Kaylee felt like she was spiraling into a void, and after a few times, she blacked out. Unknowingly to her, she was surrounded by familiar faces. She could hear a consistent commotion.
"Okay! I'm just trying to figure it out!"
"Okay, but you're not going to figure it out by hounding her with more questions!"
"Can't you see she looks tired and is in pain!?"
"Where has she been?!"
"I'm Boooorrreeddddd....."
"I have no idea— shush! Let's just let her tell us."
"Will you three shut the fuck up already! Let her rest!"
The sounds of arguments, like muffled screams and sounds towards Kaylee, as she sat on a sofa, listening. Zoned out in her mind, replying to the same last remark Ivaander had ever told her.
She had more questions than answers, and from what she could remember was that — and only that. She stared at nothing but a blank and off television screen.
"Okay, okay, hush, just let me—" Justin would speak as he hesitantly walked over towards Kaylee's side.
Kaylee was like a zombie, almost sitting on the sofa, not moving an inch, as she was back in her own apartment space. She didn't seem to even realize she was there or safe now.
"Kay?…. Kay… you okay? Hello?" Justin would softly speak to her as he touched her hand.
"Shit.." Justin would speak, looking down at her hand, as both Mark and Tiffany would say in unison.
"What??"
"Her hands are cold…"
"Oka,y that's it I'm calling the police." Tiffany would speak, as Bradley was also in the room, leaning on the wall in the back of the group, chuckling at the situation.
"Oka,y stop! We don't need a damn police!" Mark shouted towards Tiffany.
"Well why the fuck not! She is not responding! We've been trying to get her to speak for like a fucking hour now!"
Justin continued to look at Kaylee before he closed his orbs briefly and stood up, leaving Kaylee for a moment. Turning to watch Mark and Tiffany argue before he spoke.
"….Tiffany's right, Mark…."
"….What?" Mark asked.
Justin shrugged.
"I mean— she's not responding… this could be serious…. We need to get her some help…" Justin added.
Tiffany threw up her arms as if to say I told you so towards Mark, as Mark sighed and reluctantly agreed with them both. It wasn't until hearing this at the end of the disagreements that Kaylee came too.
"…No… no… police…" Kaylee said, feeling a small tear come down against her face, as the three of her friends gasped and quickly came over to her side.
Kaylee, in a rush, wiped the tear away, so the others wouldn't see it, as Tiffany pushed Mark and Justin to the side, and Tiffany hugged her. Kaylee didn't hug back, as she looked down at Tiffany, who looked up at her.
"Ahhhh! Omg! Omg! Kay! Are you alright?! What happened?! We where looking for you for like four fucking days!" She exclaimed.
'Four … days? ' Kaylee pondered, putting pieces together.
"….R..really?" She said aloud, as Justin immediately jumped in to speak as well too as Kay looked over to him.
"The fuck you mean? Really? Yes! Of course, why would we not? You fucking thanos snapped on us — you scared the fuck outta all of us!"
"…How… how did I get here…" Kaylee questioned as the three of her friends looked at one another and Mark shook his head, speaking.
"You mean you don't remember what happened?"
"It could be an instant shock," Tiffany added in to say.
"A man dropped you off here— we never saw him before— but he said he worked at the train station, and he said he saw you lying on a bench."
'… A man?… train station….? A bench?' Kaylee continued to question in her mind as her friends told her how she got here.
All this didn't make sense to Kaylee, as she couldn't even remember the last thing that happened after the Ivaander ordeal. She only remembered him saying those words, and her heart breaking.
Although she couldn't comprehend why she felt that way, and for some reason, when she saw him walk away, it only made her want to chase him. Which she remembers herself doing, and leaving the kitchen before instant darkness.
It was as if after that sudden blackout, she could no longer remember anything, or from that moment on. Hearing her friends tell her that story could only mean that Ivaander and his family must've dropped her off at the train station themselves.
She found that to be rude, and also oddly strange, because why not drop her off at her apartment? It was fair that Ivaander didn't know where she lived, but he could've asked her.
Why not do it himself, and why not make one of the family members do it then? Even taking her back to the college would've done something, but how far exactly was she out? Was she miles away from civilization?
The only train stations she knew were at least 400 miles from here, which means that wherever Ivaander and his family lived was nowhere near towns, cities, streets or anything.
"And that's where we found you."
"We would've gotten there sooner but if Tiffany hurried the fuck up outta the shower, maybe— we would've gotten there at a more better time…" Mark remarked with an annoyed tone.
"Hey! I was in the shower already when you all were blowing up my damn phone!" Tiffany remarked.
Kaylee didn't hear her friends' explanations after that, as she was far too deep in her own thoughts to pay attention to them. Kaylee grunted a bit, feeling her side hurt, as Justin came to her side.
"Easy.. take it easy… that bench couldn't have been comfortable.."
"…What day is it?" Kaylee asked.
"It's Thursday. We have graduation in two days."
"Yeah— the dean will wanna see you this evening, as we told him you were a missing person and you had gotten kidnapped."
"…What?" Kaylee said, a bit dumbfounded.
"Well, what did you think we were gonna do? We didn't see you for four days… of course we thought you were.." Mark was going to say before he stopped himself.
"Dead. They thought your ass was dead." Bradley finished speaking as he smirked, while everyone else turned to look at him.
Tiffany walked over and hit him in the arm, as Bradley laughed and threw his hands up in the air.
"Pfft— what? What should I say? It's true."
"Well.. I have so many... tests and essays.. and.." Kay was going on and on about saying, before Justin shook his head.
"Don't worry about that stuff, the dean already excused all your essays and projects. You'll be graduating with the rest of us come Saturday morning."
"…Really?" Kaylee said, a bit stunned.
"Mhm. He only wants to see you to make sure you're doing okay, and getting rest, and to give you your cap and gown for Saturday." Justin finished explaining.
"Tch— I wish I could've gotten fucking kidnapped and raped then— then I could miss fucking work." Bradley proudly boasted before Justin quickly hopped up in anger towards him.
"You fucking dick…. Imma kick your fucking ass!" Justin shouted at him as Mark tried to hold him back, as Tiffany was gripping Bradley's arm tightly.
"Oh, what aye I—I'm just saying…." Bradley said, laughing as he was being pushed out of the apartment by Tiffany.
"Oka,y let's go!" Tiffany stated.
"Haha—what? What did I say?" Bradley remarked with a smirk as Tiffany shoved both herself and Bradley out of the apartment and closed the door behind them.
Kaylee rubbed her fingers through her hair and exhaled in an irritable tone.
"Hey hey, it's alright bro— he's a dick— alright we both know that man," Mark remarked towards Justin trying to calm him down.
"Imma fucking kill his ass! Bro! Why would he fucking say that shit, man!" Justin shouted, hoping Bradley could hear him.
"Aye! Aye! Dude! Calm down, ight, let's just focus on helping Kaylee… alright.." Mark replied back, continuing to block Justin from going outside.
This made Kaylee stand up and run her fingers through her hair again, before quickly speaking up for herself.
".. Uh— Uh-ha.. You know what, don't worry about me, I—I need to be alone…"
Kaylee would quickly rush off down the hallway and into her own room as she slammed the door closed and locked it behind her. Both Mark and Justin would look at one another before Justin got angrier at the situation.
Kaylee held her back against her door, rushed to her bed, and screamed into her pillow. Her mind was racing with a million thoughts, and feeling every emotion.
The only emotion that truly shone was pain and sorrow, as she couldn't shake the feeling for Ivaander. She was angry at him, hurt, and confused by what she witnessed.
She didn't know what to say, to feel, or to think anymore, and for some reason, her own friends weren't something she wanted anymore. It was as i,f without Ivaander around her— she had no real sense of enjoyment.
Kaylee rolled over in her bed and stared at the ceiling long and hard, before closing her eyes and picturing him again. Every breath she took, she had vague memories of his hands on her skin.
His lips, how full and soft they must've felt, his chest and abs, his vascular body, his gorgeous smile, and eyes, and his unique hairstyle. The thoughts made her scream into her pillow again, before feeling the pain all over again.
It wasn't until she opened her eyes that she truly wept inside her bed, allowing the flow of pain and sorrow to ooze out of her like water. She couldn't understand why she wasn't afraid of what he was.
All she knew was that she wanted to truly know for herself; she wanted to know why he was sometimes hot and then cold. Why would he sometimes like to be in the shade? Why was Blood Rituals a book inside his home?
Why did he look so pale sometimes, and then sometimes he looked like vibrant colored skin? How could he be so mesmerizing like a siren, and then flip it into a firm and cold-hearted man?
Kaylee, while lying in bed and thinking about all of this, jolted up at her last thought process. Immediately, she stopped crying as the last tear fell from her eyelids.
Quickly, she would rush towards her laptop and start to look up research about supernatural beings. Finding demonic spirits, entities, and possessions of human vessels.
She sighed and time continued to go on and on before she looked up more research, and that incident that happened on highway 49, in the Bay Area, several months ago.
Correlating that towards demonic possessions, blood-suckers, mythical creatures, with the abilities to shapeshift, eye color changing. Kaylee felt like she had found an article based on these creatures.
It seemed back in the B.C era, many townsfolk went missing and were reported with their hearts devoured and ripped out of their chest. Other reports indicate people mysteriously being hypnotized and being taken away in the night.
Then Kaylee would look up pertaining to Egyptian mythology in the A.D. period. Ancient history and pharaohs would do blood rituals on their heirs to grant them eternal life.
"This required Sirens' blood, and.... God essence spirit…demon blood." Kaylee would finish reading, as she was taken aback by all this information.
Her mind went back to the time.
"…A.D.?" Kaylee softly told herself.
'That's… that's impossible… there's no way Ivaander could've been alive during this time… unless…' She would ponder.
Kaylee remembered what Ivaander told her before she blacked out.
'If you value your safety…. You won't ever ask me that again…'
Kaylee heard that again and again in her mind, as she looked at the photos of the rituals, heirs, and the demon god-like figures. Her orbs widened before she heard a knock on her door.
Quickly, she shut her laptop as she shouted at the person to enter her room. " Uhhh— it's locked." Justin would reply as Kaylee blinked a few times and rushed up.
"Oh…. Right.. sorry, just a sec." She would tell him before going to her door and unlock it, allowing Justin to come inside. Justi,n standing at her doorway, would make eye contact with her.
"Is…. Everything alright?"
"Yeah… yeah… why?" She would ask back.
"Well… It's just you've been in your room for a while, so I just wanted to check in on you, make sure you were doing okay." Justin remarked.
Kaylee nodded before stepping back and sitting down on her bed. Justin walked inside her room a bit more, as he slid his hands in his pants pockets.
"I mean… yeah.. yeah I'm… I'm fine." Kaylee would speak in an exhale of some air.
"I… I'm sorry about what… that dick head Bradley said… I—" Justin was going to say before Kaylee shook her head and hands.
"Yeah, don't worry about him.. we know he's a dick remember…" Kaylee tried to say with a brief chuckle.
Justin briefly chuckled as well, as he nodded back towards her.
"Well, you.. Ready to go?" He would ask her, as Kaylee looked confused.
"Go where?"
Justin would look back, puzzled, and chuckle.
"Uhhh? The dean? Your graduation cap and gown?"
"Oh! Oh! Yeah! Sorry, I uh, shit is it that time already?" Kaylee stated as she quickly went to put some shoes on and grab her keys, along with her phone.
"Uhh, yeah, you've been in here for like four hours, soooo—yeah it's going on at 5 PM, let's go ahead and get that done," Justin explained, pointing out her door.
"Right, right, yeah, I'll be there in a sec," Kaylee remarked as she looked at Justin, and Justin nodded and turned heel.
"…Hey.. wait… Justin…" Kaylee stated as Justin came back to her room and looked at her.
Justin had dreadlocks, hazel eyes, and was almost slim but muscular in his own right. Kaylee always knew that she saw Justin as someone special in her life, and he always kept himself well-groomed.
"Yeah?" Justin would speak.
"….Thank you…. For… always being there for me…." Kaylee would tell him, and Justin would grin a bit and nod.
"Of course…. always." He replied before walking out of her room again.
Kaylee smiled, hearing him say that, as she sat down to put her shoes on, and turned back to look at her laptop. Looking down a bit as she inhaled and exhaled deeply before closing her door and heading out.