Soon, the evening settled in, and dinner was served. Kira sat with Elara and Orion, enjoying the meal and feeling grateful for the new family she had found. It was not something she ever thought would have happened, but it was beautiful to have a place to call home.
Dinner passed with warmth and laughter, and after they were done, they all wished each other a good night and went up to their rooms, although Kira had other plans.
She had planned to visit her parents that night and was currently getting dressed in a simple trouser and sweater, before she headed out into the cool night.
The night, of course, was calm, the stars twinkling and the half moon shining bright as she strolled along the quiet pack grounds, heading to their graves. Almost nearing where her parents’ graves were, something caught her eyes– a patch of Bluebells that swayed gently in the evening breeze.
Kira’s steps slowed, her gaze locking on the beautiful, delicate flowers. She blinked in surprise, a smile creeping up her face as she crouched to examine them.
“These are lovely. How have I never seen you beautiful flowers here before?” she whispered, brushing her fingers on them.
“Mom and Dad will love these,” she muttered to herself, the smile on her face growing wide.
“I apologize, but I will have to take you pretty little things,” Kira said to the flowers as she carefully picked a few, giggling softly at the way she spoke to them. “These are perfect.”
With a sigh and her exhaling, she rose and continued her walk. When she finally reached her destination, she knelt by their gravestones, placing the Bluebells on each. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad,” she whispered.
Kira’s voice was filled with so much warmth as she spoke. “I brought you something… I thought you would like these.”
After she was done with placing the Bluebells, Kira grazed her fingers over their engraved names. She traced the letters as if to feel their presence, with her eyes closed. “I hope you two are happy wherever you are,” she said. “I hope it’s a beautiful place.”
She was already sitting on the ground, not caring for the dirt. At first, she was quiet, enjoying the comforting peace she felt around the graves. The quiet moment with them, even if they were gone, was everything.
Soon she started chatting away, telling them about everything that had happened since her last visit. “You know, I have gotten better at training hard,” she laughed as she told them. “Mmm… And I feel really strong. Well, I’m getting stronger every day. What else?” She thought, trying to remember every single detail.
“Ah, right!” She paused, suddenly remembering. “I even found out something,” she whispered as if she was about to tell them a very shocking secret.
“So, I found out that your killer was killed.” Kira let out, with a satisfied smile. “The shocking thing was that Bryan and Aiden were the ones who found your killer, tortured and killed him. I got to know about this from their parents while we were on our way from the beach, the topic just came out, mostly because of the memories the beach came with. And I wonder why Bryan and Aiden never told me about that. They said everything else except that part.”
She had to pause for a moment, thinking about it all. “I am still trying to process everything, myself.”
“Don’t they know it would have helped with me maybe pitying them and giving them a chance earlier?” She asked her parents before laughing and sniffing, “I’m joking, I’m joking. But still, they should have told me, I feel very proud. I don’t even have any words.”
She then sniffed and laughed as she continued rambling, “Ah, I’m I crying now?” She asked herself, feeling so many emotions at once. “Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, these are happy tears.” She told them, drying her eyes, “I’m happy you both got justice.”
“I’m happy,” she whispered softly.
“And please don’t get jealous because I now also call Bryan’s and Aiden’s parents, Mom and Dad,” she suddenly said out of nowhere, laughing some more and even drying her eyes some more. “Don’t worry, no one has taken any of your places in my heart. So you both better not be sad.”
Kira sat there for some minutes, hours, rambling about nothing and everything, before she decided to head back in. She had a smile on her face while she walked back, feeling content.
“I should call them,” she smiled, taking her phone out of her back pocket to dial Aiden’s number. “I am really going to scold them this time.”
As the phone rang in her ear, a warm rush of excitement filled her heart. “Come on, pick up,” she whispered.
Just as she heard the familiar voice say, “Hello?” a shadow fell over her.
Before Kira could comprehend what was happening, she felt a strong-arm wrap around her chest tightly from behind.
Panic surged through her as she felt something pierce into her neck just as quickly as the arm had held her.
“Wha-” she gasped, feeling the sting of the syringe pierce her skin.
She was not given enough time to fight, although she didn’t give up. Her hands still clawed at the arm around her chest, trying to free herself, but whatever that person had injected into her, was already taking effect.
Her phone slipped from her hand, falling to the ground, as the effect kicked in.
“Kira! Love, are you there?” She heard Aiden call out from the call.
The hand that held her had now left her, seeing as the injection was working. Kira stumbled, struggling to keep her balance, but her legs grew weak.
“What is happening?” She thought, her heart racing as she felt her throat burn. Even her thoughts had become sluggish and muddled.
Everything was spinning and seeing as her legs could no longer hold her, she dropped to her knees. Without delay, she started searching for her phone with shaky hands.
“Love?” She heard Aiden call out again, “Are you okay? Hello?”
“Aiden!” She tried to scream, but her voice came out as a mere whisper.
“Aiden,” she cried out in her mind, realizing she was losing control of her body.
“H-Hel-” she tried to say, but the words never came out. Her head felt dizzy, heavy, and her eyes were not working properly with desperation clawing at her throat.
The blurriness of her vision increased while she searched frantically for her phone on the ground.
Her attacker just stood there, watching and enjoying how much desperation she was in to be saved.
“Kira? Baby?”
This time it was Bryan’s voice she was hearing.
“Bryan?” She called out, but this was only in her head, “Help.”
“Crawling around so beautifully,” she then heard a different voice say. It seemed to belong to the one who was doing this to her. It definitely was.
“Help! Bryan!” She forced out and it came out successfully.
Immediately the attacker noticed this, he stomped down on her phone, smashing it.