Hidden Burdens (working title)

Chapter Seven

Since it was close to the kids getting out of school for the day, Ben and Kayla decided not to take Kimmy shopping and left her alone for now. Eventually, Ben left to pick up the other kids and asked Kimmy if she wanted to go for the ride, which she declined. He assured Kayla was downstairs in the kitchen if she needed anything.

Kimmy continued to watch YouTube videos in her room over the next couple of hours, still sitting in the same spot on the bed. 

Once the current video finished, she set the tablet on the bed beside her, having caught up on the videos on Stephen's gaming channel she missed these last few weeks. It was nice having something familiar again after enduring the nightmare her life seemed to be. She missed the hilarity of Stephen and the random stuff that comes out of his mouth. In fact, her cheeks were sore from laughing so much, causing her to rub at them.

While gazing around the room, she noticed the window behind her and crawled across the bed to look out at the backyard.

The group home was the first house Kimmy ever lived in. Their family always lived in apartments, moving from one to another every few years. So, looking outside and not seeing a parking lot with cars parked under those shade covers or dumpsters was different. In a good way, anyway. 

Though, her gaze caught sight of the neighbor's trash bins around the corner. The black bin's lid was open and Kimmy could see leaves and sticks coming out of the top. Beside the bins was a lawnmower, and a weed whacker leaning against the gray cement brick wall. It was something the guys, who came once a week at their current apartments to mow the small spots of grass and blow the leaves and stuff, used back at their apartments.

Kimmy scanned the neighbor's backyard. On the other side were a bunch of lawn chairs surrounding one of those fire pits. Even from there she could tell it probably hasn't been used in almost a year from the coat of dust from the recent monsoon season.

She sat back on her legs while taking in the new and unknown sights.

Kimmy sat there, staring out the window for a while until she heard someone come into the room, causing her to flinch in their direction.

"You must be the new kid," Claudia said, unfazed by the response. She headed for her side of the room and dropped her backpack on the bed. She introduced herself, assuring Kimmy she did not mind kids.

Kimmy stared back, not saying a word.

Claudia sat on her bed and tried to make small talk, hoping to get the kid talking. Everyone has tried to get her to talk. They go on and on and ask her questions, but usually give up when Kimmy never responds. Not that she never tried. Sometimes Kimmy responded inside her head. But she could never get the words to escape her mouth.

After a while, Kimmy turned her gaze away, unable to hold eye contact any longer. Instead, she stared down at the bed. When things got too much for her, Kimmy reached for the tablet and returned to watching Stephen and Mal play Pokemon Let's Go.

"What's that you're watching?" she heard Claudia ask, curious.

Kimmy continued watching without acknowledging the older girl. It wasn't like she was trying to ignore the older girl. Hearing question after question can get a bit overwhelming.

Soon, the other two kids were standing in the open doorway to say hello to Kimmy.

Mary came in, heading over to sit on Claudia's bed, with Miguel sprinting over and leaping behind her before crawling between the girls. She introduced herself and her brother, who waved as he said hello.

Kimmy glanced up for a moment, but continued watching the video.

Thankfully, Ben came to Kimmy's rescue. "Alright, you three. Give Kimmy some space," he told them.