Two Of A Kind ⍟ Kai Parker

TWO

𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐀

I have this world all to myself until someone makes their presence noticeable.

Moving the cart forward, looking through the packets of Hostess chips, I whip out an uncounted amount into the shopping cart.

Exactly eight steps away are the exit, I stop at the cashier table. Yes, I counted. Pulling out the drawer, I take a lot of cash. Not that I need cash in this world.

Toying the paper pieces between my fingers, acting as if I was counting. I pay for the things I took from the store. I paid from the money I had stolen from the houses in Crater Lake.
Even in a world where I am alone, I pay for things. I am so generous.

Making my way out of the store, the realisation hit me. Shit, I didn't bring a car.

A car was parked a few steps away from me. Hope the car keys are in it. But right then I noticed something.

Looking around, nothing suspicious. I still feel paranoid. This car wasn't here before. Or did I see it wrong? Shrugging off the feeling, I get in and gawk for the keys. Thank fuck, it was there. I load the contents into the car.

Amazing! I start the car. Awful sounds were heard coming from the car exhaust pipe. I climb out to check. I start feeling rage build.

Keep calm, breath in, breath out. There was a banana stuffed into the pipe. I pull the fruit out which was black by the junk and dust of the pipe. Disgusting! There is someone around.

Although the car had its exhaust pipe blocked when I started the car again, it worked. I drive for 8 minutes then parked the car in front of the house. Something caught my attention.

It was a person standing with folded arms before their chest. I waved at the guy. Acting all normal. It is normal. Anything is normal at this point.

"What? No thank you?" He asks.

I throw the dirty banana at him, "accept this as a thank you from me and shove this up to your ass," he shakes his head at me as he chuckles. I walk past him as I drag the grocery bag inside. It was getting dark, the eclipse is about to start. Same old shit, but a different day.

He follows in. "How rude you are!" He says in a sad tone. He takes a packet of chips from the bag I brought tears it open and munching on the food in it.

"I know, right. Parking a car in front of the store, stuffing a banana in the exhaust pipe. I knew someone was around. So... Who are you?" I ask the blue-eyed guy.

"Sorry, manners, I'm Kai, nice to meet you, pork rinds?" Is he offering me the food that I bought?

"You stole all the money and then paid. You didn't need to pay for the groceries, you know. It's not the real world" he says as if I don't know already that this is not the real world.

"I know, I know. How long have you been in here?" I ask as I take some from the pack.

"Over 17 years. 6321 days to be exact. How long have you been here?"

"7 months," I answer.

"How did you get here?" He questions.

"I used the ascendent from January 20, 1981, the lunar eclipse zone, prison world and I'm here," I put the groceries in their places. I don't feel like cooking anymore. I am lazy, get over with it. I guess I'll just feed on chips and fruits today.

"What do you mean? You were in the 1981 prison world? That was your prison? How did you escape? And you'd have escaped to the real world, not to another prison world," Kai bombards me with questions.

"That wasn't certainly my prison, it wasn't specifically made for me. I have studied enough on prison worlds, I've been going through prison worlds for 15 years since they used a different spell to send me here than the usual spell. I escaped-" I count on my fingers before saying, "1 of them with my magic and the power from the celestial event and passed the others as I supernaturally bled to death. According to Lily Salvatore, this is the last prison I'll get thrown into since I told her that the 1994 prison world was the latest one back in 1996. So, if I make it out of here I'll go to the current world, not into another prison. Hopefully. Oh, I hate Geminis, especially Parkers," the last line makes Kai laugh a little. I guess he hates them too.

"Who is Lily?"

"A prisoner from October 31, 1903," he nods at my answer.

"Why are you a prisoner? What did you do?" He asks. God, he is so annoying.

"Why do you ask so many questions? Give me a rest," I bite onto an apple. I was about to leave, he grabs my forearm harshly. I shove his hand off me. Shooting a dirty look at him, I walk upstairs, into a bedroom. I lay down on the bed. I hear the front door close. I guess the only companion in this world went away.

Soon slumber consumes me only to find myself getting suffocated a few moments later.

I struggle a little after I push the pillow away from my face and sit up. It was Kai. Why the hell is he trying to kill me?

"Excuse you? You have 15 seconds to explain yourself," I grit at him. He looks at me in confusion.

"What are you?" He asks. "A squirrel," I answer. He sits on the edge of the bed.

"Nice try. I tried to siphon from you earlier but I didn't feel any magic. You are not a witch nor a vampire. You are not a werewolf, it's a full moon, you'd have turned by now. You are not a vampire, if you were, you would have used your vamp strength," he rambles away.

"So you tried to kill me to know what I was?" He shrugs at me. "Well, what do you think I am?"

"A human or a siren or I don't know,"

"I am a tigress, I shift on new moons," I lie.

"Hmm, that'd be cool but I don't think that is true. But we will find out, Mia" he says lying down beside me with his hands under his head.

Then it clicked.

"Mia who?" He rolls his eyes. I don't remember telling him my name.

"Uhm, sorry, what was your name again?" He asks.

"Gracia," I don't know why I lied but I did. He nods humming.