1994~Kai Parker

Star-Crossed

It had been months since I had been unceremoniously ripped out of the Prison World and dropped right back into the present day. It was like no time had passed, and I had opened my eyes only to see the same scene in front of me that I had left months before. Everything was the same except for my clothes, and I had run my hands over the fabric of the dress over and over again, for it was the only proof that everything that had happened was indeed real. But now I sat in front of the window in my living room, the last rays of sunlight streaming in, still struggling to cope with it all. My family had gone out to dinner, and I had declined yet again, so I was alone. I wished that I could erase the evident worry clinging to their faces before they had finally relented and left.

I had tried to go back, to communicate with him, something, but every attempt was futile. With no one to tell, I had tried to chalk up my behavior to everyone else with tiredness or exhaustion from school, but I wasn't sure how much longer that excuse would work. I had been through things I couldn't fully explain, I had fallen in love with the last person on Earth who I thought I could, who miraculously changed right in front of my eyes, and now I had been cut off from him, left with the ache of not knowing what happened to him and the fear of wondering if I would ever see him again. I sighed as I stared out the window, headphones in, playing grunge music as if I could will him back to me. A tear slipped down my face before I quickly wiped it away.

"Please come back," I whispered, only met with the silence of an empty house.

A knock at the door startled me out of my mood, and I tried to compose myself as I got up to glance through the peephole to see who it could be. I took a deep breath as I plastered a small smile on my face and peered through it.

"Oh my God!" I cried as I fumbled with the latch before I finally managed to open the door, trembling with shock and relief.

I didn't waste a second as I threw myself into Kai's waiting arms, tears streaming down my face in full force as I clung to him, tightly, never intending to let him go.

"Oh, thank God you're here, you're safe," he sighed, wrapping his arms around me as I sank into his loving touch.

"You're back," I whispered. "I thought, I thought-"

"Hey, it's okay now," he said softly, holding me with a reassuring strength. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

"How?" I asked.

"Long story short, these people named Damon and Bonnie showed up. They're pretty cool actually, you should meet them. I especially thought that you and Bonnie would be really good friends, but anyways, we all got out! The change in me, that return of feelings, it stuck, and I kind of became friends with them, and I don't even know that person that I was before. You're fucking magic, Sloane."

"You're damn right," I replied, laughing a little as I buried my face into his neck.

Silence overtook us as we simply embraced, drinking in the ability to hold each other after so long.

"What happens now?" I asked him quietly.

"Everything, Sloane, everything can happen now."