Kota

by C. L. Stone

  He approached slowly and then tilted his head. “Scoot over,” he said.

  She shifted and then slid to the very furthest wall away from him, her knees up and against her chest, like a shield against her body.

  Kota hesitated, flinching at her retreat and instinct to protect herself. He tightened his smile, hoping it appeared to be genuine. Her move caused him to be uncertain about where to sit, and he wondered if it might be better to sit on the floor rather than next to her. Instead, he sat with his back to the wall, facing her in the window seat alcove.

  He handed her the mug carefully, holding it until he was sure she had a grip on the handle and wouldn’t burn her hand. He waited until she took a sip, and struggled to drum up something to talk to her about. He needed to establish some connection with her if he was going to get her to trust him. “So where did you move from?” He sipped quickly from his mug, wanting something to do with his hands to keep from fidgeting.

  Her cheeks went red and her eyes darted toward the window. “A tiny town in Illinois.”

  She paused there, and he waited, but she seemed distracted by the rain or the darkness, or perhaps looking for something else.

  “Did you have any friends?” he asked when it was obvious she wasn’t going to continue.

  Her head shook, and she returned her focus to him. “No one I would write to. I really wasn’t that close to anyone.”

  No close friends. He didn’t like this at all. He had assumed she had lived in Illinois for a while, though. Maybe her family moved regularly and she hadn’t had time to make friends. He silenced his suspicions. He needed to know more before he could draw any conclusions. He traced his finger along the lip of the mug, thinking of what else to ask, something that would generate more than a one sentence response. “You’ll be going to the public school, right?” Again he berated himself silently for the idiotic question. Of course she would, unless she was going to a prep school of some sort, and those were of limited supply in the immediate area.

  “Like everyone else, I guess,” she said.

  Yeah, silly question. “What grade?” he asked.

  “Sophomore,” she said.

  He sat up, hopeful. They’d most likely be attending the same school this year. If he made a connection with her, and if he could determine he could help her, he might be able to convince Mr. Blackbourne to change her schedule and put her in some of the same classes. The only problem was, Kota was going to take advantage of being in this school since they had to be there anyway, meaning he was planning to take more advanced courses.

  No one would mind if he changed things up a bit to secure a friendship to help out someone in need. He didn’t have many favors left, so he hoped this would be something he could do on his own. Maybe all she needed was a friend. “Me, too,” he said. “What are you going to take this year?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t really know what I want.”

  It was like pulling teeth to get her to open up. He studied her as he sipped his cocoa and tried to figure out what would get her to talk to him. They might not make it to when school started if she didn’t find someone she could confide in, and instead decided to go off on her own again.

  “Do your parents want you to take something in particular?” he asked, determined to keep trying.

  She sighed and something in her seemed to change. Her shoulders dropped slightly, relaxing as she nodded. “The daughter of an electrical engineer should have a degree in something. My older sister already started in the arts. I’m getting pushed into science.”

  Well, well... there’s a start. “Would it be that bad?” he asked. “Science is pretty awesome.” He couldn’t help but hope she had some interest in science. At least he would have found something they might have in common.

  She grimaced. “I don’t know if I want to do that.”

  Did she not like science? Would she rather be in an art course? “What do you prefer?”

  “I’m not sure, really,” she said. “There’s so many choices. I don’t know if I want to devote my life to science. Or art. Or something else. It all sounds good.”

  This was sounding better. She was indecisive because she liked everything. He’d been worried maybe she didn’t have any interests at all. He brightened and laughed. “That sounds familiar.”

  Her cheeks reddened. He felt instantly guilty. He hadn’t meant to sound like he was laughing at her.

  Before he could respond, she continued. “I don’t hate science. I don’t hate anything. It’s like I want everything. Not fully. I just want a touch.” She tucked her head down and sipped at her hot chocolate.

  Kota relaxed his smile. While he’d picked science and some math to study on his own, maybe she just needed to try different things and discover what she really liked. Maybe she was curious like him and liked everything but hadn’t figured out her focus yet.

  Their conversation didn’t tell him anything about what she was going through at home. He sought out a delicate way to ask the question he’d been waiting to ask. “Sang... where were you going?” He lifted his gaze to her face, hoping to get a read on her from her expression.

  She kept her eyes on her own mug. “There’s that new house up the road. I was going to sleep there for the night.”

  Kota’s eyes widened. He knew the place; the garage was still unfinished and the construction workers had left the doors open. It was an empty house in a quiet neighborhood, so there wasn’t much risk that a hobo or someone else would enter. Still, that didn’t mean she’d be safe there. And why there? “You were running away?” he asked.

  Her eyes closed and her lips tightened. Kota wondered if he’d asked the wrong question, causing her to clam up. She spoke, but her voice was softer, almost a whisper. “No. Not for forever. I just wanted one night out of the house.”

  Alarms went off in Kota. Her wanting a night out was a desperate move. And if she was willing to admit it was only going to be for one night...she felt trapped enough to think she couldn’t just run off forever. Kota gritted his teeth and held more tightly to the mug. It was clear that something was going wrong over there. He desperately needed to establish a rapport, but he also needed to learn more about what was going on at her house. “So you wanted to break into a house? Alone? In the middle of the night?”

  She turned her head, her cheeks taking on a deeper shade of red. “It sounds crazy.” She sighed and turned to look at him once more, tears pooling in her eyes. “I wasn’t going to hurt anything. My parents are...”

  He held his breath as she paused.

  “...different. I don’t get out much. I just wanted to get away for the night. I didn’t want to feel trapped anymore.”

  Different wasn’t helpful. Despite her feelings, she was still protecting her family, unwilling to divulge whatever it was that had driven her out. He smothered a frown, wondering if perhaps he’d made a mistake. Maybe it was over something insignificant. Maybe he’d been wrong and she’d simply had a disagreement with her parents and had taken off. Maybe she was rebellious in that way.

  “You just needed a release,” he suggested.

  Her face brightened slightly. “It was just a bad night to do it. I probably shouldn’t have thought of the empty house. I just knew the back door was open and I wouldn’t have harmed anything.”

  He smiled at her being worried about hurting an empty house. She hardly seemed the rebellious type. “I have to admit, I can’t imagine you committing a breaking and entering. You don’t look like the bad girl type.” He was trying to be funny, but at the same time hoped she’d share more.

  Instead of answering, her face twisted and she stuck her tongue out to make a face. The goofy gesture caught him off guard and he chuckled.

  Seeing she’d made him laugh, she giggled and continued, “I guess it seems pretty silly. It’s just a single night.”

  He tilted his head. “Why tonight? I mean, what happened today that you felt you had to get out?”

  She blushed, and then pressed
a palm to her cheek. Did it hurt? Had she gotten slapped? He jumped to all sorts of conclusions but reminded himself he needed to hear her story before making assumptions. “It’s complicated.”

  “I’m pretty smart,” he said. “Try me.”

  “It seemed a better idea than hiding away forever,” she said, her voice changing from amused to wistful. “I don’t want to believe the world is all that terrible.”

  He considered her strange behavior. Overprotective parents? Her sister stayed at the house while Sang escaped to the woods. She wasn’t easy to approach. But maybe he was wrong about the abuse. Maybe they simply kept her at home to protect her. It wasn’t really fair, of course, but if there wasn’t abuse, he could work with it.

  He relaxed. Maybe she just needed a secret friend. Someone on the outside who she could talk to. At least she got to school, instead of being kept at home all day. Maybe she’d get a fresh start when school started. He could help her find a few other friends as well. He smiled. “Sang, you’re an idiot.”

  Her mouth made an “o” in surprise. “But... I...”

  Pressing one finger against her lips, he stopped her from talking. It was a bold move, even for him, but it oddly seemed natural, too.

  Her lips were soft and they stilled the moment he touched her. “Three reasons,” he said. “For one, you picked a bad night to take off. Two, if you knew the house was empty, someone else could be lurking in there, too. Maybe a hobo or some other teenagers.” He thought of some other kids on this street who might take advantage of an empty house for a night. They weren’t dangerous, but a couple of them might not be the best ones to be hanging around if she was having problems at home. “It might not be true of you, but people who break into houses are often not very nice people. You’d be walking in on them.”

  “What’s the third?” she asked, her words slightly muffled as his finger was still on her lips.

  She was a little silly. He liked that. Despite whatever she was going through, she had a positive attitude.

  He pulled his finger away slowly. “If your parents caught you, you might have been grounded for a lifetime and I would have never met you.” His heart raced with this confession. Of course that couldn’t be true. He would have met her eventually given their proximity and that they’d be at the same school together. Still, he wanted to impress upon her that she was worth meeting and it would be a terrible shame if she was arrested or grounded or worse.

  She said nothing, but her eyes danced. He could sense some confusion and could imagine what she was thinking: Who was he, some stranger saying these things? He couldn’t blame her.

  He drank the rest of his cocoa to get it out of the way and to give himself a moment to consider his next move. It seemed logical to have her stay, but there were some problems. For one, his mother might not understand him having a girl spend the night here. He might have to find a workaround for that. Also, he had to consider if she didn’t accept, how he’d be able to convince her to go home. Returning now could be more dangerous for her and might expose him as a bad person to her parents if he was caught helping her. A misunderstanding like that would be contrary to his plans.

  He didn’t see a lot of options; might as well take the chance. “Do you have to be somewhere tomorrow?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “Are you still intent on staying out for the night?”

  She hesitated. He didn’t know a less intrusive way to ask. What else was he supposed to do in a situation like this?

  “If I could figure something else out...”

  You’ll just have to go for it. As he thought of what he wanted to say, he counted to three. He put down his mug and placed a gentle hand on her knee to get her attention. He realized it was a bold move, but he wanted to be direct. “So how about this, I’ll let you sleep here tonight. I think you’ll feel better in the morning about it all. After that, give me a month.” Maybe it was crazy, letting a girl sleep here for the night. He could let her go on her own, but she may just try to run away again, or she could go back to her house and get into trouble. Staying here might be the best solution to keep her safe. She could sneak back early tomorrow without being found out; he already knew she took walks, sometimes early in the morning. If he dried her clothes, she could walk in tomorrow morning and tell her parents she was just out on a walk.

  He didn’t want to admit that he wouldn’t mind keeping her around a little longer. He liked her and sensed there was much more to her than even he had realized before tonight.

  “To do what?” she asked, her eyes wide.

  “We’ll get your parents to relax so you don’t have to sneak out.” It was a stretch since he still didn’t know the situation. Perhaps her parents were introverts and they stayed home a lot, and wanted their children to be the same. Whatever the case, Sang was unhappy, enough to run off for a night, possibly more. So in any case, he wanted to fix whatever was making her feel like running.

  She smirked. “Now who is being idiotic?”

  Her disbelief didn’t waver his determination. “I mean it.”

  “You don’t know me. Why do you care?”

  There was more than one answer to that question. Even if he didn’t care personally as a decent human being, his association with the Academy meant he would be obligated to contact someone for help.

  But he did care. “Friends help each other. We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

  Her hesitation to his question scared him a little. He tried to wait it out, but was going to say something encouraging when she finally responded. “I suppose so.”

  It wasn’t very reassuring, but it would have to do for now. He stood up, collecting both of their empty mugs. He didn’t suspect she’d leave at this point, but he wanted to give her a little breathing room and a chance to relax. “I’m going to take these downstairs and put Max into his crate. You go hop into bed.”

  Her mouth opened in surprise and she looked over at the bed, shaking her head. “But... you...”

  Cute. He laughed a little. “Don’t worry. There’s a roll-away bed underneath that one. When I get back, I’ll pull it out and will sleep there.” Was that still too close? He’d sleep on the couch downstairs, but that would draw attention from his mom if he didn’t wake up before she did. His sister got up sometimes in the middle of the night, too and would ask why he was on the couch. He didn’t want to have to make up a lie.

  “But maybe I could sleep on the roll-away thing. I mean, it’s your bed.”

  He hid his smile and turned toward the stairs. Silly girl was too nice for her own good. “Just get in, will you? It’s late.” He made his way down to clean up.

  Despite appearing composed, his heart was still racing, even after several moments at the kitchen sink, watching as water filled the two mugs to rinse them out.

  He was thinking about her green eyes, trying to determine who she was. She didn’t seem like a troublemaker or a bad kid. He knew looks could be deceiving, though. He considered doing a little research and asking Mr. Blackbourne to run a background check on her. Maybe her old school records would reveal more about her.

  She wasn’t in danger at the moment. She didn’t appear bruised from her home life and she was able to goof off a bit with him. Both were good signs.

  So what would drive such a girl out of her home?

  He breathed in deeply, pulling the air in to fill his lungs until near bursting, and then held it for five seconds, counting backward slowly, before letting it all out between his lips.

  Trying to figure her out wasn’t his favorite sort of puzzle. He could be completely wrong; maybe things were worse than he thought. He’d just have to keep an eye on her.

  Maybe in the morning, she’d talk more. It had been a strange night, she was probably overwhelmed.

  When he returned upstairs, she was in his bed on her side with the blanket pulled over her. When he slid the roll-away bed out, she didn’t move at all.

  When he finally settled in, he listen
ed to her gentle breathing, counting along as she slept so close. He focused on her to push the problems away and blank out his mind. He wouldn’t be able to help her at all if he was tired in the morning.

  One hundred...ninety-nine...ninety-eight...He counted down to get to sleep.

  ♥♥♥

  The vibration of his phone alert was what woke him. His eyes parted, and while he couldn’t see fine details of the room, the dim gray light washing in via the window was enough to let him know it wasn’t yet six.

  Had he meant to set his alarm this early? He tried to recall what he’d meant to do that morning but wasn’t yet awake enough to recall. He stretched and yawned, then turned with blurry eyes toward the spot where he usually kept his glasses, and then reached further when he couldn’t feel them. Then he froze when he realized he wasn’t in his bed.

  Kota blinked, rubbed at his eyes, and looked over at the lump in his own bed and then down at himself in the pullout. He instantly remembered last night. Sang. The girl who needed help.

  Kota cringed, feeling silly for forgetting. He must have slept harder than he’d realized. He’d meant to keep an ear out in case Sang decided to leave early on her own.

  But she hadn’t. He got up as quietly as he could, checking on her, noting how she was sleeping. He couldn’t see her face, but she was breathing normally.

  He counted the seconds between when her chest started to drop until it rose again. Long, steady breaths. She was well asleep.

  He hurried, as quietly as he could, to collect his clothes and to get downstairs. He dressed in the bathroom and then found Sang’s clothes in the dryer.

  He was about to leave the laundry room when he heard Max bark once, and then the padding of footsteps coming toward him.

  Kota reacted quickly, snatching up a towel and wrapping it around Sang’s clothes just before the door opened.

  His mom stood there, bleary-eyed, her short brown hair sticking up on the side. She was carrying her basket of dirty clothes and paused in the doorway. “Kota?” she said, her voice softer than normal, a little rough. She coughed once to clear it. “Did you just throw in a load? It’s not your normal day...”