0035. THE PLAN
"OKAY, I THINK everyone has the gist of the situation..." Emma gulped after the long retelling of everything that's been going on the past couple of months as she sat on the couch between Ji-Soo and Mike. "...Somewhat."
Kaia sighed at her words, her hands entangled in Aiden's hair as he had forced his head into her lap the moment they had all settled in. Though she couldn't really complain as messing with his hair gave her something to do alongside keeping her hands busy. Aiden's eyes were fluttered shut as he was leaning into her touch as he chewed slowly on his piece of pizza he held in his hands.
Taylor was beside the two of them, her head resting on Kaia's shoulder as Kaia's head leaned onto hers as the two girl's shared a look as they glanced around at the reactions of the parents. It seemed like while they didn't want to believe it, they were starting to finally come to the realization this was actually happening.
"...This is crazy." Jessica muttered out, pressing her cool wine glass to her burning forehead, her body hot with anxiety. "I haven't been this stressed since our publisher accidentally printed an extra ten-thousand copies."
"Agreed." Daniel muttered out, his head long since fallen into his hands as he tried to process everything he's been told. "So, the Tyler boy... has a tree stuck in him... and isn't dead..." He muttered out in complete shock before he turned towards Kaia, who was still playing with his son's hair. "And you, fell almost thirty feet off of a cliff... and you're somehow alive as well...?"
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?"
Kaia's lips tugged into a frown as she looked towards the older man with a look of confusion. Just where in the fuck was he going to get sedatives?
"How are you going to get sedatives?" Mike questioned, his mind racing with similar thoughts to Kaia's.
"That doesn't really matter." James dismisses him and Kaia and Aiden share a look as Aiden's grin brightened while Kaia looked disturbed. "As long as they are acquired, the tree alongside the fall, situations can be resolved, right?"
No! Kaia shouted in her mind, but didn't dare utter it out loud in slight fear of what he could do. Did his man have connections to the mafia or something? Where the fuck was he going to get sedatives? Why wasn't Logan more concerned about this? Does he know if grampa was totally apart of some mafia organization? What the fuck happened to them being florists? Was being a florist just a cover story for being a secret mafia boss?
Ji-Soo also looked like she wanted to speak up and protest, but she also decided it was for the better to stay quiet and she and her daughter shared a slightly frightened look.
Mike hesitated, wishing to question further as well, but pushed it to the side. "... I'll send you a screenshot of the location."
"While he does that, we need to figure out how to get the kids safe from the 'centipede-ish' monster." Mary brings up and Kaia shifts uncomfortably at the mention of the monster that had indirectly caused her's and Tyler's deaths.
"I..." William speaks up, the attention falling onto him. "... I think I might have an idea for that."
"...That's the plan?" Tyler questioned in slight disbelief from the other end of the face time call the group of teens had him on as he stared at them through the screen with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, for now." Ashlyn confirms, the phone within her grasp despite it being Kaia's phone they used to call him since he rejected all of the calls Aiden had sent him.
"And you're sure the power will work?" Tyler questioned, wanting to make sure that this would actually go to plan unlike the last one they had.
"... In theory." Logan hesitantly confirmed. "I mean, the generator for the graveyard works, so this should too."
Kaia gives a nod as she rested her head onto Ashlyn's shoulder as Aiden's chin was on top of her own so he could see the screen as well.
"What do you think?" Taylor questioned as she leaned over Ashlyn's shoulder to see her brother's reaction.
Tyler's lips purse and he sighs, "... well I guess it's the only real plan we have right now, so it's worth a shot." He lets out another sigh as his teeth grit. "I still think you guys should leave me and Kaia behind first. We've already died once, what worse can happen?"
"We can die again." Kaia shrugged and Aiden dug his chin into the top of her head causing her to wince as she glared up at him as he smiled, narrowing his eyes down at her, seemingly not finding her joke as funny as she thought it to be. "Ouch."
"We aren't going to do that!" Ashlyn argued back towards Tyler, her words also aimed at Kaia as well. "Kaia's right, you both could die again. We don't know what the phantoms are trying to do and I don't think it's as simple as them trying to kill us. We aren't going to risk anything until we know more information." She ranted, pissed off by his suggestion. "Not to mention, the stroke from shock could've killed you!"
Kaia hummed, none of them had figured out just what caused Tyler to fall into a stroke of shock and not Kaia despite both of them dying, but Kaia has an idea that she didn't really have the opportunity to process that she died the same way he did as he was alive for a mere few moments with a tree stabbed into him while Kaia died upon impact. Though besides that, she wasn't so sure.
"Fine, fine, whatever." Tyler groaned out as he pushed the phone away from his face. "Stop yelling." He sighed before his face popped back into frame. "Anyway, none of you have slept yet, so stop talking to me and try to get some rest before midnight."
"...Alright." Ashlyn sighed, ending the call and staring at the black turned off screen of Kaia's phone for a moment as the parents walk over and Mike rests his hand gently upon her head.
"He's right, Trooper." He tells her gently before his hand fell from her head and he pulled out a bottle of what Kaia could read to be melatonin gummies. "You kids need to sleep. I brought some melatonin gummies if you need them." He smiles gently at the group of teens. "We'll stay awake if anything happens, we'll be here when you wake up."
"... Thanks, dad." Ashlyn tells him as she takes the bottle of gummies from him.
"No problem, kiddo." He smiles at her.
Kaia was curled up into her red blanket, the same color of the blanket Ashlyn was also curled under just beside her. Kaia had one of her hands slipped under Ashlyn's blanket in order to hold the orange haired girl's hand tightly within her own, knowing that Ashlyn needed the support in that moment as she was most likely riddled with guilt and terrified of what was to come and Kaia didn't want her to go through it without knowing she was there for her.
Kaia tightened her grip on Ashlyn's hand as the sound of sniffling sounded throughout the room from Taylor silently crying and she felt her heart wrench at the heartbreaking sound of it. This had to have been the first night in years that the two twins had spent apart and it most be horrible for Taylor to lay there and not know what was going to happen once they got to the phantom realm, which was only two minutes from now.
Kaia suddenly felt something brush against her shoulder causing her to turn around, her hand never leaving Ashlyn's despite turning around to face Aiden who was staring towards her with a smile on his lips. She hummed lowly, wondering what he wanted as he reached out, his hand brushing against her shoulder as he pulled her a bit closer to him. Her hand still was kept in Ashlyn's as the other one was rested under her pillow and towards him.
Aiden hummed back at her, his smile widening as he stared towards her with this strange look on his face before pausing, "you're my best friend."
Kaia stared towards him, her head tilting as her stomach churned within her stomach, a smile twitching at her lips. "You too." She tells him, her voice almost silent as she stared towards him and Aiden's smile widened further as he reached out, pulling her closer as his lips pressed to her forehead just as they felt the switch happen and Aiden pulled her closer just as Ashlyn tightened her grip on her hand.
♡˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚ : author's note
i. peep the taylor swift reference and omg cannot wait for next chapter <3
ii. what was your guys favorite moment this chapter?
iii. ANYWAYS i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! please remember to vote, comment and to have a wonderful day!!