Chapter9
345 Words
Chapter 9 – “The Truth About Kael”
The flashback hit him hard at 3 AM.
_Five years ago. 11 PM. Rain on the windshield. Lena in the passenger seat, laughing. “Slow down, Kael.”
He didn’t. He was showing off. New car. Empty road.
Tires screamed. Metal crunched. Glass exploded.
Silence.
Lena’s hand, cold on his. “Kael?”_
Kael woke up gasping, sheets soaked, screaming her name.
He hadn’t slept without the memory in years.
There was a knock at the door.
Dorian.
“You left the market in a mess,” Dorian said when Kael opened up. He looked tired. Angry. Tired of being angry. “But you didn’t sell it. Why?”
Kael didn’t answer. He couldn’t.
Dorian walked in, looked around at the bare apartment, the empty fridge, the photo face-down on the shelf.
“You’re not a monster,” Dorian said.
Kael laughed. It sounded ugly. “You don’t know what I’ve done.”
“Tell me,” Dorian said. He sat on the edge of the bed. Not close. Not far. Present.
So Kael told him.
About Lena. About the DUI. About the trial where his father said, “You killed her, Kael.” About the letter from law school rescinding his admission. About the first time a guy in a bar offered him 500 credits to forget his daughter’s funeral. About how good it felt to feel nothing for 24 hours.
Dorian listened. No interruptions. No judgment. When Kael finished, his throat was raw.
Dorian was quiet for a long time.
“My sister hated hospitals,” Dorian said finally. “She told me if she ever got sick, I couldn’t cry in front of her. So I didn’t. I lied. I cried in the parking lot.”
Kael nodded.
“Help me understand what happened to Mara,” Dorian said. “And I won’t turn you in.”
It wasn’t forgiveness. It was a truce.
Kael held out his hand.
Dorian shook it.
For the first time, Kael wasn’t alone with the memory.
- Writer
