A Hidden Secret

Reliving Old Wounds

This was it. Kallie was ecstatic. It was the night before her 16th birthday. All of her friends had amazing birthday parties filled with friends and family there to celebrate, so hers would be the same! Their parties had had present tables filled to the brim with gifts and even a few spilling over onto the ground. 

That was the normal for the neighborhood that Kallie lived in, everyone got whatever they wanted. 

Her closest friend, Katie Rhodes, even got a brand new car for her sweet sixteen. You can guess how that ended, totaled within two months of driving that sweet red convertible. It was a gorgeous vehicle. Its rims shimmered and the paint shone in the sunlight. Kallie was extremely jealous and vowed she would love her car faithfully, because of course her parents would buy her one. Or rather parent. 

Sighing, Kallie glanced at the picture of her father on her nightstand. Just a few months prior her father was run down and killed. It was heartbreaking to say it was an accident, when in reality, it was just stupidity. That night was full of regret. Kallie had been hungry, and her mother, Sara, had not returned home yet from an outing with her friends. Something her mother did regularly. 

So Alec, Kallies father, said he would walk to the nearest store and buy a few snacks and an easy dinner. He was an awful cook and his “homemade” meals usually sent everyone running for the hills when they got a whiff of that awful concoction he managed to warm. 

He was able to make it the three blocks to the somewhat busy road that would need to be crossed to get to the only store open at this time of night. Her mother usually wasn't out this late with her friends. There must have been some drinking going on earlier in the day with the five women that required them to relax during the evening and sober up. 

Alec looked twice before attempting to cross the road. He took about 6 steps and was almost to the figurative finish line when he had a flash of light startle him and he looked up to stare down his impending doom.