Locked Away (Preview)

Chapter 1

The walls were an intoxicating off-shade of white. The room that had been lively only a few hours ago was now hushed with a never-ending sorrow surrounding it. A sickening pain had filled the room while those who remained huddled around the bed. Kara's sopping wet neck didn't bother her in the slightest as she held her crying younger brother in her arms. His body was continuously shaking from what everyone in the room had just witnessed. He couldn't pull his head from the crevice that Kara's chin and chest created. She was his older sister and felt it was her job to protect him. The only thing she could think to do at the moment was to rub her hand up his back. She hoped that it would have the ability to start mending the hole that had just been shot through their hearts.

Kara's heart was still beating aggressively the entire time, and she was sure Ryan could hear it. She hadn't even opened her eyes since the moment had happened. The EKG machine that initially gave off a subtle blip every few seconds had been replaced with a B flat tone that never seemed to end. Inevitably, when Kara finally did open her eyes, in front of her laid her mother's lifeless body. Her soul having recently vacated it. Kara could remember feeling her mother's hand fall out of hers as she took her final breath and left the electronic tone to deafen those who were in the room.

"Goodbye, Mom." Kara's words escaped her like a sorrow-filled plea as if she was the one leaving this realm of existence.

Against her chest, she could feel her brother's crying get worse as she kissed him on the top of his head. He was thirteen, yet death was tough on anyone who witnessed it, and no one in the room was an exception. Their mother was his best friend, and with her gone, Kara had inherited that responsibility. By no means was she the perfect daughter, and she tended to rebel when things didn't go her way, only to now feel an overwhelming amount of regret. If it wasn't for the fact that this was her final year of grade school, she might have been worse off, but Kara already had a plan to be gone soon. At least be on her own in her own place somewhere out there in the world. They'd only ever see the house they grew up in one last time to get their stuff before their aunt would inevitably take them in.

Kara stood up, forcing her little brother to lean away from her while their aunt and uncle held each other closer. In their eyes, Kara could see that this was hurting their Aunt Ginnie significantly, which rivalled the kids' pain. Hell, she might be even more affected by this than us. Kara thought to herself, her reasoning being the fact that the two of them grew up together and were inseparable. Now she had to take care of her sister's kids, who were the living embodiments of what was left of her sister's soul. Kara hoped this would become a blessing rather than a curse since it promised a better life for them than what they currently had.

Standing there in front of them, Kara couldn't take her eyes off her feet. She feared catching another sight of the body and wasn't sure if she was mentally prepared to deal with it. Especially since only minutes ago, that lifeless body uttered the words I love you to Kara, and that's how she wanted to remember her mother. Just the thought of it ripped Kara's soul in half. As much as she tried to remember all the good times, there were only toxic memories in the current moment. Still, with her eyes on her feet, Kara gathered enough energy to cry her words out to the rest of the group. "I'll be in the hallway."

"Okay, Kara, we'll be done here soon." Her Uncle Greg said as he continued to console his wife.

It was the last thing that she wanted to hear; she just didn't want to be left at the hospital if, for some reason, everything went wrong. In this case, they didn't feel it was necessary to follow her. Taking a seat in one of the plastic chairs that were lined up against the hallway wall. All the memories of the previous twenty-four hours echoed in Kara's head. Going through every moment. She walked in the door after a long day at school, only to find Ryan at their mother's side. Who seemed to have just recently collapsed on the ground. Tears were welling up in his eyes, and for Kara, it was the equivalent of witnessing a nightmare.