7Kasey Garrett sighed happily as she stepped out of her boyfriend's red Porsche and slammed the passenger door shut. She walked around to the driver's side door, where the window was already rolled down. Leaning into the small space of the window, she gently kissed her boyfriend Tony, said her goodbyes, and watched him drive off in the distance.
She turned and began to walk the stone path that led to her house carefully. Her black high heel shoes clacked against the cold stone. She stopped short before reaching her doorway, when she was halfway across the long trail of rock that led to her front door. She saw something. On the steps, resting diagonally across all three of them, was some sort of box.
Kasey grumbled and angrily stormed towards the steps, picking up the box and throwing it across her lawn. She knew what it was. It was just another stupid box of flowers that that idiot Shane had been sending her every week for the past month.
Shane was Kasey's ex boyfriend. They had been dating for about eight months, and things were getting really serious, until one night Kasey decided to surprise Shane by showing up at his house while his parents were away for the weekend. She figured that she would stay there with him for the weekend. But when she arrived there, she saw much more than she expected - or wanted to, for that matter. What she had seen was Shane lying naked on his couch, with somebody else. With somebody that Kasey had known casually, had spoken to through Shane. He was lying there while his best friend since childhood, Brandon, was giving him a blowjob.
Yeah, that's right, Brandon was another guy. That drove Kasey insane, but it wasn't just the fact that it was another guy - she had no problem with gay or bisexual people, but rather it was the fact that she knew Shane for a couple years before they even started dating, and he had never given any signs of being sexually attracted to anything other than women. The fact that he had cheated on her with Brandon, another man, made her wonder if she had somehow made him turn that way. That thought drove her crazy.
She had known that Brandon was gay, but she didn't think anything of it when Shane and Brandon had started hanging out more often - after all, they had been best friends practically since they were born. When Shane had called her later that night to explain, he told her that he was sorry he hurt her like he did, but that he had just started seeing Brandon around three weeks earlier, and he found himself now more attracted to men than he ever had been women. He told her that yes, it was over between he and Kasey, but that he wanted to remain friends with her. In return, she scowled and hung up on him. Ever since that night 6 months ago, he had tried everything to win her friendship back - monthly flowers were one of those attempts. Needless to say, they didn't work. Kasey still despised Shane and wished him to get out of her life forever.
After struggling with the zipper of her purse, Kasey dove her hands into the mass of matter that occupied it, looking for the key to the door. She pulled it out, a grabbed the doorknob with one hand, readying herself to insert the key with the other. Much to her surprise, the minute she put the slightest bit of force on the doorknob, the door flew open.
Taken aback, Kasey looked down and saw that the lock on her doorknob was busted. Someone had broken into her house. Yes, that part was obvious. The question wasn't whether or not somebody had broken in. The question was whether or not whoever had used forcible entry to gain access to her home was still in there somewhere. Dreading the answer, Kasey slowly but surely made her way through the front doorway. Nothing unusual. She proceeded through the depths of her home, finding everything in place. Relieved, she made her way upstairs to her bedroom. She was so shaken by the fact that somebody had been there, she was going to call her best friend Holly to see if she could stay there. When she reached her bedroom, she noticed that its door was shut. She didn't remember shutting it earlier in the night, either. Then again, it could just be her memory fading on her. Or maybe, just maybe, somebody was in there.
In a panic, Kasey thrust her bedroom door open quickly and scanned the area. Nothing. She cautiously stepped forward into the room, shutting her door. Somebody could be lying in wait inside her closet. She quickly darted to it and pulled it open, finding nothing but her clothes. She laughed a laugh of relief and turned toward her telephone. She picked it up, but just before she could begin dialing Holly's number, something caught her eye. It was something on her bedroom door. Something that was tacked on her bedroom door. A picture. It was a picture from about three months ago. a picture of her and Shane, when they got their picture taken at the picture booth at the local fair this past August.
Kasey yelped in surprise, and then growled angrily when realization dawned on her. She ripped the picture off the door, tearing it in half and throwing it to the floor. The two pieces of the picture - one side with her, and the other with Shane- fluttered to the floor. She picked up her phone and dialed Shane's number instead of Holly's.
"Hello?" Shane answered.
"Very funny, Shane!" Kasey shouted.
"What - wait, is this Kasey? I thought you hated me"-
Kasey cut him off. The very sound of his voice was rather repulsive to her.
"You want me to be your friend, and this is how you go about proving it? Breaking into my house?" Kasey yelled, her voice full of rage.
"Whoa, hold on just a minute. What are you talking about?" Shane asked her.
"Shane, don't you dare even try and act like you don't know! You broke into my house damnit, I know you did! You put the flowers on my porch like you always do, but this time you took it too far! It's called breaking and entering, Shane! And that picture - I know damn well you tacked that picture on my door! I am going to call the police!" Kasey was growing more and more enraged as each minute passed by.
"What picture?" Shane still sounded as clueless as ever.
"Just shut up, Shane, shut up!" Kasey barked.
"And why are you calling the police on me? I don't know what you think I did, Kasey, but I didn't do a damn thing. And even if I did, do you actually expect the police to arrest me simply because there was a picture of us tacked up somewhere? I didn't even send you any flowers this time, I finally decided on giving up. I haven't even left my house tonight, I've been here with Brandon all night." Shane said.
Just then, a low beep emitted from Kasey's phone. She had another call. Without even saying another word to Shane, she hit the flash button.
"Hello?!" Kasey exclaimed.
"Uh, Hi Kasey. A bit on edge, don't you think?"
Kasey sighed and let herself calm down slightly.
"Hey Holly. Sorry about that. Listen, do you think I could stay with you tonight? And possibly tomorrow night?" She asked.
"Yeah sure, no problem. Why?" Holly asked.
Kasey went on to explain what had happened when her boyfriend Tony dropped her off - the flowers, the busted lock, the picture, and the phone conversation.
"Man, Shane is one fucked up guy." Holly declared. "I don't blame you for not feeling safe. I wouldn't either. especially seeing as your parents are away on that business trip for a couple months." Holly consoled Kasey.
Kasey's parents were Mike and Lauren Garrett, a pair of shrewd businesspeople. They worked for an insurance company not too far from where they resided, in Spokane, Washington as head executives. They were always leaving on some sort of business trip, or gone off to snag a potential buyer. They always left Kasey with what she needed, though. They would always leave her enough money to go grocery shopping when need be, especially during long away from home trips like the one they were on now.
"Yeah", Kasey began, "just for a couple days. When I get to your house I'll call the locksmith to have the locks changed and fixed. I'll only stay until they're all fixed."
"You're not gonna call the police?" Holly asked her.
"No. Like Shane said before I hung up on him, a picture isn't enough to have him arrested. I just know he's the culprit though." Holly said with a sigh.
"OK, it's your decision. When are you coming over?" Holly asked.
"I'll head over now."
"All right, see you in a few." Holly said, and hung up.
Kasey hung up her phone, and put her jacket back on. She glanced down at the floor, where the two torn pieces of the picture lay, the happy faces on each side smiling up at her. She bent down and picked up the first piece - the piece with her on it. God, she was so happy on that night. She was beaming. She looked so beautiful. The photographers at the photo booth had used lighting and natural effects to make her look even better than she already had. Her smile was wide and bright, her warm chestnut hazel eyes showing no sign of disappointment at all. The fans that the photographers had turned on had her long, flowing dirty blonde hair whipping about in the wind.
She looked down again and picked up the other half of the blissful scene. Shane. Even he looked beautiful in this picture. His short black hair had been matted down and combed to the front; he too had a smile plastered on his face that could have given anyone the impression that happiness can indeed last forever. Kasey stared into the depths of Shane's ocean blue eyes, wondering why. Why he had to turn this wonderful, enchanting scene into a nightmare.
Kasey gently let go of the two halves of the picture, and carelessly watched them float to the floor once more. She turned, headed downstairs, and walked out her front door. On her way out the door, she looked back worriedly. She knew it wouldn't help, but she still for some reason shut the door behind her.