Of All the Things that I Don't Know (Spot Conlon + OC)

Chapter 20

I sat down at my family's dining room table tentatively. The lights in our apartment were unusually dim, casting disturbing shadows about the living area, and my parents seated themselves stiffly across from me, a somberness evident in both of their shadowed stares. I looked apprehensively first to my mother's distant face and then my father's stern one.

"Katherine," he finally said lowly after several tense moments of silence had passed."We have tried time and again to manage you, child, but no matter what we do, you still remain completely out of control."

His statement struck me like a punch to the gut, and I felt my body buckle in response as I pleaded gently, "Papa, I know, but I can fix this. I can do better, I promise."

But he simply shook his head, his light eyebrows furrowing in angst as he severed our eye contact, stating quietly, "It's too late for that now. Our hands are tied. We have no other choice."

"No choice but what?" I whispered emotionally, feeling my heart rate begin to significantly increase, panic surging throughout my body as I quickly looked toward my mother, wide-eyed and helpless.

"Momma," I murmured, feeling fearful tears begin to build within my eyelids. "Momma, I can do better. Please."

But my mother, whose eyes shone glassy with her own unshed tears, quiveringly replied, "We have no other choice, my love. Our hands are tied."

And I found myself shaking my head, stifling a sob as I erratically rushed to her, grabbing her small, fragile hands in mine and kneeling before her, saying, "No choice but what, Momma?"

But all she managed to do was shake her head in response, pushing me to desperately grab her shoulders as I almost shrieked, "No choice but what?"

I felt myself unraveling further as she pulled away from me, moving stoically towards the edge of the room and disappearing into the shadows. I looked back to where my father was sitting, horrified when I found his chair suddenly empty.

"Papa!" I yelled, but my voice sounded strangely hollow and muted, my following cries barely discernible as I rushed to the place my father had been only moments before.

And suddenly, I jerked to a halt as I felt strong, cold fingers grip the back of my neck painfully. I whimpered, attempting to pull against them, but I merely felt the hold tighten and sharp fingernails dig roughly into my skin.

"No," I whispered pathetically, feeling my head pulled upwards as a handful of my hair was aggressively yanked back while I was forced roughly onto my stomach.

"Please," I whimpered, nausea flowing through me as my skirts were pushed up past my thighs, even in spite of my flailing limbs.

But a hot breath tickled the back of my neck as my head jolted upwards from a quick yank to my hair, a dark familiar voice growling, "I'll get control of you, pathetic whore."

"No!"

My screams echoed deafeningly, but I knew that no one would come to my aid. I was alone in my pain and my fear, flailing desperately amidst the darkness in the hopes of fighting my way to freedom. But, strangely, another familiar voice broke through the all consuming void I seemed to be floating within, slowly chipping away at the blackness with the repeated, gentle utterance of my name.

"Kate, come back."

I felt my body somewhat solidify onto a surface, my back stiff and aching. But the voice again penetrated through my delirium, whispering, "Kate, you're safe. Come back."

And almost as if I had finally been pulled to the surface from drowning, I reemerged sputtering and coughing, barely able to fill my lungs with air. My vision slowly returned as well, a pair of familiar blue eyes meeting my gaze.