Ashleighe did her best to watch the semifinals game from her usual position on the track surrounding the football field, but score after score for MVHS raised the counter on the scoreboard, leaving little time to do much else but cheer.
The stadium was packed to the brim, filled with students, parents, recruiters, and other football fanatics. There were kazoos and airhorns, confetti and glittering signs.
The air smelled distinctly of humans, yet wasn't that what football was all about?
Ashleighe was impressed by how well Kyle was performing under such intense pressure. To a casual observer he would not even appear to have broken a sweat. Each of his throws were perfection, as if thrown by a machine.
Even when their defense slipped, letting the opposing team score, it was apparent that their opponents would be unable to close the ever-widening gap.
As halftime rolled around, Ashleighe was relieved to know the other team's cheerleaders would be performing their show first.
She motioned her team towards the edge of the field where they kept their water bottles.
She was consuming the water fast enough to be constrained by the speed of the water and not her frantic gulps.
"Wow… what a game!"
Ashleighe swallowed the last of her water before turning around to face her friend. "I know, right!? My heart is still pounding!"
They both laughed, and continued laughing, almost to the point of tears.
The stress of continuously performing in front of such a large crowd was finally getting to them.
During the ten minutes the cheer girls had to recover, they sat, joked, and laughed their anxieties away.
~~~~
As half-time came about, Kai was waiting in the stadium parking lot for another prime target to come along, and yet none did.
That was not to say that the lot was unfrequented. Only that the humans who visited their vehicles during halftime were not emanating any particularly strong emotions.
Instead, they were grabbing coats and gloves, or charging their phones during the intermission.
And yet his hunger did not want him to rest.
He could feel the new emotions he had eaten seeping out of his soul and evaporating into the nothingness, instead leaving him craving more.
His attention darted from spot to spot, human to human, looking to once again be gratified by the flowery expanses and electric sensations of the feelings of others.
He zeroed in on one human, and then another, and another.
He had to replace all the energy he was losing!
Suddenly Kai stopped, frozen by a thought.
Instead of continuing his search, he turned his attention inwards.
Forcing himself to exert carefully controlled currents of mental energy within himself, he began to focus on calming himself.
After all, if anxieties and fears caused humans to leak emotions, why wouldn't he be the same?
He felt his desires and instincts fade to the background as the flood of mental mist slowed to a trickle, and then finally none at all.
Kai was not jolted out of his state of unending calm until the humans swarmed through the parking lot once again.
Logan, Ashleighe, and Kyle all headed to their vehicles together. The split off from Kyle together, Logan ostensibly driving Ashleighe home.
As Kyle neared his car, Kai zipped through the sky and down towards the player's parking area, and waited for Kyle to arrive, ready for the safety of a human mind once again.
~~~~
Becca was sitting in the untamed grass behind Kyle's home. She had her earbuds in, listening to a play by play of the semifinals match.
Her anger was hard and cold, matching her resolve. Kyle didn't deserve this win, and he most definitely didn't deserve the chance to compete in the final match of the season. Oh no, Becca knew she would have to act tonight to mete out justice.
She watched as his car pulled in front of his home, her heart beginning to race.
She took in a long, deep, shaky breath. 'Calm yourself, Beccs. You've got a few hours to go yet.'
Her hands trembled and she nearly dropped her phone as she went to check the time.
"Fuck!"
She cursed under her breath as her screen practically blinded her dilated eyes. Of course she had forgotten to turn down her screen brightness!
She frantically fumbled with her screen in an attempt to lower the brightness, incredibly aware of how fat her thumbs were.
She turned her body to hide the light from Kyle's window, not that anyone was there to see the debacle.
Slightly distracted by the continuous strain of ignoring her anxieties enough to focus on the world around her, Becca nearly missed watching Kyle enter his home.
She was beginning to slip.
Her focus was waning.
The stress.
It was getting to her.
Oh god.
She had to!
Tonight!
Kyle Whitaker HAD to.
He could no longer exist.
~~~~
Kai was hanging out in the back of Kyle's mind when he noticed something strange.
Somehow, outside their home, the angry mental energy from the school hallway was waiting.
How curious.
Kai stepped out of the ever-shifting cloudy landscape to get a better look.
The energy had grown stronger over these past few days.
He watched the mists slowly take form, spilling out into the world around the unlucky girl.
A writhing mass of anger, violently twisting in the air. Seething, seeking to destroy all that it could see and then continue on past that. It was nearly… solid.
And yet…
Kai felt connected to it.
He felt their murderous intentions, the true depths of their all-consuming hate.
The energy shifted slightly as Kyle's bedroom light turned on, the girl beginning to approach the house.
And yet, Kai just watched.
He sat there, thinking, as Kyle tucked himself into bed none the wiser.
He mulled over his thoughts as their bedroom light flickered and went out.
He remained stiff, motionless, as the girl reached the walls of the house.
And then, his stomach rumbled as she began to climb.
The closer she got, the clearer their connection became. Suddenly, all became clear.
The girl's face became visible through the window. She was staring upwards, looking for handholds.
Her eyes reflected the moonlight shining down upon her, like two reflective pools in the center of a mass of shadows.
Her hair grew tangled as it flew in the wind, obscuring the empty landscape behind her.
He felt her anger surge, unfurling its wiry coils as she pulled herself up and laid eyes upon the boy.
At that moment, Kai struck.
He used his connection with the boiling energy inside her to pull it right back out.
He watched as her eyes lost focus, her hands lost purchase, and she began to fall, leaving her anger behind.
He consumed it as if breathing air, filling himself with power.
He heard a snap as she thudded against the ground, and yet she did not cry out.
Peering over the edge, Kai watched as she stared blankly up at the sky, dazed from the mental attack.
Her arms lay out to the side, seemingly normal at first.
The wrongness, the painfully contorted position she lay in did not become apparent in the low light until he observed the steady rise and fall of her chest.
Kai gazed upon Becca with contempt for her weakness.
She had failed to plan, had failed to prepare, and had recklessly followed her anger to what might be her eventual demise.
With a last glance, he turned, taking residence in Kyle's mind once again.
He was so much more interested in this energy she had brought him.
How did she have it? Why was it there?
Normally Kai wouldn't care, but it was personal this time.
After all, the energy was his own.