Hey everyone! Guess what? Friday's my one year anniversary on fanfiction! To celebrate, I'm updating all my stories, even the ones I'm sort of taking a break on this summer, throughout the week and have a special Oneshot for all of you my amazing friends coming on Friday. So without further ado, here's a much needed update on Prodigal. One last thing, Kai's dad died of a stroke in this. I never actually mentioned that, since the companion story about Nya did, and I got it mixed up.

Kai zipped his sweatshirt up and made a run for it to his car hands filled with luggage.

"Want some help Kai?" Jay called from the porch where he was standing, rubbing his arms together in the nighttime cold.

"I'm good!" Kai replied.

"How about, do you want your keys?" Jay yelled again and held Kai's keys in the air for him to see.

"Whoops!" Kai chuckled and set his bags down, "I must have forgotten those. Everything's so overwhelming, you know?" He asked as he walked on back to the porch.

Jay nodded his head, "Yeah. Remember when my Grandma died when we were still in college? I forgot to turn in my thesis paper more than once. Luckily, Mr. Wu was fine with it considering the situation."

"I remember that. Mr. Wu was the best," Kai said as he stretched out his arm and took the keys from Jay. A little too far actually.

Jay looked down and saw the line of scars stretching across Kai's lower arm, "Kai?" He stuttered in disbelief, "How, how long have you been doing this?"

"Since the night before the visitation," Kai admitted, "You can't tell Nya or my mom. Promise me Jay! Promise me!"

"I, I, I can't Kai. Nya's told me fifteen times today since the burial service that she's worried about you. I can't just go on and tell her that I'm sure you're alright."

"Well then fine, just wait until I've left. I don't want to be here when you say it," Kai folded his arms, "now excuse me, I need to go say goodbye to everyone else. It's going to be awhile until I see you again."

"Thanksgiving?" Jay asked.

"Yeah," Kai lied.

"One last thing, promise me you won't cut yourself again."

"Promise," Kai said between his teeth. Lying. Again.

"I'm gonna be praying for you, you know?"

"Mmm hmm."

Five minutes later, Kai was gone, driving into the darkness. Alone. He had no destination in mind other than away. Away from family. Away from the people he feared of disappointing. Away.

That sort of thinking was what wound him up at a shabby hotel two in the morning with five unanswered calls from his sister and an urge for any place to live down.

Inside sat two girls "working" the graveyard shift at front desk. One was a ginger sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup. The other had slightly darker hair and had clearly woken up when the bell rang signaling Kai's entrance.

"Do you have a reservation?" The girl with the coffee asked.

The other girl stretched her arms in the air and yawned.

"No, but I really need a place to sleep. Do you have any rooms available?" Kai yawned.

"Let me check. What's your name? I'm Skylor and this is my friend Claire," the girl replied.

"Kai."

"So how did you wind up here at two in the morning Kai?" Claire asked getting up to brew her own Styrofoam cup of coffee.

"I could ask you the same thing," Kai replied sarcastically.

Claire turned around, "Believe it or not, I work here, and we're new, so we're stuck on the graveyard shift. I'd much rather be doing something in music, but it's just so impractical with where I'm at right now. I'm lucky to get to lead worship at my church on Sundays," Claire explained before turning around to kick the counter holding the coffee maker, "Come on, work you stupid thing! We have GOT to convince Ben a working coffee maker is something worth investing in!"

"Works just fine for me!" Skylor laughed before turning back to Kai, "so let me guess, you ran away from home and need a place to sleep and a job? You're in good company. We can set you up for an interview with Ben tomorrow morning I'm sure, just fill these out," Skylor said handing Kai a stack of papers from her desk.

"Thanks, now about any available rooms?" Kai yawned again.

"We have one, floor two, room 277," Skylor replied.

"We offer free continental breakfast from six to ten, cable tv, and bookkeeping, just don't get on May's bad side, otherwise you might not get chocolates under your pillow," Claire rattled off kicking the counter again, "Come on, work!"

"Thanks. I'll go get my stuff."

Kai stepped outside to the brisk night air. He was glad he was still wearing his sweatshirt. He grabbed his bags then walked back in just in time to hear Claire shout "finally!" As a jet of black liquid came streaming out of the machine.

"Elevators on the right, here's your key, enjoy your stay," Skylor smiled.

As Kai entered the sterile tiled elevator, he hoped he'd be hired for the graveyard shift. Late nights with those girls could be fun. Especially with Skylor. He desperately wanted to know why she ran away from home. He had a feeling they'd have a lot in common.

Kai opened the door and flicked on the lights to find a small orderly room with a bed, bathroom, chair, and coffeemaker that hopefully worked better than the one Claire had kicked the living daylights out of in the lobby. Kai set his stuff down and headed straight for the shower using the flowery stuff provided. It was different than home, but he had a feeling he would have to get used to it. He would be staying here awhile. There was nowhere left to run to, and he couldn't go back home.

He towered dry and put on a fresh pair of pajamas. He felt clean. As he drifted off into a blissful sleep, he felt the best he had in days. The scars on his wrist were gone, his dad was still alive, and he didn't have to worry about failing his family. For a few short minutes, he was happy. For a few short minutes, he was free.

So what do you think? That chapter was long, but I just couldn't stop.

Will Kai get the job?

Why'd Skylor run away? If you read Broken Girl, before I deleted it, you might know. I'm going to rewrite that as well as some stories on Cole, Zane, and Cole, but I want to develop my main stories on Kai, Jay, and Nya first.

Will Jay tell?

I'm going to try to update this again soon, but first I need to update all my other stories, so it may be awhile. :( Thanks to all of you who have read and reviewed this so far. You've been such a help in making this one year anniversary possible.

#God's Not Dead!