Page 58 of Kane's Awakening
Chapter Seventeen
Kane
I was walking through an abandoned neighborhood in the evening. Houses lined the street on both sides of me, but not a single person was in sight. The streetlights flickered on as darkness crept in, and a shiver went down my spine.
Silence. It was like a ghost town. Creepy and unsettling.
The wind blew and ruffled some leaves on a nearby tree, but I couldn’t feel the breeze. I couldn’t hear the leaves either. They moved, but I heard nothing. A gate moved back and forth as I passed a two-story house, and a light blinked on inside.
I stopped walking and looked at the light. With the dark surrounding it, the light was like a beacon and called to me. Something about the house was familiar, but it didn’t register in my head. All that mattered was getting to that damn light.
Then, a gunshot.
I had just reached the porch and ducked down beside a small patio table, still hearing the echo of the shot. Screams pierced the air, followed by more gunfire. A ringing started in my ears, growing louder and more irritating. Uncomfortable. As if the damn gun had gone off right by my head.
I gripped my ear to try to block the sound, but when I pulled my hand away and looked at it, blood covered my palm. More shots fired above me, and lights flashed. I couldn’t breathe as panic took over. I looked down at my chest and blood coated my shirt, still wet and dripping. It occurred to me that I should feel pain, but I didn’t.
“Stop. Please stop.” I held my head and rocked back and forth.
Then, silence.
“Hey.”
Confused at the voice, I looked up and froze.
A guy was leaning against the shattered window. Glass tore open the skin of his arms and blood dripped down the still intact part of the window, and he leaned more against it, making it cut more into him. He looked like a corpse—pale with dark circles around his eerie, light blue eyes and blood dripping from his mouth.
A gun was in his hand, and he tapped it against the side of his head.
“Brutal, huh? Don’t people know about gun safety?” he asked before smiling a lopsided grin.
The grin widened and part of his jaw detached. He furrowed his brow and adjusted the loose piece as he put it back in place. It crunched as bone scraped against bone.
My breath hitched in my throat, and I wanted to run, but I couldn’t move.
I knew him. I’d killed him.
“Why the long face?” he asked, and his jaw came loose again. He grabbed it and yanked it all the way off. And then he laughed—a choking sound that caused more blood to spurt out of the wound.
I screamed and started crawling backward, trying to get away from him. Away from the horror of what I’d done. It was a truth I couldn’t face.
He tried speaking again, but without a jaw, it just came out all gurgled.
My legs wouldn’t work. I tried standing and just kept falling back to the ground. The guy busted through the rest of the window and landed on his back a few feet from me. A large shard of glass stuck through his shoulder, and he grabbed it, slowly pulling it free.
Finally, I stood and backed away as fast as I could, still keeping my eyes on him. He rose and turned his head to look at me.
“You did this.” The whispered voice echoed all around me, repeating those three words. “You did this.”
I ran down the porch steps, and once my feet were on the grass, I turned to flee. But I stopped when coming face to face with someone.
Devon.
He glared at me, his blue eyes piercing. I felt trapped, as if his stare held some kind of magical force that kept me rooted in place. His black hair was short again—unlike the last time I’d seen him—and styled in a messy fauxhawk.
“Don’t you see?” he snarled, leaning forward until his face was only inches from mine. “Everywhere you go, you fuck everything up, Kane. You’re worthless. The only thing you’re good for is fucking.”
Then, the whole scene changed. Instead of being in the yard of that damn house, I was now in a bedroom, face down on a mattress as Devon fucked me.
