Make Your Move Katherine

An Eternity Later

“Hello?”

Kat’s eyes widened with the man’s words but she couldn’t speak. She looked at Oscar, feeling the loathing and contempt she already had inside for him, growing.

Anthony and Oscar looked at her, both scrutinizing her but saying nothing. Both men wore matching frowns on their forehead too.

She heard the clear voice in her ear again, “Hello? Sorry, no dad here just Dean. I’m at the homeless shelter.”

Kat immediately found her voice. “Homeless shelter? What is my father doing there?”

“Father? No dad here, sorry kiddo. I doubt your father is here. I just found his phone on the park bench, up on Ways Street. I figured I might as well pick it up for the rain was about to pour. You can pick it up if you want, I’ll leave it at the front desk if you like,” the kind sounding man on the other end reported.

Katherine knew the street. Her parents must have gone to the park. But why would her father go there given his condition?

“Dean- uh yes. Thank you so much.”

“Sure kid, you sound worried- geez, so I’m sorry for not answering before but I was eating a hotdog and holding a drink in my other hand. You know how it is when you get a free meal, especially in this hot weather.”

Yeah, she knew how that heat was irritable at times. That’s what happens when you reside in a country that only has sun and rain.

“Thank you for answering now, Dean.”

Kat held her chest as she coached herself into calming down after hanging up the call. Her brain had gone through quite a few scenarios about why someone else would answer her father’s phone. A mugging, an accident, he fainted somewhere …worst things…

“He’s okay. He lost his phone,” she mumbled when she noticed the curious look on the men’s faces but she didn’t care to add any details.

She scrolled down her contacts list and dialed her stepmother’s number. She picked up the second ring, “Kat! Your father is so worried.”

“Hi, Miriam. I’m fine. Where’s dad?” Katherine’s throat worked as it swallowed back her happy, relieved tears at the sound of her stepmother’s voice.

“Oh, darling he’s asleep but hold on, I’ll wake him-”

“No-” Kat shouted and she saw Oscar’s eyes widen at her outburst, so she lowered her tone, “No, he needs his rest. I called his phone but-”

“Honey, he lost his phone, oh. Let me wake him up-”

“Mir no. His phone is by the homeless shelter on Ways Street. Some guy named Dean found it and left it there,” she informed her and bent her head, trying to hide the salty spills coming from her eyes from both men who were staring at her. She watched as the tiny drops fell and disappeared onto her dress, leaving her eyes smudge-free for they didn't roll down her eyelids.

“Oh, how nice. It is good to know honest people still exist. How are you, Katie? How’s marriage? Are you happy?” Miriam was the only person who ever called her Katie and got away with it and Kat smiled for she needed the comfort the name brought with her stepmother's voice.

“Yes, I am happy,” she lied and lifting her head she sneered at Anthony, ignoring Oscar.

“We got the money you sent. But you know you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know but my husband is loaded-”

“Oh Katie- I hope you didn’t do this do your father. Did you? Did you do it for the money? Are you really married honey?” Kat heard the worry in her stepmother’s voice and her eyes dripped with the hot rapid flowing tears.

Were they under the impression she was selling her body parts? Her organs?

“I love you so much Mir,” Kat turned away from the mobile and wiped her tears away,” How’s the baby?”

“We love you too and the baby’s fine, thirty-nine weeks, you know. Are you sure you are, okay?”

“Yes, let me switch to video call, so you can see him and tell dad that I’m okay,” she mumbled as she wiped her tears away and motioned for Oscar to come to her.

He stiffly came and sat next to her while Kat switched the call.

“Oh, he so handsome,” Miriam gushed when she saw a smiling Oscar next to her and he smiled tightly back at her. “Hi, husband of my daughter.”

“This is my Oscar,” Kat said merrily although she felt like vomiting as she placed her head lovingly on Oscar’s chest.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m sorry that we rushed into it like this but I couldn’t leave her alone after seeing her so many years later,” he told her stepmother and Kat held up her fake smile. Reaching into her dress pocket she quickly placed the ring on her finger and held up her hand for her stepmother to see it. Kat never wore the ring unless entertaining a public audience so she had pulled it off as soon as she sat in the limo earlier after the show.

And yes, Sijia and her audience had gushed over it but no, they curiously did not ask how the king proposed to her.

“I understand,” Miriam said and poke the screen at her ring. “It’s a gorgeous ring indeed Kat and Oscar thank you so much for clearing our bills and-”

“It’s not a problem. Kat’s family is my family,” Oscar said in such an adorable voice that even she almost believed him until she remembered Anthony’s words from earlier. The contract.

She saw Miriam place a hand over her mouth with Oscar’s words. Oh God Mir…don’t love him Kat willed her stepmother with her eyes.

“Okay, Miriam we have to go. Tell dad to make sure and recover or I’ll never forgive him.”

“I will honey. It was nice to meet you Oscar- Katie when will you call again?”

Kat froze unsure of what to say but Oscar spoke up, “We’ll try to call when her father wakes up. What time will that be? We have to time you guys for the frequencies here are different so we had to drive up here and it takes almost two hours. Mountains and such.”

“Oh- well I didn’t know that. Well, he usually wakes up at one, to get his medicine so in about two hours from now?”

Kat frowned as the calculations took effect inside her head- two hours from now would be – “AM or PM?" she asked slightly looking at Anthony, who was still looking at her from behind the phone.

Her stepmother looked away and answered, “It’s night here silly- see.” And she walked over the closed windows of the kitchen and turned the phone outdoors. “Where are you dear?”

Eleven at night?

Kat didn't have to look outside to see the sunlight there but she would have to glance at her watch to know the exact time and that would give her away. She figured it was about 3 pm at the latest. It seemed that she had been zapped by the fire monster onto the other side of the globe entirety. Her brain did a quick minus of hours... so if she was eight hours ahead that planted her somewhere in the East- like east-east, not the middle east.

She should have paid attention in school when they were teaching about the world map- wait...did the devil just promise Miriam that he would call back when her father was awake?