Hidden Burdens (working title)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Boy, he did not know the half of it. 

"I just want you to know, I don't grade on what you write. I only grade on participation. There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to the journal prompts. I just want to hear your thoughts. I won't share what you write with anyone else. In fact, if it would help, you can write at the top if you want me to read it or not, and if not, I will mark that it's done and move on. At least with the personal topics about you. I'd still would like to see your thoughts regarding the week's chapter. Sound like a deal?"

Kimmy lifted her gaze from her backpack to finally meet his. Holding it for a moment, she timidly nodded.

"Alright." Mr. O'Reilly stood up, tapping the front corner of her desk playfully and let her get started. To her surprise, he complimented her backpack, thinking it was a show his younger sister watched in middle and high school, and could even name it. He wasn't completely sure of the name of the show and Kimmy wished she could let him know he got it right. She just quietly closed her backpack and slung it on the back of her chair while Mr. O'Reilly walked back to his own desk.

Facing forward, Kimmy peered up at the whiteboard to read the morning's prompt. Mr. O'Reilly didn't always do a weekend prompt, but sometimes he would ask either on Friday or Monday what kind of plans or adventures were in store for them, and even included in parentheses any video game adventures for the gamers. Or even readers. Kimmy would have shared her adventures in her Minecraft world, but she still hadn't been able to play some more. Whether it was because someone was watching TV or Kimmy didn't know how to ask. Though, once she found Ben and Miguel playing the Wii. But since they were playing a bowling game, Kimmy declined when Ben had offered to let her join.

Kimmy's family never had a Wii. She only had memories of watching Stella playing the Xbox, and after watching YouTube for a while, the Switch was the first console Kimmy owned herself. She was aware of older consoles from Stephen and his pals, and eventually the Switch started adding a lot of the old games included in the online package. So, one by one, Kimmy was getting the chance to play the games long before her time, including the game that helped Stephen meet his wife and a lot of his friends.

The easy part was copying the prompt onto the blank page in her notebook. The hard part was still deciding what to write. How did she know Mr. O'Reilly would keep his word, anyway? That could have been a trick to get her to write. She had no reason to trust the guy any more than she trusted Ben.

She thought about the weekend. There was always Friday night where the weekend had started off better than how it ended. Stephen and Mal had played one of those horror games where their choices mattered and result in a character's death. They passed around the controller with their friends when their character was up. The game was chosen since October was the month of Halloween. Even though the game played like one of those teenage summer camp horror movies, it wasn't scary to Kimmy in the slightest. Even when she shut off the light, since Claudia was downstairs watching an actual movie with everyone else. She was glad Kayla had brought up a bowl of popcorn for her while Stephen and his friends were on break, remembering Ben's reaction to her watching what he thought was a scary Zelda game.

Kimmy was about to write about Friday night when Sunday afternoon suddenly came rushing back. Even though everyone else seemed to have moved past it, the events still played in her mind, over and over. Kayla had checked in with her at bedtime, how she was doing and if she was ready to talk about what happened. Kimmy had flinched when the lady had come into the room. Like before, nothing happened. Instead, she reassured Kimmy they weren't taking away tablet privileges to be mean. But, they took harming others very seriously.

Kimmy stole a glance up at Mr. O'Reilly, who had his laptop open on his desk.

He noticed her staring at him. "Do you have a question, Kimmy?"