Loss (Kai)

[DoF Archive]

Date: 10/10/1999 10:35 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Kailyne Wynd



The soft, distant sound of water pattering on skin echoed in Kai's mind. All was dark and she was without thought, until slowly the sound grew closer, more realistic. Eyelids forcing open, then fluttering with blinks, her mind kicked back into gear. She groggily peered about her surroundings until her gaze landed on a silent face, dark cheeks baring shimmering trails from where a stray tear or two slipped down. It took a long moment of
staring at the familiar face until she could put Deuce's name to it. Why she was huddled in a shower, cradled by her sullen-looking lover, was a mystery to her in this wakening state.
But the numbness soon fleeted from her mind and body, and it was replaced by a sharp, hard pain. That sudden ache that filled her caused her hand to tremble and grasp for Deuce, catching a hold of his forearm and clutching to it. Visions, clear as day, began to appear to the girl.
She saw a man, enormous and shaggy, clad in a red and black flannel shirt, eyes glazed over in his drunken state. Next, the lodge. She could see the fresh flowers on the mantle, the throw-blanket, half folded and half crumpled tossed over the arm of the chair. She saw the small table with the glass on it, a quarter full still, abandoned by a lazy guest. She could see the magazines scattered on the long table. The white, worn out basket of
clothes was tossed over, clothes spilling out: a Knicks jersey, the small, faded pink dress of a little girl lying next to it, a white towel half hidden beneath the couch. Finally, she saw the stairs that up to the rooms, very close up, from the perspective of one laying on them. However, they only revealed fragmented pieces to the events that happened only a short while ago. It was what Kai focused on next that caused the deep hurting to become more
than just physical.
Frightened, violet eyes grew wide and began to remember all at the sight of the blood. Blood on the door, on the floor, on the rug in front of the tub, the sink, and finally, the watery trickle of blood being washed down to the drain of the tub. Her breath caught and eyes rolled back into her head. Going limp in Deuce's arms, once again Kai's mind retreated into a numb nothingness.



***




After a long, emotionally draining talk, the two had come to find contentment in their situation. What happened had happened, however early it may be, and though they were hardly ready to be raising a human being, the two were ready to do their best.
The two had agreed that it would be best if Kai remained at the Inn until after the baby's birth. Kai still helped out around the place, but Deuce had insisted upon taking over most of her harder tasks. It was a break that the ever-tiring Kailyne readily accepted. Deuce did the laundry while Kai cooked. They split the cleaning duties, Kai keeping the lounge and kitchen straightened and Deuce tending to the rooms. One task Kai was glad to give
up was the weekly trip to the town on the docks; a strong young man was definitely better suited for carrying the heavy groceries than a pregnant girl. Often the old woman would go along with Deuce, especially in the beginning, to help him pick out what was needed. It was during one of these trips that Kai was left to tend to the guests for a few hours by herself.
Kai welcomed this break, too. With the two of them out of the house and the guests out for the day, she had a few hours of private, relaxing time. This day, they had left early, giving Deuce no time to get the laundry washed and thus leaving Kai with the task.
The girl, in a bright mood, hummed gently as she folded the now clean clothes. She grinned as she placed the final garment of the load into the basket. It was a small, flowery-pink dress that belonged to the young toddler who was staying there with her parents. She sat a moment, dazed at the thought of being a mother. Kai soon snapped out of her happy thoughts to the sharp rapping on wood. A guest must have wandered in, she guessed as she
lifted the white basket and pushed the laundry-room door open.
Blinking, Kai paused in the doorway to stare at the enormous man. He was slumped over the countertop of the desk, his gigantic body clothed in a black and red plaid, flannel shirt and worn out blue-jeans. The air around him smelt very strongly of liquor. As he turned his watery, large brown eyes upon Kai, he grinned a strange grin. Half grunting, half tittering, he uttered a few words that the girl interpreted as the request of a room. Nodding
slowly, she carefully and quite reluctantly made her way around to the opposite side of the desk and set down the basket. She put a check next to room number 6, and then went about explaining the cost of a room. Gasping slightly, she jumped as the man's huge paw-like hand reached out for a grope. Kai blinked and cleared her throat, lifting her basket and slowly stepping out from behind the desk.

"Sir.. please... Just let me take you to your room.."

With an odd grin smeared on his face, he reached out again to grab at her, this time chuckling as she backed off. Menacingly, he stalked closer to her. Though slurred, he managed to put forth a few words clear enough for Kai to understand.

"My.. ya are a sweet one, aren't ya.. Mm.. "

A thick finger ran across her cheek, causing the frightened girl to wince and back up more quickly. This drew forth another deep chuckle from the drunken man.

"Ya run.. Why? I won't hurt ya.. C'mere, pritty.. c'mon.."

As the man leaned in towards Kai's face, she quickly shoved him back using the force of the full clothes basket. He stumbled merely a step or two, eyes growing a bit colder. Again he pushed forward, now having her pinned against a wall. As he came close enough for Kai to feel his heavy breath near her cheek, the girl lifted a leg, providing a place for the basket to rest upon long enough to bring her free hand swinging around hard, catching
the man in the side of the head. Again he stumbled back, this time accompanied by a deep growling of some sort. Fear shot down Kai's spine, leaving her practically paralyzed as he lunged for her, ripping the basket from her hand and heaving it across the room, clothes scattering all over. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she made a desperate plea with the man to leave her alone, but there was no reasoning with the intoxicated man. The last thing she
remembered seeing was the huge, booted foot of the man clumsily pushing up and into her stomach; after that, such burning pain shot through her that she gasped and fell down to a crumpled heap on the floor, eyes rolling back into her head.
An hour or so later, though the time was unbeknownst to her, she awoke. Her eyes jutted wide open at the seemingly unending stream of pain surging through her body. Her thoughts were empty as she struggled to take in all the sights. There was blood all around her, and on her. Her mind raced over what she should do, but a confused, numb feeling was all she came up with. After a few moments, she was able to recognize that she was laying on the
floor, her upper-body up on the stairs leading towards the rooms. Feebly, she tried to make it up and into a room, but the girl collapsed halfway up. It was there that she silently rested until Deuce came home from his trip to find her, bloody and beaten, sprawled upon the stairs. The drunken stranger was no where to be found.

[DoF Archive]

Date: 10/20/1999 9:56 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Deuce Mack


True love means true pain. Presently, no truer words had ever graced the realms of man. It was a message echoed throughout the ages, by no means original when it reverberated off the lips of Deuce's best friend the last time he had feelings for a girl in Harlem.. that started above the waist.

The initial relief of her being alive had faded. It made having to see the crimson decorations in the main hall a bit more bearable, but now that Kai's immediate death was no longer something to be feared, there was room for the evil to take greater root in his heart. Quietly holding her half-conscious body, Deuce sat and simmered at the theft inherent in the violence he had missed.

"Mama.. I'm hungry.."
"Sorry baby, you know we don't have any food until tomorrow."
"Please mama.."
"Baby, I told you once, there is no food. Now please.. go play with your brother.."
"Where's daddy? Will he bring food?"
"I told you, daddy's not coming back. Not with food, not with anything. Go play."

The bandanna came out of the bucket sitting at the shower's side. Squeezed over Kai's forehead, the cloth's held water spilled out in a minimal attempt to keep her cool and comfortable.

"Mohammed! Where are you going?"
"Out."
"What do you mean, out? It's dark. You know you can't go out after dark."
"Why? Cuz it's too dangerous for a twelve-year-old? Maybe a twelve-year-old that ain't got no friends."
"Mo.. Mohammed! Sit yourself down! Don't you lift that finger at me, young man! Get back here!"
"Damn Mo, why's yo mom bein' like that? We can handle ourselves."
"Yeah, I know, just gotta prove it to her. An' it's Deuce, aight? 'Less you want me still callin you Leroy."
"Shu'up, it's L-Dog!"
"Yeah, yeah."

The long fingers wrapped around the red fabric let it slip back into the bucket, choosing to grace the edges of the finely shaped metal by the tub. It wouldn't be quite as satisfying as using his bare hands, but if the man who did this could only be felled from a distance, so be it. Results only counted now.

"Dey gone?"
"Yeah, dey gone. Who you smoke? Dat punkass Calvin from 214?"
"Yeah."
"You know dat whole crew gonna be afta yo ass now."
"Don' matta, kid. Dat bitch took out L. Maybe his crew gonna come git me now, but I had ta bust 'im."
"Word is born, yo. Y'all kin chill here fo' a couple of days, but den ya gotta be out. I know ya got dat pad uptown, tho. Y'all still got dat, right?
"Yeah, yeah, I got dat. I don' think nobody knows 'bout dat, nobody dat gonna care. Dat's tha beauty of Harlem, kid.. hell ta live in, but damn if tha hoes don' find tha money fo' dey ****. And den I got tha loot fo' my ****."
"Hell yeah."

The slightest stirring drew his attention.
"Babe.. babe.. shh.. rest.. don' move."

"Oh god... lookit alla tha..."
"Dere's a note on him, look."
"What's it say?"
".. 'Deuce- I don't know where you at. Yo ass betta hope I neva do, cuz I'll make it take three weeks fo' yo ass ta look like dis instead of three minutes.' "
"Who wrote it?"
"Don't say, but I know it was eitha T, Jackal, or Bluejay. Been six months, dey tha only ones dat still lookin' fo' me."
"Whatcha gonna do if dey find you? Dey don' make threats like dat if dey ain't gonna keep 'em."
"What else can I do? Waste 'em."

The irony struck him then, that all his promises had come true. Their child, his child, would never have to experience a life like that. The final image in his mind flowed into the gruesome picture that greeted him and the old woman as they entered the hotel, invoking the blood for blood oath he had made with his best friend so long ago. Crimson pool narrowing, the path led back up to Kai's crumpled body, bringing him to the present, and
her peaceful expression as she lay contently against him.

"Come on, babe.. gotta gitcha to bed. Ya need rest." A slight nudge stirred her; minutes later, they made the slow rise from the shower floor.

Anger could wait. It was time for love.