Life’s Expectations

Time Flies By

It had been four months since her Christmas birthday surprise.And Halloween was just days away.She had been in school for two months and loved it.She wasn’t in the school next to where her mother lived.All the adults had put her in a private school and she was doing very well.Her teacher had told her she would be advanced to the next grade,which she did not understand.Holly explained once she got home.She was sent to first grade and shortly after passed on to second grade.Grace enjoyed school and had many great years with her family.She was graduating in two days and everyone she loved would be there.The day came and passed.Things went great and they all went to dinner after.

Grace thought about the past few years.As she got older she saw Daisy less and less.And Holly and Andy hung out together at their new house renovating it,more and more.They had gotten married when she was thirteen and Holly had a baby girl of her own a year later.Miss Kay was getting sick much more,but nothing serious.She became very secretive when Grace was about fifteen.Grace didn’t really have friends,since her best friend moved to Washington last year.And her sixteenth birthday had just passed.Holly had planned a great party and Andy gave her a motorcycle,with a side car for Salts and saddle bags.He was even going to attach a basket to the back.She was so happy.She began to cry and everyone was concerned.

“Ok,what’s up little one?”Andy asked,she shook her head.

“Come on child,what’s going on?”Miss Kay asked.

“I was thinking of how happy my life has been with yall.And how happy I am now,then it hit me.With all this good,the bad is close behind.”Grace began to cry harder.Holly handed the baby to Andy and pulled Grace into a hug.

“Nothing bad is coming,only good things.You graduated early and are starting work at the shop full time tomorrow.All good is coming your way.”Holly said wiping away Grace’s tears.

But with the sweet,sometimes comes the bitter.The first wave was after the Summer.Grace had a run in with Courtney’s boyfriend,but luckily he didn’t recognize her.The next came with Miss Kay becoming sick more often.Holly came over as much as she could to help,but in the end it wasn’t enough.And so came the third and most destructive wave of bad.Miss Kay’s sister Margarett came to live with them.She was a horrible woman,who hated kids.She was terrible to Grace and threw Salts outside all the time.And Miss Kay’s cats began to vanish.If Grace saw Holly,she had to go to the shop.Holly was no longer allowed to come to the house.And Grace no longer felt like she had a home.She was barely allowed to go into the garden.Margarett told her little girls didn’t deserve beautiful gardens.And she was only allowed to gather the food and tend the chores back there.She recalled Miss Kay saying she wished her other sister Maude had come.And Grace wished it too.She hid in her room or stayed at Holly’s as much as possible.She had to start bringing Salts or Margarett would throw her outside.Grace had over heard a phone call from the doctor about a week ago.It didn’t sound good,so she had been planning to ask Miss Holly if she could stay at the shop.She had been slowly bringing her most precious things there and storing them.Holly told it was ok and she didn’t push Grace for answers.Her motorcycle was already there,Margarett didn’t approve of them.

Grace was walking back to Holly’s and it was getting dark.Miss Kay was in the hospital and Margarett was being horrible.She wouldn’t even let Grace eat dinner.As Grace got closer to the shop,she began to get chills.A weird feeling washed over her,her emotions were on high alert.She looked around feeling like someone was watching her,following her.Grace picked up her pace,scaring Salts.The poor kitty tried to poke her head out to investigate.Grace pushed her back into the backpack and zipped it.She began to panic,fear gripping her.She smelled a fowl smell in the air.Around her the air felt thick and stale.She began to run,feeling hands on her body,gripping,scratching.She felt like darkness was engulfing her,as she came around the corner.She ran right into some guy,who seemed to be running as well.They smacked together hard,both slamming back on the ground backwards.He helped her up,looking deep into her eyes.

Grace was terrified and remembered him saying something over and over,then darkness.Grace woke up,with him beside her in a strange bed.She snuck away carefully.The room was very dark,except a sliver of light coming from between the black curtains.The only thing she could see was a huge wolf painting on the above the bed and the door.She tiptoed across the room and out.She was in a Penthouse.To avoid the elevator she snuck down the stairwell.As she walked down the stairs barefoot she recalled what the man kept saying.”Mine!”Grace couldn’t remember anything else.But she did remember that she had lost Salts.She was terrified but Holly wasn’t around to help.That morning Margarett burst into her room.

“Miss Holly came looking for you,she found your stupid cat!I put her in a cage on the back porch.Where the hell were you!?!”Margarett yelled,her face fire red and veins bulging.

I moved slowly across the room to go get Salts,a weird feeling radiating from my female area.Like an awakening down there.The man had taken something very precious from her,she knew it.But she had blacked out once she hit the concrete,only remembering slight visions of a wolf and lots of horrible growling.She must have imagined that.She felt like a piece of her soul was gone.An ache deep in her heart and a lust she had never known was all she felt through her numbness.She was startled to the present situation as Margarett came closer sniffing her like a dog.

“Oh,hell no!No!No!No!You little w***e!I smell the s*x all over you!My sister isn’t coming out of that hospital,so you are getting the hell out of my house!I am going to the store,you have an hour.Get all your crap out of here or it is trash.Which most of this junk is anyway,just like you!Trash!Get all this happy hippie crap out of my house!Now!”Margarett yelled about to pop a vessel.

Margarett left and Grace started packing her things as fast as she could.When she heard the front door slam she went down and called Holly.She told her what happened,but not the why.Holly knew how horrible Margarett was and also knew Miss Kay was not coming back out of the hospital.Grace continued to pack while waiting for Holly and Andy.They showed up with a large truck and a few friends.They packed everything that had ever been given to Grace to make that house a home.Miss Kay wasn’t coming back .And why should Margarett be comfortable?They even dug up the garden and moved the chickens with their coop to the shop.They put all the big things in a storage building on Miss Holly’s new property.

“You can keep it here as long as you need.We will get what you need out as you need it.Is there more you need to tell me?I feel you are holding something back.When you are ready to talk,I am here.”Holly told her rubbing her shoulder.

They had cleared the whole house of everything given to Grace through the years.And anything Grace,Andy or Holly gave to Miss Kay.The house was almost totally bare,but Margarett did say get all her crap out.And they got every tiny piece out,right down to the painted rocks.Andy even took out the chandeliers for her and just capped them off.Just wires hanging.We actually didn’t need to get out anything.The garden plants had been moved to Holly’s shop,so they could tend it better.The chickens were also there for easier care.Grace was amazed they had emptied the house so quickly.Holly’s friends were super fast.