VILLAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE
[EPILOGUE]
song: mansions by matt champion
WAYWARD, OREGON.
1987
"HAS HE HAD ANY MORE OUTBURSTS LATELY?" The therapist asks.
She was old, with ugly dry gray hair that was perfectly curled atop her head. She wore massive glasses that made her eyes look huge, and it didn't help that she already looked like a bug.
Kai, who sat a distance away on a couch, watched his therapist speak to his parents like he wasn't literally in the room over from them and could hear everything they were saying. She kept glancing over at him before asking his parents another question, and every time her bug eyes landed on him, he wanted to laugh.
Joshua sighs, and glances at his wife. "He got upset at dinner the other night, and—" He sighs again, quieting down before he spoke again. "He started throwing plates and glass at us—" Joshua shook his head disappointedly, glancing at Diana who had an assortment of cuts on her arms and some on her face. "He said he wanted to kill us."
Kai, listening in from a distance away, let out a scoff, which earned a concerned glance from his parents and the therapist. He lazily sunk deeper into the couch and waited for this appointment to be over.
They'd come all the way over to Wayward to meet with this therapist, the fourth one Kai's met this year because every other one seems to not know what do with him. She was no different than the others, except that her office smelt like mothballs and old furniture. Kai plucked the feathers out of the pillow beside him, bored.
"And what about his friends? Is he close with them?" She asks.
"He's not really a people person." Diana says.
Kai leans on the arm rest of the couch, glancing out the window beside it at the dark sky. The therapist writes a few things down before asking his parents another question. He wondered why she couldn't just ask these things to him, but he also didn't really care.
"Is he medicated?" She asks.
"He's on a few things right now." Joshua begins. "He's on Zoloft and Risperidone right now. He was on Olanzapine for a little bit but it made him sleep walk."
Kai glances back into the other room, then back to the window. He wondered what would happen if he just upped and left. It would certainly be funny to send them all into a panic when they realizes he disappeared. He smiled to himself as he leaned on the arm chair and stared out the window.
"When did you start noticing strange behavior from your son?" She asks, leaning on her desk.
Joshua and Diana exchange glances as they think for a moment. Joshua begins takes a deep breath before speaking. "He was a good kid growing up. He loved going to school and playing sports. He was pretty obedient and never caused us much trouble." They nodded at each other, agreeing. "Around sixth grade he started lashing out. He was getting into a lot of physical fights at school—"
"Did he ever feel... remorse about the fights he was in?" She asks. "Did he ever act upset about them? Embarrassed, or regretful?
"That's the thing," Joshua shakes his head. "He thought it was fun. It was like a game to him. The more unnecessary chaos he can cause the better. And he was proud of himself after it." Joshua says. "Then he just— shut off one day. He stopped talking to us, he would run away for days then come back and act like nothing happened—" Joshua stops, and thinks before speaking. He swallows, and whispers as he speaks. "We got him and his twin sister a guinea pig for their 12th birthday. One of our therapists says that animals can bring people like him a lot of comfort and stability." He swallows again. "He killed it." He says, with a face of regret and concern. "He says it was an accident, he was trying to hug it— and it might've been— but he squeezed the thing to death." He shook his head and tried not to think about it. "That's when we knew something was wrong."
The therapist wrote a few things down on the paper she'd been taking notes on the whole time, then looks up and gives Joshua and Diana a nod and faint smile. "Okay," She begins. "I'm going to talk to Malachai alone for a little bit, we'll come get you from the waiting room and then we can discuss as a family. Does that sound okay?"
Joshua and Diana nod, standing up and shaking her hand. "Thank you, Doctor." Joshua says.
The three of them turn to the couch where Kai had been waiting, only to find an empty couch, and an open window next to it.
—
Kai shoved his hands in his jacket pocket as he walked along the empty, dark sidewalks around the town of Wayward. A cigarette dangled from in between his lips, and he parted his lips to let out a breath of smoke.
He looked around at the small town as he walked. Small, family owned businesses lined the streets, their lights were off for the night and only streetlights guided Kai's way down the street.
A car flew past Kai, loud music pumped from the speakers, and Kai caught glance of a bunch of kids who appeared to be his age inside of it. They took a sharp left into a neighborhood, barely stopping at the stop sign at the end of the street.
Kai, curious and bored, decided to follow the car to wherever they were heading. It was a Friday night, there had to have been parties happening somewhere.
As he made his way down the street, he found a house with tons of cars parked outside. People walked inside with kegs and cases of beer, some were passed out in the yard, and music boomed from inside. He smiled a bit as he walked towards it, taking the cigarette from his lips and blowing out a puff of smoke before following everyone else inside the house.
As expected, the house was full of what had to have been people from Wayward High. They were filling up every empty space of the house. He was immediately hit with the smell of weed and cigarettes, and it fogged up the air as he walked past a group of stoners.
He tried to avoid the couples making out against the walls, but it was impossible when he was getting shoved around trying to make it through the crowd. Billy Idol blasted through the amp in the living room, and people danced around to the music.
Kai unavoidably bumped shoulders with a dark skinned girl, with big curly hair. "Can you watch where you're going?" She says in a nasty tone, she gives him a disgusted look before walking past him.
Kai eyed her warily as she walked away, and as he turned around, he bumped into another girl, only this time the beer in her hand spilt all over the front of his shirt.
He inhaled sharply at the cold sensation as he looked down at his now stained shirt. He looked up at the girl, she had a panicked expression, but he tell within seconds that she was crossed, and didn't really know what to do.
"I'm so sorry." She slurs her words, looking around for something to help clean him up.
Kai didn't know how to respond. The girl was pretty, with long black hair and pale skin. Against the whites of her eyes which were now red, she had bright blue eyes which stood out even thought it was dark in the house.
The girl laughed, but not in a mean way, she was embarrassed, and far gone. She stumbled a bit, and grabbed onto Kai's arm, beginning to lead him towards the kitchen. "Sorry sorry sorry." She let out in between subtle laughs.
He followed her, a little shocked by the situation, and feeling too awkward to try and start conversation. As they entered the kitchen, she let go of his arms and stumbled over to a drawer, opening it up and grabbing a dish towel. She knew where everything was, so he assumed this was her house.
As the girl turned back to face him, she stumbled forward and let out a laugh as Kai caught her before she completely face planted. She looked up, a hysterical look on her face. "Here." She says drowsily, beginning to wipe down the front of Kai's shirt with the towel.
Kai froze at her touch, he didn't know how to react or what to say. He felt himself holding his breath as he watched her. "I— who even are you?" She slurs her words again. She was so drunk Kai could barely understand her over the music.
He swallows as she continued to wipe his shirt, it really wasn't doing anything as she was barely even touching him, but he didn't say anything. "Uh—" He thinks for a second and looks around, feeling awkward. "I don't go to Wayward. I'm homeschooled."
The girl stands up straight and wipes her nose as she examines his shirt, which didn't look any different from before. "I'm sorry." She says again, scrunching her nose awkwardly and looking up at him.
He didn't know if she was apologizing to him for being homeschooled, or if it was because she ruined his shirt. But he didn't care. He didn't take his eyes off her. "It's okay." He lets out a little scoff. The two just stood there for a second and Kai's mind raced with things he could say to her so their conversation continued. But he couldn't get anything out.
He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when she got swept away by a group of girls who brought her a pink birthday cake. As people crowded the kitchen to celebrate the girl's apparent birthday, Kai sunk back out of the crowd, watching as she smiled and blew out the candles.
'Happy Birthday Daisy' the cake said. And Kai admired her name, it was weird, but it fit her. He watched as her friend's hugged her, gave her more shots to take, and took pictures of her with the cake.
A taller boy made his way through the crowd and gave her a hug. Kai examined him. He didn't seem like her type, he could tell by even the small interaction they had. But she hugged him back happily, as they pulled away he whispered something in her ear that made her laugh, and Kai felt a part of him want to step in and pull her away from him.
But there was no reason to, he didn't know her; she didn't know him. Yet.
—
WAYWARD, OREGON
1990
The world turned into a blur, and so did all the sounds. The taste. The smell. Everything was just gone. He paused trying to hold back the strange feelings rumbling inside of him but he couldn't. So many tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down his face.
Kai cried as if the ferocity of it might bring her back; as if by the sheer force of his grief her actions would be undone. She was his only love, she could not be gone.
He could feel himself unraveling, the threads of every happy memory he could ever once recall, all but a disarray of strings scattered about his feet. His knees dig into the concrete as he hits the ground, his hands unsteady as they silently claw at the ground. He opens his mouth, but not a sound comes out, his head violently quivering as if there is a drill to the back of his skull. His eyes see nothing; they have lost all sight of what is and what could have been.
He killed her.
Next came Josette, who didn't even let the elevator fully open before she fell to her knees at the sight of Daisy. His dad ran out, grabbing Kai's arms and pulling him back. Kai didn't even fight it. He didn't want to.
From the moment he came into her life, she was already dead.
Joshua yanked Kai away from her body, he dug his hands into Kai's arms and shook them. "What have you done, boy?!" Joshua yells, in a furious tone.
Josette, sobbing, ran over to Daisy's lifeless, blood covered body. She crashes to her knees, holding onto Daisy's face as her lips trembled, searching for any sign of life.
"Huh?!" Joshua says, shaking Kai's shoulders again. Kai didn't even appear phased, except for the tears that streamed down his red, puffy face, he looked gone.
"What are we gonna do?!" Josette cried, holding Daisy's body on her lap.
"Quiet!" Joshua snapped, and Josette let out a worried whimper.
Joshua paced back and fourth, thinking of all the outcomes this could have, and how they could avoid them. "I'll have to get the rest of the coven, they'll know how to cover this up."
Kai just stood towards the back of the rooftop, his eyes drained of any and all emotion as he Josette cry over Daisy. He couldn't process it, he didn't want to.
"She killed herself." Kai let out, his dead eyes not lifting off Daisy. "That's all it needs to be. There's no reason to cover it up." He sniffled. "She killed herself."
"She killed herself trying to kill you!" Josette cries out, her voice shrill and angry.
"Josette! Quiet!" Joshua yells, as he was trying to think. He turns to Kai. "That story won't work— we'll need to completely erase it— this whole mess." Joshua shakes his head. "I can get—"
He stops as he heard a cough come from over by his daughter. Josette looks back down to Daisy's body. She had coughed out a spurt of blood from her throat, and nobody moved.
The air was still, no one knew what to do, no one knew if this was just a part of the dying process, or if—
"She's breathing," Josette said so quiet she could barely hear herself. She leans her head down to her mouth, hearing faint, but little breaths escape Daisy's lips. "Dad! She's breathing!" Josette yells frantically.
Kai didn't hesitate before charging forward, running over to his sister and Daisy, as he was about to bend down to her— he felt a strong force yank him away. "Motus." Joshua said, flinging Kai up against the side of the rooftop. He fell back with a loud groan, hitting the wall and falling to the ground.
He weakly tried to get back to his feet, but bones were definitely just broken. With panicked eyes, he watched as Joshua yanked Josette away from Daisy.
"We need to take her to the hospital!" Josette yells, confused as to why her father wasn't doing that already.
Joshua ignored her, clearly not thinking rationally. He frantically examined the now conscious girl who lay on the floor. Joshua reaches into his jacket pocket, pulling out a small golden object, that was decorated with gears and symbols.
Josette widened her eyes confusedly. "Dad, what are you doing?!" She cries. "We can save her!"
"We can't!" Joshua yells, angrily, snapping at his daughter. "She'll ruin us. She'll ruin our family."
Josette was taken aback, trying to process her father's words. Joshua stood up, holding the object in the palm of his hand, glancing up at the sky then back down to it.
Josette had no idea what her father was doing, but she knew it couldn't be good. She flung her arm forward, beginning to mutter a spell, but was stopped when her father did the same thing, only quicker. Immediately, she was knocked out cold, and she fell to the ground.
Kai, still struggling to get himself off the ground, held his hand out to stop his father from doing whatever he was about to do, but he was out of magic. It was the most hopeless feeling he'd ever experience.
He drug himself towards them, crying in pain as he tried to stop him. "Dad, please!" Kai cries.
"This is your doing, Malachai!" Joshua yells, not even turning around to look at his son. "I'm doing this to protect my family!" He tried to justify his actions.
Joshua had brought the ascendant in his hand to use on Kai, after Josette alerted him on what he was doing. But he didn't have enough magic to send them both away, and if he didn't do this to the girl— she would tell everyone what Kai had done. And he couldn't let that happen, as awful as it made him feel.
As the power of the blue moon above aligned with the ascendant, Joshua began the spell.
Daisy, who was slowly regaining consciousness, coughed, beginning to clutch to her wounded stomach.
Her eyes began to see things again. First she saw Josette, knocked out a few feet beside her, then Kai, who weakly crawled towards her, and Joshua above her.
Then she saw a very bright light.
VILLAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE
PART 2
out now
a/n
hey besties 😸
FIRST OF ALL. thank you so much for all the love on this book recently. for some reason these past few months this book has BLOWN up, and it's the reason i decided to continue it. so thank you!!!!
i never liked the way i left the book, but i honestly really rushed the last chapter. i got super busy with school and i was like fuck it imma just end it here. buuuuttttt at time i was writing those chapters no one was reading it so i didn't think anyone would care lol. but again for some reason it started getting rly popular!! so i was like u kno what i'm about to give the people what they want😽
i appreciate all the love :)) i can't respond to everyones comments but i see them all and they make me so happy!!!
i hope you liked this chapter and get excited for some more!! yay!
ALSO i said this on my message board, but if anyone wants to make some daisy x kai edits for me to include in future chapters, pls message me !! 😸
i love you all!!
- jane
xx