Secrets

Chapter 8

I return forty minutes later with medical supplies and food. I enter the room only to find Kari's bed empty. Suddenly nothing makes sense and I can't breath. Where'd he go? Oh no Commander must have found out. He took him. What am I going to do? I know I should be happy that my mission seems to be coming to a close but all I can think of is Kai's face contorted in agony from the torture my father will put him through. There is a soft voice that clears my thoughts.
"You came back."
I turn in the direction the voice came from. Kai. He sitting in a corner, rocking back in forth. It's almost as if he's gone completely mad. I can't seem to form words. All I can do is think of the relief seeing him brought. I just stand there, unable to speak.
"Whats wrong?" Kai says in a voice as soft as silk.
"Oh-uh-nothing-I-uh-got the supplies. Here let me see your wound."
He just stares at me with worry in his eyes. I soon shake it off and approach him.
"Why are you in the corner?"
"Just a nervous habit."
"What do you mean?"
"When I was young, my father would leave me alone most nights to go out and get drunk. Every time he came back...he would punish me for things I didn't do."
"I'm sorry that happened to you."
"It's alright. So...what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What's your story?"
"It's complicated."
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I understand."
"It's just...difficult. Anyway, how are you feeling?"
"Aside from a headache, fine."
"Are you hungry? I got cheese and bread."
I hand him the bag of groceries.
"Thanks. You know you don't have to do this for me."
"I know."
"Then why are you helping me."
"Because it'd be rude not to."
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"For being a jerk on your first day. All you've been is nice to me. And all I've been is a complete jerk."
"It's fine," I say in a voice firmer than I meant to. But I brush it off and tend his wound.
Time passes, and we just sit on the floor in silence. Neither of us knowing what to say. Suddenly the silence is broken by the door to the room we're in, bursting open. Cluttering in, come men in suits, these suits aren't like what the policemen wear. These suits, I know these suits, they have a familiar symbol on the forearm. It suddenly hits me like a ton of bricks. They're my fathers men.