Cookie: Woot! Here's chapter 8! Da-da-da-dah!! XD In this chapter some of Kai's dark passed is revealed so read on...

COMMENT/VOTE and if you want FAN!! XD

I dedicate this chapter to myself cause im so vain! lol

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(Jenna's POV)

I knew that they were going to turn me away again but I was nothing if not but persistent.

      I knocked on the door once, twice, three times all the while thinking about how embarrassed and degraded Kai must feel. I mean, he had just been practically molested and beaten up by some sicko. Of course he wouldn't want to see anyone after a thing like that happens but it's already been three days. I'm really worried.

      I sighed and rapped on the door harder. Oh come on, seriously? I can see their car, their only car mind you, in the driveway so I knew that they were home. Did Kai not want to see me so much that he'd pretend that they're not home?

      "This blows," I muttered, turning to leave when the door finally opened. Kai's mom greeted me with a hesitant smile.

      "Hello, Jenna. I'm sorry but Kai isn't home..."

      I raised a hand to stop her from going any further. "I understand, Mrs.Callahan, Kai doesn't want to see me right? You don't have to tell me he's not here..."

      "Oh, but he really isn't here," Mrs. Callahan shook her head, "he stepped out about half an hour ago."

      "Oh," I sighed again, "I see."

      Mrs. Callahan smiled gratefully at me. "You're such a good girl, visiting him everday. I'm sorry that Kai has been acting like this but something must have happened in school. He doesn't want to tell me about it but I know somethings wrong. He has bruises."

      I instantly felt guilty. I knew what had happened...I just wished I could have gotten there sooner to help him. My only comfort in all this is that Kei kicked the shit out of that bastard that had tormented Kai. Fucking Rick. I hope his nose never heals and hurts like a son of a bitch.

      "Would you like to come in for a while?" Mrs. Callahan opened the door wider and stepped aside. "I made some strawberry shake if you'd like some. We can sit and chat for a while and wait for Kai."

      I hesitated. Would Kai get upset if he found me in his house when he got back? He'd been avoiding me for days...

      "Come in, come in," his mother ushered me in, making the decision for me. "It's all right. I'm sure Kai won't mind anymore."

      She led me into the kitchen and pulled out a seat for me in front of the kitchen table. I sat down and looked around. "You have a nice home, Mrs. Callahan,"

      "Thank you," she said, setting a glass of strawberry shake in front of me. She handed me a spoon then took a seat across from me.

      I poked my spoon on the icy treat, fidgeting slightly under Kai's mother's gaze. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words to begin. So I helped her by breaking the sudden awkward silence.

      "Um," I began, " so...where's Mr. Callahan? Is he at work?"

      "Kai's father died just before his sophmore year," she replied sadly. "And I'm not Mrs. Callahan anymore. I haven't been since I separated from Kai's father a long time ago. You can call me Mary."

      I nodded, taking a spoonful of strawberry shake. I kinda already figured that Kai's dad wasn't around. I had just been curious to see where he was. It's sad that he was dead. Poor Kai...he no longer had a father figure.

      "Jenna," Mrs. Callahan, I mean Mary, began, folding her hands on the table, "can you tell me about Kai? I mean, how is he in school? Is he getting along with others? Is there any problems?"

      Whoa, so that's why she had invited me in so willingly. She wanted answers...

      "Um," I pocked at my shake again, "he's...he's a bit of a loner."

      Mary sighed. "He wasn't always like that. He had many friends in school up to his freshmen year but since that incident..."

      My head shot up. Incident? "Something happened to Kai?"

      It was Mary's turn to fidget. "I...yes."

      "Kai doesn't like to be touched," I said, fishing for more information, "he gets sick when people touch him. Does the incident have anything to do with that?"

      Mary's narrowed with sadness. "I knew that he didn't like to be touched ever since what happened but I thought he got over that. He was the one who wanted to return to school."

      "Mrs...Mary," I pushed the glass aside, "can you...can you tell me what happened to Kai?" It was completely none of my nosy business but I really wanted to understand Kai. I wanted to know what happened to completely shut him out from other people. If I could...I wanted to help.

      How can  I help someone without understanding their situation first?

      To my horror his mother's eyes watered. "It's all my fault, really. If I had payed more attention to him...if only I had seen the signs." She wiped a tear away with a finger. "If I had been a better mother then none of it would have happened. I could have prevented it before it started."

      I stood and took a seat next to her, taking her hands into mine. "What happened?"

      She stared into my eyes, searching. "I don't know if I should tell you or not, it's not my story to tell...it's Kai's. But... but that boy has been alone for so long...so haunted...I want someone else but me to understand that he wasn't always like that. That Kai has his reasons."

      I nodded. "I wont tell a soul." If Kai wanted this kept a secret I'd take it to my grave.

      "Where do I begin?" She sniffed. I handed her the napkin that she had put on the table for me. She took it gratefully and wiped her nose. "I guess I should start by telling you that Kai had never lived with me til his father died."

      Mary stared at our clasped hands. "I was never a good mother to begin with. When I met his father I had lied and told him that I was twenty when I was really seventeen. John, Kai's father had been twenty-five at the time working for a news paper as an editor. We met at a bar and one thing led to another and I got pregnant with Kai.

      I was so scared. My parents kicked me out and I had nowhere to go so I went to find John. He instantly took me in even though I told him I had lied to him about my age. He was such a good man. Before Kai was born we got married when I turned eighteen. I was a wild child, always liked to party and hang out in bars and clubs. I thought I had put that behind me when I married John but after Kai was born I got tired of playing house."

      She wiped her eyes again and sniffed. "I was just 18...I wanted to hang out with my friends, not take care of a baby. So I left...and John let me go."

      I didn't know how any of this related to how Kai acted but I sat and listened to her just because it looked like she needed someone to talk to...to confess her sins to. Mary was probably as much as alone as Kai was.

      "We divorced," Mary continued, "my choice, and I left Kai with John. I knew he would be taken good care of. For the next fifteen years Kai lived happily with his father. He saw me every now and then but we were never close. Somewhere during the pass fifteen year I learned to mature a bit but I was still a selfish woman. When Kai's dad died he had no choice but to live with me. I was the only thing he had left in the world."

      Mary closed her eyes and shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I wasn't ready to be a mother. I was angry that John died so suddenly, angry that he left Kai to me when I didn't know a damn thing about taking care of a kid."

      "How did he die?" I had to ask.

      "In his sleep," she answered, "he just died so suddenly in his sleep. The doctor said something about a brain tumor or something. It was Kai who had found him. Poor boy."

      I squeezed her hand.

      Mary sniffed, wiping her eyes. "When Kai moved in with me we had nothing much to say to each other. I'm ashamed of it but I continued to live my life like he didn't exist. We lived under the same roof yet we hardly talked. If we had...if we had...If I had reached out to him then I would have noticed it."

      "Noticed what?"

      Mary looked up at me through watery eyes. "I would have noticed that something was wrong."

      "What happened?"

      "Kai was really depressed when his father died but he started his sophmore year without complaint. For months he went around without smiling but then he started to smile again. He seemed brighter and more cheerful. Then after some more months he stopped smiling again."

      I stared at her, not really understanding but trying to listen. "What happened to Kai, Mary?"

      Mary squeezed my hand. "Somehow...somehow my poor baby boy got into a bad relationship. Something that I could have prevented if I had been a better mother."

      "What happened," I repeated, heart thumping against my chest. I really had a bad feeling about this...

      "Kai...Kai was in a relationship with a man...a married man."

      My heart sunk.

      "Not only that," Mary went on, eyes watering again, "it was one of his teachers."

      Oh Kai...

      "What happened to his teacher?"

      Mary bowed her head, sobbing. "He's dead...his wife found out about their relationship and she...she killed him." 

      Oh God.

      "And Kai witnessed it."