asylum [kai parker] editing/rewriting

Ten

S I M O N E
I don't know how long I've been in tears. But eventually Nick comes running upstairs. Nick is always here and it's starting to make me think he is my adopted brother. "Sim, Sim what's wrong?!" Nick's arm is placed firmly on my back.

I shake my head and cower myself in the covers. He shouldn't see me like this. I don't want him to. "I can't...."

Thirty...twenty-nine....twenty-eight.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I'm covering my ears, my face buried into my bed. But it only makes me realize that to Nick, I just look like I'm crazy. He isn't speaking. The voices inside my head is me falling apart. I need to tell someone. My tears dry slowly and I sit up, looking into Nick's green eyes.

"I am just like him." Shut up, Simone! Shut your fucking mouth otherwise your dead!

"Like who?" Nick's brows knit together.

"Malachai Parker." The name comes out in sobs. My mind goes back to that night when Kai was found in Darkwood. The night where I recognized him from the newspaper- my newspaper- where our murders were both printed in bold.

Recognition clicks in Nick's mind as he pulls the pieces of puzzle together. After his moment of remembering, he looks at me with sadness."No...Sim, your not."

"He killed his family." I choke, and change the subject, "Evan is dead because of m-me!"

"He murdered his family...you-" Nick begins but I cut him off.

"I heard his screaming," The high pitched squeals that sounded like a pig going in for the slaughter, "And I didn't do anything. I didn't cry, hell, maybe I'm the psychotic bitch!"

"Stop!" Nick says and puts a hand on my arm. "Your nothing like him, Simone. I wasn't there but I know you enough to know that it wasn't your fault. But, listen, let's just go downstairs. I'll make you a cup of coffee and grab you a slice of pie."

I don't want pie. I want Kai gone. But I follow Nick down the steps and sit on our soft couch in front of the television. Nick brews hot chocolate instead and brings over to steaming cups. I hold it in my hand and hold back tears. My eyes travel over to the window and I cringe at the dark that is settling in.

"Where's Dad?" I croak but it's barely a whisper.

"Working late." Nick set down his hot chocolate and looked me in the eyes. "Sim, what has been going on lately?"

"What do you mean?" My throat is sore, why is it soar? From screaming.

"You have been more clingy, secretive, antisocial, different. And suddenly you are being picked up by friends? And now you've brought up Malachai Parker? Don't get me wrong, but you haven't been driven to school since I've known you" He is dead serious.

"A lot is going on." I cough and look up at the boy who worries so much about me.

"Like what?" He is so damn curious.

"I know him." Nick probably thinks I'm bipolar. And I've been changing the subject about why I'm crying a lot. I am messed up. I'm broken.

"Know who?" Nick is lost in my conversation.

"The person you are looking for. He goes to my school." I choke.

Nick jumps up suddenly, curious. "What?"

"I know the John Doe. He sits with me at lunch. He knows where I live. He is the one who takes me to school." Tears are resurfacing.

"You what? Why didn't you tell me? I need to call your dad!"