Okay when I said soon, I meant three months. I must apologize for the strange analogies referring to science, I studied biology for the past few months. Also this has not been beta read, I apologize for any errors. ^_^ Enjoy!
Two weeks had gone by, and Kat slowly settled into her new environment. She still bucked under the controls and rules occassionally, but she was learning. It's best to just don't make waves, and she found that she could slip under the radar for more situations than she would have had she continued with her temper tantrums.
Kat smirked, bemused at the thought. She had been behaving like such a child, and while she was aware of that, her temper just couldn't be controlled. Her temper was like a sparkler, with brilliant white lights exploding everywhere, until it burned down the wire and sputtered out. Like a catalyst amid the reactants, she remained unchanged but she was trying hard to change her ways. Maybe the sooner she seemed just all right, the sooner she could get out.
Maybe that was the way to think. She just needed to find the right chemical mix to get a reaction, she needed to find a tasty tid-bit of information from the drudges of her life and pull it out for Peter and the other counsellors to see and maybe they'd let her go home.
The only problem was, she wasn't sure just what would satisfy them.
The others had been here for a while. Long enough that Kat could not abide that, she would not stay here for two years. Two weeks was long enough to start driving her batty. She missed her friends, and a cold lump had rested in her belly since the first day she had arrived, resulting from worry for her friend LeeAnn.
However, she did have to admit that she was starting to adapt to living in the great outdoors, so to speak. The altitude bothered her less and less, and thanks to Sophie (and Kat's locquacious profanity), she had taken up running again.
Still, Kat was homesick. Not for her mother and her latest husband, but for her friends. She was missing Rico, José and LeeAnn something fierce. She wrote letters to them nearly every day, but had not the chance to mail them yet. She knew better than to send mail to LeeAnn's place. Kat didn't like, nor did she trust LeeAnn's parents. When a large, and mysterious package arrived in the mail, postmarked from Kat's hometown, along with a letter, she was somewhat relieved and mollified.
"It's from my friends," Kat told Sophie, a huge manic grin plastered on her face. "My friends are so incredibly cool," she said as she ripped open the letter.
"For our Neko," she read, grinning, "Rico snuck into your house and got something for you. They tell me it was tough work, that the security was… No way! You guys! Oh! This is great!" Kat dropped the letter and tore open the package, marked with stamps of shipping and handle with care, and fragile in big bold letters.
"What is it?" Sophie asked, smiling. Kat's rambunctiousness was infectious.
"If it's what I think it is… oh yes!" Kat shouted, "yes! They got my Ebony!"
"Ebony?" Sophie asked.
Kat blushed, "it's the name of my electric guitar," she opened the box and reverently pulled out the guitar case. She carefully set it down, and unzipped it. She pulled out a sleek black strat, and beamed at Sophie.
"My dad told me that guitars had to be named. His guitar was Ella, she was this vibrant red," then she frowned, because she couldn't remember much else. Perhaps it was by dint of association, but the only memories of her father that she had were of his hands, rough and calloused. He kept his nails neat, trimmed very short. She remembered the music that he played, quick riffs and slow melodies.
"I didn't know that you played," Sophie smiled.
"Not very well," Kat said, her face closing off. She stood, her guitar safely back in its case. She folded the letter and put it in her pocket.
"You'll have to store your guitar in the music locker," Sophie saw Kat about to protest, "sorry, those are the rules."
"More rules," Kat grumbled, then thinking the better of it, although reluctantly, she consented.
Sophie locked up her guitar, nice and safe, and then guestured to the kitchen, "I'm assigning you to kitchens with Juliette."
Kat stared at Sophie, "do you want Juliette murdered?"
Sophie frowned at her.
Kat made a rude noise, "she's the most annoying person on this planet, second only to Greg!"
"You may believe that, but in life you're going to have to deal with people that you don't particulary like. It's best to start early in creating coping skills in dealing with the people that rub you the wrong way."
"You speakin' from experience?" Kat smirked.
Sophie ignored her, "Juliette is not the only one on kitchens, Scott and Ezra are there as well."
"Great," Kat muttered, "that makes it so much better."
Sophie checked on the kids on kitchen duty, then left them to it.
"Okay," Kat said, "what's cookin'?"
"We have to cook healthy stuff," Scott intoned.
"Yes, only the healthy stuff," Ezra agreed, "the healthier the food are, the better for us."
"You sound like brainwashed zombies," Kat wrinkled her nose.
"We got a lecture from Peter the first night we made dinner," Scott started.
"Years ago, for me," interjected Ezra.
"It was memorable," Scott said, "to say the least."
"Boy, do I know about that," Kat agreed, thinking of her twenty hours of chopping wood which had been completed the week before.
"To answer your question," Juliette piped up, "we're making steamed vegetables; broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, and carrots."
"I'm making salad," Scott said, "you can help me out by chopping those tomatoes."
"More chopping," Kat groaned, "I've enough chopping to last me a lifetime." But she put on an apron and washed her hands before slicing the tomatoes. The smells of the dinner made her feel hungry, and she was impatient for the meal to be done and start digging in. "So much food, how many kids are there?" Kat asked.
Scott seemed to think, "well, there's the Cliffhangers, the Ridgerunners, the Trackers..." he muttered under his breath, "I think maybe forty to fifty."
"Geeze," Kat whistled.
"Well, we've never actually counted, but that seems the approximate number," Ezra grinned.
"It's just that this place, while it is huge, seems so small at the same time. How do all the teachers manage?"
"Sometimes they don't," Ezra muttered, "we used to have a counsellor; her name was Hannah. She retired or something."
"Or something," Juliette piped up, "she couldn't handle the stress, so she quit. Peter got Sophie Becker in and they're so in love."
"Gag, romance," Kat muttered, "I think I could do without boys for a while. Ick."
"Ha, in the handbook it says you can't have relationships here, other than friendship," Scott snorted, "guess who follows the rules."
"Nobody," Ezra said, "Scott is covertly dating Shelby, Juliette and Auggie have been hanging out more than--"
Juliette smiled dreamily, "I really like Auggie, that's a good thing, right? Liking someone for who they are, and loving them is easy." Then she abruptly woke up from her day dream, "well, I mean, I love my mother, sure, but I don't really like her all that much."
Kat grimaced, "I know the feeling. I'm much of the estranged from my mom. Ever since she married that weirdo... things just haven't really been the same." A thought struck her, maybe she could take advantage of this emnity between her and her mother. Maybe she could blurt out in group that she hated her mother for dishonoring her father's name by marrying so soon after his death. Then she could act like she was growing to accept her mother's love her Greg. The thought of Greg made her want to puke. Lord knows there was never a man so disgustingly weak and geeky as Greg. "In fact, my mother..." then she trailed off, and acted embarrassed for whatever she had been about to say. She looked down and chopped the tomatoes.
Silence was the best weapon, she figured.
"What?" Juliette pried, "what about your mother?" Then she blushed, "if you don't mind me prying."
Kat looked up, and opened her mouth, then she closed it. "Nevermind. It's not important. I'm out of tomatoes." The latter she spoke to Scott, entirely random, and entirely evasive. Very calculated, but no hint of the game of risk was evident around Kat's demeanor. She should've been an actress.
Kat could sense that the others thought she was prevaricating, could see that in the glances that they exchanged, but she pretended to be oblivious.
"Not all of the salads get tomatoes," Scott said, "some people are allergic. Same with peppers." Then he explained the system of the food distribution.
"None of us have eaten peanut butter since we got here. It's not allowed, people could die," Ezra said.
"Wow," Kat said, "I don't have any allergies whatsoever. It's kinda sad that people can't enjoy good food because they're allergic to something."
"Yeah, it's a raw deal, but most of them don't even know what they're missing, so it's easier on them."
"That makes sense," Kat nodded in agreement.
"Well, dinner is ready," Juliette grinned, "so we'll serve them."
Kat already knew that they would have to slop down food onto people's plates as they passed. She knew more of Juliette's history now, understood how she struggled to eat properly.
After dinner was group, and she was reluctant to go. Peter made her attend, though, and attend she had to. Once there, however, she realized that she had been given a length of rope that would allow her to climb out of this place and go home. She realized that she could use this group time to her advantage.
"All right, everyone, we shall start the sentence: I feel, and then you will finish the sentence," Peter said, holding up a staff.
Everyone groaned, as they had done this before.
He tossed the staff to Scott.
"I feel happy," he said, then tossed the staff to Shelby.
"I feel like smiling."
Daisy caught the staff and smirked, "I feel ridiculous." Then she tossed it to Kat.
Kat froze when she caught the staff, her heart hammering in her chest.
Everyone was staring at her, expectant.
"I feel..." she started, then stopped. Then she thought of her mother marrying that Greg guy and she started to feel very angry. She snarled, "I feel angry." Then she tossed the staff to David.
"I feel like a macho, macho man!" he grinned.
"David," Peter frowned.
"Okay, fine. I feel comedic."
"I feel nervous," Ezra shrugged.
"I feel like dancing," Juliette smiled.
Auggie finished, "I feel accomplished."
"Very good, Cliffhangers," Sophie smiled.
"Okay, now, I want you to tell me why you feel the way you do."
Everyone groaned again.
"Auggie, you start."
"I feel accomplished because I got a B+ on my english paper."
Everyone cheered, truly happy for him. Even Kat applauded. Auggie smiled, and passed the staff to Juliette.
Juliette smiled, "I feel like dancing because everyone around me are achieving so much," with this she smiled at Auggie, "and I feel happier, like I'm lighter than air, because I went through a week eating very well."
Peter smiled; proud.
"I feel nervous, because I'm looking for my biological parents, and I don't know what I'll find."
"I feel comedic today," David shrugged, "like I'm a funny guy."
"You're a fungi, all right," Daisy said, sarcastically.
"I feel angry, because... my mother married this guy not two weeks after my father died. It was shameful and dishonored my father's memory," Kat said stiffly, then tossed the staff to Daisy.
"I feel ridiculous, because I have to partake in this touchy-feely event designed to exploit our emotions and get at the inner shell of our psyche."
Kat snickered, "yeah, what next? Freudian psychiatry? Oooh, lookit, ink blots."
"Guys, enough," Peter shook his head, "this has a purpose, it allows us to vent our feelings, or share them with others. And we don't have to worry about being ridiculed," this he said with a glance at Daisy.
Shelby broke in, before Daisy could respond, "I feel like smiling, because my sister has been getting good marks in school, my mother straightened out her life, Walter is in jail, and Scott is a very good friend of mine," Shelby said with a secretive smile to Scott.
"Oh, just say it, you two are dating, and it's so romantic!" Juliette grinned, "besides Peter and Sophie already know."
"Be that as it may," Peter said, "Scott?"
"I'm happy, because I am very good friends with Shelby," he winked to Shelby, "and I'm just generally happier with some areas of my life. School, sports, fresh air."
"Yeah, this place is so great," Kat muttered under her breath.
***
Kat sighed as she sat in the chair. Apparently Peter wanted to talk to her about what she said during group.
"Yeah, so what?" Kat said crossing her arms over her chest, "it's not like I even care about her. I just hate that she married so soon after my father's death."
"You're angry about it," Peter leaned his elbows on his desk, "and your anger leads you into trouble."
"Hmm, should I name my anger? Maybe I'll name it Alex, and he and I can terrorize the streets of London," Kat sneered sarcastically.
"That'll be difficult," Peter said, flippant, "seeing as how you're here on Mount Horizon." Then he sighed, rebuking himself for losing control. "Kat, I know that you're angry with your mother for marrying--"
"Do not say his name in my presence," Kat warned, "I'm liable to break something."
"--so soon after your father's death," Peter might've said Greg, might've provoked her anger, but felt that it wouldn't be constructive, besides, she did warn him rather politely. "I don't know your mother very well, so I can't tell you her reasons, if any, for marrying. I can give you the tools to deal with your anger constructively, and you can confront your mother about your feelings on the matter, without getting angry."
"Joy," Kat said, "tools. Construction. Just like a guy to use that kind of analogy."
Peter sighed silently, and pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache. Kat was infuriating, but he'd dealt with difficult children before. He'd reach her somehow.
"Can I go now?" Kat asked, hoping that he'd say yes, say that he was going to send her home. Wouldn't that be a kick?
Peter regarded her silently, wishing he could only break through that wall of anger. He just needed to find a crack in the armor, to get a handhold and peel away the layers of her shield and see the true Kat within; a little girl in pain, who felt so much grief, unresolved sorrow. Her file said that she had been twelve when her father died.
"Before you go, I'd like to ask you about your friend."
"Which friend?" Kat asked, "I have many."
"Do you?" Peter asked, then continued before Kat could respond in her sudden flash of anger, "about LeeAnn."
Kat felt a flash of fear, but didn't let it show on her face, "what about her? Did something happen to her?"
Peter frowned at the question, such an odd question to ask. Almost as if she fears for LeeAnn's well being, as if LeeAnn's life were in danger. "I just wanted to know how you felt about her, why you think that you need to save her?"
Kat was startled, then her mask of indifference settled more firmly, "so you found the song?"
Peter nodded in the affirmative.
"Ah, well. She is like a sister. We grew up together," Kat slouched in her chair, smiling softly. It was the first real smile Peter saw on her face. "She's older than me, but I feel like I'm the older sister, the one who'd take care of her. She... she's fragile, I guess. Well, not really, she just gives off that impression." Kat sighed briefly, "her mother died some years ago..." then she frowned, as though she remembered something but could not grasp it, "...strange, almost the same..."
"The same what?" Peter prodded her, gently, trying to be unassuming, to not break the moment. But Kat shook herself awake from her memories, smiling apologetic.
"I don't know what came over me," Kat slouched back in her chair again, "have I answered your question? Can I go now?"
Peter felt a sense of loss, a sense of having nearly a hold on a crack only for it to slip from his grasp. He had grabbed water too tightly and it had leaked through his fingers, an ephemeral thing, not dense enough to hold, but flowed close enough together. Water always preferred water.
"Yeah. Yes, you can go now. Light's out in twenty."
Kat stood and bowed, "my leige," she said mockingly, and then went her merry way.
Peter sat back in his chair, a hand kneeding his knee, the weather chilly enough to cause it pain.
"Ah," he said to the air, "but I have a small piece of the puzzle." Then feeling silly for talking to himself, he turned off the desk lamp and went to the lodge, in search of Sophie.
***
Saturday rolled around, signifying the third week that she had been at Mount Horizon. Kat was feeling time ticking away, mocking her with it's constant flow. She wished she could turn back time and relive her life differently. If only she could.
The sun rose, and so did the students, though technically they did not have class. They wandered in seeking nourishment and Peter announced to the Cliffhangers that they had a Quest. The Pathfinders had come back from their Quest the night before.
"Say what?" Kat asked around her bacon.
"A Quest," Juliette moaned, "is horrible."
"Everyone packs clothes, tents, then basically go climb a mountain," Ezra said, rolling his eyes.
"It's supposed to be more than that, Freakin'," Shelby said, "you commune with nature."
"Once, Peter had us communing with our childhood."
"Oh, goodie!" Kat said sarcastically, "I'd just as soon crawl into a snakepit than commune with my inner child."
"Tough." Peter's voice came out of nowhere, startling the Cliffhangers.
"Good God! Man, I wish you wouldn't do that."
"How come you don't want to commune with your inner child?" Peter asked?
"It must be because I'm abusive to my inner child. I think she'd kick the crap outta me," Kat joked before sipping her orange juice.
"Yeah well, what I wanna know is when are we leaving and what estupido thing you're going to make us do this time," Auggie asked.
"We leave at ten o'clock, and I'll tell you when you're ready." Peter paused as he turned, "oh, and Kat? You get to run a lap with Sophie for swearing."
"Yeah, yeah," Kat waved, "I got it."
Sweating, Kat grabbed her towel and water bottle, and headed to the girl's dormitory. Shelby was lying prone on her bed, Juliette was looking for one of her sweaters; she asked Kat if she'd seen it, Kat said no, staring strangely at Juliette (she'd been outside for the past twenty minutes, when'd she have time to see it?!), and Daisy was in the bathroom.
"Do I have time for a shower?" Kat asked, "I reek."
"You have twenty minutes to shower, pack and be ready for the Quest," Shelby said, staring at the ceiling.
"Oh good, a challenge," Kat remarked pulling out her back pack. She tossed in her Korn sweatshirt, her sex pistols t-shirt, two black jeans, socks, undies and her cd player, "done my packing. Doubt I'll ever be ready for a Quest. What's Daisy doing in the bathroom?"
"Hell if I know," Shelby said flatly, "girl stuff."
"I give up," Juliette cried, "I can't find my favourite sweater."
"Looking for this?" Daisy asked, holding out the artical of clothing in question. Juliette jumped up, "give me that."
"Not 'til you let me know what David--"
Kat closed the door to the bathroom, effectively cutting off the sounds of the others. Her shower was her sanctuary. Three things in her life were her sanctuary: her friends, her fenderstrat and her showers. Warm water petered out and hit her sweaty skin, cleansing her.
As she showered, she supposed that she would have to add Horizon to that list of sanctuaries, though she wasn't quite sure, yet. The rules were quite strict, yet she hadn't felt like herself until she came here.
Well, at least she'd had more privacy at home than here as someone banged on the door telling her to hurry up. With a sigh, she turned off the shower and dried herself off.
She didn't need to wonder exactly what would happen in the near future; on the Quest.
She would find out, soon enough.
The rather vague reference of Alex, refers to a character in a book called a Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. It also has been adapted to film by Stanley Kubrick. I'm a fan of both.
Stay tuned, stormy seas ahead!
Two weeks had gone by, and Kat slowly settled into her new environment. She still bucked under the controls and rules occassionally, but she was learning. It's best to just don't make waves, and she found that she could slip under the radar for more situations than she would have had she continued with her temper tantrums.
Kat smirked, bemused at the thought. She had been behaving like such a child, and while she was aware of that, her temper just couldn't be controlled. Her temper was like a sparkler, with brilliant white lights exploding everywhere, until it burned down the wire and sputtered out. Like a catalyst amid the reactants, she remained unchanged but she was trying hard to change her ways. Maybe the sooner she seemed just all right, the sooner she could get out.
Maybe that was the way to think. She just needed to find the right chemical mix to get a reaction, she needed to find a tasty tid-bit of information from the drudges of her life and pull it out for Peter and the other counsellors to see and maybe they'd let her go home.
The only problem was, she wasn't sure just what would satisfy them.
The others had been here for a while. Long enough that Kat could not abide that, she would not stay here for two years. Two weeks was long enough to start driving her batty. She missed her friends, and a cold lump had rested in her belly since the first day she had arrived, resulting from worry for her friend LeeAnn.
However, she did have to admit that she was starting to adapt to living in the great outdoors, so to speak. The altitude bothered her less and less, and thanks to Sophie (and Kat's locquacious profanity), she had taken up running again.
Still, Kat was homesick. Not for her mother and her latest husband, but for her friends. She was missing Rico, José and LeeAnn something fierce. She wrote letters to them nearly every day, but had not the chance to mail them yet. She knew better than to send mail to LeeAnn's place. Kat didn't like, nor did she trust LeeAnn's parents. When a large, and mysterious package arrived in the mail, postmarked from Kat's hometown, along with a letter, she was somewhat relieved and mollified.
"It's from my friends," Kat told Sophie, a huge manic grin plastered on her face. "My friends are so incredibly cool," she said as she ripped open the letter.
"For our Neko," she read, grinning, "Rico snuck into your house and got something for you. They tell me it was tough work, that the security was… No way! You guys! Oh! This is great!" Kat dropped the letter and tore open the package, marked with stamps of shipping and handle with care, and fragile in big bold letters.
"What is it?" Sophie asked, smiling. Kat's rambunctiousness was infectious.
"If it's what I think it is… oh yes!" Kat shouted, "yes! They got my Ebony!"
"Ebony?" Sophie asked.
Kat blushed, "it's the name of my electric guitar," she opened the box and reverently pulled out the guitar case. She carefully set it down, and unzipped it. She pulled out a sleek black strat, and beamed at Sophie.
"My dad told me that guitars had to be named. His guitar was Ella, she was this vibrant red," then she frowned, because she couldn't remember much else. Perhaps it was by dint of association, but the only memories of her father that she had were of his hands, rough and calloused. He kept his nails neat, trimmed very short. She remembered the music that he played, quick riffs and slow melodies.
"I didn't know that you played," Sophie smiled.
"Not very well," Kat said, her face closing off. She stood, her guitar safely back in its case. She folded the letter and put it in her pocket.
"You'll have to store your guitar in the music locker," Sophie saw Kat about to protest, "sorry, those are the rules."
"More rules," Kat grumbled, then thinking the better of it, although reluctantly, she consented.
Sophie locked up her guitar, nice and safe, and then guestured to the kitchen, "I'm assigning you to kitchens with Juliette."
Kat stared at Sophie, "do you want Juliette murdered?"
Sophie frowned at her.
Kat made a rude noise, "she's the most annoying person on this planet, second only to Greg!"
"You may believe that, but in life you're going to have to deal with people that you don't particulary like. It's best to start early in creating coping skills in dealing with the people that rub you the wrong way."
"You speakin' from experience?" Kat smirked.
Sophie ignored her, "Juliette is not the only one on kitchens, Scott and Ezra are there as well."
"Great," Kat muttered, "that makes it so much better."
Sophie checked on the kids on kitchen duty, then left them to it.
"Okay," Kat said, "what's cookin'?"
"We have to cook healthy stuff," Scott intoned.
"Yes, only the healthy stuff," Ezra agreed, "the healthier the food are, the better for us."
"You sound like brainwashed zombies," Kat wrinkled her nose.
"We got a lecture from Peter the first night we made dinner," Scott started.
"Years ago, for me," interjected Ezra.
"It was memorable," Scott said, "to say the least."
"Boy, do I know about that," Kat agreed, thinking of her twenty hours of chopping wood which had been completed the week before.
"To answer your question," Juliette piped up, "we're making steamed vegetables; broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, and carrots."
"I'm making salad," Scott said, "you can help me out by chopping those tomatoes."
"More chopping," Kat groaned, "I've enough chopping to last me a lifetime." But she put on an apron and washed her hands before slicing the tomatoes. The smells of the dinner made her feel hungry, and she was impatient for the meal to be done and start digging in. "So much food, how many kids are there?" Kat asked.
Scott seemed to think, "well, there's the Cliffhangers, the Ridgerunners, the Trackers..." he muttered under his breath, "I think maybe forty to fifty."
"Geeze," Kat whistled.
"Well, we've never actually counted, but that seems the approximate number," Ezra grinned.
"It's just that this place, while it is huge, seems so small at the same time. How do all the teachers manage?"
"Sometimes they don't," Ezra muttered, "we used to have a counsellor; her name was Hannah. She retired or something."
"Or something," Juliette piped up, "she couldn't handle the stress, so she quit. Peter got Sophie Becker in and they're so in love."
"Gag, romance," Kat muttered, "I think I could do without boys for a while. Ick."
"Ha, in the handbook it says you can't have relationships here, other than friendship," Scott snorted, "guess who follows the rules."
"Nobody," Ezra said, "Scott is covertly dating Shelby, Juliette and Auggie have been hanging out more than--"
Juliette smiled dreamily, "I really like Auggie, that's a good thing, right? Liking someone for who they are, and loving them is easy." Then she abruptly woke up from her day dream, "well, I mean, I love my mother, sure, but I don't really like her all that much."
Kat grimaced, "I know the feeling. I'm much of the estranged from my mom. Ever since she married that weirdo... things just haven't really been the same." A thought struck her, maybe she could take advantage of this emnity between her and her mother. Maybe she could blurt out in group that she hated her mother for dishonoring her father's name by marrying so soon after his death. Then she could act like she was growing to accept her mother's love her Greg. The thought of Greg made her want to puke. Lord knows there was never a man so disgustingly weak and geeky as Greg. "In fact, my mother..." then she trailed off, and acted embarrassed for whatever she had been about to say. She looked down and chopped the tomatoes.
Silence was the best weapon, she figured.
"What?" Juliette pried, "what about your mother?" Then she blushed, "if you don't mind me prying."
Kat looked up, and opened her mouth, then she closed it. "Nevermind. It's not important. I'm out of tomatoes." The latter she spoke to Scott, entirely random, and entirely evasive. Very calculated, but no hint of the game of risk was evident around Kat's demeanor. She should've been an actress.
Kat could sense that the others thought she was prevaricating, could see that in the glances that they exchanged, but she pretended to be oblivious.
"Not all of the salads get tomatoes," Scott said, "some people are allergic. Same with peppers." Then he explained the system of the food distribution.
"None of us have eaten peanut butter since we got here. It's not allowed, people could die," Ezra said.
"Wow," Kat said, "I don't have any allergies whatsoever. It's kinda sad that people can't enjoy good food because they're allergic to something."
"Yeah, it's a raw deal, but most of them don't even know what they're missing, so it's easier on them."
"That makes sense," Kat nodded in agreement.
"Well, dinner is ready," Juliette grinned, "so we'll serve them."
Kat already knew that they would have to slop down food onto people's plates as they passed. She knew more of Juliette's history now, understood how she struggled to eat properly.
After dinner was group, and she was reluctant to go. Peter made her attend, though, and attend she had to. Once there, however, she realized that she had been given a length of rope that would allow her to climb out of this place and go home. She realized that she could use this group time to her advantage.
"All right, everyone, we shall start the sentence: I feel, and then you will finish the sentence," Peter said, holding up a staff.
Everyone groaned, as they had done this before.
He tossed the staff to Scott.
"I feel happy," he said, then tossed the staff to Shelby.
"I feel like smiling."
Daisy caught the staff and smirked, "I feel ridiculous." Then she tossed it to Kat.
Kat froze when she caught the staff, her heart hammering in her chest.
Everyone was staring at her, expectant.
"I feel..." she started, then stopped. Then she thought of her mother marrying that Greg guy and she started to feel very angry. She snarled, "I feel angry." Then she tossed the staff to David.
"I feel like a macho, macho man!" he grinned.
"David," Peter frowned.
"Okay, fine. I feel comedic."
"I feel nervous," Ezra shrugged.
"I feel like dancing," Juliette smiled.
Auggie finished, "I feel accomplished."
"Very good, Cliffhangers," Sophie smiled.
"Okay, now, I want you to tell me why you feel the way you do."
Everyone groaned again.
"Auggie, you start."
"I feel accomplished because I got a B+ on my english paper."
Everyone cheered, truly happy for him. Even Kat applauded. Auggie smiled, and passed the staff to Juliette.
Juliette smiled, "I feel like dancing because everyone around me are achieving so much," with this she smiled at Auggie, "and I feel happier, like I'm lighter than air, because I went through a week eating very well."
Peter smiled; proud.
"I feel nervous, because I'm looking for my biological parents, and I don't know what I'll find."
"I feel comedic today," David shrugged, "like I'm a funny guy."
"You're a fungi, all right," Daisy said, sarcastically.
"I feel angry, because... my mother married this guy not two weeks after my father died. It was shameful and dishonored my father's memory," Kat said stiffly, then tossed the staff to Daisy.
"I feel ridiculous, because I have to partake in this touchy-feely event designed to exploit our emotions and get at the inner shell of our psyche."
Kat snickered, "yeah, what next? Freudian psychiatry? Oooh, lookit, ink blots."
"Guys, enough," Peter shook his head, "this has a purpose, it allows us to vent our feelings, or share them with others. And we don't have to worry about being ridiculed," this he said with a glance at Daisy.
Shelby broke in, before Daisy could respond, "I feel like smiling, because my sister has been getting good marks in school, my mother straightened out her life, Walter is in jail, and Scott is a very good friend of mine," Shelby said with a secretive smile to Scott.
"Oh, just say it, you two are dating, and it's so romantic!" Juliette grinned, "besides Peter and Sophie already know."
"Be that as it may," Peter said, "Scott?"
"I'm happy, because I am very good friends with Shelby," he winked to Shelby, "and I'm just generally happier with some areas of my life. School, sports, fresh air."
"Yeah, this place is so great," Kat muttered under her breath.
***
Kat sighed as she sat in the chair. Apparently Peter wanted to talk to her about what she said during group.
"Yeah, so what?" Kat said crossing her arms over her chest, "it's not like I even care about her. I just hate that she married so soon after my father's death."
"You're angry about it," Peter leaned his elbows on his desk, "and your anger leads you into trouble."
"Hmm, should I name my anger? Maybe I'll name it Alex, and he and I can terrorize the streets of London," Kat sneered sarcastically.
"That'll be difficult," Peter said, flippant, "seeing as how you're here on Mount Horizon." Then he sighed, rebuking himself for losing control. "Kat, I know that you're angry with your mother for marrying--"
"Do not say his name in my presence," Kat warned, "I'm liable to break something."
"--so soon after your father's death," Peter might've said Greg, might've provoked her anger, but felt that it wouldn't be constructive, besides, she did warn him rather politely. "I don't know your mother very well, so I can't tell you her reasons, if any, for marrying. I can give you the tools to deal with your anger constructively, and you can confront your mother about your feelings on the matter, without getting angry."
"Joy," Kat said, "tools. Construction. Just like a guy to use that kind of analogy."
Peter sighed silently, and pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache. Kat was infuriating, but he'd dealt with difficult children before. He'd reach her somehow.
"Can I go now?" Kat asked, hoping that he'd say yes, say that he was going to send her home. Wouldn't that be a kick?
Peter regarded her silently, wishing he could only break through that wall of anger. He just needed to find a crack in the armor, to get a handhold and peel away the layers of her shield and see the true Kat within; a little girl in pain, who felt so much grief, unresolved sorrow. Her file said that she had been twelve when her father died.
"Before you go, I'd like to ask you about your friend."
"Which friend?" Kat asked, "I have many."
"Do you?" Peter asked, then continued before Kat could respond in her sudden flash of anger, "about LeeAnn."
Kat felt a flash of fear, but didn't let it show on her face, "what about her? Did something happen to her?"
Peter frowned at the question, such an odd question to ask. Almost as if she fears for LeeAnn's well being, as if LeeAnn's life were in danger. "I just wanted to know how you felt about her, why you think that you need to save her?"
Kat was startled, then her mask of indifference settled more firmly, "so you found the song?"
Peter nodded in the affirmative.
"Ah, well. She is like a sister. We grew up together," Kat slouched in her chair, smiling softly. It was the first real smile Peter saw on her face. "She's older than me, but I feel like I'm the older sister, the one who'd take care of her. She... she's fragile, I guess. Well, not really, she just gives off that impression." Kat sighed briefly, "her mother died some years ago..." then she frowned, as though she remembered something but could not grasp it, "...strange, almost the same..."
"The same what?" Peter prodded her, gently, trying to be unassuming, to not break the moment. But Kat shook herself awake from her memories, smiling apologetic.
"I don't know what came over me," Kat slouched back in her chair again, "have I answered your question? Can I go now?"
Peter felt a sense of loss, a sense of having nearly a hold on a crack only for it to slip from his grasp. He had grabbed water too tightly and it had leaked through his fingers, an ephemeral thing, not dense enough to hold, but flowed close enough together. Water always preferred water.
"Yeah. Yes, you can go now. Light's out in twenty."
Kat stood and bowed, "my leige," she said mockingly, and then went her merry way.
Peter sat back in his chair, a hand kneeding his knee, the weather chilly enough to cause it pain.
"Ah," he said to the air, "but I have a small piece of the puzzle." Then feeling silly for talking to himself, he turned off the desk lamp and went to the lodge, in search of Sophie.
***
Saturday rolled around, signifying the third week that she had been at Mount Horizon. Kat was feeling time ticking away, mocking her with it's constant flow. She wished she could turn back time and relive her life differently. If only she could.
The sun rose, and so did the students, though technically they did not have class. They wandered in seeking nourishment and Peter announced to the Cliffhangers that they had a Quest. The Pathfinders had come back from their Quest the night before.
"Say what?" Kat asked around her bacon.
"A Quest," Juliette moaned, "is horrible."
"Everyone packs clothes, tents, then basically go climb a mountain," Ezra said, rolling his eyes.
"It's supposed to be more than that, Freakin'," Shelby said, "you commune with nature."
"Once, Peter had us communing with our childhood."
"Oh, goodie!" Kat said sarcastically, "I'd just as soon crawl into a snakepit than commune with my inner child."
"Tough." Peter's voice came out of nowhere, startling the Cliffhangers.
"Good God! Man, I wish you wouldn't do that."
"How come you don't want to commune with your inner child?" Peter asked?
"It must be because I'm abusive to my inner child. I think she'd kick the crap outta me," Kat joked before sipping her orange juice.
"Yeah well, what I wanna know is when are we leaving and what estupido thing you're going to make us do this time," Auggie asked.
"We leave at ten o'clock, and I'll tell you when you're ready." Peter paused as he turned, "oh, and Kat? You get to run a lap with Sophie for swearing."
"Yeah, yeah," Kat waved, "I got it."
Sweating, Kat grabbed her towel and water bottle, and headed to the girl's dormitory. Shelby was lying prone on her bed, Juliette was looking for one of her sweaters; she asked Kat if she'd seen it, Kat said no, staring strangely at Juliette (she'd been outside for the past twenty minutes, when'd she have time to see it?!), and Daisy was in the bathroom.
"Do I have time for a shower?" Kat asked, "I reek."
"You have twenty minutes to shower, pack and be ready for the Quest," Shelby said, staring at the ceiling.
"Oh good, a challenge," Kat remarked pulling out her back pack. She tossed in her Korn sweatshirt, her sex pistols t-shirt, two black jeans, socks, undies and her cd player, "done my packing. Doubt I'll ever be ready for a Quest. What's Daisy doing in the bathroom?"
"Hell if I know," Shelby said flatly, "girl stuff."
"I give up," Juliette cried, "I can't find my favourite sweater."
"Looking for this?" Daisy asked, holding out the artical of clothing in question. Juliette jumped up, "give me that."
"Not 'til you let me know what David--"
Kat closed the door to the bathroom, effectively cutting off the sounds of the others. Her shower was her sanctuary. Three things in her life were her sanctuary: her friends, her fenderstrat and her showers. Warm water petered out and hit her sweaty skin, cleansing her.
As she showered, she supposed that she would have to add Horizon to that list of sanctuaries, though she wasn't quite sure, yet. The rules were quite strict, yet she hadn't felt like herself until she came here.
Well, at least she'd had more privacy at home than here as someone banged on the door telling her to hurry up. With a sigh, she turned off the shower and dried herself off.
She didn't need to wonder exactly what would happen in the near future; on the Quest.
She would find out, soon enough.
The rather vague reference of Alex, refers to a character in a book called a Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. It also has been adapted to film by Stanley Kubrick. I'm a fan of both.
Stay tuned, stormy seas ahead!
