2I awoke with a start to complete silence. I looked frantically around but became content at the site of Jenny, my baby sister. She had just recently turned two. I must have just had a nightmare. Still though, I couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong. Nothing some milk and cookies can't fix, I thought to myself as I arose and began tiptoeing down the hall.
"Hello Katie," a steely cold voice said.
I instantly spun around peering through the darkness hoping to find the owner of the voice. Suddenly, a lamp flickered on to reveal a man sitting there with the most sickening grin. It was one of those grins that shows the person has done something wrong. Not a guilty grin. Oh no, much worse. A grin showing that the person is relishing in pride at what they have done. The man looked oddly familiar. One of those recognitions that makes even your bones grow cold.
"D-do I know you?" I asked timidly.
"Come now Katie, I felt for sure you would recognize your dear father. I know you loved me once upon a time. Remember all those picnics and how when we were done I would push you on the swing sets, making you squeal in delight," the man said, closing his eyes and chuckling to himself. "You used to love the park; the animals, the base-ball games, the people playing Frisbee."
"Daddy? What are you doing here? I thought mommy made you go away..." I said trying to disguise the fear in my voice with genuine interest. I knew why he went away. I had always tried to hide it from them, not wanting to let on that I knew things would never be the same. Not wanting anyone to know that I had already found out I would never see my daddy again. "Wait. Where's mommy? Is she sleeping? Is that where she is? Why don't we go get h- ," my voice froze. I turned pale as I looked down, having felt something cold and wet on my feet. I noticed the hem of my nightgown covered in red liquid. The cold touched my feet, ran up my spine, traveled to my finger tips.
Instantly my father began to laugh hysterically. I tried to keep my eyes closed, but couldn't help looking down at the bloody, matted hair of my mother. Her eyes, cold, looking up as if pleading to one day be able to see again.
11 years later
"Come on Katie!" Jenny said exasperatedly. "We are already late enough!"
"Well, if we are already late, then what does it matter how much longer it takes me?" I said in a teasing way.
Jenny sighed heavily and plopped herself into the soft couch cushions. "I want to see Aunt Laura before I die if at all possible. I have never seen anyone take this long to get ready for a trip for three months. We are coming back you know."
"I just don't want to get there and realize I have forgotten something."
"What could you possibly forget? You have clothes and books. That's all you need. I have a feeling Aunt Laura will be able to provide us with food. Other than that, what else do you need?"
"I actually don't know. I was hoping I would come up with something else that would be of some use though," I replied.
"You girls all packed up yet?" my grandmother asked in her usual, upbeat voice.
My grandfather passed away from cancer before I was ever even born. And after my mother's murder, we moved in with Grandma. My father? Well, nobody is really sure where he is now. Sure, he lived with us when I was really little, but he was abusive and my mom, Jenny, and I left him. One night though, he found us. He had been hanging around bars, flirting with the local waitresses when he heard a man mention the name Katie Lanstrom. Well, he bought the guy a few drinks and before long, he was reeling all kinds of information out of him. The guy had been one of my mom's ex- boyfriends, Jim. She had just dumped him and Jim was not about to pass up an opportunity to tell all of our family's mishaps to a stranger. It didn't take long at all for Tony, my dad, to find out what apartment number we were. The police had said that he had more than likely crawled through the window to find us all asleep. He raped my mother before stabbing her repeatedly. We never told Jenny about the rape part, she wouldn't be able to understand.
This summer, however, my Aunt Laura had invited us to stay with her over the summer to celebrate my seventeenth birthday and to reminisce. Well, really, it would practically just be meeting for the first time. She came over a lot when I was younger, but Jenny was far too young to remember, and I barely do.
"I guess so. You ready Jen?" I sighed. Everybody could tell I was not looking forward to going back to Simpsonville. I loved it here in the city, and I was not too thrilled to be going back to the country where there were probably ghost stories revolving around my family.
"Come on Katie, it won't be as bad as you think," Jenny coaxed.
"She's right darling. I doubt anyone even remembers now," Grandma reassured me.
"Bye Grandma," I said as I gave her a hug.
"Bye Grandma," Jenny said while waving as she walked out the front door. "You have our cell phone numbers and we'll phone you when we get there. And stay out of trouble with the men!" Jenny winked.
Grandma laughed. "I'll do what I can!"