Holiday dangers

Chapter 4. Kate

Chapter 4. Kate

Finally, she took a deep breath and crossed those few steps across the driveway to the door and rang the bell. Luckily, the bell wasn't set to some Christmas jingle. They must have forgotten to change it this year.

As the bell rang, it started a commotion inside the house. She could hear her mother yell somewhere from the house. Probably from the kitchen.

"Jon! Someone is at the door! Go open it, my hands are dirty!" She yelled.

Her mother always had a strong voice. The whole street would know when she or her older brother did something wrong. Because her mother would make it known loud and clear. And her loudness was very loud. Kate still shuddered whenever she thought of her full name, Kathryn Adelina Thompson. Her mother could pronounce it with such severity that it still rings in her ears to this day, as do the beatings that would follow.

She could hear the footsteps going down the stairs hurriedly, and then her father spoke.

"I am coming." Her father yelled in response, but his voice was barely audible compared to her mother's.

Her father was a much quieter and gentler man. He was a professor of history, an academic in the soul, and he taught at a small university in a nearby town. Kate, luckily, inherited his brains and her mother's looks. She was no academic, but that was only because she decided to follow a different path, and not because she wasn't capable of becoming one. Her studies have always been top-notch.

She waited for a few seconds when the wooden door opened and her father appeared right in front of her. She didn't know what she would say or do when she saw her parents again after so many years. It was true that they often spoke on the phone, but this was different. She felt very strange, like she wasn't going home at all.

"Hello dad," she said shyly. She didn't even call them to let them know that she would be coming today. They probably weren't expecting her.

"Kate!" He said excitedly and gave her a warm hug. "Natalie! Quickly come over here! Look who came!" He called his wife.

"What is happening Jon..." Natalie started to ask, emerging from the kitchen, but when she saw Kate she ran over and caught her in a bear hug.

Her mother was a hugger, unlike her and her father. But Kate let her this time. After all, they did not see each other all those years.

Kate started to pull back from the hug when her mother's love started to hurt. Her mother was a former athlete and fitness enthusiast who sometimes forgot her strength, and she tended to crush people with her hugs.

"Hey mom." She said, still trying to wiggle out.

"Oh Kate, you finally came home. We missed you sooooo much." Her mother said, finally letting her go.

"Yes, I finally came." She said awkwardly. She didn't really know what to say to them after so much time.

"Come, come inside." Her mother ushered her inside. "Let me take your coat." She said while pushing Kate inside, as she would run away if she didn't come in right away.

"Let me take your suitcase upstairs." Her father offered and she gratefully accepted.

"Why is it so small?" Noticed her mother, pointing at a suitcase. "Won't you be staying for longer? Where are all of your stuff? They could not possibly all fit in this small suitcase?"

And it had already started. "Mother..." Kate started the usual speech that she recited to her mother many times over the phone. She was busy, and she didn't have time for long vacations.

But her father was faster this time. "Natalie, let the kid get in first. What is in her suitcase is not your concern. We should be happy that she is here now."

At first, her mother looked like she planned to continue the argument, but soon gave up and hung Kate's coat on the hanger. "Yes, you are right, Jon. Of course, I am happy that you are here hunny." She changed her tone, but the end of that sentence was obvious. She wished that Kate would stay longer. "Let's go into the living room. I am baking some delicious cinnamon cookies. They were your favorite when you were little."

Kate didn't like cinnamon cookies that much, but she didn't say it out loud. Instead, she mouthed a silent 'thank you' to her father and followed her mother into the living room. There she found a space on the comfy couch and sat down.

"Your brother is still at work, but he will be delighted to know that you came for the holidays." Her mother shouted from the kitchen where she went to get cookies.

"Is he still at that IT company?" Kate asked, more for the reason to just say something, even though she knew that her brother still hadn't changed his job. She maintained contact with him even more than with her mother.

Natalie set the plate of cookies on the table in front of Kate. "Yes, and he is expecting a promotion soon." Said her mother, proud of her son's achievements.

He was always her favorite, and he stayed in this town and in this house so he could be closer to them, just as her mother wished. Kate didn't mind that her mother favored David more. She and her mother were of very different opinions and both had strong personalities, so they would often clash. Her father would call their fights 'Clash of the Titans'. And he would even record them sometimes with famous 'you two will laugh at these videos in the future' words.

On the other hand, Kate was more like-minded towards her father, and they shared an interest in old classy cars and history. Her father knew her the best, and he always had enough patience to give you time to figure things out on your own and then to sit down with you and give you advice if you needed it. Unlike her mother, who just didn't have enough subtility to approach other people's lifes from a perspective that wasn't her own.

"Here," her mother pointed at the cookie plate, "help yourself, they are fresh, just taken out of the oven."

"Thank you, but I should go wash my hands first and change my clothes. The flight was very long." Kate said standing up.

"Yes, you should freshen up a bit. It must be toilsome to travel all this way." Her mother agreed.

"Is my room still vacant?" She asked. She expected it to be. Her mother would never touch a thing in there hoping that she would come back one day to live with her parents again. But she asked just in case.

"Of course it is! It will always be your room sweetie," she replied.

"Okey. I will be back soon." She tried to say it as cheerfully as she could. Kate went back to the hallway and up the stair to her old room. On the way upstairs she almost bumped into her father.

"Are you okay dear?" He asked her concerned. His blue eyes, which resembled hers, scanned her closely, waiting for an answer. He always knew when something was wrong with her. Even when she was not aware of it.

"I am okay dad." She tried to sound reassuring. "I am just tired from the long trip."

"Okay dear, your mother and I will wait for you downstairs." He didn't want to press her any further. "Take as much time as you need."

"Okay. See you in a bit." She replied, grateful that he let her work her things by herself. Her mother would never be able to give her space like that, because she didn't believe in personal space.

Her parents were polar opposites to one another, and she always wondered how they ended up together. But they functioned just fine and even better than that. They were a good team. She hoped that she could have something like that with someone one day.

Entering her room, she let out the air from her lungs that she didn't even know she was holding. She felt as if she had entered a stranger's house and not the house where she grew up. But she

will get acclimated in time... She hoped.