Trapped In Life

Starting Over (Part 5) - Home

I was amazed when the driver pulled up outside the house I lived in and owned ten years ago. This brought up all kinds of questions in my mind. I knew the terms of my will. What was the relationship between my blood and Kaitlyn Dupre?

When the driver got out of the car to let me out, I realized I had no keys to get into the house. I was a bit surprised when the driver moved around me to get to the door first and used a key to open the door. She then handed me the key to the house. I thanked her before entering the house with my bag which was in my other hand.

Closing the door, I looked around. Kaitlyn had not changed much at all. I was kind of intrigued now. Were Kaitlyn and I so similar that we had the same taste in decor? I took a while to walk around the house taking in the changes which had been made to the house. In the kitchen, I noticed some changes in appliances, which were probably needed.

When I finally got up to my bedroom, it was obvious Kaitlyn used this as her own bedroom as well.  I smiled. I had really come home.  Having walked through the house, I was a bit tired.  However, I needed something to eat before I took my medicine.  I put the bag down on the table in my bedroom before heading down to the kitchen.   After figuring out what she had in the kitchen and what had gone bad while she…I was in the hospital,  I made myself some lunch.  Then took it up to my room.

Before eating, I walked to the library to get a book to read while relaxing.  I wondered if the script was in her room just before I found the table with what I knew was the file on myself from the studio.  I swallowed seeing my murder scene photos.  I didn’t think I was ready for this, but there it was in front of me.  I closed my eyes then turned and ran upstairs to the bedroom.  I would look for the script in her room.  Maybe I would get lucky, I just felt my stomach churning as I sat on the sofa in her room.

It took me several deep breaths before I went to the en-suite bathroom to wash my face.  The water helped calm me.  It was then I pulled out my medication from the hospital while sitting at the table to eat.  I ate slowly.  I was happy to see she wasn’t a vegan or vegetarian.

I took the luncheon meat, ham, chicken breast, roast beef, and other deli meats, around cheese sticks; part spread with cream cheese before rolling it up; and, the third part I rolled around some celery sticks with cheese spread in them.  I cut two dill pickles into quarter spears.  I made some cheddar sticks from the block of extra sharp cheddar cheese I found.  Then I had a bowl of olives another bowl of cubed melons. These were on the tray I had brought up with a bottle of water and a bottle of fruit punch.   I wanted a Dr. Pepper, but I couldn’t find any soda other than Sprite Zero in the kitchen.  I decided I was going to have to have to add several things to her grocery list I noticed she didn’t have.

I sat eating while looking around the room.  I wasn’t a fan of some of the artwork in the room. I guess I could grow to like them.  They weren’t that horrible.  They just weren’t something I would have wasted money on.  I noticed a very thick binder-type folder on the bedside table.  That had to be the script I was looking for or a script she was reading.  I cleaned my hands off with a napkin then went over to pick it up.  Opening it showed the title “Soldier of Wolf’s Lake” on the first page. Yes, this was the script of her current movie.

I took it back with me to the table with my food.  I sat down to finish eating while thumbing through the script.  It was longer than I remembered it being.  Of course, the script I read was ten years ago and a different writer.  I was going to have to read it completely before I had to be on set.  I needed to be ready for filming.  I hoped I was going to have time.

Once I finished the food, I took the medicine and curled up on the sofa with my shoes off and a blanket over my legs.  The script was in my lap as I started reading it.  At some point, I nodded off.  It wasn’t due to the scriptwriter's work.  I was under the effects of the medications I’d taken.  I was glad I’d eaten before taking it.

When I woke up, the sun was showing it was just before sundown.  I was going to have to order something for dinner.   I had gotten rid of most of the food which I could have fixed.  Also, I didn’t feel up to cooking.  I looked in the bag I had brought home from the hospital.  There had not been much in it coming back from the hospital, mainly the medication and instructions from Dr. Reeves.  I took out the paperwork and set it aside, only to find Kaitlyn’s cell phone.   I was hesitant to open it.  Technically, it was mine now.  However, it was really Kaitlyn’s phone.  Wasn’t opening it to look through it some kind of privacy violation?  Had someone done that to mine after I died?  I wondered on the answer to both was.

I needed to find out what menus she had.   I looked around the table.  I hadn't seen any in the kitchen.  I had seen a laptop in the house somewhere.  I wasn’t sure off the top of my head where.  I walked back through the house in my mind from my walk earlier.  Then I remembered the office den had the laptop on a side table.   I knew it brought up the same privacy issues I faced with the phone.  Yet, I could use the laptop without seeing anything which would be private to Kaitlyn's soul, like looking up restaurants in the area I could order from and see their menus.

It didn’t take me long to retrieve it.  I set it up on the table I ate on earlier.  Opening it, I was met with a password request to start the computer.  I sighed.  I had no idea what Kaitlyn would have used as a password.  I wondered if anyone on her phone contacts would know.  Opening the phone, it was locked too.  Normally, I would be proud of her for thinking security from prying people.  In this instance, I felt like I was running into roadblocks everywhere I turned.  There had to be some way to find out how to access these two devices.  How was I going to do this if I couldn't access these devices?

I went to the bedside table. I remember keeping notes on important and private things in a drop-drawer of the bedside table. The false bottom in the drawer wasn't known to anyone who didn't know it was there. I wondered if Kaitlyn had found it. It allowed me to hide password lists and combinations along with other things I wanted no one to know. I paused my hand feeling the same struggle in my mind.

“I am Kaitlyn now.   If I’m going to be her to everyone, I have to be her to me too,” I said to myself out loud. Then I opened the drawer and looked down at the contents. There was a notebook and pen along with some lotions and nail care items. I smiled a bit as I picked up the notebook. Opening it, I found some notes written on the first few pages. Since they didn’t look like what I was looking for, I decided to read them later. I flipped through the blank pages to the back. There on the back of the last page was two codes at the top of what could be two columns. They weren’t identified by what they were. I took the notebook with me to the table.

I finished pulling everything out of the drawer, then opened the drop-drawer. There were my papers. No one had disturbed them. This told me Kaitlyn had no idea about it.  Part of me felt sad.  The other was amazed that no one ever wondered about the size of the drawer.

I looked at the two codes: an eight-digit numerical and a ten-digit alpha-numeric plus.  I looked at them curiously.  I wondered where she had gotten them as I opened the phone.  The phone only allowed a numerical code.  I typed it in 26202027.  My mind actually started to lecture Kaitlyn on how many 2s were in the code as the phone opened up.  She may have well just put in all 2s.  That would be something I would change immediately,  Then it dawned on me what the numbers could be.  I had been 26 when I died.  From what I had learned at the hospital, Kaitlyn was 20.  The year was 2027.  Then it didn't make sense for it to be possible.  Why would Kaitlyn use my death age?  I had to be just looking for patterns.  That couldn’t be it.

So, I was on her phone.  Now to try the other code on the laptop. It was alpha-numeric with symbols: KRP*20d327.  I had no ideas for those letters.  I would have to change both codes to something I could remember easier which was also secure.  However, that wasn’t the task right now.  The laptop opened instantly upon entering the code.  I smiled before I opened a browser to look up restaurants close by.  There were a few more than ten years ago.  Once I had a list, it was just a matter of deciding what I wanted for dinner.

I had time to look at the laptop and the phone before the food would arrive if I wanted.  I was struggling again with the privacy invasion question.  Finally, I solved it in my own mind.  I was Kaitlyn from now on for better or worse.  I couldn’t go forward as Kaitlyn if I didn’t know what Kaitlyn was like.  It was a role I could eventually change things about, but I had to learn about her before I did that.  It was an invasion of Kaitlyn’s privacy, but I was Kaitlyn now.  I can’t invade my own privacy. Having answered the quandary in my own mind, I started looking through the phone.