The cell phone alarm clock was about to reach the end of its snooze time, but its receiver dragged himself out of bed just in time to set it off. 

The ringtone was so annoying, but it had saved the college kid from a number of awkward late calls.

Kai walked towards the bathroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Another day another chance to screw something up. ​

He looked at his body in the mirror and was yet again reminded of the day by the burn marks that scowered his torso.   A grimace graced his tan face.

The boy closed his eyes and turned away with a sigh, they'll never go away.

He entered the shower hoping the warm water flowing over his body would lighten his mood. Kai leaned his forehead against the tiles and stayed like that.   The water soothed him unlike anyone else could. It didn't tell him lies, or give him forced reassuring looks. It was just there, relaxing his muscles, silently telling him it was okay. It hid his tears and quieted his unforgiving conscious.   After a few minutes with his solace, he stepped out of the shower. Midway through combing his hand through his hair, Kai glanced at the mirror.

His reflection stared back.

Sad eyes and a battered body.   Kai finished getting ready and left for the metrobus. He sat all the way in the back, slinging his backpack onto the seat next to him. He didn't want people sitting next to him, he wasn't a socialite anymore, in fact as the months after the incident passed he talked to his friends less and less. The only person that beared with him was Chanyeol.   Chanyeol suffered with him after the accident. Every time Kai looked into the older boy's eyes, hints of pain and unbearable regret swirled around in the deep chocolate irises. It took Kai a few weeks to realize that Chanyeol wasn't sad for him, but he was sad that he couldn't prevent it from happening. He had seen Kai last. He knew that Kai wasn't in his right mind....but he let him go. Kai wasn't sure what was worse, committing the crime, or living with the fact that you could have stopped it.