"Ava," Kai sat on her bed, staring out the window with his back turned while she was getting dressed, she had gone the extra mile and even cleaned his clothes the night before.
"Yes?"
"What you did for me yesterday, and last night, I won't ever forget it, I promise," He looked around at her while she was finishing the buttons on her blouse and the girl smiled and nodded at him.
"Well, it still doesn't compare to you saving my life yet, does it?" She asked, picking up his jacket and holding it out for him. "I owe you my life twice over now, I have two lifetimes worth of debt to you so don't even think of leaving me behind, I'll dedicate my everything to you from now on," She chuckled.
"Even if you turn into a crappy guy later on, a drunkard, whatever, I'll stick with you no matter what."
"That isn't funny," Kai took the jacket from her and threw it over his shoulders. "My father is a drunkard, he used to beat my mom every night before we went to sleep, one night she gave up and didn't bother waking, no excuse can cover being a shitty person." He spoke it casually but his words carried weight behind them. "I'll never become that kind of man."
Ava nodded, knowing that he wouldn't have shared this if he didn't have some level of trust in her, so instead of the usual "I'm sorry" Which came after a serious topic like that, she closed her eyes in thought.
She remembered him saying "again" when she made the comment of dying in his arms, so made a guess that he had witnessed his mother's death as it happened, it explained why he was so protective of her who he had saved several times after finding out she was being bullied by her male schoolmates.
"How old were you?"
"Seven."
"Your father?"
"He was never charged, she took pills before she went to bed, they called it ...suicide." He responded once more, and the topic got heavier.
"Is this why you asked Andrew to tell your stepmom to get away from him?"
"Yes, whenever I'm not around he hits her too, so she spends the daytime locked away in my room and sleeps there at night as well, the only interaction they have is when I am around, he's ...afraid of me, so he stays away when I am awake; he's been calling me the devil since I was six years old."
Kai was being very forthcoming and answering everything, but the replies were starting to get harder and harder to swallow for her, so Ava stopped there and rubbed her forehead.
°°°
"Is there any part of your life that is normal?" Ava asked Kai after they exit her house and began walking to the closest bus stop.
"Susana," He answered. "She married him eight years ago, two years after my mother died, and she has been good to me all this time, she is an angel sent to protect me from the real devil-"
"What, really, an actual angel?!" Ava snapped clapping her cheeks with her palms in excitement and receiving awkward glances from other students in their area who were also headed towards the bust stop.
"No... dummy," Kai blushed and turned from her scratching his head. "Until I met you, I viewed the world as the enemy, everyone deserves to die, they still do, but Susana is different, she is a pure soul who has always been there for me, so... I don't want to lose her."
"Oh my gosh~ is this a proposal?" Ava leaned in and bumped him in his ribcage with her elbow. "What happened to the hard and brooding Kai from yesterday, have you already been softened by my wife-like pampering, Kai?" She chuckled poking his cheek with a silly expression.
"Hmm~?" She asked again and he huffed, dropping his hand on her head roughly and staring down at her for teasing him.
"You're lucky, Ava, if you were a guy I'd kick your ass for messing with me." His lips flattened into a pout when she started laughing again.
"As your girlfriend, I say you should continue kicking ass and protecting me~" She giggled bumping his side again when they stopped walking, standing next to a few other students and adults at the bus stop.
"My what?" Kai almost choked on air when she said it out loud.
Ava gasped dramatically and grabbed his hand leaning her cheek on his shoulder and humming with a faint smile. "Are you saying that even though we shared the same bed and slept together you won't take responsibility, Kai, you are so mean~!"
"What the fuck...?" Kai's eye twitched after he looked up and found several students staring at him with their eyes narrowed, while the adults present seemed to be disappointed as well. "Hey, don't go saying half-lies like that?"
"Half lies?" Ava looked up at him with her eyes wider than usual and tears in the corners. "Are you saying we didn't sleep together, Kai, are you abandoning me after the night we shared in each other's arms?" She asked, sniffling and tugging at his shirt as she spoke loudly, enjoying his torment.
"Ava-"
"Bastard..."
Kai heard someone's comment and looked up, all eyes were on him now, but he couldn't tell who had said it, their faces seemed shrowded in shadow while their eyes focused on him judging him with stares so sharp they pierced his body like spears.
"I swear..." Kai rested his hand on Ava's head again whilst she grinned innocently at him. "You are the luckiest person I have ever met-"
"Ah!" Ava grabbed his hand and gestured to the bus when it turned the corner and began approaching. "We should get a window seat."
"... It's too convenient," Kai stared at the bus when an uneasy feeling finally began rising from the pits of his stomach.
"What?"
"You've been in a good mood all morning so I didn't want to disturb you with what I've been feeling, but at this rate, I can tell something is off, everything that has happened since we woke up has been normal, your family, the birds, the weather, today feels perfect, it feels... false." He explained, leaving out the fact that he hadn't even been tormented with his daily eposide of hell, something that had never happened before.
"Is that what's got you so troubled?" Ava scoffed, but only a moment after she did so she too narrowed her eyes, taking a serious tone.
This was Kai Mora, the guy who was chased by demons from hell the day before, the fact that nothing happened all night, and then the day seemed to be going so well was indeed weird, she started seeing what he had been seeing... every person, hooded, cloaked or revealed could be an enemy, there could be some kind of danger around any corner; some kind of supernatural evil wanting to kill him again.
She held on to his hand, sucking in a breath after she had scanned her card and paid for them, uneasy when they sat and uneasy for the whole ride to their school.
Approaching those gates the girl felt a bomb of nervousness explode in her stomach when she saw the red and blue flashing of police lights.
"Hey," A student in the seat in front of them called to another outside of the bus. "What happened?"
"You didn't hear yet huh?" The girl on the outside asked rubbing her forehead.
"They found the body of a student mauled yesterday, shit, there were even pics on the internet this morning, the poor guy..."
"Did you get a name?" Kai looked down at her through the window and the girl seeing this attractive guy eyeing her giggled until Ava poked her head next to Kai.
"Where did it happen," Kai stared.
"Erm... I don't know the name of the street; I just know that it's one of the smaller southern neighbourhoods, you know, those bad parts where the rent is cheap because of underdevelopment, but here." She held up her phone showing them the road.
"Kai...?" Ava felt him shake beneath her.
"In the background, that house..."
"That's my house!"