Knee Deep

One

"You're going to live with your Aunt Susanne for the summer." Katherine's mother said straight-forwardly.
"What? She's so weird!" Katherine said, practically screaming.
"She's my younger sister, Katherine. I promise you'll be fine."
"I don't want to move to The Caribbean!"
"Do you realize how absurd you sound? Most girls your age would kill to spend a summer in the Caribbean." 
"Yeah, but not with their deranged relative." as Katherine said as she  folded her arms.
"You need to pack, you leave tomorrow." Said Katherine's mother.
"I thought I left on Wednesday?"
"It's Tuesday, honey. You must've lost track of time. Pack your bags."

Katherine walked away. She went to her bedroom and silently said her farewells. Oh course this was only for a summer, but that was 3 whole months.

Katherine was driven to the airport at 2:00
her mother, and she took a 6 hour plane ride from Arizona to her Aunt Susanne's home. At the airport in the Caribbean, she saw her Aunt Susanne waiting for her.

Although Katherine's mother was 42, her Aunt Susanne was only 29. She was still young, and she wasn't unattractive...she just had an unattractive personality. Her Aunt Susanne was actually quite beautiful. Katherine's mother and Aunt Susanne have very similar features. They both have long, naturally strawberry blonde, and wavy hair. Of course Katherine's mother's hair was a bit more grey than reddish/orange but it still remained beautiful. Katherine's hair was blonde, but had less of a red tint to it. Her aunt was also very pretty in the face. A lovely bone structure, very similar to Katherine's. In short, Susanne looked like Katherine's older sister. As a matter of fact, she thought Susanne might just be normal for once.

"Katherine! I haven't seen you in 9 months." Susanne tripped on nothing, and she fell and her nose started bleeding.
"Um? Do you need any help? I have a Kleenex in my bag."
"Oh no Kathy I really like to free bleed. Let's take a cab home shall we." Said Susanne as she stumbled off to the baggage claim.

You would've thought Susanne was .01% close to getting alcohol poisoning. She acted like she was intoxicated. The two of them took a cab until they came to a wooden bridge. One of the rickety ones you only see in the movies. It was long, and looked extremely unstable. Susanne walked across it, as it started swinging. She held onto the "railing" which was really some old rope that looked like it could snap at any given second.

"Aunt Susanne, I really don't feel comfortable going over this. Are there any other entrances?" Asked Katherine reluctantly.
"Oh of course, this one's just the easiest. The other way is a 20 minute walk around the mountain that the house is on, and then a 5 minute hike until you get to the back door. That is if you know the way...my neighbors have a son about your age, maybe he could show you around." Said Susanne. She walked across it with no trouble.
"Ask a neighbor? Well I'm not walking across this. I guess I have to go on a 25 minute trek up this weird mountain shack. Good lord."

There was only one neighbor. One house, close to where Susanne's house was. It wasn't surprising that most people didn't want to live on mountains that required a near death bridge walk or a rock climbing contest with no prize to just come to their home.
"I've got to knock on this door." Katherine thought.

Katherine knocked on the door, quietly though. She saw the door crack open where a young boy greeted her.

"Hey! Wait you're not Chris..."The boy said confusedly.
"Yeah I'm Katherine...I'm Susanne's niece. I'm staying here for the summer and I was just wondering if you could show me the...other way to get to the houses here?" Katherine asked.
"Hey I'm Tom. Yeah it's a long way, but I wouldn't mind helping a pretty new girl." He said.

Katherine smiled. Tom was actually very cute. He had square frame glasses that fit his face perfectly and an award-winning smile. His shaggy light brown hair matched his summer tan, and he was at least 6'3, and smelled as if he had bought the entire "For Men" section at Bath & Body Works.

"So how long have you been living here?" Asked Katherine.
"My whole life."
"It's beautiful"
"And inconvenient" He replied, while finishing Katherine's sentence in a way you would if you were dating someone.

Katherine missed a ledge and fell back. The scream she made could've been heard around the world.

"AHH!" Screamed Katherine.
"Careful!" Shouted Tom.

Tom's arms had Katherine safe. Thank God he was there or else she would've been dead.

"Um Katherine, are you okay?!" He said while staring deep into her eyes.
"Of course." Katherine said as he started into his big blue eyes.

His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue. They were undoubtedly the most beautiful color she had ever seen. It looked as if someone squirted one drop of blue food coloring into a bucket of water and let the water take over the dye, until it made a light, and refreshing shade that made you feel as if you were swimming in exotic, foreign waters.

"That's good to know." He said.

He helped her up, and smiled. Katherine had really underestimated how much she had fallen for this guy. She had only known of his existence for about 45 minutes, but she had somehow convinced herself that he was the one.

"We're almost there Kat!"
"Wait are you going to call me Kat? Because that's actually great!" Katherine said nervously.
"I was actually out of breath from walking uphill and couldn't quite finish my sentence, but that's cool if you're cool with it."
"I am so stupid." Katherine thought.

They had finally reached the top of the mountain. She could see her Aunt's house. It was only a few feet away, but for some reason the view was keeping her from going there.

"This almost feels...nostalgic." Said Katherine.
"Have you ever been here?" He asked.
"No not ever in my life, Susanne would always visit us." Katherine replied.
"Well maybe we could hang out sometime tomorrow?" He asked.
"I would really like that." Said Katherine as he walked her to the door.