Locked Away

Chapter 3

Kara

Sitting in the car, I rolled the gem stone necklace between my fingers feeling every curve before finally tapping the bottom point of the heart. I had always seen my mother wearing it, and how her eyes would shine just like the glass gemstone that was housed in the necklace. Lost in thought I turned to look at my brother who was just calmly looking out the window. How is he not more affected by this? I thought he would've been taking this a lot harder then he was but his calmness was almost...almost a breath of fresh air.

There was nothing like a child's curiosity for the world, but I could only assume that his senses were completely overloaded. He was probably numb from the emotions but yet now he seemed calmer then I did. I was jealous. Why can't that be me? The words echoed in my head, as I almost felt selfish for thinking it. However before I knew it we were back at our Aunt and Uncles house.

Our family and our relatives weren't rich by any means. A lot of the family resorting back to employment insurance just so they could have some sort of money coming in.It didn't help that our family were alcoholics, to the highest degree of the word. It was toxic but yet we still looked out for one another like right now. The house we pulled up to was nothing special, a simple two story building in the suburb of a less then friendly neighbourhood. This was home now though as I pulled on the door handle, and beside me I could hear Ryan do the same. Throwing my backpack over my shoulder and keeping the duffel bag in my balled up fist I followed Uncle Greg to the front door of the house.

He fumbled around for a key on his key ring before finally putting one in the door. Turning it right away he swung it open and my nose was barraged by the smell of booze. I could get drunk just standing on the porch. The smell of alcohol hadn't had an affect on me for a while now though, since it had become a usual scent.

However as I entered I felt a little wave of anxiety pass over me. I didn't know were to go as I stood in the living space of the house. Other then the smell, it was actually a beautiful home that Ginnie had put together meticulously, nothing out of place but her OCD didn't help as she was constantly fidgeting with little trinkets. An I knew as long as we were under this roof, it would become a blessing and a curse for us to live here.

"You have a very nice house, Aunt Ginnie." I said bringing a smile to my face as it fought against my sadness.

"Oh dear, thank you. It's not perfect but we try. Also it's your house now to so I'm glad you like it." Ginnie's words were still a little shaken up but she seemed happy to have the distraction of her decorating.

"Wait a minute? Why couldn't it have been me that decorated." Uncle Greg chimed in, with almost a legitimate face of confusion.

I went to answer but Aunt Ginnie cut me off as she laughed and walked over to her husband and put a hand on his shoulder before looking back at us.

"Greg, let's be honest you still don't know if grapes are purple or red, there's no way you could decorate this room." She retorted with a wise smirk.

The big man broke into a laugh as he knew that she was right. The truth about Aunt Ginnie, was that she saved Greg's life. Originally she, had a small drinking problem and went to AA meetings constantly and when she finally got clean she went back to sponsor an individual. That individual being Greg. At first it seemed pretty casual, as dates at the bar had turned into picnics at the pond in the park. She had rehabilitated him yet they both enjoyed the occasional drink, maybe more then they would've liked to admit though.

Beside me Ryan walked up, and I looked over at him. He had his back pack on and another bag, when I happened to notice his teddy bear that our mom had got him as a baby was poking out of the zipper. It was one of his biggest secrets, he never told anyone about the bear I was the only one that knew about it. It made the smile on my face almost feel real as I looked back at Uncle Greg who smiled at me.