Chapter 3

An hour later I was locking up the store but I was not on the outside like I should have been. However, I was on the inside. I was also on a mission. Needing an answer to a question that had been plaguing me for the past week.  I pulled the small white test out of the packaging after locking myself into the staff bathroom. I always wondered why there was a staff bathroom. There were three people on staff. My father, me and a young boy who comes in on the weekend to restock.

“Okay Cara, you have stalled enough.” I told myself.

I pulled the stick out of the packaging and read the instructions. After sitting down and doing my business I put the stick aside, set my alarm and just sat there thinking.  I wasn’t as worried about what my parents would think. They loved me unconditionally, of that I was certain. No, it wasn’t even Luka, well not really. I knew we were both young. I wouldn’t be 18 for another three months.

What I was really scared of and had always been since I was a little girl. Was the monster lurking in the shadows. I was old enough to know he wasn’t a literal monster and he wasn’t even lurking in the shadows. No, my monster lurked in the broad daylight and was ready to strike.  I had been warned to stay away from his most prized possession, but I hadn’t done it.

Luka had told me that his father was harmless. I had believed him for a while too. That was before I had received my very own threatening letter. It was something right out of the movies.

Stay away from my son, or be sorry!!!

Ingrained in my brain forever. Had I done it though? No, and now I was knocked up by the devils’ son.  Possibly.

Life takes us each on a different journey. An mine had taken me straight to the doorstep of the devil. I couldn’t have stayed away, even if I had tried. I was like a moth to a flame. Getting burned, that was my own fault. The damage had been done already. What could possibly happen now? It would all be alright. 

With that thought my alarm went off.

With shaking hands, I picked up the test, with trembling hands and stared at my future.

Well I guess it wasn’t the risotto.