Tornado

Part 9

After about fifteen minutes of driving, Kailee could feel the car slowing down as they pulled in front of a medium height gate, extended a couple of metres. Kailee frowned, not sure what was happening. Cara opened her door. She looked at her sister, noticing the hesitation. She gave an encouraging smile. "Come on." Both sisters got out of the car.

Kailee looked around. She slowly walked up to the gate and grabbed on to the metal top. She stared. On the other side of the gate, there was grass. Grass that led all the way down into a huge lot. Kailee could also see the streets and observed a couple cars passing. Her eyes wandered up to the beautiful dark blue sky, littered with millions of brightly lit stars. The view was a perfect match to the chilly night air. Kailee wrapped her arms around herself. She looked at her sister. "Is this the lot where they always set up the fair?"

Cara smiled and nodded. "Yup." There were two big rocks a couple feet away. Cara sat on one of them.

Kailee looked around the parking lot. Their mother's vehicle was the only one stationed. They were parked on a hill, overlooking the large lot and street. Kailee remembered the lot from their fair visits when she was younger. It had been such a long time. She looked down at her sister. "What are we doing here?" she asked.

Cara kept the smile on her face. "I told you. A better place to think." She patted the rock next to her. "Come on. Sit."

Kailee slowly lowered herself down on the hard rock. "So... who told you this was a good place to think?"

"Um. One of my friends."

"So, they just randomly started to bring you out here?"

Cara nodded, but with hesitation. "Mmm... something like that."

Kailee nodded. "Ahh." It got quiet. The silence lasted a good while.

Finally, Cara couldn't take it. "Kailee, what's on your mind?"

Kailee shrugged. "A lot." She stared off into space.

"Like Dad?"

Kailee nodded. "That stuff Mom said about him... how do we even know that's true?"

That surprised Cara. "Why would she lie?"

Kailee looked at her sister. "Well, she never even told us the truth."

"To protect us."

"Okay but- Dad doesn't even seem like that type of person. It's just- it's not him."

"How would we know? He wasn't around long enough for us to make a judgment." Kailee got quiet. Her sister had made a very good point. Cara spoke. "Was Mom right though? Are you doing all this because of Dad?"

Kailee shrugged. "I don't know," she mumbled.

"So then, what was this tonight Kailee? You just really wanted to go to that party? Cause I know that can't be the reason."

Kailee shook her head. "I just- I've been feeling like something's missing and-" She paused. "I don't know."

"Explain it to me," Cara encouraged.

Kailee gathered her thoughts and went on. "And, well, Hazel told me that James was hyped for me to come to the party. It felt good to, like, I don't know, have someone, a guy, want you to be somewhere. To see you. To be in your presence. And, when Mom said no, I just felt like I needed to go."

Cara had an important question in mind. "What happened at the party?"

"Um." Kailee hesitated.

"You can trust me Kailee. You know I won't judge."