Chapter 9: The Little Things
Every night, I parked my mom’s Tiida Sedan outside of Kate’s home and every night Kate was absent. Her father was there, most of the nights and I knew this because most nights he ambled outside and stared out into the streets as though he was waiting for someone; Kate, I suppose. He looked distraught usually with a half burnt cigarette dangling from his lips and his facial hair unkempt. For some strange and unknown reason, I saw myself in his chubby face and big belly. Kate’s father and I had an uncanny resemblance or perhaps, my mind was just playing tricks on me. Maybe, my mind was trying to show me what Kate saw when she saw me assaulting Mr. Peters. She saw her abusive father. But, no matter how abusive he was to her, he was clearly still missing her and so was I. I wanted to go talk to him at times but I never did. I just left him in his distraught state.
It took almost two weeks to finally come to the conclusion that Kate wasn’t at her home and she wasn’t planning on returning anytime soon. Again I realized, she was gone. Or then again, maybe she wasn’t. BOWA Writer’s Conference was just a couple of days away on Saturday and if I assumed correctly, she would arrive at the conference precisely ten minutes after it commenced. She seemed like the kind of person who would reach late to events since time was irrelevant and whatnot. The plan was to attend the writer’s conference on time and await the first shade of green that I could spot: a green sweater, green pants, or green shoes.
As life goes, my plan didn’t go accordingly because I woke up late. When Saturday finally arrived, it hit me the way all early mornings do, hard! It struck me in a daze as I woke up all flustered. I was late. Really late. I didn’t want to miss Kate, so I scurried off my bed, leaving it in its unmade state, and went straight to the bathroom where I took a bath so quickly that I barely even got wet.
I spent a bit more time brushing my teeth and putting on my clothes before I was out of the house. My mom wasn’t home but it didn’t matter, she would have slowed me down anyway. My mother’s main car was gone but the silver Tiida Sedan was still there parked in the driveway just begging to be driven.
Moments after grabbing the keys, I was on the road speeding past all the goodie-two-shoes who were too respectful to drive beyond the speed limit. I didn’t care though. It was 10:53 am and I had only seven minutes to get to a place that was an hour away.
At 12:25 am I arrived at the location which was a giant, glassy, classy building in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the city. Finding a parking spot was hell as most parking areas were filled to capacity. However, I managed to find a spot eventually. I then ran through the streets and into the glassy, classy building where the conference was being held. Sadly, it was over but luckily, it had only just ended. There was a large mass of people walking out of the room in which the conference was held. I pushed through the crowd in a violent fury as I tried my best to find my way into the conference room or spot Kate. There was a lot of green but none of them matched Kate, except one. I caught a glimpse of a green turtleneck sweater at the corner of my eyes. I only saw the behind but based on the little that I saw I was assured that it was Kate. I spun around and walked towards her, through the crowd. She went outside and was about to get into a car but before she did I placed my hand on her shoulder and said, “Kate.”
She turned to me and to my surprise, it wasn’t Kate. It was some other girl whom I had never met before.
“I’m sorry, wrong girl,” the girl smiled. “It’s Jessica.”
“Sorry, I thought you were someone else,” I said. “I’m Ronald. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. Hope you find your Kate,” the girl said before heading into her car and driving off.
I looked around in hopes of being able to find Kate but I couldn’t see her anywhere. Maybe she didn’t attend.
As, I stood there disappointed, in the distance, I spotted a white limousine pulling up at the entrance of the glassy, classy building which was a couple dozen feet away from the parking lot. A girl in a black lace top dress came out of it and rushed to the door but was stopped by a security guard. The security told her something then she headed back to the limousine. After about a minute I realized that it was Kate but it was too late at that point. She went back into the limousine and it took off. I had lost my chance and it was killing me.
I went about my summer as usual. My per-usual summer was playing video games and watching The Walking Dead over and over until I could quote each word from Rick Grimes.
“Maybe we got a second chance. Not many people get that.”
“You don’t know what it’s like out there. You may think you do but you don’t.”
“You thought there was a cure. You can’t blame yourself for holding out for hope.”
“I don’t know. I hear Nebraska’s nice.”