Chapter 1

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Kate has done everything right! The thing was the old hunk of bolts her mother called a car still wouldn't spark to life. It was time the two of them broke down and bought a new one, they just couldn't afford one.

Wiping her greasy hands on her blue jean shorts Kate sighed. It was hot. Nearly a hundred out today but her mom desperately needed the car tomorrow to head to a job interview at the hotel in town.

Sliding into the driver's seat of the car Kate tried one last thing, but the engine still wouldn't crank. Pushing her self out she let out the most irritated and disgruntled growl she could muster before giving the car a swift kick with her boot and then punching it straight in the fender as hard as she could. "Motherfucker!" She screamed as she yanked her hand back and glared at it, a bruise already forming on her red angry looking knuckles.

She slammed the door to the car with her not hurt hand and stumbled her way inside to get an ice pack. She pulled open the fridge just as her mom turned around. "Sorry mom," she shook her head, her natural brunette curly waves bouncing against her shoulders.

As she grabbed an ice pack her mother's eyes widened. "What did you do?" Felicity hissed as she raced toward her daughter and grabbed her hand. "What happened?"

"I can't fix the car. I think it's done for. The engine had blow-bye some thing fierce and the alternator is shot. The heads are leaking like a sive. I'm sorry. It's a goner."

"So what does that have to do with your hand?" Her mother surveyed the damage. I think you broke your knuckles. Damn it Kate we cant afford a hospital bill to!"
Felicity picked up her phone and called Jason, a guy she had been friends with for years and asked him if he could come by. "Thanks Jason. We'll be ready." She let Kate take her hand back and scoffed. "Jason will be here in a half hour. Let's wrap that in ice for now."

"Are you mad about the car?" Kate asked curiously. She promised her mom if it could be fixed she could fix it but the car had no chance. It was old and on its last leg for years.

Felicity rolled her eyes. "I'm more mad about your hand. The car was a piece of shit to begin with. It had like two hundred and fifty thousand miles on it..."

"Uh, three forty..." Kate muttered through tightly clenched teeth as her mom tied her hand with the ice pack.

"Whatever. It was dying anyway," Felicity shrugged. She could never believe how her daughter had gotten the car gene from her father's side of the family. She hadn't even met them.

"But we don't have the money..."
Felicity nodded and ran a hand through her daughter's hair tying it back into a pony tail after she shook the dirt and debree out if it. "I'll take the bus and we'll figure something out, we always do."
Once Jason arrived the three piled into Jason's car and headed to the hospital. Jason patiently and quietly sat beside Felicity the entire time. He is always been good to them. He didn't judge and didn't let them see his boredom. It was clear to Kate that Jason had been head over heels for her mother but the two never seemed to go further than a quick hug.
"Okay Miss Holbrook," the doctor's rattly voice rang through the room as he stepped inside. Looks like you broke three digits, the knuckles are fractured in multiple different areas. What did you say happened again?" He eyes fell on Felicity and Jason before returning his gaze to Kate.

Kate rolled her eyes. Her mother had never hit her... well she had given her more than her share of spankings when she was younger but now at twenty-two, she was so much stronger than her small framed mother. Hell, when she had first enrolled in the community karate class at the young age of ten, that had been Felicity's last chance at calming her rowdy daughter. By the age of twelve, Kate had been half way to a black belt and by her now age of twenty-two, she had a black belt and taught at the community center that had helped her so much. And then Jason... he was just a family friend and barely had the balls to touch her mother in more than a hug... or at least that's how she understood their relationship. "I punched the car I was working on because the piece of shit kicked the bucket and it made me mad I couldn't fix it. I shoulda took a fucking hammer to it."

The nurse beside the doctor blurted it a laugh while the doctor just blinked. "Katelyn!" Her mother snapped and Jason grunted his own thoughts.
Kate shrugged. "Old enough to drink old enough to swear."
Even through her mother's outraged look, Kate could see a nervousness in her mother's eyes. It was the same jitteriness that her mother had gotten when they went to doctors offices, the dmv for their license renewals or even registering for school. It is the same reason Kate had decided to stick around instead of heading off to college in some far away town, yet it's not like they had the money or she could get a scholarship anyway. Her mother had always told her the school's would be more expensive than their worth anyway...

Finally, the doctor got his words straight again and blinked again before he began to pull up her chart. "So here is the bones that are fractured." The doctor pointed along the severed bone areas on an X-ray as it lit up on his screen. "They are not to badly damaged and have pretty clean breaks. I will have Nurse Jenkins patch everything up and get you prepped. We will cast your hand and in a few weeks you should be as good as new." He stood and Kate glared. Weeks! "I'll be back shortly."

"See Kate, I told you to get a handle on that anger. Didn't karate teach you..." her mother began in on her but stopped as soon as Kate glared her way.
"It's not my anger. It's annoyance that I couldn't fix the piece of shit. I'm trying mom. I tried really hard to get it fixed up for you. Maybe I should go back to..."

"No!" Her mother snarled fiercely and Jason jumped in surprise completely caught off guard. "Besides what good would that do with a broken hand anyway."
"But I can make enough to buy..."
"No. We will talk about this at home!" Felicity had never liked her daughter's choices of night activities and had been more than grateful and yet never more scared in her life when her daughter had been in an accident nearly two years ago that had kept her out of the life ever since.
Kate rolled her eyes and reached to push back a bang but hissed when she used the wrong hand absentmindedly.

This going to be a rough couple of weeks.

The nurse had arrived back not long after the doctor had left and prepped Kate's hand for the cast and the doctor soon came to set the cast. They had to wait for a little while for the cast to set and then they could head back home.

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⏰ Last updated: Jan 16, 2022 ⏰

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