Meet Me

Chapter 10 - Kates promise

"Every day is a new beginning. Take a deep breath and start again - Unknown

There is no way Luisa is dead. She couldn’t be. I was supposed to die for her. That was a promise. People die, and we move on. That was the circle that had been created. Some just didn’t die of natural causes and Luisa had been one of the unlucky ones.

In the beginning – 2006 aged 9

I was new to this care home and it was immense and petrifying for me. I had never been somewhere like this before. In Italy, I had been in a home. Well, that’s what I thought it was.  I had a drunken mother and a father who slept with multiple women in front of us. I wasn’t raised right. I had been called into the office at school many times, in primary school, because I had gotten into so many fights. Not what a five year old is supposed to do, I am very aware. I regretted getting into the fights the minute I got home. I was slapped and thrown about like a ragdoll.

I cried a lot and Owen watched my father and mother abuse me and me crying, screaming, for help. He always tried to help me, but would end up with a few bruises. I do remember some nights, when our parents argued, Owen and I would snuggle up under the covers and hold each other till it was all over. It was all over for good now.

We would never hear or see our parents again. A woman, dressed in a summer dress patterned with snow white lilies and wooden sandals on her feet, guided Owen and I upstairs to our rooms. We fought her, afraid she would hurt us. Of course, she didn’t.

“Can’t we have a room together?” I pleaded. I had especially learnt that phrase just in case I needed to use it. I couldn’t speak much English at the time, so I didn’t understand a lot of what anybody said. I had had a few English lessons in my Italian school, but they only taught us the basics. The woman’s face softened and I thought she was going to agree, but she shook her head. I knew that meant no. I didn’t understand anything of what she said next, but she kept rambling on about nothing I understood.  Owen and I looked as if we were listening and understood her every word.     

“Aren’t you the sweetest? No, I am sorry hun, boys and girls are supposed to be kept apart. For rooms anyway. But, you’re allowed to see your brother at any other time of the day. You can play together in the garden in the sandpit or something. You can play games in the TV room, watch TV. You can eat together and walk to school together. That reminds me, I must call the school and tell them about their new students.” I knew the last word, and I knew school. School wasn’t particularly easy for me, either.

From a room next to mine, a girls head popped out of her room. “Luisa, stop being so nosy and introduce yourself properly. I thought we had taught you manners?” Luisa grinned from ear to ear, then skipped over to my brother and I. “Luisa, this is Owen and Katelyn. Owen and Katelyn, this is Luisa.” She held our shoulders and I tried to struggle my way out of her hold. I hated people touching me. Especially where I had bruises. The woman noticed and laid her hands off both our shoulders.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to get settled. Come with me Owen, I will show you your room. Your bags are in there, Katelyn.  Luisa, why don’t you help her unpack?” Luisa nodded, like a good little girl, then followed me into my unwanted room. I didn’t really want her to help me unpack my things, because they were my things. I saw that the room was bare and had nothing but a flowery duvet and pillows on a wooden bed that creaked as I sat on it. The walls had been painted lilac and the floor was carpeted with a brown carpet that looked like mud. It wasn’t particularly clean either. I was used to things not being clean, so I didn’t mind. I unzipped my suitcase, and Luisa watched me do it.