gone

12

"mom? dad!" I yelled as I walked into the house, getting no response in return. I walked from the foyer into the dining room, seeing nobody. then the living room, nothing. amd it went on and on like that downstairs. then as I walked up stairs to my parents office, my room, my brothers room, my parents room, the spare room, and the game room, I found the same thing. nothing.

then I remembered there was one more room to check. kara's.

I pushed the door open, expecting to see nothing again, just like all of the others, but I was wrong.

the sight I walked into was not the same as every other room; her desk chair was flipped over, the mattress was flipped off the bed, the curtains were falling down, and her lamp was broken. I walked into her room and looked around again. then, I went to her closet, and was going to go in, when I put my hand on the door handle and realized it was locked.

she's in there.

"kara! open up, it's me! kendall!" I yelled into the door, banging my hand onto the door in the process.

then I paused, waiting to see if there was a response, but hearing nothing.

"no it's not." I heard her voice ring through my ears after what felt like forever. I didn't think I would hear her, or my parents, voices ever again.

"kara, you dumbass. if there was a murderer in the house and they came up to the spot you were hiding in, why would you start talking? they would know you were in there!" I said, through the other side of the door laughing.

I heard the door click, and then it flung out in my direction. then I saw my little sister, who looked to be a mess, run right into me, wrapping me in a deadly embrace.

"kendall- ken I missed you so much." she said, starting to cry into my shoulder. kara had always called me by ken or kendall. ever since lijah, I didn't let anybody else call me that. ever.

"kara, it's okay. I'm here now. shh," I whispered into her ears.

"I'm here, kar. and I'm not leaving." I told her again. but not only was I trying to reassure her, but if felt as if I was also trying to reassure myself too. that has been a reoccurring thought lately; if I came back, would they get me again? how would I move on from this? because it's not going to be as easy as that. I am now considered a victim of sexual assault and abuse- how would that look on a future job reseme? 'oh, she's been assaulted. she's weak, she can't work here. she will have to live in her parents basement for the rest of her life and die alone.'

"ken, are you okay?" kar asked me, looking up at me. it wasn't until then that I had realized I had been crying.

"yeah, uhm- I guess. I'm just thinking. this is really hard for me to take in, I guess." I told her, looking down at her as she pulled away from our hug and sat 'Indian style' (a/n- criss- cross applesauce, whatever you want to call it 😂) facing me.

"what happened to you?" she asked me instantly.

"a lot of stuff happened to me, kara." I hissed, and instantly cringed and put my hand over my mouth once it slipped out.

"no- I didn't mean to say it like that. I'm sorry." I told her, shaking my head back and forth and grabbing her hand to hold in mine in the process.

"it's okay." she said to me, nodding her head. she looked back into my eyes, her green orbs looking into my blue ones. it was weird, actually. kara and I looked nothing alike, yet lijah and I could've been mistaken for twins. we both would instantly tan in the sun, but kara would just burn. she looked like a ghost in the winter- but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. it made her features pop- her green eyes would gleam and her dark hair would pop. it always had made me jealous, of how naturally pretty kara is. at her age, I needed to put a bag over my head. but not her.

so i continued. "grace and I went to the mall the other day," I started, and before I could finish the first sentence she cut me off. there's kara for ya. she put her hand over her heart, and let out a fake gasp. "you didn't take me to the mall with you!" she said, pretending to cry.

"oh but honey, after I tell you what happened, you will regret saying that." I told her, before shaking my head and continuing the story.

after I finished telling her about what happened, she was in tears.

"oh my god, ken I'm so sor-"

"no kara, I love you but I don't want pity. please." I softly smiled at her.

"okay, I'm sorry." she said, and reached out to hug me, which I gladly accepted.

I told her everything except the part about lijah. I'll tell her that later.

"so where's mom and dad?" I finally asked the question that's been tugging at the back of my mind ever since I got back.

"they went for a drive, they said 'they were going for a drive to get their minds off of things and relax'. but in all honestly, I think they were going to go look for you, again." she told me.

"do you know where they'll be back?"

"I honestly have no idea, I'm sorry."

"that's okay. oh and I- I have to tell you something.." I told her, about to bring lijah up.

"shoot." she said.

"uhm well, you know how I said that grace was there too?" I asked her, earning a nod in response from her. "when the incidents first happened, the guy who was with grace turned around when I screamed." I said slowly, and then paused trying to put this next sentence into the right words. she nodded eagerly and moved her hands in circle rotations, signaling that I needed to get it out.

"let me tell you two things first," I told her, earning a loud groan in response. I just playfully scolded her in response, then continued. "one- you cannot tell mom or dad or anybody about this." I told her I'm all seriousness. lijah said that he would come back when he was ready, and not to worry because it would be soon.

"it was lijah."