Trouvaille ➝ Kai Parker [DISCON]

four

Chapter Four |

THE NEXT MORNING I woke up in what looked like Damon's room. I furrow my brows in confusion, I was certain I'd fallen asleep in Stefan's bed. After being unable to figure out what had happend, I pulled myself out of the comfortable bed and freshened myself up before wandering down the stairs, expecting to be greeted by Kai.

He didn't appear. He wasn't in the living room either, or the kitchen. Maybe he was still asleep, or maybe he'd given up and left, I hoped.

I decide to get some fresh air and make my way out of the front door of the boarding house and into the warm sunlight that was shining yesterday. I walk a few steps ahead and to a newspaper that was folded up on the porch floor. I pick it up to see the date, 10th May 1994.

The date Liv had said the prison world reoccured. Other than that, I had no other information on how she knew of the prison world, or what she knew about it. We didn't exactly have time to chat considering we're not that friendly and we had to get Damon and Bonnie out as fast as we could, the me getting stuck here was not part of the plan.

My eyes wander across the headline story, it read: FAMILY MASSACRED IN PORTLAND

I furrow my brows, beginning to read the story of the mass murder. Four of the children died, and there was only one missing, a twenty-two year old named Malachai. Why did that name sound so familiar to me?

"Want some coffee with that?" A voice suddenly whispers in my ear causing me to almost jump out of my skin. I move forward and spin around to face Kai. He chuckles and then smirks, "So jumpy. Enjoying the news? Anything interesting?"

I ignore his questions and begin to head back inside the house, "Thought you'd left me here, alone."

"Tempting." Kai says from behind, "But your friends still haven't come back for you yet. So, maybe I'm using that term too generously? Acquaintances? Is that better?"

"It'd be better if you shut up." I retort, stopping in the kitchen.

"How'd you sleep?" Kai asks as I place the newspaper down on the surface and he stands on the opposite side of the kitchen island, "Any saucy dreams? Or nightmares, if you're more into the darker side of things."

"I barely got any sleep." I tell him, "Too much overthinking about how to get the hell out of here."

"Hm." He grumbles as though in thought, "Except, you did sleep at one point. Or more specifically, sleep walked."

I scoff, "I don't sleep walk."

Kai cocks an eyebrow at me, "Then explain you trying to climb into bed with me last night?"

I narrow my eyes at him before throwing the newspaper, aiming for his face, "You're a terrible liar."

He lets a chuckle rumble from his chest and puts his hands up in defeat, "I lied about you trying to climb into my bed, not like you haven't thought about it already, but you did sleep walk from one room to another."

"I don't sleep walk, Kai." I tell him.

"Hm," He hums to himself before a grin creeps onto his face, "looks like I know more about you than you know about yourself, Clem."

"Highly doubtful." I retort, "And I told you to stop calling me that, I don't like it."

"It's your name." Kai states.

"No." I say, moving to the fridge. I open it and grab a carton of apple juice, "My name is Cleo."

When I turn to face him again, he's still staring at me as he gets comfortable on a stool, "Your names Clementine. Clem is short for Clementine, right?"

"Are you really going to be this irritating the entire time we're here?" I question, furrowing my brows, "When I say my name is Cleo, you call me that or I will -- "

" -- will? What?" He interupts, intrigued, and then chuckles, "May I remind you of last night? So close, yet so far, Clem. It's almost as though you weren't even trying, or it's just that easy for me to end your life. Ah, but you go ahead and keep on ranting about how you plan on thrusting a knife into my heart, it's kinda hot."

I scowl at him in silence. He glances to the paper, "Are you gonna do the crossword? I feel like you're the kinda girl that's into that sort of thing."

"You don't know me at all so don't even try to act like you do, or like you care." I frown, "Anything you say is irrelevant to me."

"Ah," He exhales and smiles, "now that reminds me of family breakfast, that was always a delight."

"And why do I feel like I'm now gonna hear your life story?" I rhetorically question, "Shame I don't care, I just want to get out of here."

"Well..." Kai begins as he grabs the newspaper from the surface and begins to flick through the pages.

I sigh, "...and you're gonna tell me anyway."

"It all started on the day my parents named me Malachai." He says and I feel my face and heart completely drop. Kai laughs, I think at my expression, "I know, who names a kid Malachai, right?"

Kai tilts his head ever so slightly and narrows his eyes, "You seem afraid. Is it the name?"

"Malachai..." I repeat, "The one in the newspaper?"

Kai's eyes flicker down to the page and I see he's taken out the page of the Portland mass killing story, "They wrote a story on it pretty quick, don't you think?"

I feel my insides tremble, "Wait, did you..."

"Kill them?" Kai finishes my question as I'm unable to process it. He exhales a breath and begins to point to each of the four pictures of the children, "These two I hung off a stairwell railing, I put a hunting knife in her abdomen, and him, I drowned in the pool."

"You..." I couldn't form any words or sane train of thought.

"Not everyone died." He states, "I had a soft spot for one of my sisters, so I cut her spleen out."

I blink several times, feeling as though it would help me hear what he had said better and that I'd heard wrong, "What?"

"What?" He questions back, "You can survive without a spleen."

I try to catch my escaping breath and rush out of the kitchen. I hear Kai groan and then his footsteps following me, "Oh come on, where are you going? There is nowhere to go if you wanna wait for your little friends, you know."

I come to a halt in the living room and keep my back to him for a moment, trying to catch my frightened breath and stop the repulsive feeling rushing through my veins. I finally face him, "You killed your family."

"Like I said, not everyone died." Kai retorts. He holds his hand with the newspaper article in towards me, "Read it, it's a fun story. Plus, what else is there to do?"

My hand shakes as I lift it, and I pull the paper from his hand. I read over the article, "Malachai Parker."

"Ugh," He screws his face up, "now see why I chose Kai?"

"Parker." I repeat and then my mind turns and the thoughts start flowing through my mind like a river. My eyes widen, "Liv's your sister... that's how she knew... and Luke... oh my God." I scan the article for more information, "And you're from Portland. Wait... how old are you?"

"I've been twenty-two for the past eighteen years."

My heart jumps and my throat tightens at his words. I shake my head, "This... isn't possible..."

"What isn't?" He asks, furrowing his brows at me.

Before I can say another word a high pitched noise squeals through my ears and it feels as though my brain is going to explode in my head. I drop the paper and grab either side of my head in both hands. I begin to scream in pain and drop the my knees in agony.

"Clem?!" Kai shouts before everything becomes dark and I can no longer see or hear a thing.