"And that's when you blacked out?" The officer taking Kaia's statement asked. His kind, round face glistening with a thin layer of sweat. Kaia was reminded of a good cop in TV shows.
"Yes." She replied, drawing the blanket tighter to her body.
She's been officially discharged but the police caught up with her before she could leave, Chanel nowhere in sight. Not that she was surprised about her sister's absence, but like everytime Chanel slips away, she was worried.
Back to the statement, she told the police all she remembered. Going home with Rosalie, feeling watched as she trekked the distance to her block, getting in and noticing the window open, then everything that happened in between was blurry but she recalled hitting her head and blacking out.
The officer had told her that even though this was strange (her kitchen and living room had been in shambles), they would try and solve this case as efficient as possible.
Kaia doubted that. She couldn't remember what happened, but she knew it was an unusual one. She also knew that she might be in danger, so she seriously started contemplating a move, especially after the officer's next words.
"It might be safer to move in with a friend until you repair the windows and front door." He advised, looking sad when Kaia seemed surprised at this information. "Like I said, house in shambles. It's a strange one."
A few hours later, she was back at her house which has a plastic bag covering her front door. A different officer had escorted her back to get her things and then she could go to Paula's who she called earlier.
Probably due to the strangeness of this break in, the police had sealed off her house until they could get leads. She would've been allowed to stay but her house was currently marked unsafe now.
Kaia got through the plastic, the officer escorting her.
And when the round faced good cop had said her house was in shambles, that was an understatement. It was like wild animals had an initiation rite fight right in her living room and kitchen.
She looked around wordlessly at the broken dishes, cabinets dangerously close to falling off, the tears on he couch.
"What?" She finally spoke.
"I'd say you got lucky, ma'am." The officer with her spoke. "Probably some psycho ripper wannabe playing a sick game. Lucky you called the cops when you did, he probably heard us coming and ran away."
Kaia shook her head, staring at the claw marks on her storage door.
No human did this.
_
"How's your sis, Cha Cha?" Ryan asked, blowing out a long string of smoke in Chanel's direction. The 15 year old concealed the fact that she inhaled it like it was life support. Her little, determined mind had taken the decision to stop vaping, she's been at it for 2 years now, at right now, she was 3 days clean.
It was so hard to pretend like she was fine when Kaia woke up. The withdrawal was hell.
She was sure the doctor in charge of Kaia had noticed something was off with her but she had done her best to focus of her book and mindlessly scroll through her phone.
And then the nausea hit, and she was toppling to the bathroom to empty her stomach's content.
It was a miracle Kaia didn't hear that, maybe the VIP section's bathroom was soundproof or some rich people shit like that.
It'd been to difficult to act normal around Kaia for long so she slipped away, back at Dixie's basement, where the friend clique she found herself in we're all vaping in her face.
"She good." Chanel seethed at Ryan. "Take that thing away from my face."
He blew another smoke on her face. "Is the temptation too strong, Princess?"
"Ryan, stop being such a dick." Selene said from where she was nestled in Chen's arms, blowing vape smoke into each other's faces. "Nelly wants to be a better person, leave us delinquents in the trenches."
Everyone laughed at that and Chanel had to bite back the retort that was well on its way to spewing out her lips.
Never had she once made her friends feel like she was better than them for trying to quit vaping. Hell, they had even joined her at first because they thought it was a joke.
Highest in the hour measurement was Chen, at 12 hours. Jo lasted a day and a few hours before deciding she couldn't. Even though she told Chanel that she was getting ready to quit and needed time to prepare herself.
Jo wasn't here. She was the oldest at 17 and most of them looked up to her or shut up when she told them to shut up. She has another friend group filled with college kids, so she was probably there.
Chanel doesn't know why she thought coming here was such a good idea. She had wanted somewhere were she could go through her withdrawals without Kaia noticing, this was the worst choice, but it was really her only choice. She had no where else to go.
Kaia had caught her vaping a few times, but that was months ago. And she made her believe she had stopped, but in return she was rarely at home anymore because she couldn't go more than 2 hours without Nicotine.
Speaking of Kaia, her phone lit up with a call from her.
"Shush, guys quiet it down."
Immediately, Chen and Selene started making lewd noises while Ryan screamed obscene words. Dixie who was passed out on the floor threw the nearest thing she could at Chen and Selene.
"You guys are actually the worst." Chanel said, meaning it as she ran up the stairs out the basement, answering the call once the door shut out the noise. "Hey K. I'm sorry I suddenly disappeared, I'm at Dixie's doing homework"
Kaia was quiet for a while. "Not that I'm complaining but why have you been so nice to me recently?"
Chanel laughed. "I found Jesus?"
She could almost feel Kaia nodding. "We both should."
It was nothing particular really. Getting in trouble and being this angsty rebellious teen was getting to Chanel and one morning after yet another visit to the police station that Kaia doesn't know about, she wondered what the fuck she was doing with her life.
She started yoga but couldn't keep up and nicotine withdrawal was the one big decision she'd taken and decided to go strong with it. Though it was proving to be such a bitch and she wanted nothing more than to go back down that basement and take a long drag from Ryan's vape.
Also, trying to be less of a bitch was another decision she'd taken way before she decided to make major changes in her life. She wasn't around Kaia much to show her that change.
"What's up? I'll be back soon." She said, thankful that her things were up here so she wouldn't have to go back down.
"Uh yeah, that's what I wanted to talk about." Kaia said. "Have you been home since?"
"Yeah, last night. Cops let me go in to take clothes and other things we would need at the hospital." She said. "House is… is a mess yeah. Shit."
Chanel cursed at the tremor that decided to go through her that moment, almost making her drop her phone. She packed up her stuff and looked back at the basement door.
For the sake of her journey, she should stop coming here because staying around her vaping friends was her increasing her chances of relapsing. And that meant she should come clean to Kaia about her never quitting back then.
"Yeah, come to Paula's instead." Kaia said then sighed. "I love you, Nel. Please make sure you're staying safe."
"I-I am, yeah." Chanel said, using her two hands to hold her phone to her ears. "Don't go all mushy on me, I'll be at Paula's before you."
"Are you okay? You sound out of breath."
"Mmh hmm. I- Kaia, I have something to tell you." Chanel took a deep breath. "I'll tell you when I see you, and please don't get mad."
"I'm anxious instead, are you sure you're okay?" Kaia asked then was quiet. "Are you in trouble?"
"Yeah with my rebelling body." Chanel muttered then let out a forced, nervous chuckle as she picked up her bag. "I'm on my way, don't worry, I'm fine."
"Okay…" Kaia said unsurely. "See you at Paula's."
"Mmh, see you. And K? I love you too." Chanel said then fake retched. "Now forget I ever said that."
Kaia laughed and Chanel ended the call, taking a deep breath. She could still smell traces of the vape smoke in the air and it took everything in her to not trace it back down. She banged on the basement door.
"Dix, I'm leaving. See most of y'all in school tomorrow." She shouted loud enough for everyone to hear her then went towards the front door, walking past a passed out Mrs. Gionni who had a wine glass with unfinished wine on the center table.
The October night air was a bit chilly and Chanel cursed as she wrapped her hands around her bare waist. Turns out crop tops don't protect you from the cold.
She'd walked just a little distance before she heard a loud metal clang. She screamed, her heart leaping in her chest.
"What the fuck?" She whispered as a white cat snarled loudly and ran out from behind the trash can across the street.
Chanel took a breath, shaking her head as she continued walking towards the end of the street. She started counting her steps from the red bricked house she usually started counting from.
It was a habit she adopted to help her cope with herself. From here, it was 54 to 57 steps to the end of the street, where she would enter a busier section.
"15, 16, 17…" She said slowly, trying to ignore the feeling of tiny legs running all around her scalp, she failed, pushing both her hands into her hair and trying to scratch off the feeling. "Ah fuck I hate this."
She started crying, wishing for nothing more than a vape right now.
Suddenly, something covered her entire face, blocking out her breath her already glistening eyes wide with terror.
She kicked back, trying to wriggle free but then she felt a sharp, searing pain on her neck but her screams were trapped in her throat, as she felt herself slipping away.
That was her 42nd step.