Kai's History

19 Years Old (Part 1)

Once more, I was alone on the streets for the fourth time, trying to find a place to stay. A place I could start calling 'home'. I tried to get a job in so many places yet again but none of them accepted me.

I was giving up once more. Yet this time the thought of dying wasn't as awful as I thought. I was exhausted to death and didn't want any more from this life. One fine day, I found a broken shard of glass and ended up trying to stab my self with it. Just couldn't do it though; it wasn't in me to end my life in a dark alleyway next to the putrid bins.

The withdrawal from all the drugs and the cigarettes wasn't boosting my mental state either. Perhaps I didn't get accepted to any jobs because of it. I don't remember much of those dark times; it's mainly a blank.

Cody's gang found me in the alleyway once or twice during this time too. They spotted me but didn't actually catch me since I ran as quickly as I could. Subsequently, I decided to find a new place to hide from them. I found a place behind the garbage bins of a Star Lucks. It came in useful since I would rather hide than get beaten up, even if it meant that I was losing. However, all of this was proven to be worth it because she came back into my life. Because Nova came back again.

*From here on out the story will be the same as 'In Need of Love' but from Kai's perspective*

At first, I had my speculations. I hadn't seen her in years but something felt strangely familiar. If I was basing it all on instinct, then I would be able to say that it was definitely, 100% Nova. But this was at night and I couldn't see very well. We could see silhouettes of people and hear their footsteps but nothing further than that.

I did see her walk with a guy who I, later on, discovered was called James. A dude she had just met because her friends were trying to hook her up with someone (so she tells me).

Nova and I made eye contact and I could nearly hear my own heartbeat. I probably freaked her out since I was just some random guy on the streets staring at her from the dark.  When she walked off my view of sight I was frozen in place. I didn't know if I should get my hopes up about this. That, by some miracle, I might have met Nova again. Still, it might not have been her. I could have been hallucinating from the withdrawal. Knowing my fate, this would probably turn out poorly for me or her if I went through with it.

I decided to not lose hope though, so I waited until the next day came to see if she was who I thought she was.  However, she didn't come the next day. I was worried that I might never see her again and that the chance of meeting up with her again was now a lost cause. Heck, the guy she was with might had been the one for her they might be going out again somewhere else. She might be with her friends having fun. Or (back then I loved the thought of this) she was home alone thinking about me. More accurately, thinking about the random homeless guy that had stared at her from the dark.

I patiently loitered for the day after and my waiting paid off... Kinda. I caught her staring at me and she looked confused or more like she was analysing something. But once I noticed she was staring at me, she just fled inside Star Lucks. I stood there, ice-cold because I could clearly see that it was her. It had to be her. She looked so familiar.

This moment was promptly broken since I could hear Cody's gang coming around. There's always that low tone in Cody's and his friends' voices that make them be heard from far away. It's basically the type of voice you would expect a gang member would have. A voice that would tell you they smoked and were high. When I was with Cody, I got used to the way they all spoke especially because I probably spoke like them too for some time. But now, I despise it, it brings back all of these memories that I avoid recalling at all costs.