𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 - jj maybank

- 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

𝗥𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗻 was fucking on one.

It was Sunday afternoon, and Kaci Flores was volunteering to help out some of the elderly people over at the bungalow estates. Ali Gutierrez was one of the best people Kaci had ever met; she was way too honest for her own good, told everyone she didn't like to fuck off, and was the walking definition of a leo.

Kaci had known the old woman since she was seven, and she considered Ali a grandparent by now. However, as the years went on and Kaci grew older, Ali grew more sick. She hid it well, but everybody knew she was coming close to the end of her book.

Today, Ali slept through her meals, through all her favourite television programmes, through game time, and it worried Kaci a little. These were all her favourite things to do, the only things to woman ever had to look forward to, but she was too tired to do anything anymore.

"Rafe, you need to chill out —" Kaci sat on the flowery couch, sucking on a ice pop with a thick sweater over her body. It was ideal how early she had to leave for Aliʼs; that way nobody was awake to see her leave. And Aliʼs eye sight wasn't the best, either, so she was safe at her house.

"No, no, I can't fucking do it anymore, Kace," the boy on the phone cried, voice cracking. "It's all fucked, I need to do something, I need to break something, and I can't — I can't fucking move, I'm so fucking bored."

"Rafe —"

"No, Kaci, I need to — I need to let it out." She could practically see the drunken nod he was giving himself right now. "I can see myself doing it and I can't stop — I can't stop, Kaci."

"You can't stop what, Rafe?" the girl asked, growing more worried by the second. She'd been there for Rafe through many of his meltdowns, she'd let him scream and cry and break things before. His family were never there for him, so she felt it was her responsibility to be. And she wanted to be there for him. He had nobody else.

"Killing them," the boy answered slowly. "I can feel it — I can do it. I want to do it."

"Kill who?" Kaci sucked on the inside of her cheek, not sure what to do in this situation.

"Everyone — the fuckin' pouges, fucking Dad, fucking Sarah, you."

"Rafe, you don't mean that."

"I do," he expressed, voice getting louder. "I fucking mean it, Kaci. I can fucking see it, and I can't — it won't stop showing me."

"Rafe, where are you?" she asked. "Do you want me to pick you up? Watch a movie or something?" She didn't know what else to say, she wasn't trained for this shit.

"You don't fucking get it, Kaci!" the boy shouted through the phone, and she heard something in the background smash. "You're the reason for all of this shit. If you'd just fucking — it's all your fucking fault. You and fucking everyone thinking they can fucking do shit. You're a fucking cunt, Kaci, and I can't fucking stand you."

The call ended.

One, two, three — forty times, Kaci tried calling back. She tried calling Ward, calling Sarah, calling Wheezie and even calling Rose to see if anybody knew where he was. Nobody did. Nobody wanted to help him. They all told her to just leave him. To let him sort himself out.

He didn't need the help, everyone said. But the hadn't seen Rafe at his lowest. They weren't the ones who had to sort him out everytime. They weren't the ones he came to when he was at breaking point.

Call her names, call her dumb and emotional, but Kaci was almost eight months pregnant and dealing with a drug addicted boyfriend that had clear mental health issues. She was hormonal and felt guilty for everything that happened. And she had seemingly nobody in her corner.