Shattered and Bruised

Chapter 1

        Kaitlyn sat there staring at her e-mail, her mind going back to fifteen years ago when Brad left her.  They had met while she was a senior in high school at a party thrown by her best friend Heather. She was seventeen, Brad was twenty-three. It was love at first sight and from that night on they were inseparable. After she graduated high school, they moved into a small one bedroom apartment. And after a year of saving, Brad surprised Kaitlyn with a trip to Puerto Rico, where he proposed to her. Without hesitation, she said yes. When they returned home, they sat down and designed their ‘perfect’ dream home, one in which they would one day start a family together.

                Brad had a dream of starting an advertising business in New York, working to make it successful and being able to take care of Kaitlyn for the rest of her life, giving her whatever she had wanted. Six months later, she decided to take out her inheritance money that her grandfather had left her, giving it to Brad to start the business. There had been plenty of arguments about it, but in the end Kaitlyn won.

                After months of planning and researching, Brad found a property to lease, one day owning the entire building. Kaitlyn helped him pack and sent him off. In the beginning, Brad called her every night, but soon the calls would come in once a week, then just a text, then just an e-mail, to nothing at all. She cried every night that she didn’t hear from him and after a year, decided it was time to try to move on.

                Now, she sat staring at an e-mail from him saying that he would be in town again and would like to have dinner with her. This wasn’t the first time they had dinner together. She met him for dinner six months ago and that didn’t go so well. Most of that night was spent with her being angry with him, lots of arguing, and Kaitlyn finally returning home, heartbroken again. She asked herself, “Do I really want to go through that again?” But she wasn’t going to sit there and fool herself into thinking that she hated him, it simply wasn’t true. Truth was, she thought of him every day since he left and it made it very hard for her to move on. She responded to his e-mail with “Fine. I have to work tonight, but I am available tomorrow.”  She got up and got ready for work.

                Kaitlyn pulled into the parking lot of Grandpa’s Music Hall. It was not what one would think it was from the name. Gramps, as everyone called him, took in local bands and gave them a place to play, no matter what type of music they played.  It was mostly the same bands every night with the occasional new bands. Kaitlyn had been managing Death Blades, one of the most popular local bands, for the last five years and this had become their ‘home’. Walking in the back door, she was met by the guys, Ty and Jasper.

“Hey, thought you weren’t going to make it in time. You had us worried.” Ty said.

“Seriously, guys.” Kaitlyn started, “You have been playing here for almost five years. I don’t think you would be lost without me for one night,”

Jasper piped in, “We’re always lost without you, Babe.”

“Babe? Really? Jasper, you know how much I hate that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jasper stuck his tongue out at her.

“The doors open in fifteen minutes, you guys better get ready. I’m going to talk to Gramps.”

                She headed down the hall to Gramps’ office. As usual, he was sitting at his desk, nose buried deep in paperwork. He looked a little different tonight, like something was off.

“You okay, Gramps?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Huh? Oh, hey Kaitlyn, yeah I’m fine. Just a bit tired I guess.”