Hidden Burdens (working title)

You Are Not Alone

Kimmy lagged behind Kayla as they headed inside the house. Though, Kayla waited to hold both doors open for the kid.

Kayla saying hello to John got Kimmy's attention. The young man was sitting on the bottom steps of the stairs, scrolling through his phone.

Kimmy timidly made her way across the living room. Her feet rooted to the floor a few feet in front of him.

Thinking he was in her way, John scooted over, even though there was plenty of space for Kimmy to walk up the stairs. He asked how Kimmy's visit went when she hadn't moved. She looked away at the floor.

John continued scrolling on his phone.

Kimmy forced her feet to move once more and made her way up the bottom steps, keeping as much distance as she possibly could. So close, she held her whole forearm on the handrail. Kimmy got a couple of steps behind John when she stopped and looked back at him, where Kimmy could see over his shoulder. Not to spy on what he was doing. Kimmy didn't know much about social media other than it was something YouTubers usually plugged at the end of their videos. She overheard John mention he didn't use social media much except for Facebook to keep in touch with his sister, other previous foster siblings, and his friends at school.

John stopped on a photo of his sister, wearing a long, linen dress, with flowers all over, and one of those sun hats girls wore. A proud smile appeared and John held his thumb over the like button to give the photo a heart. He then typed, "Beautiful as always, sis!" into the comment section.

His sister was posed while holding the phone in the air, smiling the prettiest smile that showed off her teeth. Her reddish brown hair flowed past her shoulders in waves. Kimmy had knocked on John's door once while the siblings were video-chatting to show him her latest drawing. When she realized he was in the middle of a call, Kimmy backed away to come back later. John assured she could come in, offering to introduce the two then, but Kimmy hurried away. They were talking and she interrupted. Even though John seemed fine with it, pointing out his sister loved kids even more than he did if that was even possible.

As John scrolled on, it was then he noticed Kimmy still there and looked over his shoulder, up at her. "Need something, Kimster?"

Kimmy slowly started backing up the stairs, stopping on the middle landing. She stared down at the young man, unsure what was wrong with her. Why did it feel like there was some kind of gravitational pull between them all of a sudden?

Eventually, eye contact got too much and she looked away again.

John patted the step above where he was sitting, inviting her to sit and talk.

Every fiber of her being wanted to. But Kimmy just couldn't go back down there. It took all of her strength not to cry instead until it became too much. Kimmy bolted the rest of the way up the stairs to her room. Once inside, she backed up against the door, pressing herself against it.

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard Claudia ask, "What are you doing?" The teen must have gotten off work during Kimmy's visit. Having not talked to her the last couple of weeks, Kimmy could only go off if Claudia was there or not since her work schedule changed on a weekly basis.

Kimmy felt her body freeze as she stared across the room at the older girl.

Claudia gave her a strange, concerned look. "You okay, kid?" When Kimmy didn't answer, she sat up. Before Claudia was on her feet, though, Kimmy bolted from the room, shutting the door behind her once more.

What was wrong with her???

Kimmy breathed like a marathon runner. She wanted to reach out to them. But something kept her stuck. Kimmy thought about going outside to the backyard, wanting some fresh air. She wandered back down the upstairs hall over to the ledge. John was still sitting on the bottom steps, scrolling through his phone. Something he rarely did, and it had to be now? And in that spot?