BANG!! His head split the banister as he fell backwards… And the blood smear… And… How did I end up there?… And really, more importantly, how did I end up here? Some sleepy suburban campus on the outskirts of Boston… This foliage-laced dormitory known primarily for its rousing pre-basketball rallies and it’s field hockey victory parties in the quad. I’m not exactly a “jersey” type of girl… Well, after last fall… I’m not exactly sure how I got here.
After that night, I wasn’t going to graduate. I wasn’t going to do anything. The unfortunate benefit of being from a semi-wealthy family is having the school agree that I could finish up the year from home and graduate with my class. “We wouldn’t want such a smart and talented girl to be punished for circumstances beyond her control.”
That was bullshit. I rarely was a blip on anyone’s radar–above b average in a public school. No one ever questioned how I never turned in homework and still ended up on top, or for that matter, how I ended up at this tiny, yet prestigious university that, to my knowledge, I never applied to. But I was in no position to question–anything, not that I really ever had been.
So I sit, in the corner of my single, listening to the leaves rustling in the ground of the now vacant campus as I wait to be picked up for the holiday.
Oh, yeah. I don’t drive. But really, would you want me to? If they let me, then they’d have to let me and then…
tap. Tap. A knock at the door. David enters. I had not bothered to close the door completely after the last of my “friends”‘ goodbyes.
“Kat? Ya ready?”. I grab my suitcase with one hand and the mattress with the other and push myself up. Wobbling forward he takes the suitcase and locks the door behind me. I want to give him a hug. But, we’re not a family that gives hugs–not in private anyway.
And we go home. Two acres in a hill overlooking the town of New Hope, PA. Leaves still grasping to limbs, like in Boston, but the air seems crisper, less dense than Boston. Why would I have ever…? Smiles. And hugs. And kisses. And “welcome homes” to another lovely Thanksgiving week, another lovely…
BANG!! My mother notices me jump and gives me a small glass of orange juice. The change in atmosphere and my lack of eating have made me weak. She suggests that I should go rest in my room. It’s been a long day. David’s girlfriend Ellen goes with me upstairs while David heads off to help our dad worth some plumbing problem in the guest bath.
I muse a little as I think about how my dad is fixing some problem that he could easily hire a plumber for while Ellen says something as we go up the stairs. And I’m asleep. Until the smell of broth and cinnamon resonate in the air.
I get up slowly.
TO BE CONTINUED?
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