Ashanti

Chapter 10

Present Day: Kai's apartment

Ashanti rhythmically cuts fresh lettuce on Kai's kitchen counter, the sounds of her rapid cutting is synchronized with Kai's typing.

Kai types up Esther's records like Ashanti asked him to;

The sounds the printer makes when it finishes making the last page of records for Esther's relatives was extremely loud. Which of course scares Kai, it also scares the photo frames in his office. They all fell down in the same way, at the same time, they were synchronized.

Kai arrives home late, he sees Ashanti facing the wall,stabbing it in the same spot repeatedly. Kai tries his best to remain quiet, but he shrieks when he sees his scratched kitchen counter. Ashanti hears this, and smiles while slightly turning her head. Her smile stretches as far as she could take it, she tilts her head so far and so rapidly that you could hear the bones popping in her neck. Ashanti stays in this position until she randomly collapses onto the floor, leaving the knife stuck in the wall.

Kai runs to her aid, and nearly catches her before she could get further injured. Ashanti grips Kai's shirt so tightly so she could whisper in his ear: "Something's...after me..." Those were the last words she could say before going unconscious once again.

Ashanti wakes up to Kai sorting Esther's records, and separating them from her relatives.

"Hey. You're awake." Kai says dryly, he picks up a record for a young girl named "Mary Grace" and suddenly gets a paper cut.

"How long was I out for?" Ashanti asks, stretching while looking at the stacks of papers all over the table.

"I'd say 'bout....15 minutes." Kai answers while getting a bandaid for his finger, the blood from the paper cut dripped on the counter, Kai tries his best to stop the bleeding long enough to put the bandaid on, but nothing works. "But the one at the top is your grandma's stack of records, the one beside it is some man she was married to. The one under that is their daughter who's also your mom I'm assuming." Kai gives up on the bandaid and just runs his finger under water while Ashanti looks at Mary Grace's file.

"This little girl...She was 11 when she died...And...mother told me that my mother died from my birth.." Ashanti curls her fingers at this realization, "I'm starting to think that my birth was involuntary..."

"What do you mean?" Kai asks, partially focused on Ashanti, but mostly focused on the blood he's losing. "Do me a favor, get the gauze from the laundry room, please."

"Sure, but...I wonder who my father is...It doesn't say it on my records...I don't even have a birth certificate, I have to get one printed out!- Oh, right. Bandages!" Ashanti runs to the laundry room, Kai follows her. Kai's paper cut finally calms down, so Ashanti's able to wrap the gauze around Kai's finger, then some more around his hand. Ashanti calmly holds Kai's injured hand to make sure that everything was stable, then she asks him: "Do you think he's someone mother knew?"

Esther's House.

Esther opens the door, looking exhausted. Ashanti smiles while holding Kai's homemade cannoli, Kai smiles while holding his hand and the records for Mary Grace.

"Kaison..What happened to your hand?" Esther asks, noticing that some of the bandages were slightly torn.

"Paper cut... Very...bad paper cut." Kai responded, Esther raised her eyebrows and let the two inside.

"I was shocked that you two wanted to meet with me, together." Esther says carelessly, she sits on her couch and readjusts her position until comfortable.

"What do you mean?" Kai responds, genuinely confused, but also trying to hide the records he was holding.

"I mean, we all heard that fight....At my gathering. I do not appreciate the way you swore at Ashanti, Kaison." Esther mentions crossing her legs and folding her arms.