Plant Life [A KaiLen Fanfic]

Chapter Seven

    I woke up underneath a clear moonlit sky, on the sand of the Umbrella Beach. It felt a little cold, and I was soaking wet. So relaxed and cool, I thought I was apart of the beach.

    Then I felt the burning pain...

"Fuck—!"

    I instantly sat up with saltwater pouring from my mouth and nose, gagging and coughing at the burns and scratching my throat. When the pain passed, I was panting heavily, shivering and extremely thirsty...

    Good god, what was Len doing to me...

I pushed myself to my feet and walked back to my car. I threw my scarf and shoes in the passenger seat and finally drove home. When I got there I took a warm shower to get the sand and salt off my body, then after I laid in bed, staring at the star stickers and paper planes.

    I didn't want to be in silence, so I brought my radio in the room and set it on my dresser to let it play. It played songs for a short time, then it went to a news report about another bombing, but I wasn't paying attention. Len was all I could think of...

I could see him again in the lake, naked and smiling as we looked for crystals. My body heated up. I held onto myself and balled up in bed as I started to cry.

I hope I can bring him home with me soon...

————

After Kaito dropped me off I was met with screams from my family for disappearing; sorry for letting Neru get me drunk and then dumping me in the middle of an empty road.

    Mother complained about my messy hair and demanded that the hairdresser do something about it. Father sent me to the bathroom for a bath, saying something about a filthy scent on me. I'm sure it was just the fresh scent of lake water and pine trees bothering him; he should get out more.

    Afterwards, I was stuck in a room with Neru as she listed out plans for the big event. She wanted so many ridiculous things for our wedding, from bouquets of rare, exotic flowers to a ten layer cake, I couldn't keep up with it all.

    "Darling?" I didn't even notice Neru when she spoke.

   "Y-Yes?"

    "What do you think of the flowers my bridesmaids will be wearing? We should definitely go with spider lilies right?" She said.

    I remember seeing daisies and sunflowers blooming in the forest. They were such gentle and soft flowers; they reminded me of him...

"Do as you please..." I said silently.

    "Oh for fucks sake!"

    Neru stood up and slapped a hand on the table, startling me. I raised my hands in slight defense, afraid of her hitting me again.

   "Wh-What? What's wrong?"

    "Do as you please! Do as you please! You always say that! You act like you don't even care about the wedding!"

    I don't care; I wanted so desperately to yell that at her. I don't fucking care about your exotic flowers, I don't fucking care about your ten layer cake, I don't fucking care about you. But I remembered why I was doing this... and I remembered what happened to my twin sister when she backed out of a wedding... so I choked back my feelings and let them drown...

    "It's just... this wedding is about you, sweet. I want everything to be to your liking, not mine. Whatever you're happy with, I'll be happy with,"

    I gave her a counterfeit smile. She believed my lie and embraced me with a real smile.

    "You're absolutely wonderful, Len,"

    I returned the embrace and left a kiss on her cheek so she'd really buy the lie. Somewhere deep in my mind, I was sitting in a crib that an infant would sleep in. I was desperately trying to get the bars holding me captive to break as I screamed and cried to be let out.

   A pair of hands hit me over the head.

   They forced a pacifier in my mouth.

   I continued to cry.

   But no sound came out.