Melody 5 - Rising Stars

Chapter 13 (i) - Kat

“Did he break Lucas’ arm?”

“It was an accident,” said Dani.  “He said that Lucas should be more like adventurous, like Stefan.  He balanced Lucas on the banister and he fell off.”

“Dani, that’s not an accident!  That’s child abuse!”

“He was only playing with him.”

“Was he drunk?”

Dani looked away.

“Was he drunk?” insisted Kat.

“He was tipsy.”

“Dani, why didn’t you tell someone?”

“Who?  Who could I tell?” cried Dani.  “You’re in London.  Auntie Vi only bothers with us because she has to.  If I told social services we’d all be split up.  I promised to look after everyone.”

Kat rushed over and hugged her sister.  Her little sister, who’d been bravely going through all this on her own.  But before she could say anything, Dani pushed her away.

“It’s all mama’s fault,” she cried.  “If she hadn’t left us, none of this would have happened.”

Kat was stunned.

“It’s not mama’s fault,” said Kat.  “She had no choice.  She had to leave.”

“She did have a choice,” railed Dani.  “She was our mother.  She should have stayed to look after us or taken us with her.”

Kat hadn’t heard her sister talk like this before.  And she’d never considered that their mama could be in any way to blame for their situation. 

“Is that what you think about me?” asked Kat.  “That I’ve abandoned you all?”

“No,” cried Dani.  “But you’ve got to know that papa isn’t all bad.”

Kat’s face clearly showed she thought no such thing.

“Go back to the house,” sighed Dani.  “You can take over from Auntie Vi.”

Kat hesitated.  “It’s the Festival tomorrow.”

Dani took a moment to understand what Kat was on about.

“Then you’d better get back to London.”

“No, I’ll go to the house,” said Kat.  “I can only stay til morning, but I’ll come straight back after the Festival.”

“There’s no need,” said Dani briskly.  “I’ll call if there’s any news.”

“But I want to help.”

“Kat, let’s face it – you won’t want papa to get better,” said Dani, as eyeballed Kat.  “And I don’t want you around if that’s how you feel.”

Kat felt like she’d been punched.  She could only watch as a doctor came in and told Dani about another scan they wanted to carry out.  She silently turned and headed into the corridor, where Lena was waiting with a cup of coffee.

“Thought you might need this,” offered Lena.

“Thanks,” said Kat, taking it without thinking and marching down the corridor.

“I heard some of what you guys said,” said Lena tentatively.

“Can’t anything be private from you?” snapped Kat.

“I didn’t mean to pry, but it got kinda loud at times.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.  Just like I don’t want to talk about a lot of things in my life,” said Kat pointedly.

“Okay, I get it,” said Lena.

As they reached the end of the corridor, Kat frantically pushed the buttons for the lift.  Why didn’t one come straight away?  She jabbed at the buttons again, spilling hot coffee all over her hand.

“Shit!” cried Kat and burst into tears.

Lena calmly took the coffee, put it on a nearby table and pulled Kat into her arms.  Kat sobbed, letting months of worry and anguish spill onto Lena’s shoulder.  She couldn’t help herself - the pain came tumbling out and Kat wished she could lose herself in Lena’s embrace forever.  Finally she pulled away and looked Lena in the eyes.

Kat had no idea why she said it right then, but it came tumbling out anyway.

“You know, I think I might be a lesbian.”

Lena simply nodded and pulled her close again.

“One thing at a time,” said Lena.  “We’ll deal with one thing at a time”