Hidden Burdens (working title)

Regrets and a Party

Samson shortly followed the kid outside, through the dog door. Kimmy held her hand out to run it along his back as he walked by.

The back door eventually opened again, causing Kimmy's heart to leap across the Grand Canyon. She came over to set down Kimmy's plate, assuming the kid was out there because of the hearing, and offered to get Kimmy something to drink.

Kimmy finally felt an appetite to eat her chicken fingers and French fries. Her heart leaped a second time when Kayla returned with a blanket from the family room, pointing out how cold it was regardless if the kid didn't mind or not, and wrapped the blanket around her.

Since it was difficult to look inside the house, Kimmy sat with her back to the house. The trampoline caught her attention, which hadn't gotten used much since Miguel wasn't there.

Once she finished her dinner, Kimmy carefully slid her chair back so it barely made noise against the concrete, and dropped the blanket on the chair. She made her way over to the metal ladder where she climbed inside the net, making sure to zip it shut like Miguel always said.

Kimmy stood to her bare feet and carefully made her way over to the center. Memories of the boy jumping as high as he could go and landing flips flooded her mind as she looked around. She then looked back at the door to see no one could see her from that angle.

Bending her knees, Kimmy leaped into the air and landed right back down where she stopped.

She did it a second time.

A third time.

She stopped again to catch herself.

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

Kimmy stole another peek at the back door before jumping some more. This time, she jumped twice in a row, continuing until Kimmy found herself constantly bouncing. Then, she began to move around, bouncing from one side to the other, feeling like Tigger. It certainly took her mind off her worries for a while. Kimmy never had the guts to try a flip or anything risky. It was still fun to bounce around on her feet while it got dark out. In fact, she was having so much fun Kimmy hadn't noticed Kayla return to fetch her plate and cup, and let her continue playing while Ben took the trash out for her.

Kimmy bounced until she had to stop and catch her breath. She wasn't used to this much physical activity. Stepping over to the zipper, she dropped on her knees to open the net and climbed down.

Everyone was gone from the kitchen.

The first thing Kimmy did was push a chair over to the counter to get herself a cup from the cupboard, returning the chair before filling the cup with crushed ice and cold water from the front of the fridge. She dumped the excess ice into her hand for Samson and wiped her hand on her shirt afterward.

Once Kimmy had her fill of water, she set the cup on the island for now and wandered over to the trash can. That's when she saw the trash had already been taken out.

Since the dishwasher was already going, Kimmy left her cup in the sink. The guys were watching a basketball game in the family room. She thought about going in there to watch the game with them but decided against it, and headed upstairs instead.

Kimmy started to head towards her room until she saw the bedroom light on. Something about facing Claudia caused her heart to race. So she went over to the loft to find something to play with. But Kimmy couldn't make up her mind what she wanted to do. It was so much easier when Miguel was there to decide the game they played.

That's when she heard the familiar theme song for The Golden Girls. Kimmy felt her feet automatically move in the direction the music was coming from and found herself standing in the doorway of Ben and Kayla's bedroom.