A strange heat spread through his chest, starting small, pulsing in time with his heartbeat. His fingers trembled, but it wasn't fear — not exactly. It was… energy. Pressure. A coil wound too tight for too long.
Ten years of bruises. Ten years of silent meals, of stepping lightly to avoid the next blow. Ten years of being told he was nothing.
And tonight, he'd almost died.
The thought came quiet, like a whisper from the deepest part of him: It doesn't have to be like this.
He sat up slowly, every joint stiff, his neck aching. His eyes landed on the closed bedroom door. The faint light from the living room leaked in underneath, pulsing with the flicker of the TV.
'He's sitting there. Relaxed. Waiting for me to crawl back out like nothing happened.'
Kai stood. His legs were unsteady at first, but each step toward the door felt stronger than the last. His bare feet made no sound against the floorboards.
Through the thin wall, Rian's voice carried again. "Come on, you useless twig, say something. What, sulking now?"
Kai's hand hovered over the doorknob. His pulse roared in his ears, and his vision narrowed until the door was all he saw.
Just walk away.
No.
This will make it worse.
It can't get worse.
He opened the door.
The living room was awash in pale light from the TV. Rian lounged on the couch, one arm thrown over the backrest, a beer can dangling from his other hand. His eyes flicked toward Kai, lazy and cold.
"What, finally decided to come out and—"
Kai moved before the words finished.
He crossed the space in three strides, his hands finding Rian's throat the way they'd imagined a hundred times in the dark. His fingers locked tight, thumbs pressing into the hollow where the pulse beat.
Rian choked, his beer can slipping from his hand and hitting the carpet with a dull thud.
For the first time, Kai didn't flinch at the sound of Rian's gasp. For the first time, he was the one holding all the air between them.
'This is what it feels like to have control.'
Rian's hands shot up, grabbing Kai's wrists, trying to pry them loose. His eyes widened, bloodshot from drink, panic setting in.
"You—" His voice broke into a rasp.
Kai tightened his grip. His heart pounded, but it wasn't the frantic rhythm of fear — it was steady, deliberate.
Images flashed through his mind: the hallway slam, the backhand at the dinner table, the nights locked out in the cold. Every insult, every bruise, every time Rian had smiled while Kai suffered.
The heat in his chest grew, flooding his arms, his hands, until it felt like he was channeling every year of pain through his fingers.
Rian's face began to flush red, then darken toward purple. His kicks against the coffee table grew weaker.
'You can't hurt me if you're gone.'
For a moment, the thought didn't scare him. It felt right.
His grip tightened again, the cords in his forearms straining. Rian's eyes bulged, his lips parting in a silent plea.
Kai's breath came heavy, but not from effort. It was something else — release. The coil inside him was unwinding, and every second of Rian's struggling made it looser.
Then—
A flash of memory: his mother's laugh in the kitchen, the way her hand had ruffled his hair. His father's voice telling him bedtime stories about ancient heroes. Both faces fading in the rearview mirror of a car, then gone forever.
The heat in his chest wavered.
'What am I doing?'
It hit him like ice water — the realization that he was staring into the same kind of fear he'd felt a thousand times. Only now, he was the one causing it.
His fingers loosened. Rian sucked in a ragged breath, coughing violently, his body folding forward.
Kai stepped back, chest heaving. His hands shook, the warmth draining from them all at once, replaced by a cold that made his stomach turn.
'If I stay, I'll finish it.'
He turned, bolting for the door.
Behind him, Rian's cough turned into a snarl. "You little—" His voice broke again, but the rage was already there.
Kai didn't wait to hear more. He yanked the door open and ran into the night.
The air outside was cool, damp with the promise of rain. His bare feet slapped against cracked pavement as he sprinted, not caring which direction he took. Streetlights blurred past, each one casting his shadow long and then swallowing it again.
Tears streamed down his face, hot against the chill air. His lungs burned, but it wasn't from running.
'What have I done? What have I done?'
Behind him, somewhere in the distance, a door slammed open. Rian's voice carried faintly — hoarse, furious, promising this wasn't over.
Kai pushed harder, legs screaming, chest tight.
The night swallowed him whole.
Kai's bare feet slapped against the cracked pavement, each impact jarring up his legs. The air was damp and cold, smelling faintly of rain-soaked asphalt and distant smoke. He didn't know which streets he took — every turn was instinct, a desperate zigzag through the labyrinth of alleys and empty lots.
His lungs were on fire. His throat — already bruised from earlier — burned with each ragged gulp of air. The bruise felt like a band tightening around his windpipe, punishing him for every breath.
Don't stop. Don't think. Just run.
A dog barked somewhere far off. The sound made him flinch, but it didn't slow him. He passed shuttered storefronts, dumpsters that reeked of rot, and streetlamps that hummed faintly, their light stuttering as if unsure whether to hold or break.
Behind him, a door slammed open.
"KAI!"
The shout tore through the night like a gunshot. His name, not spoken, but spat — a promise.
The sound of boots hit the ground, heavier and faster than his own.
Kai's heart lurched into overdrive. His pace quickened, but the pounding steps behind him didn't fade.
'He's faster. He's stronger. If he catches me—' He forced the thought away before it could finish.
He turned into a narrow alley, trash bags piled high against the brick walls. Something skittered away from his feet — a rat, maybe. The air here smelled of mildew and oil.
Bootsteps echoed behind him, getting louder.
"I'm gonna break you!" Rian's voice was closer now, ragged with fury.
Kai stumbled over a loose brick, his shoulder slamming into the wall. Pain shot down his arm, but he kept running, shoving himself forward. His bare toes scraped the ground raw.
Every shadow looked like a hand reaching for him. Every gust of wind felt like breath on the back of his neck.
The alley spat him out into a wider street, this one lined with darkened houses. Some had curtains drawn tight; others had windows glowing faintly, unaware of the chase happening just outside.
'If someone saw me, would they help? Or would they just close the blinds?'
The boots were still behind him.
Kai darted across the street without looking. A car horn blared — the screech of tires biting asphalt — and headlights washed over him, blinding for a second before the car swerved past. His heart hammered in his throat.
Rian's voice cut through the darkness again. "You think you can run from me?"
Kai didn't answer. Couldn't. His body was running on something raw and primal now.
He turned down another street, this one quieter, with a single flickering streetlight at the far end. His legs screamed at him to stop. His chest ached.
Then—
A figure stepped into the pool of light.
Tall. Lean. Wrapped in a dark coat that moved like smoke. The face was shadowed under the brim of a wide hat, but two eyes glinted faintly, catching the streetlight like the surface of water.
Kai's steps faltered. Something in his gut told him this wasn't just some passerby.
Rian's boots pounded closer.
The figure's head tilted slightly, as if studying him. Then, in a voice smooth as velvet but carrying something sharp underneath:
"You're not the one I'm looking for."
They stepped past Kai — toward Rian.
Kai didn't stop to hear the conversation. He kept running, but the voice followed him in the air like smoke.
"Rian Holt."
His brother's footsteps slowed. "Who the hell are you?"
"I can give you what you've always wanted." The figure's tone was calm, coaxing. "Power. The kind no one can stand against."
Kai turned another corner but couldn't help hearing Rian's reply, faint but clear: "Keep talking."
The rest blurred into distance.