Lost

Chapter 3 - Will They Hate Me?

After two hours I pulled up to a small two story brick house with an old broken white picket fence bordering the front lawn. I promised myself I would never forget the address of my favorite remember the white fence, the brick exterior, the guest room that my parents and I stayed in every time we visited, but mostly I remember all of the memories with my cousin Keith who gave me my nickname.

When I finally built up my courage, I got out of my car, grabbed my duffel bag and walked up to the front door. I knocked on the front door and a girl who looked about ten answered the door. I could only guess this is my little cousin Kelly. The last time my parents and I saw my Aunt Karen and cousin Keith was when my Aunt was within her last couple weeks of pregnancy with Kelly. My parents wanted to help my Aunt since my Uncle Kyle passed away just a moth before Kelly was due and my Aunt is my mom's sister. Kelly looked me up and down then slammed the door. Before I could knock again the door swung open to show my Aunt Karen with Keith and Kelly standing behind her.

"Minnie?" My Aunt asked.

"Hi Aunt Karen" I respond a little scared she changed her mind about letting me stay.

"Oh my god" She said before pulling me into a hug. "You have grown into such a beautiful young lady" she pulled away to look at me again. I took this opportunity to look at her and I noticed that she looks the same as I remember except a little more tired and worn down. "Oh silly me come in, come in" she said "Two go help your cousin with the rest of her stuff". I enter the house and Keith walks up to me with the same goofy smile he always has on his face.

"I will go get the rest of your bags from your car since I am guessing you drove here" he said goofily.

"I did drive here but this is my only bag" I say pointing to my duffel bag on my shoulder.

"Oh well let me introduce you to your roommate for the time being" he said as he walks me over to Kelly. "Kelly this is our cousin Minnie. Remember mom said our cousin will be staying with us for a while and that's why we put a second bed in your room?" talking down to his sister.

"Yes Two I remember" Kelly said rolling her eyes looking annoyed at her older brother with her arms crossed.

"Oh come on Two-Bit don't speak to your sister like she is five. She is probably more mature than you are." I say sticking up for my little cousin with a light laugh trying to act as is ten years have not gone by since the last time I have seen them. I could tell I said the right thing because Kelly's eye brightened her arms uncrossed and she had the goofy Matthews smile that seems to run in their family on her face.

"You are probably right" Keith said with a laugh then he turned to Kelly and said "Why don't you show Minnie where she will be saying". Kelly just nodded and started up the stairs. I took this as I should follow her.

I followed Kelly upstairs and into a small pink room. It had very little furniture just two small beds, a drawer unit, a closet, and on one wall a small window.

"Sorry it's not much" Kelly responded with her head drooping while she sat on what I could guess was her bed. I sat down on the other bed and took another look around, her walls were bare. Suddenly I remembered all of the money I found around my house while I was cleaning it out and how I wanted to give half to my aunt and save the rest. I needed to go talk to Aunt Karen.

"Don't worry Kelly, thank you for sharing your room with me" I said as Kelly's mood instantly brightened "I am going to talk to your mom ok?"She just nodded and pulled out a book from underneath her pillow and started to write in it. I stood up and walked downstairs with the money burning a hole in my pocket. As I was going downstairs I passed Keith, I flashed him a small smile before I go into the kitchen where Aunt Karen was staring at bills.

"Hi Aunt Karen" I said as i stood next to her. She quickly swiped uall of the papers into a pile and flipped them over so I couldn't see them, but I already did and they were struggling to keep their house.

"Hi Minnie, please have a seat" she said as she gestured to the chair nest to her. I sit down as I do some quick calculations about money. I have four hundred dollars I am going to give my aunt three hundred instead of half since they really needed it. I didn't need that much plus I was planning on getting a job.

"Aunt Karen I wanted to give you something" I said while she looked confused. I took the three hundred dollars out of my pocket and passed it to her, just as Keith walked into the room.

"Where did you get this kind of money Minnie?" My aunt asked obviously scared I stole it.

"It's all of my savings" I lied with ease. What? I didn't steal it I just didn't want her to know my parents were nonexistent.

"Minnie I couldn't possibly take this from you"

"Please Aunt Karen. You're taking me in for two months it's the least i could do"

"Minnie this is too much for two months"

"Aunt Karen while my parents were struggling when I was younger you helped let me repay the favor" I tried to reason.

"Fine" she sighed "but you are taking one hundred of this back right now."

I simply just shook my head and said "I already kept some for myself that whole three hundred is yours" with that said I stood up and was about to leave when I remembered Kelly. "Oh one more thing" I said as I turned back around regaining their attention just to see my aunt and cousin already staring at me. "Would you mind if I take Kelly out for a girls day tomorrow?"

"Not at all. Thank you Minnie" My aunt said and I just smiled as I left the kitchen. I was just about to head upstairs when I heard Keith call me.

"Minnie wait up a minute" Keith calls and I turn to look at him. "Thank you."

"For what?" I was unsure of what he knew.

"I know my mom is struggling to pay the bills so thank you for helping and thank you for taking Kelly in she doesn't really have many friends."

"Oh? Well I will try to help her" I said and turn to walk away feeling proud of my cousin for worrying about his kid sister and caring about his family. Ten years ago the Keith i grew up with could never hold a serious conversation, he cared about his family but he would never let it show.

"Oh one more thing" Keith called "tomorrow night my friends are going to be in a car race and I would love if you came out to meet them"

"Sounds like fun" I said.

I went back upstairs to Kelly's room.

"Hey how would you like to have a girls day tomorrow?" I asked as soon as I was in their room.

"I would love it" She squealed and bounced up and down on her bed.

With that decided we both just relaxed for the rest of the day doing our own things. She wrote in her book that I planned to ask her about tomorrow and I unpacked into the drawers she gave me.