Trouvaille ➝ Kai Parker [DISCON]

eleven

Chapter Eleven |

KAI AND I were back at the Parker house. I was surveying the destruction of the living room from Kai's attempt of looking for the knife, and mine for a weapon. I turn my head when Kai comes back into the room from the kitchen.

He holds his hands up to show me what's in them: a needle and thread. My eyebrows crush together, the thought of the needle going through my skin makes me nauseous, "Kai, I am not letting you sew me up like a cushion."

He settles down on the couch, focusing on threading the cotton through the needle, "You gonna do it yourself?"

I roll my eyes, even if he doesn't see, "It's not even that bad."

Kai lets out a laugh through his nostrils, "You're not a very convincing tough guy, Clem."

"It's barely a scratch." I tell him, although that was a lie, it felt like a lot more and was very painful.

"Sit down." He orders.

I have choices. Many. I can stand here, I can disobey him, I can do what I want. But the way he speaks those words makes me obey and I am unsure why. So I sit on the couch with my back to him.

On the floor, resting up at an odd angle against the armchair adjacent is a mirror that was hung above the fireplace, but Kai had pulled it down to look for the knife. It laid there with a crack down one edge, but where it sat meant I could see myself and Kai in it.

I pull my shirt over my head but leave it on my arms to use it to cover the front of me.

"I hope you know what you're doing." I say, feeling my palms begin to clam up in anxiety.

"Eighteen years of being in this hell-hole, I know how to patch up a wound or two." He responds. It goes silent for a moment as I watch his reflection, he's concentrating on tying the thread to the needle. Once he's done, his eyes flicker up to the back of my head, "You ready?"

I suck in a breath through my teeth, "Shouldn't I bite on so -- holy SHIT!"

Before I can finish my sentence, Kai's already pierced the needle through my skin where the wound on my back is. I grit my teeth, almost wanting to cry at the pain, but instead I fight it and try to find things to distract myself as he agonisingly sews my skin together.

I remember the reason I was coming back to the Parker house, because of the card and picture I had found. I find Kai's face again in the mirror, "Did you... ever have a best friend when you were a kid?"

It's silent for a moment as he thinks but I feel as though he won't reply to such a sentimental question, "Not that I recall. I didn't have any friends really, let alone a best. Actually,"

And I think he's going to reveal something huge that he's just remembered, "There was this guy who used to deliver our mail, Doug, he'd bring baked goods he'd experimented making at home. Like cinnamon and pineapple cookies."

I chuckle a little, which hides the fact I want to scream in pain, "They sound disgusting."

"They were but yanno, at least he had passion for something, right?" Kai says. He stops for a moment and I watch him examine the wound before he starts again and I wince, "How'd you learn to shoot an arrow like that?"

"Pure luck." I respond.

"You know you're gonna have to stop lying at some point, Clem."