Love.

       After Alan was diagnosed with cancer and was said to be able to recover, Kai prayed and prayed even though he abandoned Christ long ago. He prayed till he cried and was filled with grief. Alan was the only one that stayed with Kai and didn't give up on him. He tried to come back to Christ. He attended a Wednesday church thing with Brendon and he enjoyed himself. He got a chance to get close to Brendon again and he met new people. Kai didn't remember most of them though because he knew this tiny paradise would meet it's demise soon. And so it did. He started looking away from the cross and from church. He had no intention of giving up on Alan but he didn't go back to Wednesday night thing.
       Alan was doing better and Kai started neglecting the care he once had. He got lost in his relationships with other friends. But he didn't completely forget about Alan. Kai didn't want to go through any drama and he didn't care about most things through the days. He started becoming the real rebel in his group of friends. He was lying to his parents and he was barely ever home. Kai remembered the night his mom found out about one of his lies. By this time his mom was more laid back about beating on him. But once she found out about his little lie, she yelled for Kai to come into the living room. She started yelling at him in a mixture of their foreign language and of English. She threw the remote control at him and stormed over to Kai. She hit him till he was down on the floor and started kicking Kai all over.
       There wasn't any crying, there wasn't any more screaming. It was just the sound of the shopping channel in the background and the sound of thuds while Kai's mom was kicking him. Kai's step-dad wasn't home at the time and so Kai just had to endure this and waited, covered his head and shut his eyes. It's my fault, he thought,  I shouldn't have lied. Afterwards, his mom said sorry. "It was just a tough day at work." Such a repetitive excuse.
       Kai was only half way through seventh grade. Throughout the next half of the year, his mom got more careful with her beatings. She found out that child abuse was illegal in the US. Kai had to laugh at that. Even though the beatings lessened, the mind abuse worsened. Especially with Kai's step-dad. Because of his parents Kai always wondered what was wrong with him. Why couldn't he be more normal, why couldn't any good come from his help?
       Maybe it started when Kai got a C+ on a math test. He once again, lied. He told his step-dad that he got an A on his math test and when he got time to himself, he tried to distort the C+ into an A. He was caught and was yelled at, driven home [they were at the video store at the time] and beaten with a pillow. Kai never knew pillows could hurt as much as it did.
       Kai would always be in trouble for lying about something trivial. He would always regret it. But it soon became a habit to lie to his parents. It was easier than being in trouble for what he actually did. He didn't have to explain himself if he lied. . .