Tempted | Kai Parker

fourteen: groundhog day

The sheets of my bed clung to my lifeless limbs, my body cradled underneath them in the same position it had lay for the past two and a half days. The only time I had managed to crawl away from the mattress was to go to the bathroom.

My eyes fixated on the bland beige walls as I let my mind go numb, attempting to block out the pain I was suddenly feeling. I measured time gone by as the walls got lighter and darker, depending on the sunlight or moonlight which seeped through the window to light the room.

The tears dried up after the first few hours. After that it was just blank. I had spent so long in seemingly eternal nothingness that I couldn't feel anything anymore. All I did was stare at the wall or sleep.

No matter how desensitised I became, as I studied the wall, one thing I couldn't help but notice was Kai's absence. My mind had become almost completely lifeless, my still bones were now brittle enough they felt like they could snap upon any impact, but still through it all, somewhere deep inside my subconscious thoughts of Kai flickered day and night.

Since I dragged myself into bed after we returned from our visit to my home, I hadn't seen him once. He hadn't bothered to check on me, or to pester me out of boredom like he always did.

There was nothing.

No contact at all.

The lack of attention from him left one unending question rattling around in my head.

Did he actually care for me at all?

The conclusion I had come to was that I was an idiot for fooling myself into even thinking he did. He told me on several occasions that he didn't feel anything, he didn't care for anyone, that he was incapable of love. I was an idiot for thinking that those things weren't true, for convincing myself he felt at least some of what I did.

My imminent sigh was then masked by odd sounds coming from the hallway. Laboured grunts echoed into my room, accompanied by the sound of something being dragged through the hall in short bursts.

The agonisingly irritating groans grumbled in my ear for what felt like eons, but from the sounds of it, whatever hell Kai was doing, he had only managed to move about a meter down the hall.

Each surge of exertion started to annoy me more and more, for no particular reason other than I wasn't in a very good mood to begin with. And by what I had counted as the twenty-second groan, I was ready to lose my temper.

Sighing heavily as I climbed from bed, I stormed over to the door, already complaining as it swung open.

"Kai what the hell are you-" I began to snap before losing my words, and knitting my brows at the odd scene, completely perplexed.

"Oh - Andie, hey." He grinned, cheeks pink as he huffed and puffed with exhaustion.

Kai's lean frame was covered with grey sweat shorts and a black hoodie, and strangely was leant against his mattress which he appeared to be attempting to lug down the hall.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked, trying to emphasise my irritation, but admittedly coming off more curious.

A sigh fell from his lips as he began to explain, his hands quickly moving with dramatic gestures to accompany his rushed words. "Well, first of all you really weren't meant to see me doing this." He started. "But anyways, I know you've been kind of sad or whatever, and I don't understand it - you know grief, but I thought maybe if I did something fun for you, you'd be healed."

Through Kai's erratic words my mouth found time to coil up into a small grin that I was reluctant to let reside on my face. Even through my stubbornness I couldn't help but succumb to the warmth that bled through my chest.