Chapter 1
Isolation
It was the last day before Thanksgiving break and Kaycee had just gotten out of her last class of the day. She was really excited. Her foster mother, Meredith, was taking her on a surprise trip. The surprise was the destination. The older woman was normally horrible at keeping secrets from Kaycee, but she was doing a great job. No matter how Kaycee hinted at it, she never faltered and gave the answer away.
Meredith did everything a mother is supposed to do for Kaycee and she loved her for it. Kaycee smiled as she thought of the woman who had helped her finish packing the night before. From what they had packed, the only thing she could guess what that is was going to be cold where ever they were going; colder than it was in L.A. for November anyway.
She parked the car in front of their house and quickly walked up the front steps and immediately felt that something was wrong; the front door was wide open. Meredith was a bit of a control freak and would never have left it open.
"Meredith?" She called out as she laid her book bag by the door. She continued to walk down the hall toward the living room with no answer from the woman. She turned around the corner into the room and let out a terrifying scream as she saw the scene before her.
Meredith was lying face down in the middle of the room. The coffee table was broken and glass was everywhere. Kaycee ran over to her and turned her over.
"Mere?" She moved a strand of hair out of the woman's face and gently shook her. "MERE?" She screamed.
Kaycee checked for a pulse and after finding none she freaked out and started slapping Meredith's face. "You cannot leave me; wake up." Kaycee started hyperventilating as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed 9-1-1.
She heard the phone connect but was shaking so bad that she drop the phone. She heard the operator; "This is 9-1-1, what's your emergency?", but didn't try to retrieve the piece of technology. She backed away from the body and found herself against the wall where she hugged her knees to her chest and started openly crying. Her whole body was shaking from the bone-crushing sobs that were coming out of her tiny frame.
She started to rock back and forth, hitting her head against the wall slightly. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend that she was imagining things. But when she opened them she had to look anywhere but at the body. She noticed that the whole living room was completely ransacked. She closed her eyes again and started crying even harder. This was her senior year; everything was supposed to be perfect. She felt everything start to fall apart around her and there was nothing she could do about it.
Within five minutes Kaycee heard the sirens getting closer to her house. She hugged herself tighter, hoping that this was a dream. That any minute she would wake up and find Meredith sound asleep in bed. But somehow she knew this was real.
Kaycee heard footsteps followed by a knock on the opened front door. "Hello, is there anyone here?" Kaycee couldn't bring herself to answer; she just couldn't seem to find her voice. She could hear the officers slowly make their way toward the living room. Her eyes were blurry from her unshed tears and she couldn't make out their faces when they finally reached her. One of them cleared the room toward Kaycee and knelt down next to her. He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" Kaycee didn't say anything or give any indication that she understood what he had said. "I am going to need you to come outside with me." Kaycee allowed him to pull her to her feet and lead her out of the house, past the scene that she would most likely never be able to get out of her head.
The officer led her to the squad car outside and opened the front door for her. "I'll be honest and tell you that it isn't going to get easier for while. But you can start by telling me everything you remember since you arrived home." Kaycee sat started to rock back and forth as she remembered the uneasy feeling she felt when she saw the front door open.
She really didn't want to speak and there wasn't much she knew anyway. But she knew she had to talk. "I just got home from school..." Kaycee had to stop herself and take a couple deep breaths. The officer didn't seem impatient at all; he just quietly waited until she could continue. "The front door was open and that was odd for me..." Kaycee completely broke down this time and the sobs that she had suppressed had returned and she couldn't continue.
"That's fine." He looked up from his note pad that he had been writing on and looked her in the eyes. "I'm just going to need you to answer my questions. I'll try to keep them as yes or no answers; you can just nod your head."
Kaycee nodded her head to let him know that she understood what he said and waited for him to continue.
"You're Kaycee Bristol, is that correct?" Kaycee nodded as she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on his voice to help her block out the images in her mind.
"Did you see anyone enter or leave the house after you arrived?" She shook her head.
"Was your mother suicidal?" She shook her head again. She had opened her eyes now and watched the officer as he wrote down every question and answer.
"Was she married?" Kaycee shook her head again and couldn't help but notice the way he was using past tense. Yet it really didn't sink in until she saw the stretcher being brought out of the house. She started to cry again.
"Kaycee, I need you to look this way." She tore her eyes from the multiple bodies now coming and going from the house and turned back toward him.
"Was she seeing anyone?" He continued; another no.
"Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt her?" No.
"Child services should be here shortly to help." Kaycee wanted to shout: I'm not a child, but she just nodded her head.
"I want you to just stay in the car until they arrive." Like I have anywhere to go; another nod. He walked away from her. She could still hear everything that they were saying and she was trying to tune them out so she shut the door.
Kaycee sat there, in the front seat of the police car and watched all sorts of uniformed people go into and come out of her home. Home... She thought. She would never be able to call that place home.
Kaycee had stopped crying at this point but she knew that there would be more tears to come later when she was alone.
After what felt like a lifetime, a woman in a business suit walked over to the car and opened the door. "Kaycee," she whispered. "I'm from child services, my name is Ms. White." She extended her hand toward Kaycee, intending to help her out of the car.
Kaycee just looked at the lady's outstretched hand and helped herself out. She waited for the woman to speak again.
She motioned for Kaycee to head over to the car that she had just exited. She opened the passenger door for Kaycee and closed it after she got it.
"Seeing as you are a minor," she started as she climbed into the car and buckled up, "we have to take to the Child Services Department." Ms. White pulled away from the house and Kaycee had to control herself from turning around and taking a last look; she really didn't need that image stuck in her head.
"We are in the process of getting a hold of your foster mother's will." Kaycee didn't want to talk about this now. She didn't even want to think about it.
She glanced at Kaycee as she pulled into the building's parking lot. "Until we do that, I'm afraid you are going to have to stay at a temporary foster home." The engine cut off and neither of them moved to get out of the vehicle. "It could take a few days."
Kaycee nodded her head. "You're not going to speak are you?"
Kaycee shook her head as she opened the car door and got out. "Come on, let's get you inside then and they'll decide what needs to be done from here." Ms. White said as she locked the car doors. They walked through a couple doors and found a secretary at her desk. They quickly caught her attention. "Where is Mrs. Bristol's attorney waiting for us?" She started drumming her fingers on the counter, waiting as the secretary shuffled through some papers.
"She is in the first interrogation room. She requested that you join them if it was alright with the child." She stated as she looked at Kaycee.
"I'm no child." She wanted to scream again but she still couldn't find her voice so she just turned and followed into the interrogation room. She saw another one of her mother's friends and attorney, Julia Sykes, sitting at the table.
"Kaycee, I'm sorry!" Julia nearly jumped out of her chair and hugged Kaycee. "Oh sweetie," She didn't say anymore as Kaycee fiercely hugged her back. "I'm going to take care of you, love. I promise." She let go of her and lead her to the chair next to hers. She then indicated for Ms. White to take a seat.
"My name is Julia Sykes, there is a reason I asked you to join us." She took some folders out of her brief case and slid them across the table. "I've been looking over Meredith's will and I found something strange." She looked at Kaycee as the woman opened the folder and began reading.
"So, Julia," Mrs. White said as she closed the folder and slid it back across the table. "Do you think it is a good idea to send her to someone she has never met?"
Kaycee was having a hard time following the conversation. What are they talking about? She looked at Julia, silently asking her to explain.
"Kaycee, have you ever heard of Rosalind Simms?" Kaycee thought for a moment and was sure that she had heard the name before but she knew that she have never met the person, so she shook her head no.
"Well, it states in your mother's will that if anything was to happen to her before you turn 18, that you were to go live with Rosalind and her family." Kaycee's eyes started to tear up at the idea of leaving the only town she had ever known.
"It says here that she is widowed with one son: Tyler Simms, age 17." Julia closed the second file she was looking in and turned her body to completely face Kaycee. "I know you don't want to go, but it would be easier for you to deal with what is going on there."
"What makes you think that Kaycee won't just run away when she gets the Simms' place?" Mrs. White asked, as if Kaycee wasn't sitting right there.
"I know Kaycee won't run away because I was her mother's best friend." She turned back to Kaycee. "Look sweetheart, I think this is best for you. I've already called Mrs. Simms." Julia gave Kaycee a strange look that she wasn't quite sure how to decipher. "If seems that Meredith already purchased tickets for you two to fly out there tomorrow."
Kaycee shook her head, barely believing what they were saying. Why would Meredith want to take me to meet an old high school friend?
"They live in Massachusetts." Kaycee's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. Massachusetts was all the way on the other side of the country. "I know it's far, Kay. But you'll be grateful later." Kaycee couldn't think of anything to do other than shake her head. Everything was happening so fast.
Julia turned toward Mrs. White. "Thank you for bring Kaycee here." She smiled. "You can head back to the house and please have some female officers go through her belongings and pack all her clothes, anything to do with her sketch pad, and her laptop. Thank you." Mrs. White nodded before exiting the room.
"Come on Kay. I'm cleared to take you back to my place tonight." Julia got up from her seat and Kaycee followed her out of the office. "Kaycee, I understand that this is going to be hard for you." She threw her arm over Kaycee's shoulder. "Just know that you can call me if you need anything."
Kaycee nodded her head as she opened the door to Julia's F150. When they pulled into Julia's driveway everything was kind of a blur for Kaycee. She barely remembered Julia telling her that there was a bag prepared for her in the spare room, that her luggage was in the car for the flight in the morning, and that if she was hungry they could order something.
Kaycee just nodded and headed for the spare bedroom. She didn't even bother to undress before she fell on the bed. She was out cold before her head hit the pillow.
.
Kaycee woke up at six o'clock in the morning when the bedside alarm went off; Julia must have come in and set it before going to bed. Kaycee could hear running water, so she assumed that Julia was in the shower. At the thought of a shower, Kaycee slowly got out of bed and made her way to the attached bathroom with her bag in hand.
Kaycee quickly showered and dried herself off with a towel before opening her bag to see what was inside. She knew that a female officer had more than likely gone through her room and grabbed items that she could take for Kaycee.
Inside the bag was a few pair of socks and panties; along with two jeans, three shirts, and one sweater. The only shoes she had were the black knee high boots she had wore to school the day before but she thought they were comfortable anyway. They matched the plain black hoodie that was in the bag anyway. She just pulled out some undergarments and a pair of light denim jeans. She then put her dirty clothes in a plastic bag and put them inside the duffle bag. She grabbed both her backpack and her duffle bag and headed down stairs to wait for Julia.
"Hey, glad to see that you are ready." Julia walked down the stairs so slowly that it seemed that the shower had not helped in waking her up. "Are you hungry at all, we can stop and get something on the way to the airport?" Kaycee just shook her head and headed for the door as Julia grabbed her purse and keys.
"Alright kiddo, let's get out of here." Kaycee barely had time to thinking about anything. To her everything seemed to be moving so fast. She just let herself be pushed along by the wave and tried not to think about what had happened. The one thing she knew was that things were never going to be the same again.
Julia had wanted to wait with Kaycee for her plane but security wouldn't let her through the security check without her own ticket. She had made Kaycee promise to text her as soon as she landed, and again Kaycee just nodded her head whenever Julia spoke to her or just shrugged when it wasn't a question she could answer with yes or no. This was starting to worry Julia. She had heard about kids who had severe depression who wouldn't talk to anyone at all. She had decided that they just wasn't much she could to on her end and would just keep in contact with the family where Kaycee was staying and see what her progress was.
Julia kissed Kaycee on the cheek and watched her walked through security and waited until she was completely out of sight before heading back to her car. Kaycee was kind of glad to be alone, she was tired of trying to look and act normal; things would never be normal for her again.
But she did agree with Julia on one thing: having to move all the way across country was sure to help her. No one there would know anything about what had happened with her mother or her past. She would be able to start new, and not have to worry about people feeling sorry for her.
She didn't know how long this silence would last but she just didn't feel like talking to anyone. It was as if she had lost the will to speak. She knew if she wanted to fit in at her new school, she was going to have to get over that really quickly. But for now she had a week to deal with her emotions in her own way.
Kaycee had listened to Julia talk about the family on the over to the airport. The son, Tyler, was going to meet her in Boston. She even had a picture of him from the file that Julia had, so she had given it to Kaycee, to make it easier to find him when she got off the plane. She had only taken one look at the picture before sticking it inside her purse.
Julia seemed to know that Kaycee didn't want to talk so she filled the ride with talk of where Kaycee was going and everything she knew of the family. Kaycee had learned that Tyler went to a private school called Spencer Academy, and that he was on the swim team. This pleased Kaycee, even if she didn't show it outwardly, because she was also on the swim team. She learned that he was an only child and that he came from a wealthy family, which kind of made her uncomfortable. He lived alone with his mother in Ipswich, Massachusetts, which was about a forty-five minute drive from Boston, where her plane would be landing. And that was everything that Julia knew or was allowed to tell her.
Now that she was at her terminal and alone, Kaycee brought the picture out of her purse and looked at it closely. There was something familiar about the boy but she just couldn't explain it. It was like she had seen him before but didn't know where. She had decided that he was a very good looking guy, perhaps not her type. But he looked sweet and caring, so she knew that if she let herself, they would be really good friends. He had the same blonde hair that she used to have; her hair was now streaked with dark blonde and brown highlights. He also had blue eyes like she did. There was no way of telling how tall he was, they picture looked like it was from a school year book. Judging by the fact that he had some kind of crest on his jacket pocket, she was assuming that his private school was also a uniform school. At least that way she wouldn't stand out.
Kaycee closed her eyes. "Well goodbye L.A." She whispered to herself. This really was going to be one heck of a change. Kaycee leaned her head against the chair..
She felt someone sit next to her in the row of chairs but didn't move or open her eyes. She was quite comfortable. She was getting a bit irritated though. She was about to get up and walk around when the person next to her cleared their throat.
"Kaycee?" She snapped her eyes open and her head toward the person sitting next to her.
"Tyler?" She barely whispered. She was dead tired and wanted some sleep. She rubbed her eyes and continued to stare at him.
"That would be me." He smiled at her, which for the first time in the past couple hours, made her smile back.
"I thought you were picking me up in Boston?" Kaycee stared at the boy next to her and again got the feeling that there was something familiar about him but she just couldn't place her finger on it at the moment.
"That was the plan, but I was restless, so I boarded a flight from Boston straight to Los Angeles." Tyler looked over at the flight board to check the flight. "I'm sure you want to be left alone, with peace and quiet, so when we bored the plane I'll let you get some sleep." He said as he looked back at Kaycee.
"Thanks. I am pretty tired." Kaycee had been ignoring people all day and not speaking about anything. Now she kind of felt bad: here was someone who generally cared about what she wanted and she felt kind of rude. "I don't mean to be rude Tyler; I've just had a really long day."
"Don't worry about it. I'll fill you in on anything you need to know about Ipswich when we land. There is plenty for me to tell you that will keep your mind occupied." Tyler stood up and extended his hand out to her. "Anyway, our plane is boarding."
