Chapter 2 - Into the Lion's Den

Family History: Chapter 2 - Into the Lion's Den

Our story continues:

Taking a deep breath, Kimber continues making her way slowly through the narrow opening into the room. Still maintaining her death grip on the door edge. Neither hand letting it move one iota as she gingerly twists her body through the doorway.

Kimber can feel herself becoming more aroused, her sex getting wetter the more she advances through the doorway, thoughts of the salacious entries from the journal betraying her. "Now, focus," speaking under her breath to herself, "you're finally here, and this is your chance, stay on task.", hoping saying it aloud will keep her from chickening out.

Awkwardly she repositions each hand, one after the other, grasping the ornate doorknob with her left and placing her right palm flat against the door. She slowly pushes the door forward, twisting the knob to pull the latch in and then slowly twisting it back once the door is flush with the frame.

"Ok, I'm in. Door shut. Now I can look for proof." she states under her breath to herself.

Turning, she takes a few steps further into the office and is emersed in the familiar scent of the place. The strong, masculine scent of leather and cigars still permeates the air, mixed with remnants of the sweet, yet earthy, smell of her father's cologne.

"I have not been in here since after... the funeral.", she thinks to herself.

Kimber looks around the room, taking it all in. The large desk, the leather chair, the bookcases against each mahogany paneled wall. Her sweeping gaze takes note of the family photographs and his favorite painting on the walls. Her high school diploma, and the College degrees of each of her siblings hung prominently. Intermingled were various certificates and awards from over the years adorning the walls throughout his office.

Nothing she hasn't seen before, many times in fact, "but circumstances are different now, aren't they?" she says to herself, her arousal completely dissipates as the weight of being in her late father's office comes to bare.

Emotions wash over her as fond memories of her father come rushing back, triggered by the family pictures on the wall. Trepidation turned to absolute joy when he taught her to ride a bike. Pure glee when she caught a fish for the first time from the pond spanning the edge of the Wilstermann's and their property, where he taught her how to cast. Playing ice hockey on that very same pond most winters with Tam and Hugh Wilstermann.

The exhilaration and sense of accomplishment when he oh-so-patiently was teaching her to drive, in Great Grandpa's old 1941 Dodge Farm flatbed truck no less! That truck was his baby, well other baby after her, he was always tinkering with it and kept it running and looking great for its age. "Don't tell any of them, but one day this truck will be yours, sweetheart," he shared with me in a conspiratorial tone and a sly grin on his face after one driving lesson.

Summers were always the best growing up! They'd all pile into the car and head to the Lake house, staying for weeks on end. There was no A/C at the lake house, he wouldn't hear of it. Ceiling fans in every room, all the windows open wide. "Too hot? Then play outside, go for a swim in the lake, or I can find you some chores," he'd say to us.

We would eagerly run out of the house to find something to do, well at least Marky and I did. He was just barely a year older than me. Sometimes Tam and Hugh Wilstermann would spend part of the summer with us. We'd all keep ourselves occupied and entertained until it was dinner time.

Thinking of 'Marky' made her smile. If I called him that now and not Marcus he would get so pissed, never having liked the nickname in the first place. Her thoughts drifted to her other siblings, Emm, Erin, and Eli. They were all so much older than her growing up, leaving her and Marcus out of basically anything and everything that older siblings got up to.

Smile fading as her thoughts turn to the crash that took her mother, father, and eldest sister Emily. "It happened a little over 5 years ago now...I was just 23 at the time," the weight of her thoughts settling in her chest. "Maybe if I was there, it would have been different," tears welling up as her mind turns to the thoughts of that traumatic event that changed her family forever, changed her forever.

"But, No I failed one too many classes because I was too busy partying and getting my cunt stuffed," she angrily chides herself, "so I didn't have enough credits to graduate and had to take classes over the summer and the next fall. I really didn't want to continue to disappoint Daddy and be the only one that didn't finish college.", tears falling now, "Maybe had I just dropped out, I would have been there. Things might have been different," sobbing as her thoughts continued to spiral down a very familiar path of sorrow.

But she never did attend that fall - the accident changed everything.

Mom, Dad, and Emily were coming back from the lake house having spent an extra week closing it up for the season. Why they were driving through such an intense storm that night, and didn't just wait until morning, she'll never know.

She wipes the tears from her eyes and cheeks with the back of her hand, having regained some control over her emotions.

Kimber and Marcus were home when the state police trooper came to notify them of the accident and deaths. The trooper had said "The older female was driving, and the male and younger female were in the backseat na...." and he trailed off, face slightly blushing, never finishing that sentence.

During the days and weeks that followed their deaths Kimber often wondered what the trooper had held back, she assumed it was some gruesome detail he had thought better of saying at the last second.

"There was just something that always nagged me about Daddy and Emily being in the backseat. Emm always drove! and what the trooper had chosen *not* to say", Kimber was thinking as she was walking over to his desk in the dusty study.

She pulls the leather chair out from its place at the desk, and sits one leg folded on the seat, the other dangling down. She remains still for several minutes, taking it all in, willing the sad memories out of her thoughts and getting her emotions back in check.

~ End of Chapter 2 ~