*This is the third edit, so I hope it's a big improvement. (:*
Chapter 1:
“Kal-” Mrs. Morrison skipped Kali and went to mine. “Kayden O’Connell?”
“Here.”
Kali has run off before, but not this long. She always would come back, always. Kali has been gone for a little less than a school week, which made me worry. I knew whenever she ran away, she would be gone for no more than 2 days, and stayed at my family's lake house when she did. The stress level for me was doubling every passing hour. My mind was almost at a breaking point. I dreaded when school was going to be done in forty-five minutes, and I would go home, alone.
“Okay class, take out your math homework from last night.” Mrs. Morrison ordered.
I grabbed my ROXY binder and pulled out my math homework. Math was pretty simple for me, every subject was actually. I never had any problems in any class, and my grades are always higher than a B. Kali always was smarter though, that’s why she was in my senior math class while she was a sophomore.
The class phone rang. Everyone looked up.
“It’s probably something about Kal-” A beach blonde girl guessed. My glare cut her short. I turned back to my math and ran my slender fingers in through my long, auburn hair. The cold silk feeling calmed me down a bit.
Mrs. Morrison reluctantly hung up the phone. She looked up at me and nodded. I sighed and could feel tears forming behind my lashes. I put my homework on top of my binder and books and shoved my pencils in the zipper pouch. I gave Mrs. Morrison my math paper. The whole class didn’t move, didn’t talk. It felt like I was the only living thing in the room. They all knew...
I ran to my locker, not even looking back at my math class. Out of anger, I slammed my books in the turquoise locker, rattling the metal. My book bag was yanked out in a haste. I closed up my locker, leaving some papers behind. My feet sped down the hallway, eager to discover the fate of my sister even though I might regret what has become of Kali. The closer I got to the office, the more clearer the man in the office seem. It was Kam, my brother. His hair was the same color as mine, but cut short.
“Kam!” I yelled and ran to him. Kam turned and smiled halfheartedly, his smile seeming almost fake. He was still in his army gear with his name tag saying his last name, “O’Connell”. I ran up to him and gave him a big hug, tears starting to form. He was only 5 years older than me, yet still very young.
“I can’t believe you’re home,” I cried.
“You better believe it, cause I’m going to be here for a while.” Kam laughed. He was
always the funny guy of the family. “Lets go home.”
I wiped my tears off my face and grabbed my book bag. We walked out of the school doors and to his Ford truck. Kam opened the door for me, being a real gentleman, and I jumped in. He walked around to the other side of the car and jumped in. In that short amount of time, Kali came back into my mind. This time, sticking. Something was up, and Kam wouldn’t come pick me up unless something terrible, or good happened.
The car shifted gears as we drove out of the school parking lot.
“How’s school for ya?” Kam asked.
“Eh, not exciting. How’s Iraq?” I asked.
“Really dirty, and dangerous.”
“Hmm.” I mumbled. I had nothing else to add.
Our conversation didn’t need to be long, since we were almost home already. My rides home aren’t that long anyway. The rest of the ride was silent, and it was eerie feeling. There was something wrong, but I tried not to think the worst.
My house was not mansion sized, but still pretty big. We had two floors, the whole thing was made of log. The gravel driveway shifted from the weight that was the truck. My mother who didn’t look like any of her children ran out. She had blonde hair and brown eyes, while the rest of us were auburn haired and blue eyed.
“Welcome home, sweetie. ” She ran to Kam. Dad followed behind, totally missing me and acknowledging Kam. I remember I heard them one night, with Kali saying how they wished they had three sons that could make them proud. Ever since then, I haven’t seen them the same.
I slammed the truck door and walked to the heavy, wooden door. I opened the door and walked inside where the smell of pine trees was the scent that my Mom chose for the theme smell to be. She thought it was more “natural”. I walked past the kitchen, past the dining room to the staircase. I brought myself up the stairs to my room that was large. I had a King Sized bed with down comforter and pillows, a large flat screen screwed into the wall with a piece of plastic, my window took up most of my far wall, showing me the trees beyond our property, a walk in closet to my left, full of clothes, and a large bookshelf and desk by the window.
I threw my backpack on the floor next to my desk and sat on my bed and looked out.
“Kayden? Please come down here please?” Mom hollered at me.
I sighed, worrying about the outcome of walking downstairs, scared at what I may be told. I made my way downstairs, slowly as possible. My eyes wandered on every little cut and carving of wood on the hand rale and log walls. I traced the outlines and remembered times me and Kali would chase each other around the house and how Mom would yell at us to stop, or we would hurt ourselves. A little tear fell down my cheek.
Once I was able to see my family, I noticed they were all sitting at the table, Dad at one end, Mom the other, Kam sitting on the side with an empty chair next to him, and two more across him. I looked down, something bad was happening. I pulled out a chair that was closest to Mom and sat. Mom and Dad looked stern, while Kam didn’t look up at all.
“We need to tell you something, something important.” Dad told me, looking cautious on how he was going to say it. My breathing quickened.
“Your sister-” Mom began to say.
“They found her? She is coming back, right?” I couldn’t help but lie. The salty tears dripped down my cheek. She is coming home? I looked around the table, hopefully finding a sign that my lies are the truths. Nothing.
“Kayden, listen to me. My Mom said through clenched teeth, and I could see tears forming in her eyes as well. She was at the lake house. Officials have confirmed it as an accidental death. ” Mom explained, voice cracking here and there.
“Liar. She isn't dead ” I screamed.
“Kayden, please stop. It's hard for all of us.” Dad tried to comfort, it didn't help.
“You don’t care about Kali. You don’t care about me.” I said boldly.
“Yes we do, honey, it is a great loss that I wish we don't have to experience.” Mom tried to calm me down while her eyes were draining tears as well.
“No you don’t. We heard you two talking about how you wished you had three sons so you could be proud of all three of them.” Then was quiet, and I continued, What do you want from me? What can I do to make you proud that I am your daughter? I'm sorry, but I can't do backflips. Sorry to dissapoint you.
"How could you be so selfish?" Kam looked disgusted. I could tell by the look of his face that he was greatly angered to a point.
Mom and Dad didn’t say anything. Mom was wailing, while Dad looked cold. They both didn't give Kam eye contact.
“Kayden, go get some of your stuff, you are coming with me for now.” Kam ordered me.
“You can’t take her away ” Mom cried. I felt regret in her tone.
“Yes I can.” Kam nearly yelled at them.
The rest of the talk was muffled, but still somewhat audible, upstairs in my room. I somewhat regretted what I said, not meaning to cause a fight. The yelling made it worse. Ignoring my emotions, I went to my closet and grabbed out a big suitcase and stuffed everything in it. Shirts, pants, shoes, make-up, underwear, everything. I zipped it up and grabbed my Ipod, cell phone, and my book bag. My black purse was taken with me too. I dragged my bag down the stairs and on each stair, it made a plunk sound. Kam was waiting for me, and Mom was crying on the couch while Dad was trying to comfort her.
“Come on,” Kam took my suitcase and helped me out the door.
