I know, giant quote at the beginning. I just liked the whole thing and didn't want to cut any of it out. So meh, if you don't like it. XP


The Files of Kazdan Kalinkas

Book Two: After the Storm

Chapter Sixteen:A Rainbow Made Through Tears


"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were and sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why……Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turnin' back only they didn't. They kept goin'. Because they were holdin' onto something. There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for!" –Samwise from Peter Jackson's LOTR: The Two Towers


I panicked, at first, because I didn't know where I was. I heard the heart monitor beeping, felt the IV in my hand, smelled the stark smell of bleach and medicine and the first thing my mind went to was that none of that had ever happened and I was trapped once again in the UnderWorld.

Except that when I opened my eyes, everything was white instead of the dark browns and blacks I'd expected.

Then I remembered: I'd gone through the wormhole. I was back home. I sighed a happy sigh of relief.

Someone shifted to my left and I whipped my head around. My vision went weird for a moment as a wave of dizziness hit me. When it settled again, I saw a strawberry-blonde haired nurse was staring at me with wide, worried blue eyes. I stared back at her curiously.

She smiled suddenly and straightened, "Hello Kaz. I'm Abby and I've been assigned to take care of you."

"Where…" The word got stuck in my throat and I had to swallow a few times before I could speak again, "Where are my parents?"

"Oh, they were here this morning but they won't be back until tonight. Did you need something?" I shook my head, smiling. My parents knew I was alive and that was enough, "Are you well enough to sit up?"

"I dunno." I pushed down with my hands, braced myself, and sat up. For a while at least. I fell backwards almost immediately, head spinning, "Guess not."

Abby giggled and helped me up, propping me against the headboard with a pillow at my back. Part of me loathed the help but I pushed it aside. Right now, I could use all the help I could get.

"So…what's going to happen?" I asked as the nurse went about fussing with my blankets, "When do I get out of here?"

"I don't actually know that." Abby answered, "I know that Dr. Mitchell wants to run a few tests to make sure there's no damage anywhere. You're also quite weak, so you have to recover enough for that." She straightened up suddenly, "Would you like something to eat?"

"Uh," I wondered if I could stomach food and then decided that it was a good idea to at least try and eat something, "Sure thing."

"I'll be right back, then!" She said cheerfully and left the room. As she passed through the door, I caught sight of a couple of police officers staring at me curiously before it closed. I scowled. What were police officers doing guarding my hospital room?

I glanced around the room. A small window on the wall opposite the door with a comfy looking chair in front of it let me see that it was bright and sunny out. I could see tall buildings around outside, some smeared with snow. I wondered what month it was. There were a couple of chairs pushed up against the wall opposite the end of the bed and the door, of course. On the bedside stand was a small plastic vase of flowers of some kind and two cards. I slowly reached over and picked them up.

Get Well Soon was inscribed in shiny gold-colored lettering of the first one and when I opened it up I found it was from Tom and his parents. Welcome home was scribbled on the bottom inside in Tom's handwriting and there was a sloppy smiley face next to it. I grinned. That was Tom, alright.

The second one was from my parents.

I held it to my chest for some reason. I had missed them terribly. I wanted them beside me. I wanted to see them. I wanted to hear their voices. I wanted to tell that I loved them.

Before I knew it, tears were blurring my vision and dripping down my face. My head spun. I focused on the feeling of the thick paper under my fingers and took a deep breath. Everything settled back into the way it was. I rubbed the tears from my face and as I let my arm drop back down, I noticed the light scar circling the middle of my lower left arm.

That's where Gespaden liberated me of my arm. I thought sarcastically and was struck by a sudden fear, My scars…

How much had they seen?

How much had they figured out?

My right hand automatically flew up to my chest and I started running the side of my thumb up and down the scar on my sternum.

All those scars…

All those memories…

All those horrible things I had done…

Hot anger and despair made my vision swim but I didn't care. I grabbed a hold of those feelings and burned them into my brain. They were accompanied by a sick desire for revenge. All that trust, all that loyalty, all the friendship was dashed away by the hatred and fear and sorrow the UnderWorlders had caused me.

I hoped they would get their just deserts.

"Kaz, are you alright?" I blinked and the red haze melted from my sight. I looked around and saw Abby staring at me worridly.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Why?"

"You just…looked…" She trailed off, "Never mind, I probably imagined it. Here have something to eat." She propped a tray up on a little table over my lap, moving the cards back to the bedside stand as she did so.

"Ugh," I said, wrinkling my nose, "Hospital food." Plastic wrapped sandwiches. What idiot had come up with that? But I was hungry. So I ate it.

"I talked to Dr. Mitchell about your release," Abby said, arranging the flowers in the vase though they'd looked fine to me, "He told me that in addition to what I've already let you know about it, he's also not allowed to let you leave until the police get a report from you."

I swallowed a mouthful of milk the wrong way and ended up in a coughing fit that made me dizzy. It took me a full five minutes to recover.

"P-police report!?" I wheezed when I managed to find my breath again, "What for!?"

"Well, you were missing for almost a year…" She said this in an almost sympathetic tone and cast a wary glance at me.

I tore my gaze away and looked down at my half eaten food, "I'm…not hungry anymore. Thanks for your trouble."

Abby didn't answer, just gathered up the tray and left. I glared at the policemen as they peered at me again. When I was sure that Abby wasn't going to come back anytime soon, I slid down so that I was lying on my side with the pillow in its proper place.

I lay there, with my back to the door, tense. I couldn't sleep like this. My mind and body wouldn't let me anymore. I rolled over so that I was facing the door and lay there staring at the wall. Involuntarily, I ran my tongue across my sharpened canines. Surely they weren't that noticeable. They felt like it to me. But no one else had said anything. Well, actually, Peyton had said something about my eyes…but I hadn't seen those at all yet. I was kind of scared to.

"What am I?" I whispered. Of course, no one answered. I closed my eyes, feeling empty and alone, "I wanna go home…"


I was woken up by the sound of the door opening. I cracked my eyes open, still lying perfectly still, and looked to see who was coming into the room.

I immediately discarded the ruse that I was sleeping and flew upright,

"MOM! DAD!"

The stared at me in surprise, as though they weren't expecting to see me awake, and I leapt up, trying to run to them. All I accomplished was getting tangled in the sheets and blankets and falling with a crash to the floor.

"Kazdan!" They were at my side in an instant.

And they found me laughing.

I laughed and clutched at them, tears running down my face. I was so happy all I could do was laugh. I buried my face in my mother's lap and then threw myself into my father's arms, laughing and crying at the same time. It took me a while to settle down.

"Kaz, we were so worried about you! We looked everywhere for you!" My dad said, one hand tightly on my shoulder as though I would disappear if he didn't have it there.

"I know you did!" I said in reply, "I know! I know!"

"You're hair's so long…" Mom muttered and I looked around at her in wonder, "Well it is!" She ran her fingers through it and I smiled.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's get you back into bed." My dad helped me to my feet and I let them help me back into bed. I didn't want to push them away.

"Kaz…where were you?" My mom asked.

"Mari!" Dad hissed.

I bit my lip and looked at the blankets that now covered my legs. And the scars. I couldn't tell them. They'd call me crazy. They'd lock me away. And it'd be just like what I'd escaped from. I couldn't tell them.

"Kaz, you alright son?" I glanced up at my father and nodded slowly, not trusting myself to speak, "Did you…want to talk about anything?"

My mind became a battlefield.

What could I say?

How's the weather?

What's up?

What could I talk about?

An idea came to me and I looked at both of them,

"What am I gonna do about school?"


Well, he's got a point. He was gone for almost a year. What the heck is going to happen with his school life?

Oh gosh, this chapter is dumb. (face palm) It's filler. So, yes, Kaz is home but…he finds something to be…unsettling. Apparently, all is not as he left it. Or maybe it is and he's the one who did not return the way he left?