Not Important

Meeting Kate and Running Late

After James and I are told that his sister's back, Mark see's me and his face turns cold. An expression I haven't seen before. I can't tell what he's feeling.
"James, what's she doing here?", Mark asks him.
"She's just hel-", James starts.
"Get her out. Get her out!", Mark says.

James turns to me and I nod, feeling rocks drop in my stomach.
I walk out, shutting the door after me. I go back downstairs and into the kitchen. I didn't expect to see him like that. Yes, James told me how he was with the incident involving his sister before. But, I had thought that Mark couldn't be that bad. Not as bad as he is right now. And to think that this has happened before.

I sit around for hours, waiting for James to tell me what's going on or for Mark to want to see me. What is wrong with me? I left him. He gave me a choice to either leave or stay and get help. And I chose to leave. I left him. And then, the worst happened. And he's like that.

But I'm failing to see what's so bad about his sister being back. Yes, she isn't exactly allowed to be anywhere near the Adam's', but it isn't so bad. She'll be given a fine for not keeping to the contract, or maybe we can sneak her back out of town before anyone notices.

There's something about her arrival that has put Mark in the state that he is in. He's probably telling James right now. What could be so horrible with her appearance again. From what James told me, Mark loved his sister, and I doubt he hates her for leaving him as it wasn't her fault. She had a restraining order. You can't argue with that.

Well, you can when you're my dad.

The front door opens and I start to panic, not knowing what to say to Mark's parents. They hate me: what is there to say? They shut the front door and I can hear them walking through the living room. I'm hoping they stop in there and don't bother to come to the kitchen. No such luck.

The footsteps start to get louder, clacking on the floorboards as they enter the kitchen. Then, I see who it is. And it's not Mark's parents. It's a woman. Young, brown-haired, and resembling Mark so much you would have to be blind not to know instantly that she and Mark are related.

She stops when she see's me, obviously not even having thought that someone would be here at this time.
"Who are you?", she asks me, getting into a stance, ready to attack me if she has to.
"I'm Devon. A....friend..of Mark's. You're his sister, aren't you?", I ask her.

"No. No, I'm not", she argues.
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone", I tell her.
"Good. Well, obviously Mark trusts you, so I do as well. Im Kate", she says, holding out her right arm for me to shake. I shake it and then she retrieves her arm and looks around the kitchen.

"Ah. I see they're still changing the kitchen every month", she observes.
"So...where's Mark?", she asks me.
"He's..um..upstairs. But I wouldn't go up there. He's not doing too well", I say, not knowing how to tell her exactly what I saw up there.

"Yeah. I doubt he'd want to see me again, after our little run-in last night", she says.
"Wait. Last night? What happened?", I ask her.
"He was angry with me about coming back. Because he knew I didn't have enough money to pay the fine for disobeying the contract and all", she starts to explain.

"It's about your arm, isn't it?", I ask her.
"How do you know about my arm? Did Mark tell you? What did he say?", she asks me.
"Mark didn't tell me. I can tell it's fairly new. Your arm movements aren't as natural or as controlled as they would be after a few years of dealing with the new arm, and I'm very observant. When you put your arm on the counter, your sleeve moved up and I could see it", I explain.

"Wow. Great talent", she says.
"I didn't mean offence", I say, just thinking that she may have taken it the wrong way.
"No, I'm not offended. Just shocked you could get all of that", she says.
"I'm kind of observant. Not as good as you, but I'm alright. So I can sense there's something going on here between you and my little brother", she tells me.