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“Come out, come out wherever you are!” The voice was smooth and half sang the words. Kai shivered involuntarily at the voice. It was on she had heard too many times before in the past and it never led to anything but sorrow.
She knew that this was nothing but a game to him, a simple game of hide-and-seek or cat-and-mouse. Everything was a game to him. The more you fought for your survival the more it delighted him. Kai cringed as his footsteps neared her hiding spot. Slowly, she wedged herself deeper between the wooden plank and the cement wall, trying to stay out of sight.
She stared out the tiny area she could see through small opening of her hiding spot. The room they were in was empty aside from several wooden planks and boxes of various objects. A ladder leaned up against one half-painted wall, a layer of dust collecting on its rungs. She couldn’t see Shad, but she could hear his soft breathing.
“You aren’t afraid, are you Kai?” Shad’s laughter echoed through the room. “Or perhaps you don’t want to join your precious little friend,” Shad chuckled darkly again. “Is that it Kai? Do you not want to see him after all?”
Kai bit her tongue and didn’t respond, despite the anger that had flared to life at his words. You will pay Shad; she vowed silently. You will pay dearly.
Shad moved again, his dark eyes surveying the room, searching for movement. He continued to speak as he made his rounds through the room. “Did I ever tell you what he said before he died?” Shad paused momentarily, waiting for a response. He shrugged at the silence that met him before continuing. “He begged and pleaded for his life.” Shad’s lips twisted into a smirk and he went on in a shrill, mocking voice. “‘Oh, please don’t kill me! I’ll do anything, just let me live! Please!’ It was pitiful really.”
Kai balled her fingers into a fist and grit her teeth. She would not rise to the bait. Shad had moved far enough that he was now in Kai’s line of sight. He stood toward the center of the room, arms crossed over his chest. He had deteriorated a great deal since the last time Kai had seen him. Despite his grin, his face was gaunt and he had a haunted look to him. Even from her spot along the wall, she could see that he was shaking slightly.
“You can’t hide forever Kai. Why not just get this over with? We can end this once and for all right now.” Shad began pacing again, folding his hands behind his back. “I promise to play fair this time. This time there won’t be anyone dear to you for me to kill. There won’t be anything but an end to this, but only if you come out.”
Kai still didn’t respond. Her mind was too distracted, thinking back on the last time she had seen Shad. That day had left a part of her dead and broken. Kai closed her eyes as the memories came forth.
***
Kai burst through the door, hazel eyes a light with fury. “Where is he?! What have you done with him?!” She paused as she caught sight of something dangling from the ceiling. Kai paled, her eyes growing wide with horror.
Dark laughter echoed across the room. Shad was leaning casually against the wall, a look of amusement in his dark eyes.
“Relax!” He spoke, stepping away from the wall. “He’s still hanging around…by a rope…but that’s good enough right?” Shad’s lips twisted into a grin, and he chuckled. “I mean you could still kiss him or something if you really wanted!”
Kai quickly looked away from the sight of her childhood friend swinging from a rope, his eyes lifeless and bulging. She could feel tears welling up behind her eyes, and she felt sick to her stomach. Slowly, she sank to her knees, her bottom lip quivering. How could he be dead? It wasn’t fair! He didn’t have anything to do with it!
A sob escaped Kai as the first of the tears began to fall. Shad watched her with an amused smile. “You shouldn’t cry over him.”
Kai slowly raised her eyes to glare at Shad. “You didn’t have to bring him into this.” Her voice was raspy and cracked when she spoke.
Shad approached her now, his dark brown hair partially obscuring his eyes. He stopped in front of her and offered her a hand up. Kai smacked it away with a look of repulsion. Shad smiled, amused, as he instead knelt to her eye level. “I don’t believe you quite understand how this whole thing works, do you? Life isn’t all puppies and kittens and sunlight. The world isn’t safe. It isn’t fair. I do what is necessary to guarantee my own survival. I care nothing for your friends and family or anyone else for that matter. If a couple people have to die in order for me to achieve my goals, so be it.” Shad leaned in closer to Kai, bringing his face inches from hers. “He is dead because of you. You can blame me if it helps you sleep at night, but he died because you wanted to play the hero. You wanted to save everyone, and by doing so, you made yourself a threat to me and therefore, an enemy. Killing him weakened you, and that’s all the reason I needed.”
Shad straightened and beckoned towards the door. “I believe it is time for you to leave now. You are a threat no more, and so, you can keep your life. Perhaps you’ll be wiser the next time you want to play the hero.”
Kai stumbled to her feet, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She glared at Shad, before making her way out the door, unable to bring herself to look back at the corpse that had once been her friend.
***
Kai shook her head, bringing her mind back to reality. She couldn’t let herself linger on the past. Archer was dead. Thinking back on it wouldn’t bring him back to life. Shad had moved again and was no longer in Kai’s sight. Everything was quiet now. At what point had Shad stopped talking? Kai slowly inched forward, straining to see.
She hesitated at the very edge of her hiding spot, hazel eyes searching for any sign of Shad. The room was empty.
With a quiet sigh of relief, Kai squirmed out from behind the board, and rose to her feet, stretching out her cramped muscles. She had lost track of how long she had crouched in hiding, wondering if Shad was ever going to leave.
Kai slowly made her way over to the door, concentrating on remaining as silent as possible. She couldn’t risk drawing Shad’s attention back to this room. Kai gradually eased herself around the corner of the door, just enough for her to peer out down the hallway. It was empty, aside from boxes of building supplies, that judging by the thick layer of dust coating them, hadn’t been touched in years.
As Kai wandered down the hall, she wondered how long it had been abandoned. She had been uncertain to enter the building in first place, knowing that nothing good awaited her inside. Kai was beginning to regret ever entering the building. She should’ve just turned around and went home the moment she knew for sure that Shad was hanging around the building.
Kai cursed herself for her stupidity. Had she learned nothing from Archer’s death? Shad had warned her back then that she shouldn’t try and stop him. Any yet, she didn’t listen. Instead I had to go and play the hero again, Kai thought bitterly. I thought I could avenge Archer myself, rather than doing the logical thing and simply calling the police. Now there’s little chance of me even leaving here alive.
At the end of the hallway, a door led to several flights of stairs, one heading to the upper floors, another leading down to the lower floors. Kai paused at the stairs leading down, listening. She didn’t like the fact that Shad had seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Even now, he could be watching her from some hidden place, trying to decide the best way to dispose of her. Kai shivered despite the warmth of the building. The sooner she was out of here, the better.
Kai crept down the stairs, petrified of running into Shad. The bottom of the stairs opened up into another room. This one was smaller, with many different doors on either side of the room. Directly across from the stairs, a door much larger than the others was set into the wall. It was made of heavy oak, and had a deadbolt lock on the outside.
Kai walked around the outskirts of the room, trying the door handles. Most of them were locked, and the few that weren’t revealed simple rooms with only a ragged blanket in a corner of the room. Kai approached the oak door, a feeling of dread rising inside her. She had a bad feeling about these rooms and what they were used for, especially since it was Shad using them.
Kai tried the door handle. Locked. She exhaled silently, not sure if she should be relieved or disappointed.
“Trust me, you don’t want to go in there.”
Kai jumped at the sudden voice, and spun to face him. Shad stood on the bottom step, a pleasant smile on his face.
Fear closed its icy hand around Kai’s heart. She watched Shad with wide eyes, waiting for him to continue.
“Relax Kai, you have nothing to fear…yet”
Kai swallowed nervously, trying to find her voice. After several minutes of awkward silence, Kai finally managed to choke out a reply. “Yet?”
“Well whatever happens to you depends on whatever choice you make.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kai surveyed the room again, hoping to find some way out of the room, a door she had missed earlier, or a hallway, anything, just as long as she was away from him.
“I don’t really have the desire to kill you. You are too well known by the public and it would draw too much attention onto myself if you were to die, but you’ve proven that you’re not content to simply move on with your life and forget the incident with your friend.”
“It certainly sounded like you wanted to kill me earlier.” Kai’s eyes narrowed. He was acting completely different now; it was like she was talking to an entirely different person.
“Well yes, I suppose that was true, but if I had really been set on killing you, the do you really think I’d walk away and chance letting you escape?”
“So you’re going to let me leave here alive?”
“Perhaps…but I don’t believe I can really afford to do that.” Shad smiled darkly, “What’s to stop you from going to the police or simply coming back later? No, I can’t simply let you walk away from here alive.”
“But didn’t you just say you didn’t want to kill me?”
“Wants don’t really play into this. I need to guarantee my own survival and nothing more. It shouldn’t be too difficult for me to find some way to cover up your death…” Shad’s eyes lit up, “Or perhaps I could simply kill you and make it look like suicide! Yes, that will work quite nicely, I do believe. You came here all alone, still blaming yourself for your friend’s untimely death. You wanted a way out, and so, you took your own life.” Shad frowned mockingly. “Aww, how sad.”
Kai swallowed nervously. There had to be a way out of this, some exit she had missed before, anything! She couldn’t die here! Shad approached slowly, lips twisted into a grin. His dark eyes held only the promise of death. Kai closed her eyes, the beginning of a plan forming in her mind. It would only take a few seconds and all of this would be over. Kai drew in a deep breath. 3…2…1…
