Between Universes

Chapter Four

The end of the school year approached rapidly. All of the students were very excited for summer vacation, and Katherine was excited to be away from the awkward situation that was high school. She had only seen Henry one other time since the dance. He had glared at her viciously before turning the other way and stomping off, even though she remembered from past days that their classes were in the same direction.

Katherine kept Kat's grades up, which was easy with half of the class work that she was used to. Katherine could tell that Josephine was getting worried about not hearing from GenU or Kat, but Katherine was sort of enjoying the break from back home. She missed her family, but being able to experience a completely new world was fantastic. Especially one that, she kept reminding herself, technically revolved around herself. Even if she was acting as Kat.

Since it was the last day of school, she didn't have any homework and it was a half day. She finished with the last of her finals and was heading out to go home when Josephine came up to her.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I'm going to try and find some way to communicate with GenU. Don't do anything stupid." Katherine nodded and smiled at Josephine before they separated and she turned toward her home.

When she got there, no one else was home. She would normally have found this odd, but the high schoolers had a half day due to finals while the younger kids did not, and her mother—Kat's mother—would still be at work.

Katherine sat her school stuff down on the counter, and she returned to the kitchen to grab a small snack. She began to play some music on her phone. She hummed as she ate her snack, moving to the beat around her house. She began to sing, closing her eyes as she got louder. Her eyes opened to stop herself from slipping on the hardwood floor and she laughed openly at herself before looking at the door that she had stopped in front of. It was the only room in the house that she hadn't been in before. She had also noticed that her mother, nor her sister, ever mentioned it.

She slowly grabbed the doorknob, turning it and peeking inside of the room. It seemed to be some sort of office. There was a desk, and many bookshelves. Stepping inside the room, Katherine shut the door behind her and turned to get an even better look at the room.

There were framed papers on the wall, and everything was covered by a blanket of dust, as though it hadn't been touched in years.

This was Kat's dad's office.

Katherine made her way toward the desk. She moved to be behind it, so she could get a clear view of everything on the desk. She ran a hand over their family picture. The papers on the desk made soft noises as she sifted through them. She didn't know what they were. She didn't even know what Kat's dad used to do.

Sitting down carefully at the desk, she began looking through the drawers. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for. The manilla folders in the bottom drawer caught her attention. She took it out of the drawer before closing it with her foot. She placed the folder on the counter, opening it. She saw a legal document and she skimmed it, covering her mouth as things connected in her mind.

"Kat, I'm home!" She heard her mother shout from the floor below. Katherine jumped and shut the folder, shoving it back into the drawer before leaving the room as quietly as possible. She had just shut the door when her mother stepped up the stairs.

"How was your last day, honey?" She asked, smiling brightly at Katherine who was trying to keep the guilty look off of her face.

"It was fine. Happy the year is over, I guess." Kat's mother opened the door to her bedroom, but stopped and looked down at Katherine's pants.

"What's all over your pants?" Katherine glanced down and saw dust on her pants, she reached down to try and wipe it off to no avail.

"Um, just dirt, I guess. Kids were crazy trying to get out of the building today and I slipped on the way out."