CHAPTER FORTY TWO
[42]
song: 2am by sir sly
DAISY STAYED ON THE ROOFTOP. She stayed on the rooftop until she knew that something was different, that something was wrong. She would've bled out, she was supposed to. She was supposed to be dead right now. She laid there for hours, waiting to die. But she didn't.
After the bright light, everyone was gone. Everything was still.
She aimlessly wandered the streets for days, waiting for any sign of life. But there was nothing. There was not a soul anywhere, and she wondered if she really did die, and this was where she ended up.
It felt real, everything did. She felt pain, she could taste things, read things, touch things. But no one was here, everything was as it was left. The school was still fully decorated for the Valentine's dance, faint music still played from the gym, lights still slowly danced around the walls.
The worst feeling was walking into her house, waiting for her mom to come around from the kitchen and greet her, but instead she was met with the overwhelming silence that hugged the entire town.
She had to figure out how to give herself stitches. She couldn't leave the wound like it was, it would never heal. The hospital was unexpectedly scary when it was completely empty, she kept waiting for someone to pop out and tell her it was just some huge town-wide prank. She really, really wanted that to be the truth.
She hadn't even had stitches before, let alone given them to herself. She sobbed all the way through it, the mixture of a fresh stab wound and repeatedly penetrating your skin with a needle did not make for an easy experience.
She had to be dead. She had to be. It was the only reasonable explanation to this situation she had found herself in.
She never thought the afterlife would be this lonely.
Every morning she woke up and waited to be some place better. Or for things to be back to normal. Or for someone, anyone to come find her, wherever she was.
She slept in her room every night, even though it felt like every house in the world was empty and at her leisure. It brought her a bit of comfort, until it didn't.
After the first year, she set Wayward on fire, and left.
When the only heart beating in this world belonged to her, it wasn't something she could take. She was stuck in a repeating loop of madness and agony. Daisy felt as if the world used to kiss up against her skin and grow with her, and hold her. That was bit the case anymore. It was as if the world had shrunken away to leave a cold void around her skin, as if he had become detached from reality itself— whatever her reality is now.
—
The lights reflected onto her body as she lay on her back in the middle of Times Square. She repeatedly watched the same looping commercials, the same ones that were playing when she came to New York three months ago.
She mumbled along to the music being advertised on the MTV screen. "I wonder what Madonna is doing right now." She spoke to herself, directing her attention to the screen, watching the blonde woman perform Like a Prayer. She sang a long as she fumbled with her hair.
She sat up and looked around, suddenly finding herself extremely bored. And hungry. She let out a loud groan as she got to her feet, looking around at the many choices of restaurants to select from.
Times Square was perfectly still, the only thing moving were the commercials, and her, who danced through the road to the music that, on a normal day in NYC, you definitely wouldn't be able to hear over the traffic.
She opened the door to a pizza shop and headed into the back kitchen with no hesitation. A half cooked pizza was sat on the counter and she let out a sigh of relief, as she wasn't in the mood to cook a full meal. Daisy tossed the dough in the pizza oven and waited for the fire to finish cooking it.
At first, the repeating days were horrifying to her, but as she got used to them, she appreciated that things were as everyone left them. It can come in handy, especially when she was feeling lazy.
She grabbed her now ready to eat slice of overly greasy pizza, a diet coke, and headed back on the streets. Dancing her way down the stairs to catch the W train that should be arriving in a few minutes. It was the one of few in New York that was automated, and while it limited her travels, she was too lazy to figure out how to operate the others herself.
Daisy hopped off the last stair, and walked her way down the subway station to wait for the train, taking sips from the coke in her left hand, and bites of her pizza in her right hand. She got to her waiting spot and looked around, letting out an annoyed sigh as she was getting impatient.
A few years ago, the complete emptiness of a NYC subway station would've been horrifying to her. For the first year or so, she was so paranoid that one day someone was going to pop out of the stillness, but she adapted quickly.
She began to hear the rumbling of the train, and she stepped back a bit from the edge of the platform to wait, peering down the tumble to see the headlights.
"Daisy."
Daisy brought the straw to her lips to take another drink, but stopped at the voice.
She'd been alone here for four years, it wasn't the first time she'd heard voices— or seen things. But she could tell those were just her mind playing tricks on her.
This felt real.
She didn't want to turn around and match the voice to a face, she didn't need to. She knew exactly who was standing there. Yet, she still felt herself turning to see them to check if she really was just losing her mind more than she already has.
Kai Parker stood a few feet away from her, a hesitant and shocked expression on his face. He looked a bit older than when she last saw him, but he was still the same. He still had those unreasonably pretty eyes, dark hair and tan skin. He wore the kind of expression that got into my bones, that spoke to me before he'd said a word.
Daisy couldn't move, couldn't speak. She looked at him with minimal recognition, as her mind was raced. She wondered if he was actually standing in front of her, or if she was just on the brink of actual full insanity.
The train comes to a stop behind Daisy, and her hair blew around with the breeze.
He opened his mouth to speak. "I—"
He stopped immediately as Daisy chucked her half full drink at him. Her eyes widened, a little unsure as to why that was her first reflex. She didn't move.
He chuckled a bit, clearly a bit shocked too. "I guess that's better than what I thought you'd try to do to me." He says, wiping the coke out of his eyes.
"Just making sure I wasn't hallucinating again." She says, her voice was quiet, and emotionless. She didn't lift her eyes off him or change her expression, as she was still trying to process if he was real or not.
He looked up at her again, trying to read her. She was significantly less shocked than he expected, she looked more confused than scared— which he assumed was maybe a good thing.
Seeing her again after four years felt surreal. She hadn't changed. She was just as beautiful as when he last saw her, and he didn't expect anything different. He readjusted the backpack on his back before he spoke. "You cut your hair." He says, nodding towards her.
Daisy narrowed her eyes at him, showing the first change in expression. She then burst out into laugher, and Kai looked taken aback. She didn't know what to say, or do, so she just started talking. "Alright, I'll see you around." She said quickly, before spinning around and hopping on the W train behind her.
Kai quickly stepped forward, trying to reach her before the doors shut— but was knocked back as they closed shut on. "Daisy!" He said in a louder voice, frustrated.
Daisy stood on the other side of the door, flipping him off with a cheeky smile, as the train began to move.
Their gazes lingered on each other before the train went into the dark tunnel and they were out of each other's gaze.
Kai let out a frustrated sigh as he rubbed his eyes, annoyed as she was on the move again, like she had been for the past three months. This was the closest he'd gotten to her, and she was already running again. Although it won't be hard to locate her again now, it was still annoying.
As the train falls under the tunnel, Daisy immediately stumbled back, letting out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She grasped onto a pole to keep balance, as he legs felt weak and her heart pounded against her chest.
"What the fuck..." She chuckled to herself. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, trying to apply some rationalization to what just happened as the train took her back home.
Kai, after examining the subway map, made his way back upstairs to time square. He hops back in his car, getting inside and beginning to drive the short distance to Manhattan, which is where she was apparently headed.
He smiles to himself, turning the music up on his car radio as he sped down the empty streets, windows down. Seeing her again felt surreal, it felt new, and he didn't know what to expect from here on out.
a/n
yayyyyyyy for kaisy reunion! kinda😳
also if u have twitter or any other social media pls share this book on there if u want🥺🤲🏼 it's a rly good way for wattpad books to get more recognition and i'd rly appreciate it<3
also i am once again shamelessly asking editors to pls edit kai and daisy bc i will love u forever if u do
ok byeee
hope u enjoyed!
- jane <3