Perfect School

When Jonah came back in my gaze went to him and then he said those three little words. They made my blood go cold, my heartbeat increase, and my skin go pale. "Is she sending someone to come get me?" I didn't want to disappoint Marie, but I probably had. "She's probably upset with me. I'm not perfect." I murmured the last bit to myself as I shut my eyes.

Jonah:

Krissy drew my gaze with the look that she gave her brother and Kyra at the mention of Marie’s name. It was an odd reaction and it brought back to memory the way Kyra had acted when she met her. I had been too drugged after that to think about it then, but now I was curious.

Krissy excused herself and hurried out. Kyle followed after her and Kyra after him. “I need to speak to Kira alone,” I told Andrew and Paublo a minute later, talking a seat next to her bed. I couldn’t resist now that the adults had left the room.


Krissy:

I nearly ran out of the room, pulling my phone out as I did so. I called Michael three times, even knowing that he was on a plane and wouldn’t have his phone on. Kyle reached me and ushered me into an empty room in order to explain, Kyra was behind him.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" I asked. The fog had covered up my feelings again and I was back to being neutral as I gazed up at him. I parted my lips as I did so, losing focus slightly as I grew fixated on his eyes. Long lashes kept baby blue eyes safe and it was the color that drew me in.

Jonah:

“Marie is sending someone with you medicine but it won’t be until later tonight. And as far as where your medicine went. Evelyn mistook it and tossed it out of the back things,” I told her. Settling into the chair. It was still warm from her mother.

“I can’t trust you to perform well on a mission if you do something like this. If you aren’t feeling healthy, Kira, I need to know. Do you understand?” I leaned forward.

I turned on my side to face him as he sat in the seat Krissy had been sitting in. "So it was the medicine then? Marie should have told me it was that important...that something would go wrong if I didn't take it...I didn't know Jonah." A frown tugged at the corner of my lips as I searched his face. "You need to know? I can still perform even when I'm not at my best. I still took out the target this time."

My brows furrowed for a moment. "I'm not feeling healthy right now. There's too much fog. I can't stop myself from feeling. There are no walls or mask for me to put up."

Jonah:

"Are you sure you want all these people around with you feeling that way?" I asked. I wouldn't. It had been the worst experience in my life to be out of my mind like that. I wouldn't want people around, witnessing who I really was.

I grew quiet, and looked at the center of his chest. I was quiet for several minutes before I softly replied, "Everyone seems to like me better like this...even you. You seemed interested in the openness at first. Now I'm not sure what you think."

Jonah:

"Who wouldn't like you better unmasked? All you ever do is shut people out, no matter how much they want to see what's underneath. This is you, Kira," I said softly. How would she act after this? When the drugs had worn off, would she shut down again? Would she pretend she had never been opened?

I blinked up at him, "But it's not who I am normally. The real me is different..." I paused and my expression swam through an array of emotions and feelings as I continued to search his face. "Jonah." I began slowly, looking away then back at him. "Do you like me? And if you do why? It's okay not to like me though. I push people away."

Jonah:

I watched her for a good minute before I replied. “I enjoy being around you. You’re the only challenge I can really count on. You say I’m obsessed,” I sighed softly. “Well, maybe I am. You’re like a puzzle. I’ve solved all the pieces except the last one that truly unlocks you. I’ve tried to give up, I’ve tried to let go, but it just keeps coming back to that.”

She wouldn’t remember all of this when she was off the drugs. And if she did, well what did it matter? She knew it already, I was certain. It was just a matter of whether she told Marie or not.

“I’ve put years’ worth of effort into unraveling you, you know. You always escape me. You’re the only one that matters, but it seems I’m the only one who can’t touch you. The only time I got close was when you had already been opened by someone else. Maybe I won’t ever hold that key. Maybe the only people who have it are in your family, no matter what they’ve done to you.”

“I can’t give up on you, no matter how impossible it seems that I will ever have you,” I said finally. I looked her in the face the entire time. It wasn’t truly an answer to her question, none of it was. But it was how I felt about her. “Like” was such a trivial word for her, in any sense. Furthermore I didn’t know if I did like her as person, or as a female. She was right about the obsession, and if it went away, what would I feel about her then?

I never looked away. Fascination for his face, for what he might say drew me in. I didn't know how long I watched him and him me. It felt like an eternity and only a few seconds at the same time. But then he spoke and I perked up all the more.

I was a challenge, a puzzle, an obsession. I knew that much somewhere in my mind. I wasn't all that surprised by it. But the amount of effort was interesting. So many questions came about, filtered through the haze but died before they ever fell upon my tongue. In the end only one question managed to reach the end.

"What happens if the puzzle finishes? I'm already just something to be used and admired." My gaze shifted away from him. "That's all I am for Marie. Before you came around I was content with that. Before Kyra introduced me to family, before Paublo showed me what it means to just enjoy life, before Andrew showed me how just being there for someone was enough. Before all that you found all the little ties and strings that bound me up and pulled them apart. Not even I know what is really under the surface. It's been too long since I ever was someone without walls or a mask. You changed me Jonah. And because of that there is a part of me that is saying I can't give you up either." My eyes returned to him for the final words, after I'd babbled out in a mindless rush.

Jonah:

Her final words surprised me, and even more surprising was the small thrill that it gave me. Perhaps there was a chance at having her for my own.

“Kira,” I said and paused. What more was there to say? “I suppose it doesn’t matter what we feel. We don’t decide what happens to us, not as long as we’re owned.” And that’s what it came down to. I wasn’t ever going to get her until Marie was gone.

The door opened. “Krissy’s going to the hotel to get some rest. She’ll be back in a couple hours, she says,” She told Kira. I sighed internally. That was the end to my time with Kira like this.

I smiled at him when he said my name. A genuine, gentle smile. That smile faded away when he continued and when Kyra came in. "Oh, okay." And just like that I was back in the fog and staring up at the ceiling. "When do I get to go home?"

Jonah:

"Not until Marie's people get here with your medicine and you have recovered," I told her. I left off that she would have to go off the drugs for a couple hours before that.

Kyra stayed the entire time after that. Kira dosed for a while. Each time she woke up she seemed a little more delirious. I asked the doctors to give her more medicine to keep her asleep for a while. The other came back, but her mother stayed gone for the next few hours.

"Mmm..." I murmured before dozing off. Over the next two hours I drifted in and out of sleep and things were hazier than before. Even with the morphine I simply wasn't doing good. My whole body ached, and I started seeing things. When I was awake I babbled and talked even if no one in the room was talking to me. And just as quickly as I had started I'd be asleep again. Even my vitals were starting to drop bit by bit. And I only stopped my delirium after Jonah had them put me fully out.

Michael:

I was starving when I landed but only took the time to buy a granola bar before I rented a car and called Krissy back. I'd had around a dozen missed calls from Krissy, and several voicemails. "I'm on my way to the hotel. Talk to me love, what's happening?" I asked as soon as she picked up.

Krissy:

I woke up with the phone buzzing under my cheek as I had fallen asleep trying to call Michael. I didn’t know exactly how to answer his question. “I just need you to get here as soon as you can. I found something out. It’s bad. But I can’t say it over the phone.” I wiped dried tears away from my eyes.

I paced the room until there was a knock at the door. I threw it open and had my arms around his neck and my face in his chest before he was even fully in the room. I breathed in his scent and it momentarily soothed the gaping wound left by the knowledge I had.

Krissy:

I woke up with the phone buzzing under my cheek as I had fallen asleep trying to call Michael. I didn’t know exactly how to answer his question. “I just need you to get here as soon as you can. I found something out. It’s bad. But I can’t say it over the phone.” I wiped dried tears away from my eyes.

I paced the room until there was a knock at the door. I threw it open and had my arms around his neck and my face in his chest before he was even fully in the room. I breathed in his scent and it momentarily soothed the gaping wound left by the knowledge I had.

Michael:

I held her close, resting my head on top of hers in the middle of the hallway. "I'm here now love. It will be okay. I promise, no matter what's going on I'm always here for you." Gently I began to move us into the room and only after the door was closed did I raise her chin so I could kiss her.

Krissy:

I kissed him, pressing my lips firmly against his. A tear slid down my cheek and flavored the kiss. “I know who took her,” I said finally after we had broken apart. I still held onto him. It would be a long time before I would be ready to let go of him. I was already swearing to myself that I wouldn’t take this trip by myself ever again.

After our kiss broke and she said she knew who took our daughter I had us sit down on the bed with her sitting on my lap. "You know who took her? What do you mean?" I had one arm across her lap, and the other around her back, keeping her close to me just as I knew she'd want to be.

Krissy:

I pressed my face into his neck. This was oddly close to how we had been the first time we met Kira and I was adamant about not wanting her.

"It was Marie. She took her. She's alive, somehow, and she's been keeping her. Training her to be like you... Kyra met her. She told me some of the things that they do there... Some of the things that they do to Kira," I whispered her name.

"Marie but...how..." I frowned, feeling my blood go equal parts hot and equal parts cold at the very thought of the woman. She had tried to ruin my life for not working with her, tried to destroy my relationship with Krissy. The more I thought about it, the more enraged I got. But it made sense to take our child. Marie always wanted a specialized pawn that she could control freely. With my bloodline and her own it was a potent mix.

Krissy:

I could feel his body reacting to the news. He always handled things better than I did. He still was handling it far better, but his strong reaction set me off. I started shaking with sobs. It was my fault. All of it.

It was her sobbing that brought me back from my anger. Almost immediately after she started shaking I was rocking her and murmuring softly to her that it would be okay, that it wasn't her fault. "No one could have planned for this. It isn't your fault Krissy. It is no ones fault but Marie's."

Krissy:

It was my fault. It was my aunt who did this. First, she wanted Michael for her own, then she took our child. Not to mention it was my false trust that got me nearly killed and gave Marie the opportunity.

"How can you fix this?" I asked after calming slightly. "She owns a city now, she controls everything. if you weren't able to take her out then..." I gripped him tighter, terrified at the thought that he would try to face her again.