The Unknown

Chapter Six

(Kai's POV)

I sat there, beside Venus, watching him quietly. The others had left, they'd run off to find Kittai.

Did they blame her, too?

They didn't act like they did.. Why not?

None of it made any sense. She was a coward, she ran away from what she caused. Kittai got Venus hurt, and there were probably more hurt as well. For all I knew, they were all dead. It was Kittai's fault. If only she hadn't given the stupid dare, then none of us would be in this mess.

But she did.. And now, there's no turning back. There's no reversing time to make sure we didn't come in this wretched forest. There's only now, and there's the present. There's the time that I'm using right now to pin the blame on her.

I thought it was good use of time when I was thinking it, but when Venus woke up, I was snapped out of my thoughts. I realized how ridiculous it was to sit and wallow in my own little blame game. It brought me to the realization that I could be doing something better, like making sure my innocent friend was okay.

When I looked at him, he was looking around. Confusion lingered in his green eyes, which were again laced with the same liveliness that he was well-known for. Sometimes I wonder if anything can put that guy down. He always seemed to have something about him, resilience, maybe?

No, not that.

He just had a spark, a personality quirk. He was excited, like a child, but at the same time he could be clever and patient like a fox.

"Where... Where is everyone..?"

His voice was quiet, but it got my attention. I hadn't heard what he'd said, though, so I asked him, "What was that..?"

"I asked where everyone is.." Venus said quietly, "Wh-What happened? Why aren't they here..?"

"Oh ah, they're just.."

I started, but I stopped myself. It couldn't be good for him, to just wake up to loneliness with no one but me around. My voice fumbled and stuttered for a moment as I glanced around, before I suddenly yelped, "They're on the other side of that big tree! They were planning and didn't want to worry you with it.."

"Oh.. I understand.."

I gave him a little half-hearted smile, proud that I was able to come up with the lie so quickly, "Yeah, they should be back soon!" I said.

He gave a yawn, and after a moment, his bright green eyes tested on me. They stared for a moment, his gaze boring into mine. It was like he was reading my thoughts.

My tiny smile disappeared, it was replaced by an anxiously nervous frown until he looked away again.

He knew. He had to. There was no other way. That look, no one gives me that look unless they know something.

But time passed, and he didn't say anything, until suddenly he asked quietly, "Can you get someone for me to talk to? Like.. Hunter or Kittai...?"

I shook my head, sudden emotion boiling inside of me. I was abruptly exploding at him, as though he'd just insulted me.

"What?!" I yelled, "Am I not good enough for you?! Huh?! Do you hate me or something? Think I'm boring, horrible to talk to?! Ohhhh don't worry about Kai, he's not human or anything, he doesn't need anyone to talk to!"

Venus turned to glance at me, taken aback by the sudden aggressiveness. A small whimper escaped his throat, and after a moment of staring at me, he turned his back to me and curled up.

Not a word came from his mouth, and after a moment he looked asleep.

I paused, thinking about what I'd just said.

It was horrible. I'm horrible.

"Venus.." I whined. I needed to apologize, I'd made a hasty mistake.

He didn't react at all to my word, except he did shrug his shoulders a bit so that his arm was covering his ear. He was pretending to be asleep.

But I saw right through his little act. I wasn't about to let him know that, though. I'd already done enough damage as it was.

So I said nothing, and I went back to wallowing in my thoughts.

This time, however, it wasn't in the blame I placed on Kittai, but in regret.