Waiting For Superman

Promises To Keep

“You’re sure you’ll be fine?” Glenn asked anxiously as he climbed into the car. “Relax Glenn, I’m just staying home alone with Alice. It’s not like I’m going to war,” Kara said cheerfully, waving goodbye to him as he started the engine.

The moment Glenn’s car disappeared from her sight, Kara dropped her smile and slowly made her way back into the house. She didn’t hate Alice, but instead, was trying her best to like the spiteful old lady. Alice didn’t bother hiding her dislike for Kara, and she would constantly criticize Kara. Too skinny ate too little, a haircut too boyish. At times it felt like the old lady picked on her for no reason at all.

“Kara, could you come help me?” Alice yelled from the kitchen. “Coming Alice,” Kara shouted back, getting up from the sofa. As she walked into the kitchen, she could hear Alice mumbling under her breath. “Always lazing around doing nothing and expecting to be served,” Alice murmured, chopping up some carrots.

“What can I do?” Kara asked, her heart sinking. Some small part of her had been hoping that with Glenn gone for the weekend, she could somehow get Alice to like her. “I need you to help me trim the fat off this beef and then cut the meat into cubes,” Alice said, dumping a plastic bag in Kara’s hands.

Kara walked over to the counter, staring down at the bag. Alice threw her a chopping board and pointed to a knife on the counter saying, “That knife’s for raw meat.” Kara nodded and picked up the knife hesitantly, taking the meat out of the plastic bag.

She stood there for a long while, staring down at the meat blankly. “Well, are you done yet Kara?” Alice said, looking up from her work. She saw Kara standing there and said, “What’s wrong?”

“Umm… Alice? I don’t know how to prepare meat,” Kara said quietly, fumbling with the knife. She could feel Alice’s stare piercing her and saw the disbelief on Alice’s face. “You don’t know how?” Alice asked incredulously. Kara nodded, keeping her eyes on the ground.

“You don’t know how, or just plain lazy?” Alice asked, her voice full of contempt. Kara looked up, speechless. “My mum never taught me how,” she answered, taking a deep breath. “Your mother seems to have failed at her job,” Alice said with a snort as she walked over to take the meat from Kara.

“You can accuse me of many things Alice, but my mother did her job well,” Kara said quietly, the anger bubbling up inside of her. “She’s certainly nicer than you.”

Alice dropped the knife she was holding in shock and it clattered to the ground. “What did you just say?” Alice asked maliciously. “Don’t be rude to me Kara. If your mother can’t raise you to be polite the least she could have done was make sure you were normal.”

“Normal?” Kara asked indignantly. You heard me right,” Alice said. “She brought up a spoiled and depressed child who is of absolutely no use at all.” Kara stared at Alice, her hands shaking in anger. “I’ve tried tolerating all you and your mood swings Kara, but this is too much,” Alice continued.

Kara walked out of the room silently before turning back and saying to Alice, “I’ve tried tolerating all your snide remarks and criticism, but you’ve crossed the line Alice.” She slammed the house door shut behind her and climbed into her car, feeling the tears well up in her eyes.

“Keep calm Kara, keep calm,” she murmured to herself. She could feel the itch in her hands and started digging around in the car till she found what she was looking for. She held the cool blade to her left arm, her heart pounding away in her chest.

Just then, her phone started ringing and she dug it out of her pocket. Glancing at the caller ID, she threw it aside and let it fall silent once again. Looking back down at her arm, she pressed on the blade, watching the beads of blood appear.

The moment all the blood was cleaned up, she could feel the guilt starting to creep up on her, like a ghost. She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand as she started the engine and drove off. Her phone started to ring again and this time she reached over to pick it up.

“Kara, are you okay? Alice called me and told me what happened. Where are you?” Glenn’s worried voice asked, and Kara couldn’t help but feel slightly better. “I’m fine,” Kara said softly. “I’m on the way to the park, meet you there?” “See you soon,” Glenn said before hanging up.

Kara continued the drive silence, her mind a complete blank. As she pulled up to the park, she saw Glenn was already by her favourite spot under the huge willow tree. He saw her get out of the car, and waved her over.

“Hey you,” he murmured into her hair as she sat down next to him. She gave him a small smile and placed her head on his shoulder, looking out at the water. “I’m really sorry about what happened with Alice,” Glenn said softly, putting his arm round her.

Kara shrugged her shoulders and said, “It’s fine. I actually thought I could finally get her to like me and then this happened.” Glenn sighed and said, “I just wish she would listen to me and take her medicine. Her Alzheimer’s is getting serious but she just won’t listen to me.”

He hand searched for Kara’s and he couldn’t help but notice her flinch when he touched her left arm. “What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting up. Shaking down the sleeve of her shirt over her arm, Kara shrugged. “I’m fine,” she said with a forced smile.

Glenn lifted her arm up gently and slowly pushed the sleeve up, gasping when he saw her arm. “Kara,” he said sadly, looking her in the eye. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. “I couldn’t help it.”

“I’m supposed to be able to help you, to protect you,” Glenn said dejectedly, gently caressing the thin red lines. “I’m supposed to help make the pain go away.” Kara gave him a sad smile and leaned forward to kiss him. “I know you’re trying. I’m trying to stop and change too,” Kara whispered.

“I know it’s gonna take a while, but still, slow progress is better than no progress,” Glenn said as he leaned back, ruffling her hair. “I love how you’re such ab optimist,” Kara said with a small laugh, lying down on the grass.

“Well, one of us has to be. You see the half empty glass, I see the half full glass,” Glenn said with a chuckle as they both looked up at the sky together. “I’m sorry you had to cancel your trip with James,” Kara said after a while.

“It’s fine. You know I only did it as a favour for Calvin anyway,” Glenn replied. Kara turned to him and smiled saying, “One day, you will see the good in both Calvin and James.” “Maybe,” Glenn murmured as pushed Kara’s hair out of her eyes.

The sun above them was slowly starting to set, and the sky turned a beautiful shade of orange. “Sunset orange is Peeta’s favourite colour,” Kara whispered with a devilish smile, knowing her random facts about fictional characters annoyed Glenn.

Glenn sighed dramatically and said, “Should I be worried that my girlfriend can remember the favourite colour of a fictional character but can’t remember mine?” Kara punched him playfully, taking a picture of the sky then the two of them.

“I love you too Glenn,” she said as she fumbled on her phone. Glenn looked over at her and said, “Hey Kara, promise me one thing.” She nodded eyes still on her phone, tapping away at the screen.

“Look at me Kara,” Glenn said softly, pushing her phone away. She looked at him expectantly and he tried not to smile. “Promise me you’ll never hurt yourself again,” he said. She looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes as she whispered back, “Okay, I promise.”