Chapter 9 now and we have a lot of underlying issues coming out here. Sorry for the delay, but I had college work, job hunting and a whole load of other shit to tackle. Chapter 10 is being written as you read this. As always, your votes and comments keep me going so do take a moment to drop them for me.
A huge vote of thanks to my enthusiastic and insightful new editor NaokoSmith who constantly finds ways to improve my writing.
DISCLAIMER
– This chapter contains a few brief scenes of lesbianism. I hope that is to your taste.
"Hatred would have been easier. With hatred, I would have known what to do. Hatred is clear, metallic, one-handed, unwavering; unlike love."
― Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye
* *
"Are you happy now, dear?"
The eight year old kid in the back seat replied with a scowl, the one he had worn all morning. He wore his little baggy jeans and GI Joe shirt as he sat with his arms crossed in front of him. The petulant face, however, remained.
"Oh sweetie," said the woman, exhausted at pacifying her son. "Why are you still mad? See, we're going to the birthday party after all."
The boy did not reply. He was giving the 'silent treatment'. His short cropped hair topped a precocious face and plump cheeks. His face drew 'awwws' of cuteness wherever he went, but he rarely smiled. Especially not on occasions like this.
The driver's side door opened and his father got in. He had dressed hurriedly for the occasion. He and his wife had eventually bowed to their son's temper tantrum. The kid was simply adamant on going to this birthday party.
"Henry, is Maureen here?"
"Yes," said the father, strapping on his seatbelt. "I've left her with all her favourite video cassettes and turned on the VCR with the remote at her disposal. I've told her we'll be back at eight. This shouldn't take longer than that, right? "
"No," smiled the woman, leaning over to give her husband an affectionate peck on the cheek.
"Gross!" snorted the little boy.
The couple laughed. Henry started the LeSabre and it revved down the street. Children played in the park, rolling tyres along the paved walkways with branches. Young couples walked hand in hand, their feet crunching over dried autumn leaves. Leaves still on the trees were tinged red, matching the crimson hue in the azure sky seamlessly melding into the imminent darkness of night.
"Lisa," said Henry, as he drove casually through the neighbourhood. "We should go on a vacation this winter."
"I could talk Claire into letting us have the keys to her cabin for a week or so."
"That would be nice," said Henry, taking a turn onto the main road, "but I hear they have opened a new ski resort a little further up the slope. It has great rooms and awesome food."
"Can I ask Claire to come along?" suggested Lisa hopefully. "You know how much she loves skiing."
"I guess," said Henry. "She is your only sister after all."
"It would cheer her up," she agreed. "The last year has been really tough on her, with the miscarriage and the divorce."
Henry nodded in agreement.
"She has wanted kids all her life and after all that trying when she finally got pregnant..." said Lisa, unable to finish her sentence through her choked throat.
Neither husband nor wife spoke for several long moments, partly because they did not want the little boy to hear any more. He fiddled on his own in the back seat, oblivious to anything else. Traffic was unusually sparse, meaning they could pick up some speed.
"I hope you appreciate what we're doing right now, mister," said Lisa, turning her neck to face the boy. "You'll keep your room clean this entire month if you want to go to another birthday party, okay?"
The boy nodded. The scowl had left his face, replaced by a look of calm nonchalance. His eyes lazily registered the various sights outside his window. The few other cars that passed by, the houses he got a glimpse of and the people, laughing and chatting with each other.
He had a full view of the speeding sedan that crashed right into them from the side.
The initial impact knocked him to the side and he hit his head against the door. The car lurched and sped straight onto an elevated curb. The wheels hit concrete with a dull thump and the car was airborne, falling back on the ground on its side. It rolled over again and then once more before coming to a standstill, ten feet from the intersection.
The boy was thrown around the car, seeing the seat spin around, at one point even the black-flecked grey asphalt. He hit his head on the roof of the car and blacked out.
When he opened his eyes again, his vision was distorted by blood. He was wedged upside down in the mangled wreckage of the LeSabre. He tried wriggling, but his limbs refused to budge. There were animated voices of onlookers just outside, waiting anxiously for any sign of life.
Suddenly, his eyes focused on his mother's face a few feet in front of him. There was a deep, twisted gash across her temple and a gush of blood flowed down her face. She looked at him with her beautiful brown eyes and said softly.
"It's going to be all right, Jake. Just remember, we love you and Brittany. Tell that to her as well."
Jake Gallagher woke up with a start. His pulse was in overdrive. He rushed to the bathroom and splashed water on his face repeatedly. The cold dread still persisted. He hugged himself tightly to stay warm, but failed miserably. Those last words, those haunting eyes, that entire scene was branded into his memory.
A cold palm touched his shoulder, making him jump in fright. He turned to see Katrina standing behind him with a look of concern on her face. Her sad eyes watched him shivering. Jake looked at her and saw those haunting brown eyes once more.
The memory of those eyes never left him. Neither did the memory of watching the light in them slowly die out.
The dam of calmness shattered and Jake suddenly threw his arms around Katrina. He was shaking violently. Katrina ran her palms all over his back, soothing and calming him. He held onto her as if he was hanging on for dear life.
"How did you know?" he whispered.
"You woke me up with your scream," she said, still rubbing his back soothingly. "Was it the same nightmare?"
"Every single second of it."
"Honey, I'm so sorry," she said, shedding a few tears on his shoulder. Each drop flickered in the dim moonlight and splashed onto the shoulder that was so used to them.
"I really thought I was over it this time."
"This is the first time in almost a year, right?" said Kat, now caressing his neck.
"Yes. This has to be the worst possible time for it to recur. I don't know if I can face Brittany in this state," whimpered Jake, desperately trying to hold himself together.
Katrina held his face in her hands and looked at it lovingly. He looked even more handsome when he was so vulnerable. He was always the strong one, but that was the problem with being strong, no one asked if he was okay.
"It's going to be all right, Jake."
It had been twenty-five years, but he still could not bring himself to believe in that sentence.
* *
"Okay so we're here," said Katrina looking around the arrival terminal at JFK. "I don't see a flight from Baltimore at eleven. Are you sure you got the time right?"
"Yup," said Jake, masking his dread with an uneasy calm.
"Which airline is she coming on?"
Kat looked at him expectantly. He smiled at her derisively.
"She has a private jet of course."
Katrina's jaw almost hit the floor. Jake forced a smile and waited for the tell-tale phone call. Like clockwork, at precisely ten minutes to eleven, his Blackberry rang. It was the steward on the plane, letting him know that the visiting dignitary would be disembarking at the fourth hangar on the far side of the airport.
They hurried there and waited. Even though it was a cool morning, Jake was sweating. He dabbed his handkerchief on his forehead and wiped trails of moisture down his cheek. He had last seen her well over a decade ago, but there was something about her gaze which he could not forget.
"It's going to be okay," Kat repeated. "Don't be scared of her."
Jake dearly wished he could believe her. His eyes were fixed on a shimmering silvery speck. Katrina used a palm to block the sun and stared at the shape as it grew larger. Gradually, the truly impressive body of the Gulfstream G650 came into view.
They watched in awe while the sleek streamlined craft taxied and slowly entered the hangar. It turned and stopped, the engine disengaging. The whirr of the turbines died down and the metallic beast came to a halt.
Jake gulped. The door opened and a retractable staircase came down to the ground. All at once, there was a flurry of activity inside the hangar. A convertible drew up and two men immediately began transferring luggage into it. Several people sporting smartphones came out, all of them chattering.
"Which one is her?" asked Katrina.
"You'll know when you see her," said Jake apprehensively, steeling his heart for the worst.
All the conversations abruptly halted. A white figure was coming out of the door. Her face was hidden behind obscenely large sunglasses which scanned the crowd awaiting her commands. A few short, measured words made their way to the appropriate people and her retinue went about their jobs. Katrina marvelled from a distance at the total awe in which everybody held her.
Her chauffeur drew the car to the front of the hangar and stood with the door open.
Jake clenched his teeth to hold back his trembling, highlights of his nightmare still playing in his mind. Katrina timidly took a step back, not sure if she should get involved in what was to follow. The white figure stopped in front of Jake, her shielded eyes sizing him up.
"Get in."
Jake obediently followed his sister to the door of her limo. Unsteadily, he settled into the plush seat.
"Not you," said Brittany curtly to Kat. "I want to talk to my brother in private. You run along now."
Katrina opened her mouth to say something, but caught Jake's pleading glance from the window and swallowed her bile. If only she had been off her meds, she would have shown Brittany a thing or two about manners.
"I'll catch you later," she muttered towards Jake and walked off.
Brittany climbed in beside her brother. The chauffeur slid the door shut and started driving. The siblings sat in total silence at first. Jake could feel the thud of his heart slamming into his ribs at every beat. Any faster and it would burst right out of his chest.
"I can almost smell the mediocrity on you," Brittany said, tapping away on her tablet nonchalantly. "Which means nothing's changed."
