Chapter 1
The first thing, Kim Bauer saw was her mother's lifeless body in the arms of her dad. Her whole body had gone numb with shock. She stood there at the doorway, not knowing what she should do. She wasn't supposed to have gone to this room, but after waiting twenty minutes for her dad, she had decided to go into the room to see what was going on. She had thought she would walk into a room of happiness, with heaps of hugging and her parents crying tears of happiness that they were safe. But instead, she saw her dad crying and hugging her mother so tightly. It almost seemed like he was afraid to let her go, like if he was to, then she would just disappear into thin air.
Finally, her father noticed her, "What are you doing in here Kim? I told you to wait outside!"
"Daddy," she replied, "What's wrong with mum? She's going to be all right isn't she?"
Kim then noticed how her words sounded. She felt like she was behaving like a little kid, asking if her bird was only sleeping.
"Kim… sweetheart, I am so sorry…"
"No, she can't be dead!" she said, "Mum can't be dead. She was okay when I was talking to her on the phone."
Kim then sat next to where her dad was sitting and she stared at her mother's face and then, her mother's bloody wounds. Kim then knew, just by looking at her, that her mother was now gone from this world.
"How could this happen? How could she be dead? You said you would protect her! You said everything would be okay!!"
"Kim, I got here too late… she was already dead."
"Are you sure? She could have been still alive… you could have gotten help."
"Kim…"
"So who… did this?"
"It was Nina Myers."
Kim couldn't believe what she was hearing. The woman that had protected them at the safe house and who had been there for them, had murdered her mother.
"I don't understand," Kim said, "It couldn't be her. She was helping us all the time. Why would she murder mum?"
"She was a mole… she was working for the people that kidnapped you and your mum."
Kim didn't know what she could do now. She felt so sad, lost, confused and so angry. She then stood up and said, "Daddy, I can't do this anymore."
"What can't you do?"
"After today, I have realized how dangerous your work is and how, all around us there is death. Today has been the most horrible day of my life but what kept me going was the fact that afterwards everything would be okay. That you, mum and me could live a normal life once again. But now she's gone… I don't think I can live a normal life ever again."
Her dad looked at her mum's body who was still in his arms.
"I can understand, Kim. I feel the same way."
Later on, Kim and her dad finally arrived back to the house. It had been hours ago, since they had been there last. But once inside, everything felt so different from ever before. It was because she, Teri Bauer was no longer with them.
"Daddy," Kim said, interrupting her dad who had been staring quietly of a happy family portrait.
"What is it Kim?"
"I never realized, until today how much I loved mum. I feel bad about being so offish to her. You know, I wasted so much time and now she's gone and I will never see my mum again!"
Kim then broke down in tears and her dad had to try to make her feel better, even though, he knew nothing would make her feel better.
"But, Kim, at least you made things better between you and her in the end and…"
"Dad, don't you feel the same way? You left us and then came back only to have her taken away from you so soon."
Kim's words were true and for the next few days, he kept his distance from his daughter because, he just didn't know what to say. Soon, even Kim saw a change in the dad that she loved so much. He no longer worked and he spent his days doing nothing except for talking about what he should have done and what he could have done differently, and occasionally he would talk about the old good times. His appearance also changed. He no longer shaved and now had a long beard that made him look 3 times his age.
Most of the time, Kim would also try to stay away from her dad. She found it too difficult being around him, since he was so miserable and him being miserable had made her feel even worse about the death of her mum. She also knew, that her dad blamed herself for her mum's dead, and she couldn't blame him… since she also felt that it had been her fault that her mother was now gone. She would always think, if only I hadn't gone out with Janet. With that being said, Kim also missed her best friend, Janet. Janet had been pulled into the situation when she hadn't had anything to do with what had really been going on. Poor Janet, Kim would sometimes think, she didn't deserve to die like that… her death is my fault too.
Finally, it was the day of the funeral. Kim had been asked to do a speech in dedication of her mother.
She got walked up the church aisle to where her mum's coffin was laying open. Kim glanced inside and decided that while she read the speech, she would look at her mum, since this would be the last time she would ever see her mum in person.
"My mum was one of my favourite people and she was there for me when I needed her the most…" Kim then decided to scrap that speech and start again, "Mum, I wish that I hadn't gone out with Janet because then, you would be still with us. But thanks mum for being there for me on that day, when I was so scared. I never realized until that day, how great you were. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time… I wish I had known how great you were before that. It was unfair of me to blame you for dad leaving us for that short period of time. Mum, there's so much I wish to tell you… and if you were here I would tell you everything about how I feel and… I miss you so much."
After that, everyone went outside to see the coffin be put underground where it would stay there forever. Watching this, Kim felt like such a little kid. She was crying her eyes out and screaming, "Mum, don't go. I'm not ready for you to leave me yet." But the truth was, she probably would have never been ready for her mum to leave her… and now, life would never be the same again.
When the funeral had ended, Kim and her father stayed at the gravestone. It was getting late when Kim said, "Dad, we got to go."
He wouldn't reply back to her. Then, Kim knew that if she was to recover from that fated day's events then she would have to leave her dad and go elsewhere. But where would she go?
NEXT TIME:
Kim has to confront her dad about leaving home and we also meet her boyfriend from Day 2.
Please review. Critism is most welcomed since it helps me improve on my writing skills.