Kayla Evergreens: A Narrative Fiction

KAYLA STARED AT SETH AS SHE SAT IN the reclining chair adjacent to the couch he had fallen asleep on. Her eyes remained bright and wide as if startled by Seth’s sudden outburst. “Did you have a bad dream?” she asked. Seth blinked the cobwebs from his vision, looked over to see Kayla sitting in the chair bemused by him, and then screamed again. Kayla nervously jumped like an abruptly frightened fawn and moved to muffle her ears with her hands. She looked as if ready to scream herself. Seth scurried back on the couch, hit the edge and fell over onto the floor. He then sprang up looking dumbstruck and immediately retreated further until his heels banged into the small step that lead up into the kitchen area where he then fell down again. His
voice had been pulled from him, but after a stagnate pause, he managed a much-needed breath, he then looked ready to screech a cry of terror that would carry for miles and last until his heart exploded. He didn’t emit any wail, however. But that was only because he couldn’t. Before Seth knew what hit him his abdominal muscle cramped and locked up in a tight, holding the squeeze, and out rushed from his mouth was whatever stomach contents had remained in him from last night. The bile spouted into the air like a geyser and rained down upon the kitchen floor, catching part of Seth’s shirt in the process. He then gagged and struggled to continue breathing as the acrid spew burnt his esophagus. All his efforts to continue howling in his unforeseen launch of sudden panic were halted as he was given no choice but to go along with the ebb and flows of his heaving abdomen. But, eventually, after a lengthy battle of self-control the nausea subsided. Kayla had remained quiet and still as she quizzically watched the show Seth had put on. She seemed adrift. “Augh…” Seth babbled, and he spat the soured taste from his mouth several times. “W-Where?” he tried to ask. “Where did you come from? What are you?” Kayla shrugged. Seth stumbled over to the kitchen sink where he sucked and then spit several handfuls of water. Once the remaining vomit was free from his mouth, he then drank like a man who had been lost out in the desert. Having settled his thirst, Seth didn’t bother to wipe the dribble from his chin. Instead, he just stared at Kayla who did the same in return, her tiny legs dangling off the edge of the reclining chair she was parked in. “Did you drink some bad milk?” she asked breaking the awkward pause between them. “I drank some bad milk one time before I went to bed and it gave me bad dreams and I woke up sick too.” “Milk?” Seth confusedly questioned. “No, I… I didn’t drink any bad milk. There hasn’t been any milk in this house for…” He thought and couldn’t remember the last time he’d purchased the stuff. “How did you get here? How did you get into my car yesterday?” “I don’t know,” Kayla said softly, innocently, seeming honest and unaware. “I just did.” “Where did you go yesterday?” Seth asked, seeming to calm a bit, the noticeable edge in his demeanor lifting. “Where did you go after I told you to wait in my car and I went back into the store?” Kayla looked downward and refused to answer, her face suggested fear over Seth’s badgering.
“You sneaking into the back of my car and then disappearing like you did got the police involved, you know?” Seth told her somewhat curtly. “And, that was something I really didn’t need.” He staggered in recalling his thoughts. “All those people down at the Walgreens looking at me as if I were crazy and making shit up for the hell of it. Or, that I was seeing things—apparitions.” Kayla remained quiet before pivoting in the big chair away from Seth as a form of contesting his being upset with her. She then turned somber like a guilt-riddled puppy, a frown as if she were getting ready to cry grew on her face. Seeing the metamorphosis in the girl’s appearance, Seth remembered how she took off on him the last time she seemed to get upset, so he at once shut up and stopped berating her. He then had to remind himself that she was only a child and not one of his men. That, he would only make things worse if he pushed and scolded her. “Alright,” he said, trying to show a softer side. “Your name is Kayla, right? You told me yesterday that your name is Kayla.” She looked his way, but didn’t say anything. Her eyes, however, suggested yes to the
question. “Okay, good,” said Seth, “now we’re getting somewhere. My name is Seth, and whatever happened yesterday… however you got into the back of my vehicle doesn’t matter, okay? It’s not your fault. What’s done is done, and the important thing is… that from this point forward you don’t try to run away again, okay?” Kayla seemed to be listening. Seth went on, “Now, I’m going to find my car keys, and then we’re going to take a quick ride over to the police station so they can help us get you back to your dad.” “No,” Kayla said in a stern refusal. “No?” Seth questioned having been somewhat taken aback. “Why no?” he asked, but hoped he wasn’t pushing her to become upset once more. “Don’t you want to go home? Don’t you miss Max, your puppy?” “Max isn’t my dog,” Kayla said to Seth strangely as if he were stupid for not knowing as much. “He’s that mean man’s dog, and he’s not very happy about that. He says the man never takes him out for a walk and he doesn’t get to go to the park and he never gets any treats and that the man is always yelling at him all the time. He also says the man drinks a lot of beer like you do.” It was Seth’s turn to look at Kayla strangely. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Kayla are you telling me that Max, the little white Labrador puppy whom I saw you playing with yesterday is not your dog?” “Unh-uh,” she smiled. “Then who’s dog is he?” “I told you, the mean man’s.” “And, just who is that mean man who was trying to get you and Max back into the car when you two were running around the parking lot?”