Kai's POV
Another year. January. The air's got that razor edge, biting at my cheeks as Kiara and I wrestle for UNO cards on the balcony. Stupid wind—scattered the whole damn game. Cards flipping and dancing like crazy. But then, just as the last card twirled towards the street, something shifted. Not the usual winter sting. No, this was... different. Almost... warm? That familiar prickle of unease crawled up my spine. He's back? The thought flashed, a terrifying firework in my brain. No. It couldn't be. The idea landed in my stomach, a heavy, cold stone. God, you need to understand. It all started a year ago. It's easier if I just... rewind.
1 Year Ago
January
The first day back after winter break. Dread. That soul-crushing dread hanging in the air, thick as frost. Seventeen. Officially solo. Dad, bless his clueless heart, decided I was old enough to walk myself. The car, that gleaming testament to our... whatever... wealth, stayed locked in the garage. My license? A cruel joke.
So, I walked. Cracked pavement, skeletal trees, that same biting January wind that always seemed to mock me. Just the crunch of my boots on the frozen ground and the endless loop of my thoughts for company. The sun crawled up, a fiery promise of warmth it never delivered. Just like everything else, I guess.
Kiara... she was a world away from this. Born a girl, she just... flowed. Her smile, her laugh – instant acceptance. Dad practically worshipped her. Everyone did. And me? I had to earn every damn scrap of attention. Prove my worth with chores, with grades. It felt like climbing Everest in flip-flops while Kiara floated on a goddamn cloud.
The school loomed. Concrete and glass against a grey sky. My stomach tightened. The hallways were a goddamn zoo, a rainbow of colors and noise. Shoving, laughing, shouting... all the things I wasn't. Girls in bright scarves, boys with deliberately messy hair... they were all in it. And I was on the outside, pressed against the glass. Envy, raw and sharp, ripped through me. A desperate, aching longing to belong.
It's beautiful being where everything was lively and everyone was happy. I wished I felt like I belonged, but I was an outsider looking, begging people to let me in, but no one ever hears or sees me. Invisible. A ghost in a crowded room. My chest squeezed tight with the silent scream of wanting to be seen. To be felt.
Tried to shake it off. Tried to find some kind of anchor in routine. Head down, try harder. Focus on today's lesson, become a better person. But the flimsy bubble I'd built always burst. Always.
Liam. Jake. The star quarterback and his pathetic shadow. Swaggered into class. The sneers started before the bell even rang. Usually, I'd try to fade, to become part of the wallpaper. But today... something snapped. Maybe it was the weight of everything – being invisible, being unwanted, just... being me. Maybe I was just too tired to fake it anymore.
They came to my desk, faces twisted in that familiar look of contempt. Liam shoved me. Hard. I stumbled, books flying. Before I could even process it, Jake's fist connected. Then... nothing. Darkness. A wave that swallowed everything whole. Just echoes of the hallway, blood pounding in my ears, and the cold realization that the world didn't give a damn. It would keep spinning. And that warm wind on my face, was it back? Is it too long? Is just me?