High Tide (boyxboy)

Chapter 19: The hardest part

"But I swear. I never would have told."

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"Is he alive..." the man asks as he and his wife approach the boat with a still unconscious Kai laying inside.

The lady checks Kai's pulse "Yes but what happened?"

"It looks like the fool has been out in this boat....look at the state of it. He must have been drinking."

The man's wife pulls out her mobile phone from her pocket. "I'm calling an ambulance..."

Kai wakes up with a start in a hospital bed. He looks down at his hospital gowns. Then the two people stood at the end of his bed. "Where am I?"

The woman approaches Kai from around the side of the bed. "You are in the hospital sweetheart." 

Kai looks at the lady. "Who are you? "Oh I'm...." Kai looks into the woman's eyes and she into his. She cannot tear her eyes away from their aqua blue colour. "I am your mother." She replies in a monotone voice. 

"My mother?" Kai repeats. He then hears the man beginning to talk at the end of the bed. "Darling what are you saying..." Kai then looks at him into his eyes, hypnotising the man. "And I am your father." 

"My father." Kai feels so confused. But why am I in the hospital? 

His 'mother' again speaks in the same monotone voice "We were camping over the weekend in the woods and you hit your head. That is why you cannot remember."

Kai feels the back of his head and can indeed feel a lump. Wow. He must have been really concussed to forget his own parents. "I'm sorry I didn't recognise you." 

"That's ok" his 'father' responds. We will take you home son...

***

Kai looks up at Stan. "It seems I tricked them and myself. I guess that's why there were no family photos around the house when I was young. It all makes sense now." 

Stan sits up a little more on the rock, the torchlight from Stan's phone still the only visual source. "So...does this mean you're gonna trick me now too?" 

It isn't too clear, but it is clear enough for Kai to see Stan's face. The looks of sadness and apprehension are all too evident. "Stan....I" Kai tries to explain but Stan cuts him off.

"I get it. I understand. It's ok. I mean, you selflessly traded in who you are to keep your family, your 'kind' safe. But I swear. I never would have told."

Stan's phone suddenly beeps, interrupting the moment. Stan quickly checks it to see a message from Nathan. 

Nat
Where are you? The tide is coming in. 

Stan looks up at Kai taking a sniff.

"We need to get out of here. The cave is filling up." He says

Kai touches Stan's face. With Kai's true self wholly revealed, there were no flashes of light, or allergic reactions, allowing Kai to wipe away the stray tear falling from his eye. "Stan...I never planned on feeling this way about you which makes what I'm about to do even harder."

"W...what are you going to do?" Stan says apprehensively.

"This." Kai raises his other hand to Stan's face, now cupping his head in his hands and leans in close. He closes his eyes and gently presses his lips against Stan's. Stan instantly responds by wrapping his arms around Kai's silky smooth waist and kisses him wholeheartedly. 

Kai can now feel his own tears begin to flow as he feels Stan's kiss getting weaker, until he becomes unconscious in Kai's arms. Kai then scoops Stan up in his arms and works his way back to the entrance. His skilled blue eyed vision leading the way, with Stan's phone long abandoned. 

Nathan sees them emerge from the cave and looks with wide eyes, although the sun has nearly set, he can still see Kai in his full aqualine glory. Kai lays Stan down on the sand and kneels next to him with Nathan standing by Kai's side.

"Is he ok?" Nathan asks.

"Yes, just sleeping. It's nearly over." Kai says not taking his eyes off the boy now a man. "Just one last thing..."

"What's that?" Nathan wonders. 

"This." Kai places both hands on Stan's head and closes his eyes. He looks into Stan's mind, removing all his memories which involve him, from inside the cave just now, to when they were in the apartment, the club, the art gallery, the park, the lift, back to the party. The times Stan waited for Kai at the beach, to the cave when he was 15. Every moment, every image, every mention disappearing from Stan's mind. 

A white ball now seems to emerge from Stan's head. A memory sphere, filled with what must never be remembered.

Kai now stands up on his feathered feet and holds his arms out to the sides, palms up, with the ball of light in one hand. He then raises his hands and claps them together over his head, causing the bright white orb to shatter, creating ripples of white light to radiate from him, reaching out as far as the eye can see. Nathan instantly falls to the ground next to Stan. Then it goes quiet. 

Kai looks down at the sleeping friends, then kneels next to Stan, He leans over his body and gently kisses his forehead and whispers in his ear. "I love you." before rolling up into his spherical silver ball and rolling into the sea. 

***

Stan is the first to open his eyes. The morning sun seemingly so bright as it appears over the horizon. He takes a minute to realise he is lying on the beach topless and that the constant noise in the background is the rolling waves of the sea. He sits up a little, leaning on his elbows, then spots Nathan next to him. He leans over and slaps him on his arm. "Hey, wake up." 

Nathan opens his eyes and sits up bolt upright. "What's going on? Why are we here?" 

"I guess we fell asleep on the beach again." Stan concluded.

"Yeah I guessed that much, but why are we here. Why not back in the apartment?" Nathan gestures around him with his hands. 

Stan scratches his head as if to remember. "I think I had told my mum I would visit this weekend....yeah I guess we just came here first." 

Nathan gets to his feet, dusting the grains of sand from his clothes. "Call her and tell her we're here. She can get breakfast." He suggests. 

Stan pats his pockets for his phone. "Shit...where is it?" He now starts to feel in the sand around him. Before getting up and looking around. 

"Don't tell me...you can't find your phone." Nathan shakes his head. 

"Let's just go...it will definitely be a surprise now." They both head away from the beach towards the coastal path, not looking back to see an orange and redhead watching them leave. 

"Are you ok Kai?" Rusty asks, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Kai just watches the two figures leave until they are out of sight. Before swishing his feather like feet and diving deep into the blue.