Episode 44 — “The Wound That Never Sleeps”

Episode 44 — “The Wound That Never Sleeps”
“What are you doing, Lady?”
Suddenly, one of Kenny’s maids, an older woman in her fifties, asked Rae.

“Oh, nothing, Ma’am... What’s going on with Kenny?”

“Hhh.... It happens sometimes. When Mr. Kenny has something on his mind, he sleeps like that.”
Rae nodded slowly, her eyes showing a kind of quiet understanding.

The sound coming from behind the door was heavy, uneven breathing, like someone caught in a stormy dream. There was a sudden movement. A blanket hit the floor. Then a soft whisper cut through the early morning air.

“Ma… mama… why aren’t you home yet…”

Rae froze. Her eyes stared at the small crack in the door, but her thoughts stretched far and wide. Too wide.
“Mama? So… he has a dark past with his mother?” Rae felt confused.

It was Kenny’s voice, but not the version of him she knew, which cold, logical, always in control. This was different. It was the voice of a little boy. Afraid. Waiting too long in a night that was far too quiet.

Rae stepped back. Slowly. As if afraid to make the floor creak. She returned to the kitchen, placed the glass back on the counter. She had come for water, but now her throat didn’t feel dry anymore. Instead, her chest felt heavy. Her mind too. And every step weighed more than the last.

She went back to her room, but the memory of Kenny’s voice in his sleep wouldn’t leave her. The words stayed.
“The darkest nightmares… usually come from childhood wounds that never closed.”



Morning came, bringing a thin light through the tall window.
But the house felt greyer than usual. There was no soft classical music from the living room. No smell of fresh coffee.

“Why is it so quiet today??”

Rae walked to the kitchen with slow steps. Her hair was tied in a messy bun. Her eyes still tired from a night without proper sleep. The dining table was empty. Just an unused plate. And a silence that felt even more empty.

No Kenny...

She opened the fridge, took out a bottle of water, then looked out the window. In the backyard, which looked too perfectly shaped to feel personal.... she saw him.
Kenny.

Sitting alone on a stone bench near the small fountain. His eyes were fixed on the falling water. He didn’t look like himself. Not the usual well-dressed, charismatic man who always seemed to know everything. He looked... lost.

Rae stepped outside.

“Kenny, didn’t you sleep last night?” she asked softly.

He didn’t turn. Just nodded once.
“Slept,” he said flatly. “But not until morning.”

Rae stood beside him. The morning air was cold, but what stung wasn’t the wind.
“Did you have a nightmare?” she asked again.

Kenny raised one eyebrow for a moment, then said nothing. Rae thought he wouldn’t answer.

“You’re asking a lot this morning, Rae,” he finally said, with a little smile that felt more like a signal to stop talking than a real smile.
Rae didn’t push. She knew this wasn’t the time to force someone to open old pains. But in his voice, in the small changes on his face… Rae knew.

Something was rising to the surface.
Something that had been buried for a long, long time....



That afternoon, Kenny asked Rae to go out. Not to the usual places. Not a fancy restaurant or some private meeting. Just... a quiet drive. Nowhere in particular.

“Rae, want to get out for a while?”
“Where to? Lunch with your mafia friends again?”

“No. Just around the city. Do you want to join me?”
“Huh? What for?”

Kenny didn’t answer. He just walked to the car.
Without thinking, Rae followed. Maybe a part of her wanted to understand him better…

“I just want to escape the house walls for a while,” he said, as they drove slowly through the city streets lined with tall glass buildings.

Inside the car, they sat in silence. Only the sound of the road and the soft hum of the engine filled the space.
Then Kenny spoke, suddenly.

“I used to sit like this... at a bus stop. Almost every night.”
Rae turned her head, but said nothing. She just listened.

“My mom worked late. Sometimes she said she’d be back by nine, but came home at eleven. So I waited at the bus stop. Alone.”
“Really?” Rae asked softly. “Weren’t you scared?”

“I was,” Kenny nodded. “But I learned to stay quiet. If you’re quiet, people think you’re strong. That you don’t need help. That you don’t need to be seen.”
He looked out the window. A traffic light had just turned red.

“Sometimes people gave me money. They thought I was begging. I didn’t get angry. I took it. I was hungry.”
“How old were you?” Rae asked.

“Eight. Or maybe nine. I’m not sure,” Kenny replied. “But I remember... those nights felt so long. I used to wonder, what if this time... she doesn’t come back?”
“But she always came back, right??”

Kenny went quiet for a moment. Then nodded. “Always. Until one day... she didn’t.”
Rae said nothing. The sounds outside seemed to disappear. She looked at Kenny for a long time.

“Maybe...” she said at last, half-joking but soft, “...the little boy at that bus stop is still sitting there. Inside you, Kenny.”
Kenny didn’t reply. He didn’t even turn to look at her. Just a little smile formed on his lips. But it didn’t reach his eyes.

“He just learned how to wear a suit. But he’s still that boy....”



Evening came with a different kind of silence....

Not the kind made of quiet.
But the kind made of something heavy in the air, something unspoken, something unfinished.

Rae sat on the bed, staring out the window. From there, she could see part of the back garden. But she wasn’t looking at the view.
She was feeling something. A pain that didn’t belong to her, but had somehow clung to her skin, to her breath.

She went downstairs to the kitchen. Filled a glass with water. But her steps stopped halfway down the hallway.
There was a door at the end.

The basement door.
Slightly open.

That wasn’t normal…

She walked closer. Slowly. There was no other sound. No guards around. It felt like the whole house was asleep.
But that door... wasn’t.

Rae peeked in.

Behind the crack, there was only a dim light. Some old wooden boards caught the glow from a small lamp. But there was something else.... a breeze, coming from somewhere behind the basement. Like there was another space, or a hallway, or maybe... a secret.

She didn’t go inside.
She just stood there.
Staring.....

Her eyes focused on the dark between the slivers of light.

But her thoughts were elsewhere.
“If Kenny’s wounds never healed…

Then what if he doesn’t want me to leave, the same way he always waited for his mother?”
Rae took a deep breath.

“Maybe… it’s time for me to be the one who walks away.”

The sound of footsteps on the stairs above made her jump.
Not hurried steps, but close enough.

She turned quickly and walked back to her room. Closed the door. Locked it.
Leaned against it.

And looked down at the floor, for a long time.



Inside her room, Rae sat in front of the mirror.

Her face looked the same.
But her eyes… knew something new.

She now understood that someone like Kenny, who seemed strong, cold, untouchable, was also carrying pains that never really slept.
Pains hiding behind fancy rooms, expensive suits, and sharp words.

And when Rae realized that, she also had to face something about herself.
She had gone too far to be just an observer.

But… she wasn’t strong enough yet to save anyone.
Not even herself....

To be continued…