Chapter 1- Get off My Case!
It was late Winter, and the snow was beginning to melt away, and the chill with it, to a mild Spring. Some people, like Ellen and Popuri, were excited by the warmth, returning to the cold land. Others were saddened by this, like May and Stu, because their days of snow angels and snowball fights in the yard were coming to an end.
And yet, there was a third category of people- those who did not care in the slightest what season it was, or what the weather was like. Only one person fit into this nasty category of uncaring, and her name was Karen.
Of course, there had been a time when she too would have been upset over the end of Winter, when she and Rick could no longer traverse the woods, all bundled up, having snowball fights along the way.
But time had pushed Karen closer to adulthood, and now, at eighteen, she no longer cared about snow, or even about the sticky heat that accompanied the Summer sun.
When Karen had turned sixteen, the legal drinking age in Mineral Town, she had her first taste of the sour liquid. To her, it was heaven on earth.
It had been two and a half years since that fateful day. Karen no longer spoke to Rick, not after he told her to cut down on her alcohol consumption. He said it was what killed his grandparents. Instead of showing compassion and sympathy like the old Karen would have, she laughed. Rick hadn't spoken to her since.
The only thing that had remained with Karen through the years was her dream of dancing. Her dream, in which Karen would float across the stage gracefully, awing world wide audiences with her dancing was the only thing Karen had left to look forward to. Everything else, Karen had lost.
Her family, her friends, and even the chance to grow up and get married had been drunk away. The only thing Karen felt even cared she existed was a bottle of fresh Mineral Town Wine.
Today was no exception. "Karen," Sasha's voice was soft, and it rang out in the darkness. Karen froze. She had been going to sneak out, instead of argue with her parents, but that had backfired. "Karen, are you leaving? Where are you going?" Sasha's voice was full of the knowledge of what Karen was doing, and Karen knew it was a test.
"Out," It wasn't a total lie. Karen's voice was gruff with annoyance.
"Not to the Inn, right?" Sasha checked, flicking on the lights. Karen blinked in the bright light.
"Mom, I'll go where I want. You should let me have my freedoms! I'm an adult now." Karen snapped, and Sasha flinched as though she had been hit.
"Please, Karen, just listen to me, like you used to." Karen rolled her eyes at her mother's pathetic performance. Tears were clinging to Sasha's brown eyes.
Jeff stormed into the room. "Karen, you'll listen to your mother. Sasha knows what's best." Jeff snapped angrily.
Ever since Karen's drinking problem had escalated, it had come down to this. Instead of her mother being the strong one, all of her confidence had ebbed away, and Jeff had taken her place.
"Dad, I'm an adult. I'll do what I want."
"Not while you're under my roof, no, you won't." Jeff yelled, grabbing Karen's shoulder and turning her around as if she were no more than a sack of flour. "Your mother and I raised you to be a fine young woman, but this alcohol problem has gone too far. You are forbidden to leave the house. I am going to call an alcoholic program in the morning. This cannot go on any longer!"
"Jeff, no," Sasha spoke up softly. "You can't deprive me of everything I once had." Karen remained silent as the fight wore on between Sasha and Jeff. She was so used to this, so used to the fighting, that it didn't even faze her.
Rifts had grown in her parents' marriage because of her alcohol abuse, Karen knew that. It had been unintentional, and Karen did feel remorseful, but she couldn't just stop drinking.
Karen had tried once, last Fall, and had ended up with withdrawal symptoms so severe, Karen wasn't sure she would live to have another drink. But she did, and after twenty-four hours of being alcohol free passed, Karen was back at the Inn, chugging down more alcohol than should have been humanly possible.
"Sasha, we can't stand for this. Karen is going to die if we don't stop her." Jeff cried, slamming his fist on the table. "Would you rather have a dead daughter, or one who's in a rehabilitation clinic for drinking?"
"I would always choose alive over dead, Jeff." Sasha mumbled. "But sending Karen to a clinic may not even cover what we have to do. And we may not even be able to afford it!" For just a moment, the old Sasha was back, strong and confident, but she faded away almost as quickly as she came.
"We'll find the money." Jeff hissed. "Paying for a grave and a tombstone would be just as costly." He pointed out, moistening his lips.
Sasha whimpered. "How can you even say something like that without feeling the slightest bit of remorse?"
Jeff shook his head. "The Supermarket is on the verge of bankruptcy because of Karen's drinking. I can not feel bad about stating the truth as simply as it is. It may be a horrible thing to say, but maybe it will save us. Or do we not matter? All you do, Sasha, is give Karen money to spend on drinks."
"Karen helps out around the house occasionally." Sasha said defensively.
"Occasionally is not every day, Sasha, and you know that as well as I do." Jeff snapped. "We're going to send her to a clinic."
Sasha looked down at the table. "Karen, I have no other choice. Your dad is right, you know. We have all changed since you started drinking. I want things to go back to the way they used to be. We were happy then, you see."
Karen was shocked. No matter how often they threatened to send her to a clinic, Sasha and Jeff never had. Karen didn't want things to go back to the way they used to be. Being a loner was much easier than having to deal with people, anyway.
Jeff smiled, locking the front door, and left the two women alone. Sasha kept her eyes averted as she headed to the backroom. "Go back upstairs and sleep." Karen gave her an icy glare, and Sasha shuddered. "I'm sorry, sweetie."
Clicking off the lights, Sasha retreated into the backroom. Karen didn't have the strength to leave her spot, right next to the bags of seeds. All the empty promises that she would stop, and all of the lies, good and bad, were going to end.
"No," Karen whispered to herself, sinking to the floor. No more nightly Inn gatherings in which she would challenge anyone to a drinking contest. Karen had never lost a match.
Now, she would have to be a bystander, or maybe she wouldn't be able to go at all. Karen's mind was in hyper drive.
A memory of Christmas one year flashed through her mind, when Karen had been drinking only for a month or so.
"Mom," Karen had said, smiling. "I'm sorry for all the money I've taken to go buy drinks at the Inn. I'll stop, I promise."
Sasha smiled down on her daughter, before embracing her. "If you do your best, so will I." Jeff was an onlooker to this scene, but even he had smiled as Karen crossed her heart.
The very next day, Karen and Rick spoke for the last time. Duke had challenged her to a drinking contest that morning, and Karen accepted. She had lost count of how many drinks they had each had, but Karen won, beating Duke by at least three drinks.
She had left the Inn, her vision spinning, and run into Rick.
"Karen!" Rick cried, steadying her. "Don't tell me you've been drinking again. I'm worried about you." He frowned, looking into her eyes. Whatever he had seen in them made him pull back.
"Whatever, Rick." Karen said, pulling away.
"Karen, my grandparents are dead because they drank and they had liver failure. I don't want that to happen to you." Rick sounded concerned. Karen covered her mouth. She shouldn't laugh, but for some reason, it was inexplicably funny.
"It's not funny, Karen! What's wrong with you? Ever since you started drinking, you've been a real witch. You know what, I hate you." Rick had turned and ran then, not looking back once at his once favorite person, still laughing.
Karen shook her head. She was an adult. If she wanted to drink, she could. Her parents had no right to tell her where she was going and what she was doing. It was Karen's life, after all, and she should run it.
But, another part of Karen, one she hadn't heard in years, spoke up. Her parents were worried, and Rick had been right. She was going to die of liver failure, or whatever disease he had mentioned that last day. Karen did want to get her drinking under control, but not to a point where she had to stop altogether.
Her head was pounding. Karen wondered if her parents kept any liquor in the house. She needed a drink.
Her parents wanted to Karen to never look at a glass of liquor the same way, and that wasn't going to happen. Drinking had become a constant factor in Karen's life, like having parents or going to school. It was never questioned by Karen herself. Stopping drinking would be like committing suicide.
Sneezing, another memory flashed back to Karen. It was of her first drink at the Inn.
"I'll order one of Mineral Town's finest." Karen called to Doug, who pulled up a medium sized shot glass for the birthday girl. It was Fall 15th, Karen's birthday.
Sipping on the cool liquid, Karen cringed at its sour taste. It was horrible, and Karen wondered how anyone could stomach it. But she finished the shot glass, and licked her lips, proclaiming, "Not bad."
Within the next hour, Karen realized that the taste was growing on her. She found herself yearning for me, and Doug agreed. This time, Karen drank it down eagerly, only stopping when it was near midnight and Rick offered to walk her home.
Karen blinked. She used to be so different, and in her confusion, Karen wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Her confusion grew as her minutes without a drink ticked by.
Her headache had gotten worse, and Karen just wanted the pain to end. She couldn't stop drinking, not if she was faced with this unbearable pain.
Karen hadn't noticed that she was crying, not until she felt rubbed her eye, and her salty tears left a glistening trail.
It was too much to bear, to drink less. Trying to ignore the thumping pain in her head, Karen made her way upstairs, counting the minutes until she could sneak out and drink away.
A/N: So how is it? I don't think it came out as well as I had hoped, but still, please R&R! KLS