Right in Front of You

16. Consequences

Kathy awoke from a heavy, dreamless sleep to screaming coming from downstairs. She rubbed the sand out of her itching eyes and tried to get a proper grip on reality. She'd come up to her room and cried herself to sleep and that had been the rest of her fabulous day.

Moonlight shone on the carpet from outside her window, and judging by how high it was, it was pretty late at night. Her face felt tender and swollen. She focused on the yells coming through her door. It sounded like her mom. And Donnie's mom.

Kathy cringed. Shit. She should've expected this, but she'd been so focused on what she had to do that she'd overlooked the obvious consequences. Family friends were fighting. Part of her wanted to pull the covers back over her head and go back to sleep, but she knew she couldn't. She had to face the music.

Sighing heavily, she sat up. The pain shooting to her head almost floored her, but she managed to get out of bed, and with small, even steps, she made her way to the landing and down the stairs, one step at a time.

"I don't care right now, Jean," Cassandra was saying, sounding on the verge of tears. "My baby is missing."

"What about my baby, Cassandra?" Jean asked. "What about Donnie?"

"At least you know where Donnie is!"

Kathy stopped in the entrance to the kitchen. The two women faced each other across the table, tears on both their faces. Her mom looked up and her eyes widened as they fell on her.

"Kathy, honey!" She charged around the table and caught her in a bone crushing hug that made her head pound even worse. "Where have you been?"

"Upstairs, sleeping." What the hell was going on? Why did her mom suddenly look so relieved as if she'd expected to... William. Her mom had freaked out because she'd thought Kathy had disappeared too. "Really, Mom? You didn't bother to check the house?"

"What happened to your face?" her mom asked instead.

Kathy's eyes darted involuntarily to Jean, and she wondered how much she knew, what Donnie had told them. Where Donnie was for that matter.

"See?" Jean screeched. "See what he's done?"

So she apparently knew. It made Kathy's eyes fill with tears again and she lowered her gaze. The kitchen tiles looked blurred.

"Did he do it?" Cassandra whispered.

"Where's Donnie?" she asked instead. His voice was shaky.

"In the hospital," her mom said impatiently. "You didn't answer my question."

"Is he getting treatment?"

"Yes," Jean said warmly. "He's a strong boy. He'll be back on his feet in no time."

Her words sent a shiver down Kathy's spine. Something was wrong, didn't add up, and it gave her a feeling of foreboding.

"I'm pretty sure rehab takes a long time."

"Rehab?" Jean asked, shocked. "He's in the hospital for his injury."

It was Kathy's turn to stare in shock. She hadn't expected them to know all the details, but they apparently were more clueless than Jon Snow, and he knew nothing.

"Kathy, look at me." Her mom took her face into her hands. Kathy winced at the contact, but she pressed on. "How did you get those ugly bruises? Did he do it?" 

Or maybe they weren't so cluless. Kathy's old impulse to cover for Donnie bubbled to the surface, but she pushed it down. The constant cutting pain helped a lot. But as she nodded, she felt on the verge of tears.