A New Start

*ERIC*

I spent the entire weekend helping Kacie and Kayla relocate to my place. She was determined to pack up her entire apartment until I reminded her that I had my own furniture. Living alone since college roommates made me feel uncomfortable having someone around.

The thought of monitoring who came and went made me cringe. I was used to being free and being a bachelor. I couldn’t do that with my niece. Kacie would be furious if I had a bunch of strange girls around her daughter. She barely wanted my friends around. I could understand.

This might not be a bad thing, though. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have children of my own. Besides, I loved my niece; she was the coolest person I knew.

After everything was moved and back at my place, I helped them settle in.

I found her staring at a picture she had found of her and Josh when she found out she was pregnant with Kayla.

“Does he know you’ve left?”

“Don’t be silly, E. Do you think he’d just let us go? Did you forget what happened the time we went on vacation and I didn’t call him?”

Two years ago, we took a trip to Colorado, and I assume she was on bad terms with Josh. She never talked about things until they had gotten out of hand. I hated that about her. I told her she needed to say something sooner to avoid big arguments that seemed to happen too often. At some point, I was sounding like a broken record.

Anyway, she hadn’t told him about the trip, so to him, it seemed like she was ignoring him and being rude, which I could see how he thought. When we returned to town, he was waiting for her. His eyes were red and burning through her very soul.

He took her inside. At first, we thought it was strange, but that was them. It wasn’t until we walked inside and saw the damage that reality sank in for all of us. There was glass on the floor, holes in the wall big enough to fit a small child, and Kacie holding herself in fear.

He hadn’t hit her, but I could sense it coming. We all did. At this point, he’d been hitting her for years. It didn’t take much to trigger it, but he’s been banned from our parents’ house ever since.

I rolled my eyes. “You could prevent so much if you just communicated with people Kace. Why can’t you see that?”

“Eric, don’t! Don’t lecture me as if you have it all figured out,” she fired back, her eyes watering. “Where is your family? At least I tried!”

“I didn’t mean it that way, and you know that!”

“Yeah, but you said it! I messed up. I mess up! I know it’s what I’ve been doing ever since I got involved with Josh.”

At this point, tears started to fall.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’m just worried you’re not handling this the right way.”

“How do you think that was going to go? I tell him. We have a talk and next thing you know, I’m sprawled on the floor from yet another devastating blow to the face.”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

“Exactly, Eric. You don’t know, so I’d appreciate it if you let me handle this the way I see fit!”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I went over to hug her deeply. I felt she needed it, and she did. We stood there for a while as she sobbed for a few minutes.

She finally pulled away, wiping her eyes, and said, “I start my new job tomorrow, and they’ve asked me to get there at 7 in the morning. I won’t be able to take Kayla to school tomorrow, so I need you to do it.”

I nodded. “Of course, I will. What’s the name of her new school?”

“Clearview Elementary School.”

The school was no more than about fifteen minutes away, so that was feasible.

“Make sure you get some rest, and know that we’ll figure everything out as we get there.”

She nodded and went back to unpacking their boxes. I took one final look before walking out of the room.