CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
[37]
song: wires by the neighbourhood
DAISY EXPECTED TO WAKE TO SOFT SHEETS. To the morning sunlight trickling through her windows, that warmed her up before she got out of her bed every morning.
She didn't have to open her eyes to know she wasn't home. The ground beneath her body was cold and hard, she heard the buzzing of fluorescent lights, and loud air blowing through a vent.
Her eyes shot open as soon as her brain caught up with her body. She was laid on a floor, on a thin plaid blanket. Her eyes trailed up to find shelves that lined the small room she was in, stocked with boxes of foods and alcohol.
As soon as panic sunk in, she shot to her feet— only to fall back down when a zip tie tied to her wrists yanked her back to the ground. Her eyes widened as she turned to examine them, they were tied tightly and neatly to a pipe that stood beside her. She didn't even have enough time to freak out before she was yanking and pulling away at the ties. They dug into her skin, and she winced in pain, but stopped before she realized she was only making it tighter.
Daisy swallowed harshly, looking around frantically. Fear tortured her guts, churning her stomach in tense cramps. She stood up as much as she could, looking past a shelf of food that was blocking her view. Two doors, with circle windows stood at the opposite side of the room. As she looked out the windows, she immediately recognized where she was.
Outside the pantry she found herself in, was Mike's nightclub that Kai had taken her to so many times.
"Fuck." Daisy exhaled, leaning back down to tug at her restraints, not thinking logically— but instead with a frantic, panicked brain that she had no control over right now.
How could she possibly be so naïve? How could she not see the warning signs? All the red flags? How come she didn't just listen to Josette?
Daisy wanted to cry over her own idiocy. There was no coming back from this. There was no going home to her mother and figuring things out. There was no talking things out with Kai.
Her life was over.
She fell back down onto the ground, every ounce of energy leaving her body as a knot began to form in her throat. She lay her head back against the shelf, and closed her eyes. Her lips trembled first, then came the waterfalls of tears that wouldn't stop for who knew how long. She couldn't even feel bad for herself. She didn't deserve to feel bad for herself. She had it coming.
Everyone gets what's coming for them someday. And apparently that was today.
Daisy didn't know how much time passed. She was tired of crying, she was tired of fighting, she just didn't have a reason to keep trying anymore. She didn't move for who knew how long, as she just waited for whatever came next.
But as soon as she heard doors open; all of that energy came rushing back into her body in the form of adrenaline. She immediately tried to stand up as much as she could while being tied to the pipe, looking through the shelves to see who had come in.
Kai walked in, not noticing she was watching him yet, and without hesitation, Daisy used all the force she could muster to push over the shelf beside her, using her shoulders.
The shelf toppled down, alcohol shattering, food spilling everywhere. Kai dodged out of the way before it could hit him, only to turn and look at Daisy with wide, surprised eyes.
Daisy didn't know what pushing the shelf over would accomplish, but she wanted to fight back as much as she could— despite her hands being tied back.
Kai glanced down at the mess she made, then to her, who sat leaned against the pipe with her hands behind her back. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and she looked like she hadn't slept in days. She breathed heavily, glaring holes into Kai's skin.
He looked at her with soft eyes, disappointed with what he did, but tried to remember that it was necessary. He held up a paper bag and took a deep breath before walking towards her. "Are you hungry?" He asks calmly, hesitation in his voice.
Daisy's lip twitched with anger. "This is ridiculous." She said, not breaking eye contact with Kai who couldn't seem to look at her for more than one second at a time. "Let me go. Right now."
"I can't." He said regretfully.
Daisy flung her body forward, making Kai jump at the sudden movement. She let out a frustrated groan as the zip ties grew tighter around her wrists. Kai watched her twist and pull against the restraints he had put on her wrists, like a rabid dog trying to escape a leash.
"You're just gonna make them tighter." Kai says, not enjoying watching her struggle.
"Then just fucking untie me!" Daisy snaps back, her voice coarse and rough. Nothing like Kai had heard before. She panted heavily, her dark long hair draped in front of her face, blowing around as she breathed intensely.
Kai let out a quiet sigh, as he opened up the paper bag and pulled out the bagel he had grabbed from the gas station near his motel.
He hesitantly walked over to her, and a knot grew in his throat as he watched her quickly scramble away from him the closer he got.
He slowly sat down in front of her, and she leaned her head up, leaning it against the pole. She tried to appear calm, confident, and strong, but Kai knew she was terrified. "If you're gonna kill me just do it." Daisy spoke, breathing heavily. "I don't care anymore." She swallowed.
Kai's heart sank a bit. "I'm not gonna kill you." He said, narrowing his eyebrows at her. She didn't relax, she didn't move closer to him, she didn't move at all. He took a deep breath, before breaking off part of the bagel and bringing it towards Daisy's mouth.
Daisy flinched at the movement, then looked down at his hand and back to him. "What the fuck are you doing?" She asks, quietly.
"You need to eat." He nods.
"How long do you plan on keeping me here?" She says, with disgust. Kai brings his hand back down and lets out another sigh. "People are gonna come down here. My mom's gonna start looking for me." She says confidently.
"The club's closed on weekdays. This isn't permanent— I just didn't have time to find a better spot." He shrugged. "And your mom thinks you're on a road trip with me."
At this point, Daisy would've started crying again, but she was too tired. She doesn't even remember the last time she'd gone a day without sobbing. She just turned her head away from him and leaned back on the pipe. "Then what do you want from me?" She asks tiredly.
Kai inhales deeply. "You just need time to gather your thoughts." He says.
"Seems a little counter-intuitive because the only thoughts I'm gathering is that you're fucking nuts." She lets out.
"You don't know what you're saying!" Kai says, with urgency and frustration as he snaps his head towards her. He was clearly upset, not only with her, but with himself.
Daisy flung her legs out from under her, kicking towards Kai, who stumbled back to avoid the contact. "I swear to god I'll kill you." She says lunging towards him as much as she could, her voice almost hysterical.
He huffed and tossed the bagel and food towards her. "Do you just want to starve then?" He asks annoyedly.
Daisy eyes trailed down to the bagel that landed a few feet away from her. It wasn't much, but she was ridiculously hungry and considering her lack of hands this might be the only chance for her to eat for a while. She hesitate before she spoke, "No." She said quietly.
Kai let out a quick sigh. "Okay." He says, slowly and cautiously sitting down in front of her again, eyeing her and making sure she wouldn't lash out again. "I know it isn't much, but it's all I had money for." He shrugged, breaking off a new piece. "I'll find some cash and bring you something else later, okay?"
Daisy tried to keep the hatred off of her expression, but it was impossible when he was completely and utterly oblivious to how insane this was.
He brought the piece up to her mouth and raised his eyebrows. She eyed it cautiously, glancing at the food and then back to him. She slowly leaned forward, opening her mouth slightly to take a bite— before lunging at him again, biting his finger.
Kai yanked his hand away before she could do any real damage, he let out a frustrated groan as he stood up quickly. "Fuck!" He said angrily. He glared down at Daisy. "Fine! I'll fucking leave you alone to starve." He says, before grabbing the rest of his things and turning to leave.
"Kai!" Daisy yelled, but he didn't stop. "Let me go!" She screamed, getting louder as he stormed out of the pantry, the doors swinging shut behind him. She shook with anger. "Kai!" She screams, so loud, that she definitely must've popped a blood vessel somewhere.
—
Kai sat at the end of his motel bed, tapping his foot anxiously. The world outside teased him with its oblivion; everyone and everything continue on with their lives. Time is marked only by the numbers changing on the bedside alarm. It was long ago that the last of the nighttime left the motel room and it will be hours before it crept back again. He could only hope that in the meantime he was not aware of every second of every minute.
He fucked up. He really fucked up. All he could do was think about just leaving her in that pantry of Mike's club. He had no where else to hold her for now, he just had to make sure she wouldn't do something she'd regret.
He was doing this for her own good. Or at least that's what he kept telling himself.
He dreaded going back down there and seeing her. It had been over 24 hours since he last went back. He thought it would be good if he gave them both time to calm down and collect their thoughts, but the longer he waited, the worse he felt.
Kai glanced around the room as he thought, his eyes trailing over to the bedside table by the motel bed. He stood up and walked towards it, opening the drawer and pulling out the old dusty bible that sat in the drawer.
He opened it up, and flipped through the pages, when a few dollars fell out from the seams of one of the pages. He smiled a bit to himself as he picked them back up from the floor, lazily tossing the bible on the bed as he counted the money.
Only five dollars. It was fine for now, but it wouldn't last. If the people who put money in motel bibles wanted people to come to God, they should've put something more than five dollars. He was just gonna have to take food from the pantry for her. He couldn't go back home, not right now at least— his parents had everyone looking for him.
—
Daisy knew that she couldn't sleep, but she tried. She lay on the floor of the cold kitchen pantry, the only thing separating her from the concrete was the shitty blanket Kai had so graciously given her for comfort.
There was a silence to her soul; she was fall leaves under frost. She felt the chill in her blood, coldness bringing the synapses of her brain to a stand still. She must've sat on this ground with her eyes closed for a whole day, now. Not moving, not opening her eyes. Just waiting. For what, she didn't know.
As if on queue, she heard the doors swing open, and the lights switched on with the most obnoxious subtle humming sound that came from each bulb.
Her stomach felt like it caved in, her heart pounded with panic as she hadn't prepared herself to see him again. She didn't move, she kept her eyes closed.
Daisy heard him move around, he was moving things around on the shelves. She tried to calm her breathing, tried to really pretend to be asleep so he'd just leave.
He got closer, and she felt herself hold her breath, bracing herself for whatever fate had in store for her today. Footsteps approached closer, then they stopped, and then she heard a loud thud.
Her eyes shot open, startled by the noise. It wasn't Kai who'd come into the pantry, it was Mike. And he ran towards her with the most terrified expression she'd ever seen, a box of food spilled around where he must've just stood.
"Daisy?!" Mike said frantically, as he bent down and examined her with panicked eyes. "What's going on?!"
"It's Kai." She weakly sat up as much as she could. "He's crazy and— and—" She scrambled for words, but instead just turned her body to show the zip ties bound to her wrists.
Mike eyes widened further, if that was even possible. "Okay, okay." He said quickly, trying to gather his thoughts. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a switch blade and nodding towards Daisy for approval, who nodded back eagerly.
Mike began to lean towards her to cut the ties, when a loud crack echoed through the pantry. Daisy didn't even realize what it was until Mike's body fell onto Daisy, lifeless, and with his neck turned and broken.
Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to scream when she looked up to see Kai standing behind where Mike just stood. His hand up in the air like he had just snapped his neck with magic. He sighed as Mike's body fell off Daisy and onto the ground behind her, before looking back at Daisy, who was too stunned to say anything.
He swallowed, trying to shrug it off. "He always bugged me anyways."