Katherine made it to her house, where luckily Seth wasn't there yet. Her mom was in the kitchen, though when Katherine entered the house, she shoved something under the sink. Katherine just walked by past to her room but not before finding Seth's secret stash of coke in the hall. She went into the bathroom, ripping the bag open and dumping the contents in the toilet before flushing.
She went into her room and closed the door. She slammed her open window shut and threw herself on her bed, desperate to get a moment of peace during a time of horrifics.
She fell asleep for a good hour before stirring awake as the sky was dark outside.
She could hear the living-room TV from her room which meant Seth was here. She huffed, swinging her legs to the side of her bed to look for her notebook she usually left on the nightstand.
She cursed herself when she remembered she left it in the living-room.
She walked out of her room into the living-room to see Seth sitting on the couch with her mom and his feet up on the table.
She tried to sound less annoyed and say casually, "So, mom, are there any dinner plans happening, or...?"
"Good idea. Get me a beer," Seth told her.
Katherine ignored him. "If you're hungry, babe, I'll give you a twenty, you can go get us a pizza," Katherine's mom, Amy, says in a monotone. She was most likely high again.
"My bikes broken," Katherine replied, her eyes scanning the room for her notebook when she glared at Seth. "The fuck?" Growing up with Richie, you tend to pick up quite the potty mouth at a young age so when she swore, Amy didn't care. "Get your dirty ass feet off my notebook."
Seth looked cluelessly at the notebook under his feet. "What, you mean this notebook?" He began to rub his feet all over the cover of the notebook. Katherine grew pissed and smacked his legs away from the notebook. Seth stood up immediately over Katherine. "Don't you ever fucking touch me."
"Get the fuck out of my house," the blond replied.
"It's not your house," Seth said.
"You think it's yours?" Katherine dryly asked.
"You pay rent?"
"Do you?"
"Jesus, you're like two little kids," Amy remarked.
Katherine was fed up, she stared down Seth and said, "Mom, I want him out." She looks at Amy. "Either he goes or I go."
Amy didn't answer as she looked slowly to Seth. "I'll get you a beer." She stood up, walking to the kitchen.
Seth shoved Katherine, nearly making her fall into the coffee table. "Don't fuck with me, kid," he told her.
Katherine glared at the man with hatred one last time before picking up her notebook, going into the bathroom to grab something and stalking back to her room, slamming the door behind her. Using a semi-wet washcloth from the bathroom, she wiped the cover of her notebook, practically scrubbing at it from what she felt was anything Seth related on it.
She opened the notebook and checked on the first page. Much to her relief, the drawing was okay.
This drawing wasn't just a drawing. It was a sketch of Katherine, eyes focused ahead and her lips were curled into a smile. In the corner of the drawing was Bill's signature. He drew it on Katherine's thirteenth birthday, that was the expression Katherine wore when her friends were singing 'happy birthday' to her and Bill's mother had made a cake for her with Georgie and Bill's help.
Bill gave it to her that day and ever since then, she's held it close to her. It was a constant reminder that made Katherine feel grateful for the friends she has.
She closed the notebook and reached for the phone, dialing Bill's number. It rang six times but she only got the answering machine. So she dialed Stan's number instead and hoped someone would answer, hoping it would be Stan.
"Hello?" A voice questioned.
She sighed in relief that it was Stan. "Hey, Stan the Man. It's Katherine," she spoke, twirling the phone cord in her hand.
"Hey, K," Stan greeted.
"Listen, I hate to bug you right now but..." Katherine sighed. "I just can't stay at my house tonight."
Stan sighed, knowingly. "Seth again?" he asked.
Katherine nodded but remembered he couldn't see her so she responded with, "Yeah, bud. Is it all right if I crash there tonight?"
"Um..." Stan began.
"Look, I can sleep in the garage," Katherine tried to reason but it wasn't her first time sleeping at Stan's.
"No, K, that's weird," Stan responded. "You're not a hobo."
"Who is it?" Stan's father asked from a distance though Katherine could hear him clearly.
She heard Stan move from the phone to say, "It's Katherine, dad. Is it okay if she sleeps here tonight?"
"Stanley, you know how I feel about that girl. You should know my answer by now," he answered.
She heard the phone on the other end move and Stan's tone got lower. "I'll leave the back gate and door open, be sure to leave your bike in the back too. How soon can you get here?"
"It might be a while," Katherine answered honestly. "My bike is..." In the woods with a creepy clown. "Broken."
"Okay," Stan said softly. "I'll be there in about 30 minutes when my dad goes to bed."
"Thanks, Stan," she told him before hanging up.
She grabbed her empty backpack dumping a fresh pair of clothes along with her toothbrush. She slung the backpack on her shoulders, tucked the notebook under her arm before climbing out of her bedroom window. She walked towards the end of the lit-up street when she reached the corner, she plopped down on the sidewalk.
She flipped open to a page where there was a pencil tucked in between the pages and on the page were lyrics to a song she wrote. She finished another line before singing the words softly as if testing the waters to see if the words go well together.
"We’re damaged," Katherine began.
"Really damaged
But that does not make us wise
We’re not special, we’re not different
We don’t choose who lives or dies." Her fingers tapped against her leg as if trying to keep a steady beat in her mind. "Let’s be normal, see bad movies
Sneak a beer and watch TV
We’ll bake brownies or go bowling
Don’t you want a life with me?"
Stan heard the beautiful voice as he pedaled closer to the street. It was refreshing to hear, better than most of the music his dad plays.
He saw the girl on the sidewalk, her face barely illuminated by the street lights as her eyes were focused on the pages in her notebook as she sang without a care in the world.
"...If you could let me in,
I could be good with you."
Stan smiled as his bike braked in front of her. "I would clap," Stan said making Katherine lookup. "But it's kind of dangerous to ride a bike with no hands."
Katherine smiled at him in response, "Wouldn't want anything to happen," she stated, closing the notebook and standing up. "Thanks for showing up, Stan."
"Any time," Stan replied as Katherine climbed on the back of his bike, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle. "I'm always going to show for you, K."
She smiled even bigger at him, resting her head against his back as he began to pedal. "Good to know I have a special place in your heart, buttercup," she stated.
***
Short chapter but it's a small dive into Katherine's home life.
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Demons | Bill Denbrough
Random"I'm bigger than my body I'm colder than this home I'm meaner than my demons I'm bigger than these bones" Katherine Walker was the girl who had a rough home life out of all her friends. They all cared about her but they never knew of her skeletons i...
