Chapter Two: The Rewards to the Downfalls

Caitlyn gets a confidence boost

       I woke up to my alarm on my I-Home and I was actually excited for school. I got out of bed, and went to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, washed my face and did my hair. After that I walked over to my closet to pick out an outfit for my day at school. I decided to go with some washed out skinny jeans, flip flops, and a black t-shirt with the band murderdolls written across it in red faded ink. I looked at myself in the mirror and decided that today was a makeup day. So I went back to the bathroom and put on some eye liner, some mascara and a light pink lip gloss. As they say, less is more. When I was exiting the bathroom my grandma was dressed and had her purse already in her hands. "What plans do you have today grandma?"
"I am taking you to school little missy."
Well this is something new, I thought to myself.
 "Grandma, I can take the bus. It’s no big deal."
"No, no, no. I want to. Now get in the car before I make you by force." Although I am pretty sure I could have taken her in a fight, I didn't feel up to arguing about it. Plus I'm pretty sure I would feel pretty rotten about taking on my grandmother....
 
           
            Grandma Lane dropped me off right in front of the school and told me to have a good day. Since I wasn’t near my dad, I could bet you a million dollars that it would be a good day. And if anyone was stupid enough to take that bet...I would be the richest person in the world by now. I walked through the double doors leading into my school and walked up to the student store. I bought water and an apple; after all I hadn't had breakfast yet. Once I bought that I walked to my locker and started getting ready for first period, or in other words French. Grabbing my homework and placing my books in the right places, is my little routine that I do every morning it seems, something to do to help pass the time I suppose. When I was sure everything was to my satisfaction I walked into the art room. Why you may ask? Well I'll give you three reasons. One, the art room has a couch, two, the teacher is one of my neighbors and is just plain awesome, three, because my good friend Jack was in that class and I haven’t had the chance to talk to him in what seems like forever. Except in gym class, we always talked during gym class, I just never came and saw him in the mornings anymore, and so today I decided to change that. Although the reason I haven’t been seeing him in the mornings is probably because for the past few months I haven’t even thought about going into the art room, or even gave Jack the time of day for that matter because of all the beatings I was getting lately. Which didn't make much sense to me, I mean, Jack was the greatest friend a girl like me could ever have. I've known him for so long, and that’s why I didn’t understand how I could just ignore him for so long. He was such a spaz and could always make me laugh about the weirdest of things. Jack was speacial....
 
             So naturally when I walk into the room I start looking for him before I even get close to the couch. Lucky enough for me, Jack saw me and nearly tackled me from giving me a hug which ended up landing me on the couch. Which I could have sworn was a good ten feet away from me.....?
"Caitlyn! It’s been so long! And you’re smiling!" I figured that since I entered the room with a smile, that that was most likely why he tackled me.
"Yeah, I know."
"Well...Where have you been?"
"Busy of course." This wasn’t much of the truth but I figured it would work for now, unless he doesn’t buy it.
"I'm not buying it." Can I read minds or what? 
"Well you don’t have to Jack, because it’s not for sale." I heard a faint 'Ooh, you got burned man!' in the background, but didn’t pay much attention to it.
 "So do you want to do something after school?" Jack asked, completely forgetting about my little burn that I gave him.
 "Uh, I'm not sure; I have a lot of projects due this week."
"Well, when you find free time let me know ok? I want to catch up."
"Ok" I told him then got up from the couch and started walking out the door, but made sure to turn and wave before finally leaving. Even though I had just entered the room I couldn't handle more than a small apperance.
 
           
            In French class we just went over everything that we needed to remember for our test the next day, which I was prepared for, French was my favorite subject in school. When French class was over I started to walk to my next class...the one class that I dread and loath. It seems to me that for the past two years, second period hasn’t been all that kind to me. But before I knew it, it was time for third period. I loved drama. It’s the one place where I could be anyone I wanted to be, and it wouldn’t matter.
 
 
            Before I knew it the school day was over, two thirty came faster than I thought it would, and it was great, but at the same time, I was a little on the down side. Why? Because in a few hours my dad will be home, the bright side however is that grandma Lane is here, and I am safe....until she leaves anyway.... I dread that day, the day where my security blanket leaves me, leaves me off to venture on my own, like a bird. Just like a bird, when they get pushed out of the nest and have to fly and survive on their own. And I'm so utterly afraid that I will never be able to survive. I was quickly pushed back into reality and out of my own little world by Grandma Lane honking her horn behind the school bus, which I was waiting oh so patiently to get onto. Note the sarcasm. I walked away from the school bus and over to my grandma's car that she rented. I didn’t even notice that until now. Do I pay attention to detail or what? I hopped into the car and was welcomed by the sent of Grandma Lane. Her perfume has already consumed the vehicle and I loved it.
 
            "So, how was your day Caitlyn?" Grandma Lane asked me, before I even had time to think of the right way to put it. So naturally I had to think about it for a minute or two.
"It was very...fulfilling. Yeah! That’s it. Fulfilling."
"Well, I'm so glad to hear that you think so. It’s not everyday that kids your age use such a vocabulary." “Yeah, and I also found out that for the rest of the year we will be having a replacement for Mrs. Lee our gym teacher. She's getting married and moving out of state." Grandma Lane turned to me and spoke
"Well I hope she has a nice time." I smiled and looked out the window. It was true, my day was fulfilling. I was able to pay attention to all of my classes and not think about any physical pain that I felt. I turned in all my work and I was able to talk to Jack, a friend that I haven’t spoken to in what seemed like years. I soon noticed that grandma Lane drove by our house.
 "Uh.... Grandma?"
"Yes Caitlyn?" I looked at her wondering if she was starting to get Alzheimer’s. 
"You just drove by our house."
"Oh, I know that dear." Phew! I was glad about that, but I was confused. Where on earth would we be going?
"Then...where are you taking us exactly?" She started to laugh.
 "Shopping you silly little kitty." I smiled to my old nick name.
"But why are we going shopping?"
"Because Caitlyn, while you were at school I went looking through your clothes and it seems to me that it couldn’t possibly hurt getting you a new wardrobe." I thought about this for a while. Grandma has a lot of money, I mean, she's rich, she was a writer and six out of seven of the books she has written have gotten awards and are best sellers. Plus, if I didn’t take this opportunity now, I was sure that it wouldn’t come again for a long time. I knew dad would never take me shopping. So I turned to grandma with a great big smile on and said, "Alright! Let’s burn a whole in your wallet!"
"That’s the spirit!" Grandma Lane said with pure excitement. I wouldn’t blame her; this is the first time we've gone shopping together since I was ten years old.
 
           
            When Grandma Lane and I got to the mall I was nearly running to the stores that I have always admired but couldn’t afford because of my fugly cheap a*s father. I bought maybe five pairs of shoes, four of them were converse and one pair were vans. I went to hot topic and bought some skinny jeans, some jackets, bras and shirts. I just LOVE their shirts. Then I went to Journeys and bought some bags, I love their bags too. Then, I bought some makeup. Lord knows that I'm running low and will need some for future beatings. But just because those are the main reasons does NOT mean that I don’t have my girly moments when I want to look nice! Even though Grandma Lane swears on grandpa Charlie’s life -may he rest in peace- that I have natural beauty. Oh well, I still bought the makeup. After all of that, I still had one more thing to do, and that was to buy jewelry. So I went to the Body Jewelry Shop and bought some rings and bracelets, even some awesome belts. Then once that was done with I walked over to Grandma Lane and gave her the biggest hug ever and said, "Thank you so flipping' much grandma! I love you sooooo much!" She did a small chuckle and said, "Well there are a few more things that we need to do." I was stunned. How can there possibly be more!? "Huh?" Grandma Lane just grabbed my hand and took me to the car.
 "You see this car?" she said and I nodded my head.
"You mean your rental car?" She nodded her head and started to speak, "Well, this is your car." My eyes popped out of my head. This car was MY car....Grandma Lane, bought me a car! Tears of pure joy and happiness were escaping from my eyes.
"Thank you so much grandma!!!!!"
"You’re welcome. Now, I want you to drive us to a salon so that we can get our hair and nails done." She handed over the keys and I ran inside the car, this Black Mercury Milan Voga was mine! All mine! I was so happy that I completely forgot about how dad would react.
 "What about dad? What will he think?"
 "Well he better be happy about it. And if he isn’t then I'm seriously going to punish him, because you disserve every bit of this kitty." I smiled and started the ignition and drove off.
 
            After getting our hair and nails done I pulled into the driveway surprised to see that dad’s truck wasn’t here. I shrugged it off and Grandma Lane and I went inside...with all my bags in hand of course. I immediately went to my closet to reorganize it. Clothing that I can give to charity and clothing that I want to keep, because whenever any of the stores I liked had sales and I had money I would always buy something. I put my new clothes up in my closet then got ready for bed. The good thing about being able to pay attention in class is having no homework. So I went to my lap top and checked my e-mail, all junk, oh well. It was nearly nine and I was in the mood for finding treasures! Not like gold or anything, but I just wanted to browse around the house, or to be more specific, the basement.
 
            Sure, I've been in the basement before, but every time I was, I was never really paying attention to my surroundings or the items near me; I was focusing on getting out of the basement alive. The last time I was ever in the basement is when Cass spent the night and that was maybe two or three years ago. Ever since then I never had anybody spend the night, and avoided ever needing to go to the basement at all costs. I learned the hard way as you can tell. When I got in the basement I didn’t have any idea on where to start my search, until my interest landed on a box that said, 'Baby Memories'. How could I even resist looking in that box first? So I walked over to it and started looking. I found pictures of me when I was at the beach for the first time, baby blankets, clothes that I had worn, nothing really special. Until I reached the bottom where I found a letter addressed to me. It was a white envelope with my name written in blue ink. I carefully opened the letter and began to read.
 
Hi Caitlyn,
           
            My beautiful daughter, I don’t know how old you are now, but if you've found this letter I'm betting that it’s been a while. Right now, you've just fallen asleep in my arms, and I have just finished packing my bags to leave. You have no idea how hard this is for me to leave you here with your father. I'm hoping that things are good with you and him. I want you to know that I promise to return for you. I will make it my life long goal to do so. You are so special to me. And I know you’re probably wondering 'If that’s true then why did you leave me?' am I right? Well I promise to tell you when I find you. I know that this must have caused you so much pain and confusion and I am so sorry for that, but please don’t for one split second think that it was your fault, because it wasn’t. I wish you a great life until I find you, and remember 'Come what may, I will love you, until my dying day'. Your favorite song for me to sing to you when you went to sleep. I will miss those nights. Well my darling angel, I love you, and be good. Stay out of trouble and please don’t ever give up hope.
 
             Love Mom
 
 
         
            I folded the letter back up and wiped away my tears. Why couldn’t she tell me why she left in the letter? I was so upset that she could just write a letter leaving me with even more questions then what I did before and no answers for them. How was she suppose to find me? We've moved five times searching for her! Its impossible for her to find me, the only way I will ever be able to find my mother is if I were to go looking for her myself...and there’s no way of that happening, so I suppose I shall stay motherless for the rest of my life, which isn’t that bad, I mean, people do it all the time. It’s no big deal...
 
            After reading that letter I lost all interest in searching for treasure, maybe tomorrow or some other time, but tonight, I just want to wake up to a new day, and if I'm lucky, I'll have a better ending to that new day. I started heading up the stairs and out of the basement when my dad came stumbling through the door. Pure fear struck across my face. My father was drunk, while his mother was staying in the same house as us. That just seemed unbelievable to me. I didn’t dare say a word; because maybe...there was a chance he didn’t see me. My dad looked around the basement then stopped and looked at me.
"What are you doing down here?" He said while walking down the stairs to me...clumsily I might add. Then again, he's drunk, he could be seeing things? I opened my mouth debating on weather or not I should speak. Then, he grabbed my hair, and threw me down what was left of the stairs and to the ground. I guess him not seeing me was out of the question now, huh?
"I said what are you doing down here Caitlyn!?"
"I-I was looking for something." I started to scoot away from him, but silly old me didn’t even think that he would come after me again.
 
"Bullshit! Now tell me why you're really down here!" Might as well tell the truth right?
"I just felt like it daddy. I'm sorry!" My dad turned his back on me and started laughing, so I began to stand up, but then, he turned right back around and grabbed my left arm, twisting it and then throwing me against the wall. And just so you know, I totally made it look cool and ended up landing with my face first into the concrete. Don’t worry, there were no marks...yet. I tried standing up again but the pain in my wrist was unbearable. I suppose my dad felt that is was necessary for him to pick me up, because he grabbed my by the hair and kicked me several times. Then he stopped and headed for the steps,
 "Stay out of the basement." and then he left. He went out the door got into his truck, and drove off. ‘No problem.’ I thought to myself just before my world went black.
 
            When I woke up I didn’t want to get up, I didn’t want to feel the pain. I felt as if I couldn’t, but I knew that I had to, so I did. There was so much pain that it felt as if I were a faucet letting out a lake. I went upstairs to the bathroom and went looking for my ACE bandages to wrap up my wrist; it was probably just a sprain, nothing that I haven’t gone through before. I took three ibeprophens and cleaned up my face. I don’t know what made me do this, but I got out my camera and took pictures of every bruise and scratch that he gave me that night. Then I got out my little notebook that I normally use for my short stories, and wrote down everything that he did to me. I guess it gave me something to do to keep my mind off of the pain that I was feeling, or maybe I was coming up with a plan in my head, that I wasn’t fully aware of, either way, I did it.

Author's Note

Say whatever.

Reviews

[Samantha]

It's slightly hard to follow at some points but very interesting. The fore-shadowing is very attention-grabbing