“What’s happened to you?” He shot back. “Surely you’d want to leave soon.” Kai tilted his head up slightly to look up into the sky from his perch. It was none of her business what had happened to him, was it?
My sympathy is gone. Time to go home, Mac. She told herself as she regarded Kai once more. She'd never imagined him to be so obnoxious and aloof. "Yeah, you're right. I think I will go home."
Kai pointed his nose up and away from her, no sympathy generated from her stab at it. She obviously seemed very out of her element here, while he was comfortable just being alone in his own memories. But there was the chance of her telling someone where he is.
“You won’t tell anyone I’m here, will you?” He suddenly quizzed belligerently, tilting his head back down.
"Should I?" Was all she offered.
If someone asked, maybe she would. But she was sure, no one was going to come for him, why take the risk. No one knew what was out here besides terrifying beasts.
“You can I just wouldn’t be found.” Kai quickly responded back, regaining his poise again. “No one will want to come in here after me.” He crossed his arms slightly. “You’re the only person who seems to actually, visibly, care.”
"Well, I'll take that as a compliment." She grumbled moving away from him. Her mind was still telling her to leave. He would be fine, he seemed so comfortable being out here. He didn't need her.
Wish I would've known that before I followed him out here…. Mac thought, running another hand through her hair, her stress evident. "Ya'know, just because people won't follow you into the unknown, it doesn't mean they don't care."
His response never came to her. His still-blank eyes turned to somewhere beyond him, away from the city.
“There is something coming. If you’re scared, you should probably leave.” He didn’t sound scared, actually, he sounded as if it were the opposite for him. “We don’t want you getting hurt.”
Her heart believe him. She believed him. That's why she backed away.
He'll be alright…. she told herself as she turned tail and ran. Only, it wasn't as fast as she ran before. No, that energy was wasted.
As she turned to hurry away, she heard his light footsteps fall to the ground again with a light crunch. Clearly, he was just sitting there to busy her. But louder crunches announced themselves just as she was running from earshot. She never learned what those crunches were, as she fled out to the safety of the city.
(Next day?)
(yes!)
Mac went to work the next day. But it wasn't at all the same. She couldn't focus for a single second. Thoughts of Kai tied her mind up in a knot. He was gone, he hadn't come back yet.
And people weren't saying much about it.
Not even their bosses, who probably knew Kai the best, weren’t even worried about it, despite them being the core of the problem. In fact, they seemed pretty happy that he was gone. It was pretty troublesome to have someone hard to work with at a Human Resources area.
Mac walked past his office a dozen time that day before lunch, checking inside as if he would magically appear. But he never did. He really was gone.
And no one was going to say anything. No one but her.
She made up her mind during lunch after she stared at her sandwich for about 5 minutes, reminding herself of all the reasons why she should act like nothing happened too. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss. But bliss was temporary. So, Mac marched down to her boss's office, sandwich in hand, and stood there until she got her attention.
Certainly she finally got the attention of the woman, who had been in a conference for most of her employees’ lunch hour. She glanced up with tiredness in her eyes, only to brighten up immediately at the sight of Mac standing there with her sandwich. She stood and walked outside, rubbing the back of her head to mess up her bun even more.
“What is it, Mac? You look angry.”
"Good observation skills, now I can see why you're the boss and I'm not. Yes, I'm angry!" Mac crossed her arms, well aware of her sandwich. She didn't waste anymore time.
"So um– Where is Kai? He hasn't showed up yet? Has anyone called to make sure he's okay?""
Her boss sighed irritably with her. “I know what’s going on, but is it really your business, Mac? I know he’s not here. Is there anything else you need from me, right now? I’m a little busy.” The woman didn’t cross her arms but she seemed pretty close to shutting the door in her face.
"Listen, I wouldn't care if it was someone else. But Kai isn't like anybody else! You told us to be there for one another, but everyone seems relieved that he's not here and that's not cool!" Mac argued, but she didn't raise her voice. She'd been getting better.
"Just tell me you'll get in touch with him soon? That's all I'm asking."
“His nurses said that he will be in touch, he’s just taking a vacation.” Her boss then turned around to continue with matters much more significant that someone taking a vacation. Her door shut in Mac’s face, and her blinds came down over the large clear windows, an obvious sign she did not want to be disturbed again.
"Vacation my arse!" Mac shouted at the door before stalking away. So even his nurses had no clue where he was. What if he was still outside the city? Still in the woods? Was he even alive?
She went back to her office and tossed her sandwich. She was no longer hungry.
(skip?)
(Where to, boss?)
(aaaaaaa idk?)
(XD So, should Mac try to contact him? Should she go and look for him?)
(Yesssssss! I wanted to say that but something happened lol)
((Okay XD, so which one should she do?))
(go look for hiimmm)
(Bet)
Mac tied her hair back and grabbed her bag and keys before leaving her apartment. She wasn't going to work today, not that she let her boss know that.
No, she was going to look for Kai. After getting his number from the employee files and calling him a couple times, with no answer, she decided it was time to check on him. So that meant going back out of the city. Back into the forest that overwhelmed their city walls. Not something she wanted to do, but her mind kept telling her she didn't have much of a choice. Mac caught a taxi part of the way and walked the rest, all the while trying not to talk herself out of it.
Kai could very well be dead. Whatever came after her that night was something to fear, something to be worried about. It could have harmed him.
But what if it hadn't?
Kai hadn’t died, no. He felt quite the opposite as he moved through the forest he dearly loved and remembered. It brought back memories of being with family and just living his own, best life. Kai’s phone was somewhere in his house; he never had it on him. It was just something insignificant in his life outside of this forest. He relaxed with the small animals near a stream, a long-tailed cat like thing relaxed on his lap. The thing was all silver with golden eyes and a hard, ruby-colored tongue that scratched when it licked. But its tail was luxuriously long, with small, blue feathers at the end of it, that flicked back and forth as Kai stroked it.
