Someone's Daughter

21. for the hope of it all

Hey guys! It's been a while, this Chapter didn't want to find its end! Thank you to Estesmybestie, cascadeoceanwave, and kaylurking, you three are basically my Wattpad family. Thank you to everyone who votes and comments! Happy reading!

April 18th, 2020.

Meredith woke her up an hour later than she had planned, scratching at her door like she were being chased by a cave demon. Kennedy quickly realized that for once that might be the case. Blindly in between asleep and awake she crept across the carpet floor and cracked the door open just until the cat slipped through.

Once the door was closed and she was cloaked in darkness again, apathy lured her down to the floor, laying next to her closet.

Meredith chirped, but Kennedy just sniffled. She didn't feel like responding.

Her dream hadn't charted out like a string of dominoes falling recklessly into each other. It was just a moment, a room with chairs shaped like giant round wicker baskets and glass doors and an open floor plan and carpet with fibers that curled like the fur of a poodle, and people all around, talking to each other and to her.

In the dream she had known it was the Hendersonville house, but awake she wasn't so sure. She didn't remember that house ever being so full of life.

The only house that had ever magnified the energy within it was Holiday House. That was by design. It's purpose was to host a crowd. But the dream had been unreal in a way that made her nauseous on first recall: too busy, too vibrant, too lachrymose. Such a good moment it left her weepy.

She remembered hiding behind Scott's legs.  She was sure this was imagined, but she felt the way he'd swing her by the arms up to his shoulders and let her hide above the crowd. She wondered why every vivid dream kept her frozen in childhood.

Meredith chirped again, curling up on the carpet next to her head.

"Is it going to rain today, Mere?"

Paws outstretched and kneaded lightly against her hair, claws hidden behind soft pads. It was nice of her, and quite unusual.

"I'll take it, you went to med school? Not very familiar with meteorology?" It felt bare before she'd said it.

Andrea was always missing from dreams like that, where there were a sea of faces to search through. She was sure that Andrea loved her, approved of her, but her eyes always cast themselves anywhere else.

She knew why. She'd learned a long time ago not to dwell on it.

Piano melody snuck through the crack under her door, reminding her of her responsibilities. She wished she could just sleep through this day, but she'd promised Taylor she would help Joe with the cameras. It was because of her that they couldn't bring people in to film it. She didn't want to be there for the song, but at this point she didn't have a choice.

She hadn't had a day like this since Andrea ruined her sweater. She didn't even want to get off the floor.

She sat up just enough to open the door and listen to the sounds in the house. Taylor was still practicing the song. It was no use trying to evade it today.

"Tay?" She said, but Taylor didn't answer.

Her brain was useless trying to piece together some form of sentiment to get what she needed, and filter lost to sluggishness she found herself calling out again.

"Mom?"

It was reckless and she was embarrassed but the bench of the piano squeaked as someone pushed it back, and Taylor rounded up the spiral staircase and down the hall towards her room until she was two feet away from her kid, crouching down in front of her with a hand pressed against her forehead like skin were a reliable thermometer rather than a mother's best attempt at self soothing.