Emily Ashworth is just getting settled into college, making new friends, when all of sudden her entire life changes. Who would have thought, the town sociopath would be the one to help her through everything when she needed it most...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It was early evening now, and Kai and Emily had been on the road for hours. Emily could feel her eyes getting tired and she could only imagine Kai probably was too. "Do you think we could find somewhere to stop for the night?" She asked him. He glanced over at her and back to the road ahead. "Ah, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist getting me into bed..." He laughed. Emily frowned at him and inhaled deeply, ignoring his comment. "I'm pretty tired, you must be too after all the driving. Why don't we call it a day and start out again tomorrow?" "Sure. Have a look on google and see where the nearest motel is. We'll stop there for the night." He continued driving with his eyes glued to the road.
Emily had found a motel 10km up the road and they decided to crash there. It was a dingy little motel. Nothing fancy, but at least it was somewhere she could close her eyes and get some proper rest. She threw her bag on the bed and looked around the room. "Nope. No way." She groaned. She looked around the room again quickly. Sure enough, there was only one bed. "There is no way in hell I'm sharing a bed with you Kai." "I wouldn't even dare suggest it Emily. You can take the couch." Emily rolled her eyes at Kai and headed towards the bathroom. "I'm having a shower..." "Need to cool off after all those naughty thoughts of us sharing a bed huh?" She ignored him again. His comments were getting worse by the minute.
She locked the bathroom door behind her and turned on the shower, getting the water nice and hot. She needed this. Her body ached from sitting in a car for hours, and her head ached from listening to Kai talk for the same amount of time. She climbed out of her clothes and stood under the hot water. Finally she could relax and she closed her eyes. She enjoyed the feeling of the water hitting her skin and she took it all in. Every single drop of water hitting her body. All of a sudden she couldn't feel the water on her skin anymore. She opened her eyes to see it frozen in mid air. Glistening droplets, all around her, completely still. Wow. She excitedly jumped out of the shower and threw a towel around herself. She heard the shower start running again as soon as her concentration broke. She flung the door open and ran over to Kai with a huge smile on her face. "Kai! Kai! You'll never guess what...."
She froze on the spot. In front of her, Kai was sat on the bed with his back to her. He didn't turn to look at her, but he stopped what he was doing and she could see him tense up. "Kai. What are you...." She walked towards him and he looked up at her. In his hand was a familiar looking leather bound book. Her journal. "What the hell Kai?!" she screamed, pulling the journal from his hands. 'I just..." He was lost for words. He had no idea what to say to her. "Don't. Don't even bother. There is absolutely no reason why you should even be touching my journal. That's private!" "Emily, I'm...." "No! Get out! Go!" "What? Where am I supposed to go Emily?" "I don't know and I don't care but I need you as far away from me as possible right now before I do something we'll both regret." She could feel the anger building up in her and the windows and mirror in the room started vibrating violently. If he didn't leave, she knew she was going to explode, along with half the motel room.
He walked past her towards the door, briefly turning and about to speak before stopping himself. Kai walked out and closed the door behind him. Emily sat down on the bed, holding the journal to her chest. Why would he do that? She knew why. Because he was a sociopath and I didn't care about anyone other than himself. He probably had a good laugh at everything she'd written. All the times she'd poured her heart out about her friends, her family... even about him. He must have read what she'd written about him. She felt even more angry now. But mixed in with anger was the familiar feeling or being taken advantage of. It always happened. No matter who she met, eventually they took advantage of her. She pulled on her pyjamas and climbed into bed, tucking her journal underneath her pillow and pulling the covers tightly around herself.
It took her a while to get to sleep. About an hour after she'd gone to bed, she heard the door click open and could hear it was Kai. She pretended to be asleep so she didn't have to endure speaking to him. She heard him say her name quietly a couple of times, then he lied down on the couch. Within a few minutes, she could hear him snoring. Emily closed her eyes, and fell asleep too.
The next morning, Emily woke up to the sun shining brightly through the window. She looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table and it was 11am. She'd slept in for the first time in ages. She rolled over, looking around the room, but there was no sign of Kai. She wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved. She jumped out of bed and quickly changed into a pair of skinny jeans and her Nirvana shirt. She looked around for something to make coffee with, but no luck. Typical. She could really do with a nice cup of coffee right now.
She slumped down onto the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. A few seconds later the door to the motel room flew open and in he walked. 'Morning sleepyhead. You were snoring away so I thought I'd go grab coffee and a danish. I guessed you'd probably be in need of a coffee after last night..." "I don't want to talk about it Kai. And thankyou." She picked up the coffee from the table and took a sip, then grabbed a danish, taking a bite. "I really am sorry Emily. I shouldn't have read your journal. It was a huge invasion of your privacy and..." "I said I didn't want to talk about it." She sighed. "Okay." He dropped the subject and sat on the couch next to her.
"So, I reckon if we leave soon, we should reach Portland before this evening. We're over half way there already." "And when we get there?" She asked. "We'll go see my coven and find out what they know about yours." "What makes you so sure your coven will even want to help? They weren't exactly fans of yours before were they?" "Well, that's one of the perks of now being the all powerful Gemini Coven leader! They won't have much choice!" He laughed to himself. Emily shook her head. "I just can't see them wanting to help you Kai. I mean, what if they try and kill you the second we get there?" "They can't kill me. If they kill me, they all die as well." "Okay.... but there's still no saying they'll...." "They will help Emily. I'll promise them that as soon as they've helped find out where you come from, I'll leave Portland and not come back. They won't have to worry about me again." He sighed. He sounded slightly disappointed about the idea of not returning to Portland. Emily guessed he must have at least had some good memories from living there, even if they were few and far between.
Half an hour later, they had checked out of the motel and were putting their bags in the car. "I read what you said about me." He said in almost a whisper. "Kai." "I know, I know. I just feel like I need to explain." "There's really nothing to explain Kai. You read my journal. You took advantage of my trust. It's what always happens to me. I'm used to it and shouldn't have expected any different." "Especially from me, you mean?" "No, from anyone. Everyone's the same." She climbed into the passenger seat and did her seatbelt up, holding her journal in her lap. She wasn't going to let it out of her sight for the rest of the journey. Kai glanced over at her. "Maybe I'm different? Maybe you can trust me?" "I very much doubt that Kai...." She sighed and turned her head to look out of her window as he pulled away from the motel.