1. 𝐀 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥

Hey Pretty People 🎀,

Hope you're doing fine. We are officially starting our journey together with chapter 1 of ‘KAYA: THE SECOND VICTIM OF THE DEVIL’. 

A friendly suggestion: You can play ‘UFF’ on loop while you read this chapter, cuz  I think Kaya's POV just sounds like this song. 

Note: (If you’ve already read this, feel free to skip my introduction and dive straight into the chapter) English isn't my first language, so if you notice any spelling or grammatical errors, I would appreciate your understanding. Please point them out, and I’ll correct them as soon as I can. I have always considered publishing on Amazon, but since this is my first novel and it holds such a special place in my heart, I wanted it to be accessible to everyone. Thank you so much for giving my story a chance. I hope the effort, emotions, and everything I've poured into this story will leave a lasting impression on your heart.

Okay okay, no more rambling😗—I'll stop now. Enjoy the chapter!

 HAPPY READING. 

Kaya’s POV :

Mother, Maiden, Crone.

Creation, Youth, End of the cycle.

I… was definitely a maiden. Shoulder length hair, sweet smile, a couple of chunky blue highlights and a questionable amount of playlists full of songs about crushes and true love when I don’t even have a sprinkle of these things in my blue life.

“Mummy, I can’t believe Kaya really did that!” My elder sister scoffed, her frustration evident.

She is being dramatic. way too dramatic than usual.

“Amenda, love, this conversation is over. She didn’t do it intentionally,” My mother calmly interjected.

“But it was my favorite…”She started, but trailed off as soon as she saw mom’s stern look.

“That dress wasn’t your favorite, Amenda. How did it suddenly become your favorite?”

Hey mom, same question here.

My sister opened her mouth to argue but stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening slightly as if she was about to reveal a mystery that was not meant to be disclosed, at least not in front of us.

“Aimee, I’ll buy you another one just like your old one. You can find it at any shop. Kay Kay didn’t mean to hurt you,” Now my grumpy lovely brother intervened to stop this and make my sister understand.

Why am I calling him grumpy? Because he is.

But he does save you when you create trouble yourself and get struck in it.

True. He does.

She nodded slowly, but something seemed off.

Meanwhile the creature listened to them while sipping her juice, sitting in the last chair at the breakfast table acting invisible? Me, of course. Let me introduce myself.

Kaya Johansson, the youngest of all Johanssons, currently the one being accused. 

But of what, exactly?

Well, I planned to help people by donating old household things. So, according to plan, I gathered clothes, stationery, and kitchen bits from home and neighbours, even bought some. Everything was going to plan until a little accident.

[Flashback]

So, my room was out of action for renovations, meaning I was stuck packing all the donation bits in my sister’s room. It was crammed, obviously, but my heart was swelling with joy, thinking about all the people these things would help. 

I was packing ever so carefully, got a bit lost in my singing, as one does.

While packing dresses, I spotted a pretty one, bog-standard design, but one I'd choose and bought myself. As I was packing it, my brother, with impeccable timing, called me. 

"Yes, brother! Coming!" I yelled, dashing downstairs.

When I got back, lo and behold, that dress along with a mountain of other unpacked bits were still there. [Sigh]. Packed them.

BLUNDER. Turns out, I'd already packed the dress.

And the one I’d just shoved in? Amenda's – her identical one, was kept on her bed, fresh from the laundry which completely slipped my mind.

All the goods were distributed that afternoon.

Two hours later, I came back home. Correction: Tsunami. 

Eyes: red and swollen from who-knows-how-many tears, my sister was absolutely incandescent with rage, roaring about her "favourite dress" and my supposed heinous crime.

The family gently scolded me, though no one else understood the fuss over a mere dress.

So, not so little accident I guess.

“I thought this discussion was over,” My papa’s voice chimed in. Pecking Amenda and me on the forehead, he took a seat, leaving a chair empty on his left, and looked at mummy, to sit next to him. 

Warmth filled my heart, though it was nothing new; Papa had always been the ideal husband to mummy. These little gestures never stopped or lessened, even after twenty-three years of marriage.

Thank you God for giving me such perfect parents. 

Also, thank you for letting me save myself from getting a permanent place in the graveyard; I survived my sister.

God, the face she made when I went to her room to pacify her saying let's not stay angry over a mere dress. 

She looked at me. Death stare, calm, means I pushed the wrong button at the wrong time. 

And I just knew what was coming next, I knew what kind of mother nature’s wrath she was going to unleash on me. So, I braced myself, taking a deep breath.

Then? The storm.I heard an earth shattering scream of my name, and I dashed outside of the room covering my ears with my hands as I saw a flying sandal directed my way.

It hit me by the way, on the head.

I was too scared to go in front of her again so I stayed in the guest room that night.

I must say I am still doubtful about the ‘favorite’ part, and so is the whole family. 

The 'Favourite Dress' mystery? I'd have looked into it if things were fine, but does it matter now? Nope. I'm guilty, apparently, though it was a total accident.

I tried apologising with her favourite Lemon Lavender cake – weird combination, I know, but trust me, it's not awful.

She shut the door on my face.

Though later that night I caught her eating it from the fridge. Good, I knew she couldn't stay far from food, especially cake for a long time. Didn't want her ditching her favourite cake just because she was angry with me.

She scoffed the whole thing polishing off the lot and the next day and served ‘I felt like eating it.’ on the same lot as an excuse.

Yeah, we sisters do have a thing for sweet things, ‘because we are sweet’. Hehe, jokes apart.

"That’s what I was saying, but Aimee is being stubborn," My brother's voice brings me back to the present again.

Amenda gave Alex a look that said,‘You better keep quiet’, but he remained unaffected.

"Okay, enough. Let’s move on from here. Kaya, is your friend not coming today?" Mummy interrupted, changing the topic.

“Umm… she was supposed to be…”

“I’m heeeereeeeee!” A scream broke through the air like a bomb, leaving me startled, though I shouldn't be. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.

My brother wasn’t startled at all; he sighed, focusing on his food as if he already knew the source of the sound and wasn’t particularly happy about that person’s arrival.

He is always like this. Don't know what's his problem with her.

“Sorry! Hope I’m not too late?” The voice chirped sweetly. Laura Rivers, my greatest confidante among my other few companions.

Laura, two years older than me, was medium height, a bit chubby, cute, and absolutely non-stop chat. With a heart kind but tough, she was more than enough to spark a fire. In fact, she was capable of creating a wildfire all by herself. 

We've been inseparable since she rescued me from bullies in first grade. If I'm a wave, Laura's a proper tsunami. Her and my duo could be described as a wild chicken and a canary, a blue canary, though. 

Preferably a blue one, obviously, yellow's so not me.

Papa simply smiled and shook his head.“No, you are not, sit quickly, you two have a school to join.”

“You're saying it as if they’re not going to school for their own studies, but rather to run the school,” brother shrugged. It didn’t affect me, he loves teasing me.

 However, his words weren’t pointedly kind towards someone else—there was an underlying taunt that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Kaya! I hope you’re prepared, because we indeed have the whole school to teach about how to keep their grump in their own pants and be decent human beings.” Laura smiled as the answer came out as a sweet dagger, smoothly.

That's it. 

Everyone burst into laughter. Brother rolled his eyes and focused on his food again.

“Kaya, Laura, you both finish your food,” mummy said.

“Mummy, there are too many fruits! I can’t finish them all. I’ll just have the juice,” I  replied.

“Princess, you need to eat well.” Papa said.

“But Papa…”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses. I know how much a teenager can eat. You better finish it all, ”Mummy won the debate. I grumbled my agreement while we finished our breakfast, and then we were off to school.

“Ah… My tummy is so full after eating all those fruits that I can’t even walk properly with my own weight. How come you’re still dancing like a frog?” I complained, clearly annoyed by her full battery energy.

“That’s because I eat like a strong girl, and you eat like a little bird,” Laura retorted.

I furrowed my brows together. “Don’t insult me like that; I really can’t eat that much.”

“That’s why I ate on your behalf, at the breakfast table, hiding from your mother. And let’s not forget that big brother of yours. God, he is so…”

“Intimidating?”

“Yes.” The answer came within a single beat and I stared at her.

“No No. Who is he to intimidate me? He's a menace. A glorified annoyance to mankind in a human form.” Laura gave her statement the next second she acknowledged I was there too.

“Leave it. That’s why you’re my best friend.” I gave Laura a side hug.

“So, you love me more than you love that lizard, Alicent?” 

“Hm.”

“More than that spoiled brat, Benjamin?”

I hummed again.

“Okay, I hope it stays the same if I ever see you with someone else whom you’re closer to than you are with me—you’re dead. DEAD. DEAD.” She ended her statement looking at me like a serial killer eyeing its next target.

“Don’t look at me like that, you demon! I’m scared!” I dramatically clutched my hands to my chest, making a horrified expression.

“Hmm, fine. Remember my words: I am your only best friend outside your family, and soon I —” Laura paused, deep in thought.

I raised my eyebrows. But Laura didn’t say anything. 

I stood in front of her like a soldier proposing to his princess and said,”I will never have another best friend except you; you are my one and only. Now let’s go. I was already absent for days because of my sickness. I don’t want to be late for Miss Gilmore’s class; I don’t like her one bit.”

Laura flipped her hair, her smile radiating victory. “Hmm. If I hear one more session of her discipline and bragging, I swear I will memorize everything and somehow if one day she has Alzheimer's I could easily run for a potential 18+ nanny to raise her kids.”

I stared at her, “18+? Do you mean adult nanny?”

“Ah yes, that. Grown up nanny or adult nanny or whatever. But HONEY, given my tsunami beauty, don't you think the 18+ part suits me better? Vibe check, huh?”

I nodded.

Yeah. Her beauty could be described as wild.

“But would you do that?”

“Oh my my! Are you mad, Kaya? Who would dare step into a house with 'Gilmore' on the nameplate?”

“Not even if they paid you a good chunk of money?”

Laura stared into the distance, tapping her chin and lost in thought. “Hmm… If I could get rich just by being an 18+ nanny—like in the movies where hot nannies discipline the kids and get richy rich—wouldn’t be so bad.”

She continued, “Maybe I could buy the Louis Vuitton Speedy Bag I saw Kate Moss carrying, and also, I’d have the perfect chance to avenge all the students! I could make her children cry until they ran back to their mummy, broken. Victory.” An evil smile spread across her face.

“You sound evil.”

“That’s because the plan is evil, but it would be justice for these poor, wretched souls drowning in endless homework—one mistake in a word and they’re stuck standing in the field all day, enduring ‘discipline’ lecture number 5.5 on loop. Students remember their every past sins before talking to her, and even the principal avoids the possibility of getting into conversations with her. God, I knew she was trouble from her very first day!"

I laughed. “Yeah, yeah, fine. Let’s not talk badly about people anymore; let’s go.”

“Says the one who was listening to all that bitching just a while ago.” Laura shot an offensive side-eye at me.

“Hehe, I love you.”

“I love you too, dear.” She pulled me by my shoulder as we kept walking together.

Ugh, and not to mention Mr. Sun being extra warm towards Alfriston today. Torturously warm. No way I was letting myself get burned in Mr. Sun’s hotness. Time to zoom into class.

“Laura, what am I seeing? Are you seeing it too?”

“I do see something, but what are you seeing?”

“Why are there more people? I mean, more students than usual? It’s not any special day. Doesn’t it look a bit too crowded compared to previous days? DID something happen while I was absent ?” I asked, curious as we were passing from the lawn towards the basketball field, as our building was on the right side of the court.  

“Um, yeah, you’re right, but they don’t seem familiar—”

But then— BAM! 

Suddenly everything went black and I was on the ground with the second thud, my face narrowly avoiding a hard kiss with the ground. 

 I looked forward to hearing the bouncing thud sounds. Basketball? A freaking basketball!

 You damn cheeky blighter!

God knows where it flew from. Who even throws a ball like that to smash innocent civilians? 

God? Are you watching? Either sort him or her out or get someone else to do it for me.

I nearly touched my face but didn't as my hands were absolutely mingling with dust. 

My pretty face was safe. Thank God.  My knees were a bit grazed but my head? Only if it could swell like a proper cartoon bonk, people would know.

I slowly pushed myself up and sat there, digesting everything. And within seconds I heard a  voice— Unfamiliar. A BOY.

“Are you okay?”

The voice was—manly, foreign yet comforting in an unknown way.

I didn't reply— I couldn’t. But a moment before I could speak, a strong pair of hands grabbed my shoulders, yanking me to my feet. 

I lifted my head to face the gentleman who had rescued me from the low grade humiliation. The first few seconds were blurry as my eyes were burning from unshed tears from the hit. 

And when I blinked a couple of times, I finally saw him, clearly, and all the oxygen left my lungs.

To be continued…

I hope you didn’t yawn while reading the chapter!😅 Please share your favorite or least favorite parts in the comments—I’d love to hear from you. Don’t be shy! Hitting the ⭐ button really means a lot to me.

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