The Medium Kid

Chapter 38

"You want to... kill him?" Alfie asked with his face crushed against Koda's chest. Koda's intentions were a little over the top. However, Connor made it known that Koda would have an unnatural love for death. Did that mean killing living things with such ease?

"I want his soul." Koda's eyes were closed. A thin smile curled his lips. The thought of the life getting sucked out of Chris elevated his heart. He wanted to have the authority and to watch Chris scream in pain as Koda chose whether he lived or died, tugging at his soul, dragging it from his body- Koda gasped and jumped out of his trance. He gripped Alfie tighter, squeezing him like he used to do to his teddy when he was little. "What the hell was that? I don't want to kill him, but I did! I don't want his soul, but-but I do!"

Alfie listened as the speed of Koda's heart kept rising. "If anyone heard this conversation, we'd be separated very quickly." He peeled his head from Koda's chest, looking up into his horror-filled eyes. "I think that was the sidekick part of you talking."

Koda swallowed his thick traumatic thoughts. "But that was disturbing, like really disturbing."

"You're deaths sidekick. I think that's normal."

"Normal? Are you joking?"

Alfie raised his brows to Koda's louder tone. "Well, no. Connor said this would happen."

"That was like a switch being flicked in my head. There's nothing normal about that."

"Koda, you're in my world now. There's nothing normal about any of this. I thought you understood that?"

"I thought I did," Koda mumbled, briefly glancing away.

"Look, I know its strange and new and weird, but you can't go quiet on me and let me assume that you're accepting it. We need to communicate. I can't read your mind."

Koda turned to examine Alfie even when he looked away. Chris wasn't the only one who had upset the medium. "I should have texted you, I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you?" Alfie asked, staring at Koda's hand that rested against his hip.

"I don't know. I saw Chris at lunchtime and he forced me to sit with everyone else at the table. It felt nice to be treated like I wasn't the Grim Reaper's sidekick. It felt like the way things were before mum died." Koda heard the wobble in his own voice and cleared his throat. "But me being sad doesn't excuse my crappy behaviour. You mean more to me than that."

"Because I'm your... person of interest."

Koda smiled and dug his fingers into Alfie's side. "My boyfriend, or are we not quite there with the labels?"

"We are, I think." Alfie rested against Koda, wanting to let his head drop against his chest and fall asleep in his arms. "Just, next time please text me."

"I will." Koda leaned down and planted a kiss into Alfie's hair. "I'm sorry. One day I'll be myself again."

"I know," Alfie smiled, closing his eyes and focusing on the comfort swarming him. Human comfort was a comfort Alfie never thought would appeal to him. Koda's smell, heat, touch, everything about him was addicting to his senses. Alfie knew there would be a time when he could define their growing attachment through words or speech, but in the present, he only had to focus on the experience of falling deeper in love with his long-term crush. "Humans are good at dealing with loss, eventually. Sometimes we take a while, but the pain replaces itself with memories, you know, the good kind. A loss makes us stronger if we let it."

Koda listened to Alfie's words. He sounded much older than an eighteen-year-old. His perception of emotion explained the wisdom in his eyes on such a young face. "How much loss have you dealt with?"