from leaving him. Falte couldn't leave him. Not after what he'd done. Not after his mother left. 

Kai's hands brushed Falte's chest as the man turned, but the next thing that occurred was heartbreaking enough to make Kai fall back with a scream. Right where Kai had touched formed a long, slash in his father's chest, immediately bleeding heavily. Falte threw his son one last look of hurt and betrayal, then collapsed forward. 

"NO!" Kai shouted, dropping to his knees next to his father. "No, no, no! Dad! Wait, you can't leave me... Please don't... I'm sorry..." His hands clutched at the bleeding wound, but that only seemed to make it worse. 

Frightened and upset, Kai stood and ran off blindly. He didn't care where he was going or who would try to stop him. He just ran until he slammed harshly into someone, knocking them backward.

Abby stood before him, but her whole body looked wrong. She had scars and bleeding wounds everywhere, and her blue eyes were filled with tears and pain. She fell backward and landed with a thud. Kai screamed again and turned to run the other way. 

This time he plowed into Shintaro. Thankfully, the man looked fine. He didn't look hurt anywhere, only confused and concerned. Kai felt his arms lift, and the next thing he knew, he was hugging Shintaro and crying like a five year old, but for once didn't care. He just wanted someone to tell him that it wasn't his fault, someone to tell him that everything was okay even though it wasn't. He wanted so badly to believe that, even though he knew he couldn't. 

Shintaro didn't say a word the whole time, but Kai soon realized that he wasn't even breathing. He pulled back from the man and looked up at his face. Shintaro's expression had changed completely from confusion and concern to anger, hatred, and betrayal, but he was staring off at the distance like he couldn't see anything else.