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Ch 38: Responsible

        Imagine being away at camp for a summer, then coming home to see your mom and dad, and sisters or brothers. It's been maybe three months, maybe less, but you still missed them and your home so much. Then you notice the kitchen is painted red instead of white. It's hard to get used to, but you are slowly able to.

        Imagine being away at college for a semester, unable to visit home on weekends or holidays. When you return, you're like a celebrity, being the cool older sibling who has now returned. Until you notice your younger sister or brother has taken over your bedroom and you have to sleep in the guest room. You're uncomfortable not being in your old room, but you sacrifice it for the love of your sibling.

        Lastly, imagine being gone for seven years. Away from family, friends, your home. And when you return, you're reunited with your family, but you find something different. You find your home isn't the one you left, not all of your family is there, and the ones who remain seem to be so far gone, they're not even the same people. Would that even be considered a reunion? Or would it just be another day in another stranger's house?

        "Are you sure you don't need food?" Mrs. Domonic asked for about the hundredth time.

        "Really, mom, I'm fine," Kelly replied, giving her mother a kind smile.

        "You know, I'm not--"

        "Stop," Kelly interrupted, "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to keep things the way they were when I left. I don't want any confusion or anything like that. Okay?"

        The two women sitting beside her on the couch agreed. Francine moved closer and hugged her tightly, "You wouldn't believe how much I missed you--how much both of us missed you."

        "I hear it was alot. Peter tells me you were hurting pretty bad..." Kelly said slowly. Then she took a slow breath, "I want you to know I'm sorry..."

        "For what?" Her mother asked.

        "For sneaking around you guys. For haivng a secret life and secret friends. For going to parties in the dead of night while you were all sleeping..."

        "I can't believe I didn't check up on you or suspect anything. I was so stupid," her mother said. "I was too preoccupied with keeping you safe from your father that I lost sight of the fact that you were growing up and were old enough to handle answers."

        "She's right," Francine added, "We should be the ones apologizing. We just worked so hard to keep it all a secret that it became the norm. then when dad came back to town looking for you, and for me, we panicked."

        "It's alright. I forgive you, guys. And--and when I think back to everything that's happened," tears would be slipping down Kelly's cheeks if she hadn't emptied her tear ducts already, "I don't think I would change any of it."

        Her mother and Francine were startled, "What?"

        "Considering all I've accomplished. All the men I've put behind bars, all the women I've saved, babies I've helped deliver and raise for the past two years--I--" she sighed, "As horrible as it all was, I'm glad it happened. It opened my eyes to this whole new side of life."

        "I understand what you're saying, but surely--surely you don't mean it, Kel--"

        "Oh, but I do. If you only knew how many lives I've helped--"

        "Would you show us?" Francine interrupted.

        "What?"

        "Would you bring us to your Home and show us? Tell us about the past years? Let us all get it out in the open so we can have closure and move on?"