Her father immediately began to jog towards her as she stood there, holding her stomach. She couldn't help but smile brightly when she noticed his happy look as he saw her standing there. She watched as he ran up to her and lifted her off her feet in excitement. After a quick embrace between father and daughter they separated and stepped back, smiling at each other."How are you feeling?" he asked curiously as he studied his daughter.She shrugged lightly before responding: "A little tired, but otherwise fine.""Have you had any problems? Any pain? Has your stomach been bothering you?" her father inquired."Nothing really, Dad. Everything has been fine. Besides that, I haven't been sick. It's nothing serious, so stop worrying.""Ok, alright. That's all that matters to me.""Yeah, that's definitely all that matters to me too," Catherine replied.Then, without warning, Catherine launched herself towards her father and hugged him tightly. He returned the gesture happily, wrapping his ar
Catherine felt her heart begin to pound furiously in her chest."Do you think I give a damn about that?" she practically screamed, grabbing hold of her mother's arms tightly. "I've already told you that I'm not going to date any boys that aren't my brothers! Especially not some guy that doesn't even know my name! I'd rather die first!"Mrs Ellen glared angrily at Catherine for a moment before letting out a sigh and resting her forehead against hers. She then slowly shook her head as she spoke."If I'd known that this would happen, I'd have never asked you to move here, Catherine," she whispered.Catherine remained silent."And I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess. I just thought it was the only way to keep you safe, Catherine."Catherine opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She just sighed heavily, closing her eyes."I'm sorry," her mother repeated, her voice softer.She slowly moved her face away from Catherine's and gazed back at her husband, who was looking at h
The sounds of her mother humming happily filled the small apartment, making Catherine feel at ease despite the fact that she was still tired and sore. She closed her eyes and focused on the song that her mother was singing softly. The tune sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite pinpoint why it was playing in her head. Suddenly, an image of a very young girl in red riding boots and a matching coat appeared in Catherine's head. She frowned as she tried to remember who the girl was, but her mind refused to provide her with any answers. She frowned lightly and opened her eyes, deciding to focus on the melody instead. A few moments later, Catherine's eyebrows arched in realization.That's right... it's Catherine! Catherine smiled softly as she remembered the day that they met for the first time. She hadn't expected that the child would become such a big part of her life. She had been surprised when the child showed interest in her, but she hadn't minded it in the slightest. She liked
Catherine bit her lip nervously before taking a deep breath and beginning to speak."Yesterday morning I went to the park with Catherine," she began hesitantly.Serena nodded encouragingly, urging her to continue."Well, we were there for about twenty minutes or so, before I started getting bored." She laughed lightly, looking towards the ground. "I mean, we spent practically all day yesterday doing nothing, and I wanted to do something new today.""So I suggested that we go back home to get ready and take a walk in the park before heading to your place to meet everyone. I figured that the sun might help wake us up since we slept so late last night and we didn't have dinner. Then, we were walking back to the road when we started hearing voices…"Serena looked puzzled by Catherine's words."Voices?" she repeated in confusion. "I don't hear anyone."Catherine paused, frowning slightly before answering slowly, "I know...that's why I called you. Because I couldn't make out where they we
Their plan worked perfectly. They all arrived to the party, laughing loudly, joking around, and enjoying themselves. Catherine was happy to be able to spend time with her friends again. When they arrived at their houses, they ran upstairs excitedly and changed their clothes before coming down. Then they headed straight to the party without bothering to change anything else. At first, everyone had tried to convince Catherine to dress differently, but she refused. The girls knew that they wouldn't be able to change Catherine's mind unless they gave her some extra time to try something else. After all, her friends agreed that was she usually very particular about her clothes, so they all thought it best to play along with her wishes.When Catherine arrived at the party, she immediately spotted Serena sitting on one of the couches with Catherine, She smiled happily at the sight of of her Catherine looked extremely happy. She was smiling, blushing, giggling, and waving at her friends as
As Catherine continued to stare off into space, trying to find answers to questions that seemed so obvious at first glance, the boys had finished changing clothes and were now heading toward the door. Everyone stood up and walked toward the door. Before walking out, Serena called out for Catherine to wait for her she slowly turned around and faced her."What is it?" she asked.Serena nodded toward the group standing near the entrance, where the others were waiting. Catherine stared at her friend for a moment before understanding suddenly dawned upon her. She understood why Serena had called her and why she had called her over. She also realized why everyone was staring at her. She glanced at the crowd nervously, her eyes darting back and forth between everyone's faces. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she should do next. She didn't dare move, because she didn't know what they were waiting for her to do. She didn't know if she could do it. What if they expected som
"Are you okay? You don't seem okay," she said.Catherine hesitated. She didn't want to lie to Kate, but she knew that she couldn't tell the truth, either. She didn't want to burden her friend with her problems, since she was clearly busy enough with her own problems. She couldn't burden her with anything. She was supposed to be happy, but somehow she couldn't. She couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened to her tonight. Everything that had happened to the people that she loved. She couldn't stop thinking about her parents or what they would think if they could ever see her now. She couldn't stop thinking about her brother or father. Her brothers wouldn't allow her to continue staying here. Not after tonight. She wouldn't be able to handle it if they decided not to help her. She knew that they had already done enough for her, but she needed them more than anyone else. She needed them more than she needed anything else in the world. And she didn't want them to give u
The boy didn't respond as he simply sat on the ground and held his cheek. The older man sighed heavily."Answer me. Do you belong here?" the older man repeated impatiently.The boy looked up at the man defiantly. "Yes."The older man frowned as his lips curled downward into a frown. "Then why are you here? Why are you hiding in the shadows? Do you expect us to believe that you came here willingly? If this is a trap, then it's a pretty weird one. Now tell me, how did you get in here?"The boy glared at him angrily. "What do you mean 'here'? What are you talking about? This isn't my house! It's my mother's. I came here by invitation," the boy responded angrily as he wiped away the tears from his eyes.The man blinked in surprise. "You're kidding."The boy scowled. "No, I'm not!"Suddenly, the sound of loud voices shouting and footsteps approaching interrupted whatever reply the older man might have given. All eyes fell on the door of the room. A couple of minutes later, three security