Chapter 7 #3
I can hear my heart rate increase on the monitor I’m hooked up to.
Mom and I had been kicked out of housing before, lost our belongings in evictions.
There were plenty of times where we weren't wanted, but this feels different. Wainscott Hollow is the most stable home I’ve ever had.
Kat is my home, and her arms are my sanctuary.
This isn’t just being kicked out of a physical place, it’s being asked to give up the very thing that defines me. Without Kat, my life has no meaning.
“What’s changed? Is it Henry? Or are you trying to tell me you’ve moved on?”
“We can’t do this—the sneaking around. We’re supposed to be siblings, Heath. You’ll be fine. You have the money Dad left you.”
“I won’t be fine without you, Kat. Fuck the money.”
“You’re gonna recover, Heath. You have your leg, and soon you’ll be up and walking again,” she says morosely.
“With you. I want to walk through life with you. What the hell happened while I was asleep, Kat?”
“Nothing, Heath. We were na?ve to think we could ever make it work. Dad wanted us to be family, but not like that. We were holding onto something absurd.”
A sob gets locked in my throat as white hot fear courses through my veins. I can’t respond. She’s my life, my love, my other half.
“Absurd? You are my life, Kat. Nothing else matters.”
She shakes her head and refuses to make eye contact, looking away out the window.
“Did I sleep for five months and wake up to you breaking up with me?”
“Listen, the money didn’t cover everything, Heath. You didn’t have insurance. Who do you think paid for you to sleep in five-star accommodations for half a year?”
“I’m sorry. I—”
“My whole life, I’ve had everything I ever wanted. Daddy always provided for me. It’s what I’m used to, and I don’t want to go slumming through the Bronx with an unknown future. I have a home here, a community. I’ll never leave Wainscott Hollow, but I think it’s time for you to go somewhere else.”
“You’re kicking me out? I don’t even know if I can walk, Kat. What am I supposed to do?”
“The doctors assured me you’ll make a full recovery. We had a good run, Heath, but let’s stop pretending we’re equals. You can’t expect me to spend my whole life supporting you.”
“Kat, I never once expected that from you. I can deal with the broken leg, but I can’t live with a broken heart. What’s happened to you?”
“This is it, Heath. This is where our story ends.”
“Wasn’t it you who said that houses change, appearances do, too, but it’s what’s on the inside that’s important to you?”
“I don’t love you. I never did,” she tells me.
I’m speechless for a moment, trying to control the tears that stream down my face.
I went into a coma, and I’ve woken up in a whole different universe.
It’s like the Kat I knew disappeared like Cinderella at midnight and I’ve woken up to the evil step-sister standing in her place.
I don’t know the person in front of me. The Kat I knew was full of love and light, a rare jewel in an otherwise toxic and sinister dark world.
I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest and the emptiness in its place aches like no pain I’ve ever felt before.
“I love you, Kat,” I say to her. I feel like I’m drowning. I don’t understand why love is so hard for me to hold onto. First my mother, now my soulmate.
“That’s the story you’ve been telling yourself, Heath. But I think the reality of the situation is much more bleak.”
Betrayal rips through any facade of safety I’d created, like a tornado tossing roofs and vehicles as if they were weightless playthings. My entire vision of our future, our lives together, dissipates like a mirage. Her love is gone. A pilar of salt crumbles in its place.
After free-falling into oblivion, my senses finally return to me.
“Get the hell out, Kat. You’re as fake as your stupid fucking brother,” I yell.
On the same day I’m released, less than a month later, I take a taxi to Wainscott Hollow and pack my bags.
I often wondered if the only way out of this haunted estate was via the grim reaper, so maybe I should thank my lucky stars I’m walking away for more than one reason.
Maybe the damn spider saved my life. I’ll have it bronzed and keep it on my fucking shelf like a talisman.
I toss everything into two suitcases indiscriminately. I find my mother’s locket, and I leave it conspicuously on the dresser. Kat was my heart’s one true love and I don’t know if I’ll ever find that again. Maybe if I leave this heart here, she’ll find hers again.
I crash the luggage shut and drag it noisily down the stairs. Henry stands by the library day-drinking, halfway in the bag. He acknowledges me with a curt nod of the chin, and I give him a salute, followed by the middle finger.
Rest in hell, Wainscott Hollow,” I mutter under my breath. “Cheers to your under lord.”
As I toss the suitcases in the trunk of the cab, I look up to Kat’s window and see a figure behind the white curtain.
I wait for a heartbeat to see if she’ll run down or at least wave goodbye to me from her perch.
But Kat stares emotionlessly through the lace like she’s trapped in her own personal hell.
I throw her a salute, and slam the door of the cab.
“Take me to the South Bronx. Let’s get the fucking hell out of here.”