Richard walked into the dining room to have dinner with his family. They ate in silence till Sheila broke the silence.
"Dad, I still want to study Dance," She said and drank out of the ginger water in her mug. Richard sighed heavily before he responded.
"I thought we'd discussed this already," Richard said.
"Let's finish eating and y'all can discuss this later," Caitlyn suggested.
"I would have gone with that but I doubt Dad will have the time. He's been really busy these days. Isn't that true?" Sheila asked. Richard knew right then that his daughter wanted to fight with him. He held his fork tightly and tried to be calm.
"What else needs to be discussed about this? We have agreed you would study English and then proceed to Law school. Why do you want to waste four years in college and then end up without a job or a low-wage job that won't be able to cover your expenses? Who brought the idea of Dance into your head?" Richard asked in a dangerously low voice.
"I'm not interested in studying English, father! I have lived all my life dancing, being on the cheerleading team, representing my school, and winning trophies and awards. Do you think I will give up Dance to be stuck with Law? Why didn't you stop me from dancing all these years?" Sheila shouted and stood.
"Don't scream at me, Sheila. I didn't stop you because I thought it was just normal after-school activities. Every child deserves things apart from academics in life. Your care-free life is about to end, you will be 18 in a few months and you have to start taking responsibility to have a good future," Richard insisted.
"I'm done having this conversation with you. Do you think I will succumb to this Law shit? Henry, I will advise you to buckle down with your academics cause Dad won't let you be a professional basketballer," Sheila said, she picked up her plate and made to go to the kitchen.
"Sheila, wait, you aren't done eating," Caitlyn said.
"I've suddenly lost my appetite. Moreover, Jordyn should be expecting me at her place," Sheila responded and walked out of the kitchen.
"Everyone's really on some deep negative energy recently. Why don't we have a short family vacation or a trip to some nice places next weekend? " Henry asked and smiled.
"That sounds great. I will reschedule my meetings so we can go on the trip by next Friday. After a three days trip, we will come back on Sunday. It's been a long time since we've done that. You kids can tell us where you wish to go, Sheila should be happy about it. What do you think?" Richard asked and looked at his wife. Caitlyn smiled, reached out to hold her husband's hand, and gave it a soft squeeze.
"I will ask for 3 days off, we all need this. Thank you Henry for bringing this up," Caitlyn said.
"I would love to go to Puerto Rico," Simeon said and joined the conversation. Sheila returned to the dining room to meet her siblings and parents in a better mood. She was still too upset to ask them what they were discussing.
"Can I borrow your car mum? I don't want to go in a taxi," Sheila said.
"Yes, you can. Please drive carefully and make sure you return home early to meet your Aunt," Caitlyn said.
"Alright mum, you said that minutes ago." Sheila said and began to walk away.
"Check my car key in th..." Caitlyn began to talk but her daughter interrupted.
"I've taken the key," Sheila responded and walked out of the house. The sound of Caitlyn's car leaving the garage was heard.
"Why did she ask when she's taken the key already?" Caitlyn asked rhetorically.
"Aunty Ashley's coming? Oh my God!!!" Henry screamed.
"Oh yes, she's coming," Caitlyn responded and smiled.
"Her tummy will be so big already. It's been a while since I've seen her," Simeon commented.
"Alright kids, help mummy with the plates. I need to clean up quickly," Caitlyn said and stood. Her kids carried the plates to the kitchen while she stayed to talk to Richard.
"I know you want to discuss Sheila's course preference, but you have to know that I'm in a hurry. I need to leave now but I will surely come home before midnight. If you aren't asleep then we can talk about it. Bye," He said hurriedly and left her standing while staring into the air. She joined her sons in the kitchen to clean up. After they were done washing, she went to her room while her sons went to their rooms.
She opened the drawer of her dressing table and picked up the card Khloe gave to her. She had dropped it there when she came back from work. She held it and stared at it for a long time before dropping it again. Caitlyn stood and walked out of her room to get the bottle of red wine she was drinking earlier in the kitchen. She picked up a glass cup and went to her room. She poured out the wine and sipped slowly.
"I should play Red, " She whispered and stood. She put the glass cup on her working desk and walked over to her vinyl player. She put in a record of "Red" by Taylor Swift and walked back to her desk. She picked the glass and began to dance to the song. Caitlyn danced, twirled, and drank wine till the song ended. She sat again while breathing heavily.
"That was fucking good," She said and laughed hysterically while wiping off the tears that had begun to fall on her cheeks. She sniffed and picked up her phone. She called her daughter, who picked on the seventh ring.
"Jesus mum! You should know that I'm having a nice time with Jordyn. I left my phone in their kitchen, it was her mum that brought it to Jordyn's room. I'm currently in the middle of a monopoly game. What's the problem? Simeon finally burnt down the house?" Sheila asked quickly and Caitlyn doubted whether she took in the air while talking.
"Just wanted to make sure you've arrived at Jordyn's. And no, Simeon didn't burn the house," Caitlyn said. She knew that her daughter was referring to an incident that happened months ago. Simeon had come home from school earlier than the others. Since he was still in elementary school, he sometimes came home by school bus if Henry had an after-school basketball training session. On that fateful day, Simeon got home and decided to cook something. Since they all had the keys to the house, he was able to access the building. He fell asleep while the food was being cooked. He woke later to see the whole house filled with smoke. He was lucky to have woken up in time before a big fire incident started. He hurriedly called the fire department with the house phone and rushed out to inform the neighbors.
"Thank goodness, I thought he's in some kind of trouble cause you rarely call multiple times if I don't pick up. Then you've never called me while I'm at Jordyn's, is something wrong? Your voice sounds shaky," Sheila said. Caitlyn knew that her daughter has always been super sensitive since she was a kid. She quickly notices changes in animals, environment, and body language of people, which Caitlyn found odd while she was growing and she still found odd when Sheila was almost 18.
"I just called to check in on you. I think I'm allowed to do that. Goodnight," Caitlyn said and ended the call. She took a deep breath, she saw a call from Sheila but she didn't pick up. She switched off the phone and lay on her bed.
"I just wanted to talk to her, I guess I shouldn't have tried to ruin her sleepover with her best friend," Caitlyn thought and shut her eyes tightly. A horrible sad feeling sank into her and she tried to wave it away by forcing herself to sleep. After several minutes of rolling in bed, she stood and walked around the house to make sure the doors and windows were locked. She checked everything and was satisfied with the result, everything was locked. That was a normal routine for her.
She walked into her sons' bedrooms to make sure they were asleep. She decided to go to Henry's room first, he was asleep and she gave him a light kiss on the forehead. She walked into Simeon's room and found the bulb of the room still switched on. She walked over to her son's bed, and gave him a light kiss on the forehead. She was about to leave the room when she heard the sound of a car's engine. She knew that her husband had come home. She checked the clock in Simeon's room and the time was 11:45 pm. She remembered that Richard had promised to come home before midnight. She walked out of the room after switching off the bulb and came into the sitting room. She was about to walk towards the door to open it for her husband, though she knew he had the key when she saw something across the street. She rushed over to the window to get a closer look. She blinked and backed away from the window. The door to the house opened and Richard stepped inside.
"Did you see that? Richard, did you see that?" She asked him and hurriedly looked at him.
"See what?" Richard asked and Caitlyn looked at the street again.
"Oh my God, I swear I saw it. Two fucking glowing eyes down the street," Caitlyn explained frantically.
"Relax, Caitlyn. There's nothing out there. That's pure darkness, it's almost midnight and nothing is glowing out there," Richard explained and tried to calm his wife.
"I saw it and then... it was staring at me...I looked at you to explain what I saw….. and then it disappeared from the street…." Caitlyn said and bit her lips to stop them from trembling.