Chapter 37 – Kai
M y shift just ended. Tomorrow or I guess today, since it’s after midnight, is the final day of Midnight Mayhem. I don’t care about that right now. What Tina said when she cornered me in the mirror maze has me on edge. I see a piece of paper attached to my door. I rip it off the door and open it.
Kai,
Your precious Lana is in trouble. If you want to save her, come alone. No cops. We’re holding her hostage. She may be unscathed by the time you get here, or maybe she’ll be very hurt. Best decide now. Time is ticking.
I growl. I don’t have time to change clothes. I quickly grab the knife out of my backpack. I put it in a concealed sheath under my costume. I grab my keys and back out of the parking lot by the trailers.
I head towards the production studio. I just pray I can get there in time. I don’t know what they have planned but I know it’s no good. My heart begins to race the closer I get to the studio. I’m coming, Lana.
I slide into the parking lot. I put the van in park and jump out. I don’t want to waste time actually parking and turning the van off. Just in case.
I keep my knife concealed. I pull my stupid hood down. My hair tickles my nose as it falls in front of my eyes. I quietly open the door. I don’t want them to be alerted to my presence yet.
I walk a little ways down the first hall. There’s blood smeared on the wall. What the fuck? I turn the corner and there’s a body slumped against the wall, blue eyes wide open. A man. I step over his legs and continue on. Poor bastard.
I shake my head. I will have to shield that image from Lana, when I get her out of here. Alive. I refuse to believe they’ve killed her. Otherwise, why bait me into coming?
I start opening doors, quietly. I can hear what sounds like choking. I close my fourth door, I’ve opened and I continue down the hall. I listen intently. I rush into the room on my right. I see a woman with blonde hair. She’s choking on her own blood. Shit. I help her up.
She gasps for air. I shut the door to stifle some of the noise. She’s been stabbed at least four times. “Can you talk?” I ask her, softly. She nods. “I-I’m C-Carly.” Her voice is very weak.
“Are you able to see?” I wave my hand in front of her face. Her pupils are dilated, blown probably from shock and trauma. Her eyes follow my hand.
“Do you think you can drive, Carly?” I ask. She nods. I lift her shirt to see how bad it is. Whoever got ahold of her missed major organs. “You’re lucky to be alive.” I look around. It seems that we’re in the costume department. I find a flannel, similar to Lana’s. I rip it into strips.
“I need you to stand up.” I hold her hands and help her up. She takes in a shaky breath. “Here, hold your shirt up. I’m going to tie these strips of flannel around your stab wounds. It should be able to hold you until you can get help.” She shakily nods her head.
I squeeze her hand before letting go. “Take a deep breath.” I tie a few strips together to make one big strip of flannel. I wrap it and I tie it tight. She winces. “I know, I’m sorry.” I rip more strips off the flannel and repeat this until all of her wounds are covered.
“My van is parked out front. It’s running, all you have to do is get in and drive. I would assume they took the phones out to prevent Lana from calling. Go get help.” I squeeze her hands. She nods. I lead her to the door. I motion for her to stay put.
I open the door, poke my head out and look down both sides of the hallway. “We’re clear. And when you come down the hallway, please, please ignore the blood on the wall. I don’t want you to have to see that.” I plead with her.
Her eyes water but she nods. “I’ll make sure Lana is safe.” I reassure her. She hugs me gently of course because of her wounds. I hug her back. “Please go to safety.” She nods. She takes off slowly towards the entrance.
I pray that she doesn’t see the blood bath, that has resulted down the hall. It was gruesome even for me. I take off down the hall in the opposite direction. I slow my steps when I hear voices.
“You’re going to pay for what you did, you bitch.” I hear Tina say. I peek around the corner. I see Liam gripping his balls on the floor. Good. Tina is straddling Lana. She grips Lana’s throat and I watch as she picks Lana up and slams her head into the floor.
I watch helplessly. I have to bide my time, so Carly can get help. I watch as blood slowly pours out of her head. Tina gets ready to slam her head again when I see Liam get up. He wraps an arm around Tina and pulls her off.
I listen to Lana trying to breathe. “You don’t get to kill her, Kai hasn’t shown up yet.” Little do you know fuckers, I’m here. I watch Lana put a hand to her head and she puts her hand up in front of her face. A majority of her hand is covered in blood. Fuck.
I grit my teeth. Liam lets go of Tina. I watch as Lana tries to get up. No, baby don’t try. She falls back down. Liam crawls over to her. “Fuck, Tina. At this rate she’s going to bleed out before, I will get to do anything with her.” I clench my fists.
I watch him pick her up into his arms. Her arm falls limp over his arm. Fuck, am I too late? He looks over at Tina. “Get the fucking first aid kit. Meet me in the auditorium.” He carries her off the opposite direction from me. Thank God.
Tina murmurs to herself. “I knew I should’ve killed her earlier.” My blood boils from the confession. She takes her sweet ass time looking for a first aid kit. “Oh no, Lana’s dead? How fucking tragic.” She laughs to herself.
You’ll get yours, you fucking cunt. I follow her to the auditorium. “TINA.” Liam yells out. She rushes in, with fake urgency. “She’s unconscious. Her pulse is weak.” I walk in and hide behind the last row of seats.
I take this time to dig out the knife I have under my costume. Liam wraps Lana’s head to stop the bleeding. “Grab the chair, you useless slut. If Lana dies before Kai gets here, this will have been for nothing.” He grits out.
Tina throws the chair at Liam. “Do it your fucking self. Why the fuck do you care about her? You’re just like everyone else. It’s always about fucking Lana Voss. Never about me.” She pouts. He walks up to her and grabs her throat.
She gasps out, “Liam.” She claws at his hands. “Speak another word like that about her and I will kill you. I don’t fucking need you.” Her eyes bug out, her clawing becomes weak. He drops her.
She grabs at her throat, trying to gasp for air. Damn it. I was hoping Liam would just kill her. “I’ll be back. Lana better be in the fucking chair by the time I get back.” He threatens. She nods.
I lay down in the floor. He walks right past me. I let out a breath. I sit back up. I watch as Tina shakily picks up the chair and puts it upright.
She picks Lana up under her armpits and drags her to the chair. Lana doesn’t stir. Come on, baby. She grunts as she lifts Lana into the chair.
Tina runs backstage. I take the time to inch closer to the stage. I have to be close but not too close. I don’t want to be spotted prematurely.
I go to the side of the stage. I get up and hide in the curtains. I grip my knife. I have to take Tina hostage for my plan to work. I peek around the curtains to see Tina tie Lana’s legs to the chair, and her arms on the armrests.
Lana’s head is slumped forward. I will make them both pay. I hear the auditorium door open. I go back behind the curtains. “At least you’re obedient.” Tina scowls.
I peek my head back out. Liam walks up to Lana. He touches her face. He puts his fingers on her neck. “You’re lucky she still has a pulse.” Lana is alive. I sigh. He tilts her chin up. “Mmmm. The things I wanted to do to you one last time. Before Tina ruined everything.” He shoots her a look.
Tina glares. “You could do those things to me.” He laughs. He points the knife at her. “I always knew you were a whore. Throwing yourself at Kai. It was honestly sad to see him only have eyes for her.” She gets up in his face.
“I can fuck just as good, if not, better than Lana.” She growls. I try not to fucking laugh. I wouldn’t know but that’s laughable. “Blake would say otherwise.”
Blake? How does he know Blake? I watch Tina’s expression carefully. “Your brother told me I was a better fuck than her.” She grits out. “Mmmmm, well, maybe he lied to you, ever thought of that?”
“That fucking whore stole him from me. At Kari’s party? She wasn’t supposed to go. She used to always tell me no. And the one night she’s there, all the guys are looking at her. I became invisible. Blake used to fuck me at Kari’s parties.” I watch as Tina almost explodes.
“I was there too. I heard the moans he pulled out of her pretty mouth.” Liam looks over at Lana. “My brother was way in over his head. Too bad he had to die.” Tina looks at him in confusion.
“What are you talking about?” She asks. He lets go of Lana’s chin. Her head slumps forward again. “You don’t know?” He asks. She shakes her head. “Blake died, Tina.” Her eyes water.
“You’re fucking lying to me.” He steps closer.
“You think so? Why do you think he stopped talking to you?” He taps the knife on his lip.
“Lana. They fled to Seattle together.” He chuckles.
“You see, Tina. That’s not entirely true.
Lana left to escape the grief of losing her boyfriend. And Blake? Died.”
The tears spill over. “Died?” She almost chokes. “I’m afraid so. At the hand of brother dearest.” He points the knife at himself. “WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT?” She yells.
“Well, it’s quite simple, Tina. He had what I wanted. I couldn’t just let him keep a beautiful bird like Lana Voss in a gilded cage.” He touches Lana’s throat with the knife, tilting her head back up. “She deserved so much more than what Blake gave her.”
I’m reeling. So much information swirling around. It’s leaving me speechless. Blake and Tina? Blake and Lana? Liam killing his own brother. I step back behind the curtains to attempt to catch my breath.