Finding Katherine

Chapter Five

Katherine quickly inserts the house key in the lock, unlocking the door with shaky hands and walking in. She removed her jacket and placed it on the coat hanger, and runs up the stairs to her bedroom. She throws herself on her bed and cries into her pillow. 

“Katherine, is everything okay?” her mother, Ella, asked from the hallway.

Katherine sits up on her bed and rubs her under eyes with the pad of her thumb to remove her lingering tears. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just feeling a little bit under the weather,” she lied after clearing her throat.

“If you don’t want to talk, I understand. But, there’s someone you need to talk to,” she said.

“Who is it?” Katherine asked after a knock has been sounded on her door. Without a reply, the door slowly opens as Mia walks in.

“Oh my god!” Katherine said and rushed over to Mia’s side, pulling her in a tight embrace. She pulls out from the hug just to realize that Ethan stood in the hallway, a frown prominent on his face.

“Kat,” Ethan started as Katherine tells him to come in. Mia sits at the end of her bed, waiting from them to work things out like they usually would. “I’m sorry, for everything.” 

“You don’t have to apologize. You’re right, I’m not little miss perfect and I definitely make mistakes, and I shouldn’t have blamed you for ruining our friendship.” Katherine replied, stepping closer to Ethan.

“Thank you,” he said, his crystal blue eyes shining from the tears threatening to spill.

“Friends?” 

“Friends.” He repeated and they both pull each other into a long, warm hug. 

“Yay! I’m so happy you guys worked this out. Watching you guys bicker over things makes me sad and I’m glad this is over.” Mia said as her face brightened up with a huge smile.

“Promise me that you’ll never let anything get in the way of our friendship,” Katherine says.

“I promise,” he replied and locked their pinkies together as a promise.

_

“Mia, is that true?” her mother asks, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. Mia slowly nods and her father storms out of the living room, clearly pissed off at his daughter’s actions.

“Dad, wait!” Mia cries, following him. 

“Mr. Anderson, please. I told you guys this disturbing news to help her, not walk away, so, please sit down.” Ethan says with pleading eyes.

“Charles,” Lauren says and holds her hand out. He grabs her hand and sits down beside her on the couch, facing Ethan and Mia.

“How long have you been doing this?” Charles asks, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible.

“I don’t know. About a month or so,” Mia answers, scared to see their reaction.

“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier? We could’ve helped you.” Lauren says, shaking her head.

“Because, I was afraid of what you might think of me, mom.”

“I found this rehab center here in Pennsylvania.” Ethan says and takes out his phone to show Mia and her parents the website. “Blue Mountain house of hope,” he continues.

“Wait, rehab? I’m not a drug addict. I can stop doing drugs!” Mia suddenly yells and stands up in anger.

“Mia, it’s an alcohol and drug treatment facility. Trust me, it’ll help you with your addiction.” Ethan replies.

“Where is it?” her father asks.

“Berks county,” Ethan answers and her father puts that location on his phone, making Mia’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Mom-“

“Mia, listen to me. You’re going to go there for help and treatment and you won’t come back until we’re a hundred percent sure you won’t go back to drugs again.” Her mother demands and Mia groans loudly. She glares at Ethan, and he just shakes his head.

_

Ella crouches over the toilet, vomit spewing out of her mouth and into the water. The doctor informed them that PTSD may cause headaches, panic attacks, or even vomiting which is what Ella has been doing for the past ten minutes.

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and leans against the bathroom wall, taking deep breaths as her eyesight goes blurry for a minute. She blinks for a few seconds, and her eyesight goes back to normal. 

Ella heads back into the bedroom and lays down on the bed, waiting for a peaceful slumber to drift into.

“Mom . . .” a voice whispers.

No response.

“Mom,” the voice repeats, but this time loud enough for Ella to stir in her sleep. The voice speaks again and that’s when her eyes snap open once she realizes whom that voice belongs to. Katherine.

She sits up and leans against the headboard of the bed, looking around the room. It was afternoon and the curtains were open, the sun shining through and lighting the whole room. She scans the room, looking from corner to corner, and finds nothing.

“That’s probably the drugs talking, go to bed.” Her husband’s voice plays in her head over and over until she finally lays back down again, and closes her eyes.

_

The doorbell goes off and Nick goes to get it. He opens the door to a really concerned Ethan.

“Hi Ethan. Is everything okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, I heard about Mrs. Stewart. Is she okay?”

“Not really. She has PTSD, and she’s been seeing things for the past few weeks and every other day she would scream for Katherine,” he says, a frown taking over his feautures.

“Yeah, she’s just stressed out. I mean, it’s been over six months.” He says and walks in after Nick opens the door widely. “Which speaking of, did the cops find anything?”

“Not a clue. They think she’s gone, for good.” 

“They need to find something, anything, that can help lead us to Katherine.” Ethan says and stops by the staircase. He looks at Nick, until he finally replies with “She’s in the master bedroom, straight and then  to your left.”

Ethan walks through the hallway and stops in front of Katherine’s bedroom, taking a deep breath before turning the doorknob and walking in. The room was exactly the way it was six months ago. 

The cheerful baby blue walls that are clustered with polaroids and other random photos that Katherine liked to keep. The dark wooden floors with a white rug placed in the middle. Her queen sized bed placed against the huge rectangle window, followed by her white lace curtains.

Ethan walks over to her nightstand and picks up a framed photo of himself and Katherine in third grade. 

“Katherine!” he suddenly yells, tugging at his hair. The door flies open, revealing a really worried Nick.

“Ethan, are you okay?”

Without replying, he bursts out crying and holds the framed photo to his chest.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay.” Nick says and walks over to Ethan, patting his shoulder.

“No, nothing’s okay! Look at what we’ve come to!” he yells and throws the framed photo across the wall, making the frame shatter into pieces.