Redemption

Tears streamed down Kylie’s face as she trudged through the deep snow ditch. The cold wind of the February air pierced her lungs the wind whipped her hair all over, causing some strands to stick to her wet face. She was almost there, she thought. She kept looking behind her, watching for flashing red and blue lights, maybe the sound of a police siren, but nothing, just regular traffic. She finally got out of the ditch and started running as fast as she could in her winter gear toward her friend Allie’s house. She was the first and closest person she could think of calling when she barged into Sunset Variety where she worked and asked if she could use the phone. The cold winter air started to burn in her lungs, and she slowed her pace to a walk. Deciding that she was momentarily safe from the threat of police capture, she sat down on a bus bench to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. How could they do this to her? Things had not been going well at home with Kylie and her stepdad. Dave had recently met a new girlfriend, Kathy. He had introduced her to Kylie about 5 weeks ago. At first, Kathy seemed nice. She seemed like she liked to have fun and was very kind to Kylie. But that first impression quickly faded, and Kylie quickly came to despise being around her. Kathy didn’t have a job. She was a partier and her and Dave would go out on the weekends, get drunk and have disgustingly loud s*x without a care in the world about who would hear them, let alone a 16-year-old girl. Kylie spent those nights with her headphones on, music on full volume and just tried to pretend she was somewhere else. She also never seemed to go to her own place. Kathy was always around. Kylie would come home from school and there she was, lounging on the couch, or reading a book. At first Kylie didn’t mind it. But after a week or so, it started to get on her nerves. And then the comments started coming. Kathy would always make digs at Kylie about a variety of things: How she needed to clean her room, do her homework, do chores around the house. Kylie would always roll her eyes and take the opportunity to remind Kathy that she was not her mom, and she should mind her own business. To which Kathy would directly report to Dave and cause fights between us which always frustrated Kylie. She didn’t usually fight with Dave; they usually had a pretty good relationship. But Kylie was pissed off that he had brought this woman, who clearly had ill intentions, into our life and it was causing problems. Everything came to a head last night. Dave and Kylie had been at Dave’s parents' for dinner. Kylie was under strict instructions not to let Dave’s parents know he was seeing someone. Joke’s on him Kylie thought. She had already told Paul, Dave’s brother, a couple of weeks ago after a giant first with the 2 of them. We got through dinner fine; nothing was said about Kathy. On the way home, Kylie could tell Dave was mad about something. Whatever, he could be mad. Finally, he let out that he was pissed that Kathy and Kylie hadn’t been getting along so when they got home, she was grounded. Kylie, seething, didn’t argue. As soon as he pulled in the driveway, she hopped out, went inside, and grabbed the phone. She needed someone to talk to and started dialing her aunt's number. Kathy was at the counter and made a comment to Kylie about how if she cleaned her room as much as she talked on the phone, she wouldn’t be in trouble so much. Kylie snapped. She told Kathy to essentially pound salt. She wasn’t her mom, never would be, and she didn’t have to listen to her. Well, Kathy didn’t like that and freaked out. She started yelling and name-calling. She called other members of Kylie’s family trash. She called her mom names and said Kylie would grow up and be just like other members of her family, an alcoholic, on welfare, useless. Dave had intervened at this point. He never disputed anything Kathy said, just that he was disappointed in Kylie for how she had been acting and that she was grounded. Kylie had never been angrier in her life. She was seeing red. Once she was alone in her room, she started writing in a journal when something caught her eye in the corner. It was a smiley-face balloon, and on it, Kathy had taped a note and had written something on it about being happy when you have a clean room. This enraged Kylie. Kathy had clearly been in her room, who knows how often. Furious, Kylie began writing in her journal her dark thoughts about Kathy, how she was a f*****g c*nt and wished she never existed, and how she wished she would go die. The next morning, Kylie woke up early, so she could shower and get ready while avoiding Dave and Kathy. She was in the middle of straightening her hair when there was a knock at the door. She opened the door slightly and saw them both standing there. Dave spoke first, apologizing for how intense things got the night before, and how it shouldn’t’ have gotten carried away like that. Kylie didn’t say anything, waited for Kathy to talk. She hastily apologized for yelling. Kylie, still feeling rage, pushed it down and apologized as well. Dave then asked if Kylie could do them all a favor and not tell anyone about everything that had been going on with the fighting and especially not about the previous night. Was this a joke? Kylie nodded in agreement and shut her door on them. She quickly finished getting ready for school and left out the back door. She had gotten to school early that day and there were not a lot of people there yet. She went to her locker to put her stuff away, grabbed her books for first period, her discman and headed to the court to wait for the first bell. Her first class of the day was Law. She took her seat at the back and waited for Allie to get to class. She was usually a little late, which was usually no big deal but today, Kylie really needed a friend. Allie arrived right at the final bell and sat down next to Kylie. Looking at her friends’ face, she knew something was going on. Kylie spilled everything to her. Allie listened, eyes wide in horror. Kylie had been sharing stories with her over the last few weeks, but this one took the cake. Maybe it was time to tell another adult? When she suggested this to Kylie, she shook her head. Who would she tell that would be able to do anything about it? The rest of the day passed a glacial pace. By the time the last period ended, Kylie wanted to get home. She thought she would call her cousin, Britney. On the walk home, it started snowing again. She zipped her coat up and made a mental note to wear gloves as she shoved her hands in her pockets. As her driveway came into view, she saw Dave’s car in the driveway. Strange, he wasn’t supposed to be home yet. Walking up the driveway, the backdoor was locked, so she dug out her key to unlock it. When the lock clicked, she pushed the door, but the chain was across it. What the f**k? Next thing she knew, Dave was standing in the space between the door and the frame. He asked for her key and, being confused about what was happening, she handed it over. When asked what was going on, Dave said they found her journal with the things she had written about Kathy. He said that she was no longer welcome there, all the while Kathy was screaming in the background that she was going to call the police and have Kylie arrested for threatening her life. Kylie begged them not to do this. Where was she supposed to go? When faced with this question, Dave simply answered it was not his problem and closed the door. Kylie couldn’t’ believe this. Her thoughts were racing. What was she going to do? Where was she going to go? Thinking quickly, she ran up the street to the local corner store where she worked part-time and asked to use the phone. The only person she could think of calling at that point was Allie. Thankfully, Allie said she could go to her house. Hanging up, she ran out of the store, down the road toward her school, crossing the road into the ditch filled with deep snow, and onto the side road that was the street Allie lived on. Kylie had never felt so scared. Did they call the police? Were they out looking for her? Seeing the bus bench up ahead and feeling safer not on the public road, she sat down and sobbed.