KZ's and Dragoln's Short Stories [2022 EDITION]

It's Not Fair

15.9.22

Was it simply luck that had caused her to turn down this street? The sinister clouds of smoke arose from the building. They didn't disperse. Instead, they circulated the air like a hurricane and it looked as if they didn't plan on leaving soon.

Not long after, Kaya heard the ear-shattering sirens and alarms fuse into one uproar of deafening shrills. Blue lights flashed on and off making the young girl feel just as cold as the colour. Her adrenaline sprung and she wanted to make a beeline for the remains of her house even if every fibre of her was screaming out not to.

Before she could start soaring, someone who grabbed her wrist pulled her away. 

It was Jayden and an awful mixture of horror and guilt swirled in his eyes.

"Kaya, please!"

"That's my home!" She was wailing now.

Strings of apologies crackled on his tongue yet he said none of this and his reply was repeated. "Kaya, please!" He cried even louder now.

"You had something to do with this didn't you?" 

He knew she wasn't wrong. 

He started living with Kaya a few days ago. With her dad being a social worker and therapist, he stumbled upon Jayden's case and how his family was involved in a tragic shooting. He was the only survivor, merely grazed in the head with a bullet. As a result, he was taken in by Kaya's family until any close relatives who had the capability to look after him claimed him.

And it did happen. Someone did step forward.

But it turns out that they weren't the people who they were alleged to be. It was obvious once they threw him in a cage, fed him only once a day, and cuffed him when he needed the toilet. Jayden was back to square one. He asked and asked yet he received no answers.

He launched himself against the bars, screeching and hollering for someone, anyone to come and find him.

When the opportunity came, he lurched at it. It was a long shot. Having heard his screams of agony and torment, a familiar girl crawled through the fortunately open window space that the house owners left open. The people who claimed Jayden were gone for the day which left the girl who found him locking her deep blue eyes onto his for a while.

"Kaya!"

"Jayden? What the heck are you doing there?"

"I don't know! But I need to get out! Help me find the key!"

She did, though it had taken her a few hours, illegally scrounging through the homeowners' belongings just to find it.

Once they made the escape, Kaya noticed a multitude of bruises bound to his face. An ocean of scars was strewn across his skin. Immediately, they returned to treat him and have all Kaya's questions answered until it pained him too much to talk about it.

For a few more days, things seemed to be going fine.

But that was until the day of the fire.

The two were out having lunch and they'd finished an hour ahead of schedule. He was the one who persuaded her to live a little. He wanted to explore the streets of the city with her before going back home. He felt the need to prolong their little adventure. If she had turned down those requests and gone home, she'd have partaken in a suicide mission unknowingly.

So he did kind of save her…in a way.

Kaya was not grateful. In fact, the fury that was blazing on her face told Jayden that she would probably never be able to cope with this unfortunate event ever again.

"None of this is my fault. Do you think that anyone would want to come forward and claim you just like that? I was trying to help you!" The girl pulled away from Jayden, tugging her wrist free in such a harsh manner that it made the boy flinch.

The boy knew that he owed her more than he could ever know. Maybe he didn't light the match. However, it was blatant that those who locked him in a cage sparked the fire to life. And that meant that he was technically responsible for it.

"We're not safe here!" Jayden started begging. Kaya knew what he was trying to imply but for her, running away from the catastrophe wouldn't help at all, especially not alone with Jayden.

"You're not safe here!" Her words were now sharp with wrath. They pierced him like a million needles in the heart. "They're hunting you down and now I have no house!"

"But-"

"It's not fair, Jayden. I'm staying here. You don't get to drag me away from my home." 

The murderers of Jayden's family didn't have the right to drag him away from his home too. The gunfires weren't too different from the burning house. He had nothing left. She had nothing left. It really wasn't fair. Nothing about this was fair at all.

~