BOUND BY DEBT

LEARNING THE TRUTH

With that been said, Caitlyn turned and walked into the locker room and picked up her purse. Then she remembered the bills mica helped her with and she shoved them into her purse. She didn't want to bother checking her reflection to see if she needed to wash her face or reapply some lipstick as she was too exhausted to even care but she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on her way out. Her pale skin was paler than usual, and even her halo of golden curls seemed a bit duller than usual. Maybe it's the weather that made her look as such, but she knew that wasn't the reason. Her weariness had everything to do with her unsuccessful job hunting and the lack of finances at home and the thoughts on depending on Mica was really haunting to her.

"Give me a few minutes to lock up, so I would drive you home."Mica offered.

"No thanks, I will catch a bus home or walk if there are no buses." Caitlyn said after a while like she actually thought about his offer, when in fact, she didn't.

"Are you crazy, in this rain?" Mica gaped at her as he looked between her and the window, at the slight drizzle wafting around the streets.

"Maybe your eyes are not functioning as they used to be but the rain has stopped." She leaned up and kissed his cheeks, walking out before he had a chance to reply.

"I'd be fine!" she called back when he began to grumble.

It is thirty minutes after she had left the diner, having decided to walk home so as to save cost. The streets were surprisingly empty-maybe because of the heavy downpour-streetlights provided Caitlyn with a clear view. She is actually alone, save for two figures far ahead of her. both of her hands are buried in the pockets of her raincoat. In her right hand, she fisted her purse, in it the few tips and the money bills Mica had gifted her.

She looked to her left, then her right when she heard the yielding revs of a car, and when she saw the car, Caitlyn speedily took a shortcut to their family house, through an alleyway. She bumped into a trashcan again just like she had in the morning but she managed to arrive at the rusty gate just in time before she sees the sane car speeding towards her. she doesn't have time to get her keys from her bag, so praying to the gods, she pushes open the gate and thankfully it pulled open.

She unlocked the front door and ran inside their house and before she locked the door, she eyed the car that has stopped just opposite her house, on the other side of the road.

She hurries to their place and locked all the doors and closed all the windows. Caitlyn just confirmed her suspicions that someone was following her for the past few weeks or so. She peered through the curtain at the black lamborghini parked outside their house.

Her father Mr. Patrick, in a rough looking blue pyjama torn slightly by the sleeves and his brown flip-flops that have seen better days called out, "Caitlyn..." she jolted upright on the couch she sat on at the sound of her father's footstep thudding from the hallway as he called for her.

"What are you doing up dad?" She said as she got her heartbeat under control. 'I thought you would have gone to bed since."

"I w-waited up for you..." he slurred and Caitlyn sighed, 'he had been drinking again.' He looked rumpled and kept blinking, swaying from side to side reminding her of that night he broke the news of his lost business to her. A feeling of foreboding settled over her and cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Instead of picking up on his apparent drunkenness, she smiled and reached into her purse as he took a seat beside her on the couch. "Dad I have a surprise for you."

"Out with it Cait! I hate surprises and you are aware of this." He grunted and Cait laughed, pushing the money into his palm.

"There dad, today was good. I made a lot from tips." She lied.

She hadn't expected him to jump up and scream in ecstasy but neither had she expected her father, a full grown man, burst into tears at the sight of the money.

"Oh.. Cait... I wish I could be a better father to you and your siblings... You are doing so much already..."

Caitlyn hugged her father, "It's fine dad b-but why had you been drinking..." she asked hesitantly as she doesn't want him to get angry and get into a fight with her just as he always does whenever she accuses him of drinking.

"Oh cait...' he moaned in a grief stricken voice. "I sold the house!"

Caitlyn wasn't sure if she heard him right or maybe her ears were playing tricks on her, "You sold what?"

"Look Cait, I am sorry, I said I sold the house. I swear it was not to gamble or to finance my drinking habits; actually it is for the opposite. Remember after I lost our first house in the fire accident and then lost the business to gambling, you had to go to college. I had to take a loan from a friend to help you through college and now he is back and wants his money from me.

Caitlyn stood from the couch in a confused state as her head was reeling from the information and she struggled to piece everything together. "How could you do this dad? How could you make your kids homeless, we would be thrown into the streets soon dad! How much exactly did you loan from him that paying it back requires you to sell the house."

"That friend of mine is actually a loan shark and he loans little money with an outrageous interest. Even the money I got from the sale of the house isn't enough to pay up completely."

"I said how much!" Caitlyn lost her cool and yelled at her father.

"T-wo-two million dollars." Her father whimpered, refusing to meet her eyes.

Caitlyn lost her stamina and she stumbled back into the couch on hearing how much her father owed some loan shark. "W-what? Law school's tuition wasn't even a quarter of a million dollars." She asked herself dazedly and then suddenly everything became clearer to her and her eyes filled with hot tears.

"How could you dad, you took a f!cking loan to gamble?!" she screamed at him.

"I didn't mean to, I just lent 50 thousand dollars at first but before I knew it, I kept going back and going back for more loans."

"Father, you are in debt of two million dollars and you have nothing to show for the loans you took.

"I am sorry Caitlyn."

"f**k you! You don't get to say sorry after you ruin our lives... I regret..."

She was going to say she regrets being related to her but he cut her clean with a thunderous shout. "And that's enough Caitlyn, I am still your father and you can't talk to me as you please. I apologized and it's not like I used everything to gamble. You think I didn't try to get your brother some help, help him get clean. If you don't know, everything I did was for your siblings and for you."

Caitlyn crying without control shook her head from side to side, "No father, you are wrong. You did everything for yourself. Mom was right for leaving you, you are a disgusting loser."

She said those words and stormed off into her room, making a beeline towards the bathroom after shutting the door close behind her.

He repeated the same thing he did ten years ago. And this time, not only were they homeless, they were all in debt to some loan shark.