The effort and energy required by his actions finally caught up to Kai. Although it would be a shame to miss the rest of the debacle, he wasn't sure he could afford to stay and watch. Something deep inside him told him that running out of energy in this frozen land would be a huge, perhaps fatal, mistake.
Kai zipped out the front doors and into the parking lot, and back into Kyle's mind he went.
He was still unsure what made Kyle such a great host, but the lack of resistance when entering his mind was most definitely a huge plus.
Taking up residence once more, Kai curled up and fell asleep, taking his first nap on Earth.
~~~~
Kyle ate his food in his car, ignoring the cold. He was sad he wasn't eating with his friends, but something felt wrong.
No, it was more like…
Something was missing.
With a shake of his head to clear his strange thoughts, Kyle went back to eating his now cold lone slice of pizza.
School seemed to fly by in a blur, and soon enough he was at football practice once again.
Not 20 minutes into practice, coach had sidelined him once again.
After rehearsal he moped over to the parking lot.
On the drive home, he nearly zoned out and hit a biker. Kyle wasn't sure, but it had almost felt like the entity in his mind had taken control for a second… If he hadn't prevented an accident Kyle would've called him out on his backseat driving.
After pulling into his garage, Kyle made a beeline for his bedroom, and headed straight to sleep.
~~~~
Kai was concerned about the mental state of his host.
He watched him nearly crash his car, and yet his heart rate did not fluctuate. His blood pressure did not increase.
Kai had barely taken control in time to prevent the imminent disaster!
And yet Kyle had shown no signs of stress! None whatsoever!
Something was wrong with him.
Perhaps this concerning lack of concern in Kyle would fix itself over the next few days, but Kai felt it would be better to be prepared for the worst.
He had to prepare himself for the possibility of a new host.
A new thought occurred to him. If he were going to ditch Kyle eventually, wouldn't that make him a menu item once again?
Kai could smell his sadness, and although there was not enough to satiate him, it would certainly tide him over. After all of his energy expenditure today, he was a bit peckish.
Not a minute later, he had decided.
The cold outside of Kyle's headspace hardly bothered him anymore. By now it only felt like a refreshing breeze… as long as he didn't stay in it for too long.
There wasn't a ton of sadness to consume, but the amount wasn't insignificant, either.
Doing his usual zippity swoop, Kai sucked the mist of Kyle's sadness out of the space around him.
Content, he re-entered what he almost now considered his home, watching the clouds drift by.