When the Party's Over

March 2

The sunlight beamed through the open curtains of the house like everything was on fire. Blinding me as I walked down the stairs, my nose leading the way towards the sweet smell of honey burning on the stove.

Great, Mom forgot about the honey again. Doesn't she know by now it doesn't take that long to melt it?

My mom was bad for that. Since she always bought our honey from a bee farm, the honey usually came in a great big tube and was solid and stiff as it dried up. And every time she bought a new jug she'd take half of it and just melt it on the stove, staying like that for weeks until she'd have to melt some more. It was much better than that sweet, sickly honey you get in the store, that's just gross. But she was forgetful a lot of the time, she burnt it quite often. And then I'd yell at her, sometimes from the top of the stairs when the smell was strong.

'HONEY!' I'd scream, and then followed her 'OH SHIT!' That was always a good time, I got a good laugh out of that.

It was as if the kitchen was surrounded by nothing but windows as I walked in, the sunlight burning my eyes. And everything was spotless, everything white like the cupboards and counter, even though they were dark grey the other day. I don't know, but I wasn't bothered by it, it was just any ordinary day, and the kitchen was different.

'Mom, honey,' I said as I passed by her, washing some dishes in the sink.

'Crap! Ugh, why do I always forget that?' she asked, although it was a question more to herself than me. I just laughed as I passed by her, my stomach growling at me, demanding food as I searched the fridge for milk and the pantry for cereal.

'Cereal again? Didn't you have that for breakfast yesterday? And for supper last night?' my dad said as he sat by the table, his coffee mug in his hands, the paper in front of him like usual. And with a smirk on my face I turned back around to him, letting my eyes do the talking.

'Yeah, and?' they were saying, and he just grinned as he took another sip of his coffee. I'm surprised he didn't spill it on himself, he did that a lot.

The room fell quiet, like usual, and the only sound that emerged was the Cheerios pouring into my bowl, and the spoon clanking into it. And for a minute, just a minute, everything was at peace. Quiet, but not awkward silence, no stiff air between the three of us, it moved freely within the room. I was happy, really happy for once, something inside of me sparked up, lit up, just being in the room with my mom and dad. Like it should be, like it should always be.

And then out of the blue, suddenly, my dad had to ruin it all.

'Kat? What is this?' he said loudly, accusingly, questioningly. And me and my mom both spun around at the same time, confusingly. I know she was too.

'What? What is it?' my mom said first, beating me to it, as we both made our way towards my dad at the table. His eyes shot down hard at the newspaper in front of him, looking between me and it with burning, angry, squinted eyes, they weren't loving anymore.

'W.....what? What's in there?' I asked him too, my voice shaky, I couldn't grab ahold of it. But I knew what it was before I asked. Something heavy and dreadful grew inside of me, something sharp creeping up my throat, I couldn't swallow it away.

He looked at me in disbelief, in disgust. And then, he barely looked at me at all.

'High school junior Katherine Baker accuses two boys; Matthew Warren and Logan Calloway of sexual assault.' my dad read the headline, turning towards me once again, I couldn't read his face anymore. It was something indescribable, something I had never seen before. Was that hate?

Suddenly the air turned stiff, I couldn't breathe all over again. And the silence went on for so long.

'Why? Why would you do such a thing? How could you do this? How could you lie like this?' he said to me, putting the paper down, turning his full attention towards me. And I just stood there, shocked, like a punch to the gut and the face all at the same time. Like the wind had been knocked out of me, I couldn't say a thing. I could feel my mouth fall open, catching flies, but I didn't know how to close it, like I had lost the muscles in my jaw.

What? What did he say? He thinks I'm lying too? My own dad? Why would he think that? I'm not lying! I'm not, doesn't he know that? Mom knows that, why doesn't he? Why is he on everyone else's side? Why is he on the guy's side? Why is he against me? His own daughter?

I was speechless, and my mom was too. She didn't know how to react either.

'Huh? What do you have to say for yourself? I know those boys. They're a few of my old friend's sons. How could you do this to them? They would never do anything like this, they're good kids, good boys. Why would you ruin their lives like this, they have bright futures ahead of them. You want to destroy everything for them just so you can get attention? I thought we raised you better than this, Kat! I don't even know who you are anymore, but I know one thing for sure; you're no longer a daughter of mine.'

And then I woke up. It was just a dream, but it felt so real. And tears filled my eyes, even before I woke up. My pillow was soaked. Everything inside of me turned dark, miserable, and hot, I turned clammy fast. My heart started beating in my throat as the tears ran down my face faster, harder. And as I finally sat up, I think I woke my mom up too, cause she also sat up and wrapped her arms around me.

Does my dad really think that? Wherever he is, in heaven or whatever. If there even is a heaven. Does he know what's going on with me? Is he on my side? Does he believe me? Of course he would believe me, right? I mean, if there is a heaven, and he's watching over me, wouldn't he have seen what happened at the party? But if he is watching over me, why did he let this happen to me? Isn't he supposed to keep me safe or something? Why would he do this to me?

I don't know. But I do know one thing; I wish he was here. I want to see him more than anything. I want to see him, hug him, I want him to hold me and wrap his arms around me and tell me everything's going to be alright, just like he used to do.