What Happened

"Alright, Kailena, your turn?" my dad said as my big brother walked away from the door frame. Excitedly, i skip over and stand up straight with my back against the door frame. Every year before school started we measured our height. "Wow, Kai, two whole inches." dad smiled, "You are growing up so fast. Guess we need to buy a big brick." he chuckled. "Why?" I asked. "So, I can tie it to your head so you can't get any bigger. "I have to grow up some time, daddy. That's life. That's what Granny always says." I tell him. "You can't grow up. You have to stay my little girl forever." he joked. "Sorry, Daddy." I hugged him around his neck.

That was so many years ago. Tears roll down my face as my fingers touch on the door frame. I stand and start to walk around this old house. I haven't been here since that night. The night my life changed forever. The night I lost everything.

I was fourteen years old. I was at school rehearsing for the play that I had been cast as the female lead in. My friend's mom dropped me off at home after rehearsal. I said goodbye and walked to the door. i took out my key and let myself in. The house was quiet and I couldn't smell dinner. Normally mom would have a plate waiting for me. "MOM? DAD?" I called as I walked through the house. "Kel? Is anyone here?" I asked. No one answered. I walked into the living room, the tv was off. Which was strange, Dad would have been watching the highlights from whatever sporting event he had just finished watching. Like he missed a play or whatever. I walked into the kitchen, it was clean with no plate waiting for me. I checked the fridge and the pot roast mom said she was making for dinner sat in the fridge still uncooked. This is when I started to worry. I ran up the stairs to my brother's room. I knocked but he didn't answer. I open the door, it was dark and silent. He always stayed up late playing video games.

I pulled out my phone and messaged, "Where are you guys?" in the family group text. No one answered. After five minutes, I start calling their phones. Still no one answered. I called Granny, "Granny, have you heard from mom or dad or Kel today?" I inquired. "No." she responded. "No one is home and they wont answer my calls or texts." I explain as I started to cry. "Calm down, I am on my way. We will sort this out when I get there." she responded and we hung up.

I sat on the couch in the living room and waited for her. I couldn't imagine them just leaving me here alone. The house looked like they just left. Nothing looked out of place, it was clean as mom kept it. Nothing made sense. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Someone knocked at the door. I gasped and looked towards the front door in fear.

"Kai, it's me!" I heard granny call. I jumped up and ran to the door. I jerked it open and hugged her. "Calm down, sweetheart. Maybe they just went out." she tried to assure me as she led me back to the couch. "They would have told me or answered a text." I cried on her shoulder. "Don't worry so much. They will call or come home soon." Granny soothed.

An hour passed and still no word from anyone. I could see even Granny was getting worried. I tried texting and calling each of them again. An other hour and nothing. "Should we call the police?" I asked. "It's too early. We don't know that they just didn't go to a movie. Kel could be at a party at his friends'" Granny responded. I could see even she didn't believe her own story. We waited another hour and still no word. Granny decided it was time to report them missing. The police showed u and checked the house. There was no evidence to suggest that they had left town or where any of them could be. They found cell phones still on chargers and cars in the garage. They were baffled.

With no information, I moved in with Granny. It was hard for the both of us. She was old and living on social security. That was barely enough for her to live on. She let me finish the play, sitting front row on opening night clapping louder than anyone else. Then I had to get a job. That wasn't easy, not many places hired anyone under sixteen.

I finally found a job and started supporting myself. I had school, homework, and a part time job. When I turned sixteen my boss finally gave me full time hours. I no longer had time for friends or any relaxation time.

I cam home one day, after things had settled down, from school to find Granny crying at the kitchen table. I asked what was wrong. She wiped away her tears and put on her best smile. She asked me about school. She never liked to talk about serious things with me. She thought that I should be a teenager as much as possible. She lamented the fact that I had to work just to take care of us. She wanted me to be able to worry about having fun with my friends and getting ready for college. College? Yeah right, like I could ever afford to go to college. Besides, she needed me here. She couldn't live on her own, not anymore. Her walk to slow and her memory was fading. I was all she had.

A weeks later, I found an open letter on the kitchen table. I saw the word, Oncologist, at the top and I knew what she had been crying about. I took the letter and confronted her. "If you are dying you have to tell me. What am I supposed to do without you?" I cried. She said that she thought about that everyday. It wasn't fair for me to have lost my parents, and brother. That is when she took a folder out of the safe and handed it to me. Inside was all of the information for me to get emancipated, there were a lot of bonds in my name, and her will. She left everything she owned to me. "This should take care of you until you can find your own way. I know that it is not the same as having someone here with you but it is the best I can do. I know it will be hard. You will have to grow up so fast and alone. On your days off, I will be teaching you my recipes. Then you will be able to feed yourself." she explained. 

That night, I cried until my eyes burned and my head hurt. For the first time in my life, the next day I stayed home from school and I wasn't sick. I also called in to work. I just couldn't face people at that moment. Granny just let me be. She knew I was upset and I just needed to let it out. Later in the evening she brought me a banana split and a root beer float. She was trying to cheer me up a little.

Granny passed two months before my seventeenth birthday. They day after the judge granted my emancipation. Granny wanted to make sure it was set before...

After the funeral, I drove home by myself. I walked in that front door, I looked around at her things. The house was quiet, dark and I felt just as empty. I was alone, again. No more roast beef wafting through the house. No more being woken up by the smell of bacon cooking. It took a couple of weeks for me to even want to feel normal again. The school and my boss understood and allowed me all the time I needed. That was when it all started to sink in. I was on my own and I had to be responsible. Granny had already put all of the utilities in my name. I just needed to settle the estate and buy groceries. All the things no teenager should have to worry about. I skipped celebrating my birthday that year.

I sit in my parents' house and think about the past. I hope that I have done them proud. I hope that I have grown the way they wanted me to. I still wish they were here with me. So much has changed over the years. All but this house, it seems to be frozen in time. "Are you ready, honey?" a voice asks from behind me. I turn and smile at the man who has mad my world complete. He knows what happened and understands what it did to me. But, he still loves me, enough that in two weeks we will move into my childhood home. This is where we will build our lives together. My family may not be here but at least I can hold them close with the good memories made here.