Chapter 9

walk away from the eatery.

One week later….

My birthday is in two days but, so much has happened in the last week. I do not feel like celebrating. Why would I want to be happy while I lay both my parents into the ground? It just doesn’t feel right. I have been living in their house since the tragedy. I was going to get a place in Bridgeport but, I just couldn’t make myself leave. Perhaps it’s guilt gnawing at me but, I want to be as close to them as possible right now. I can’t go in their room again. Not after it still smells like them. I can’t. I’ll continue to break. I am sleeping in my old room. Where I feel most like home. I have made all the phone calls. I have done everything that I could. I met with Walter Hofer yesterday. Victor had been called to Germany. Walter was a nice man, we had a good meeting. He is going to handle everything for me so I am not burdened with it. I appreciate everything. I need time to grieve my falling apart life.

I opened up to him. Told him how everything happened. I don’t know why but for some reason I laid out my heart to him about Owen, and how my life just continues to turn into chaos.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. I know it may hurt but, life has ways of evolving for the better. Owen, I have met, and if I had known you were with him. I would’ve found a way to steal a beauty like you. You’re too good for him. He’s a shark, he’s dirty, and he’s no good for you.” He said with finality.

“Thank you for the concern” I said to him as I shook his hand.

“Always a pleasure Ms. De Cheney” he said, he then kissed my hand like we were in an old-fashioned movie. I blushed and he smirked. He walked out of the house, and I felt a loss at his leaving I could not understand. I shrugged my shoulders. Ghost Adventures says “There are things in this world that we do not understand” this is the feeling I am getting right now. I do not understand how I feel connected to them on a spiritual level, and I doubt I will ever know.

I am walking out the door when I receive a message from Attorney Victor.

“The funeral arrangements are covered and set for next month. Everything is handled. Do not spend your birthday in despair, your parents would not want that.” I sigh, I know he is right. It just still hurts.

I decide to travel to Boston. I scurry through my mothers things. I know she keeps spare cash for weekend trips in her travel trunk. I find the envelope. There’s thousands of dollars in cash. There’s several hundred-dollar bills. I take a couple of stacks full. That should add up to ten thousand or more.

I look online for hotel arrangements near night clubs. I want to get shit faced and forget my bullshit month that I’m living through. I need this. I need to get drunk and lose myself for once in my life. I have not drank since college. I almost gave Owen my virginity, now I am so glad that I didn’t. I need a wild night.

I stash the money. Walk into my fathers office, I use the phone to call the hotel I found. I make my reservations. I call the airline; I make the first-class arrangements. I am all set to go. For once, I do not hide myself. I’ll deal with the aftermath. I let the airline and hotel know my family status. They know they’re getting a elite guest. A guest who ancestrally rich and from France. Most people may not realize it but, when you’re serving the elite class. Ancestral wealth is the oldest and richest wealth. It’s the most prestigious. It’s damn near saying you’re a princess of France.

For one night only, I do not want to be plain jane Katherine De Cheney. I want to be a princess like Gabrielle Le Fluer.

I smile to myself, in anticipation. I decide to look for high end hair designers in Boston, I also look for Boston’s shopping center for elite design clothes. I feel all set to go! Once my planning is complete. I exit dads study. I shut the door with a grave heart sealing the office forever until I can find the heart to clean it out. I don’t know what I am going to do with the house after all is done.

I check my flight status; I am leaving in 3 hours. I take some of my mothers signature clothes with me, I choose some of her finest high-heeled shoes, her perfume, her select pieces of jewelry. I find my old luggage still packed here. I fill the luggage with everything I need. I shut my parents door. I shut my bedroom door, as if sealing a tomb, feeling dead inside I walk down the stairs. I walk through the house. The cleaning crew did an impeccable job. If I keep the place, I’ll keep them in mind. I will not be able to sell it for awhile until it’s all cleaned out and I can’t deal with it right now.