Chapter Four
Maybe he really was dead. What other explanation could there be for why his deceased sister now suddenly appeared before him?
Kathryn was bathed in the most brilliant light. Even in the darkness of the rubble, the surreal glow enveloped her tiny frame. Her golden hair radiated and those beautiful blue eyes sparkled. Her smile...it was just as he remembered it; so wonderful that it just seemed to fill you up inside with happiness. And hope.
She had been taken from their lives too soon. Even though he was only nine when great-granddad Jeff and great-grandmom Ginger died, Garrett remembered the priest's sermon: comforting the family in their grief, the priest reminded them that they needed to cherish their memories and be grateful for the long and happy lives that the Metcalfs had led. Heaven was the ultimate reward. God had welcomed Jeff and Ginger back home.
But Kathryn was only six years old when she died. Her life hadn't really even begun before it was all over. Garrett remembered the night Kathryn died, lying in his bed hearing Mom crying. He thought that she would never stop crying. And he heard Dad blaming himself for Kathryn's death. Tears streamed down his face. He had been raised to have faith, raised with a solid Catholic upbringing, but he couldn't understand why God had allowed this to happen. And despite his own pain the sensitive and determined little boy resolved to help his parents through the nightmare. But they wouldn't let him help them. Instead, they sent him away for a month to live with Grandmom Lois and Granddad Bernie.
And in his childhood innocence, there was a part of him that even felt that somehow he had unintentionally wished this tragedy upon his family. For a time, he had been very jealous of his little sister. He had felt that she had usurped the very special place that he held in his parents' lives. For nearly four years, he had been an only child. Then, Kathryn arrived and he was forced to share his parents' love. He didn't like that. Kathryn was the baby. It was especially worse with Dad; Kathryn became the apple of Dad's eye. The little princess. And Garrett felt as if he had suddenly become invisible. Once, he even wished that Kathryn would just disappear the he'd have his parents all to himself again. Then there was the time he ran away from home. Of course, his insecurities and jealousies towards his little sister didn't last. He did love her. He loved her very much.
But had he ever told her that...that he loved her? He couldn't remember.
Tears of regret and confusion escaped from pain-filled eyes. Garrett tried to sit up, but his lower body was trapped. Intense pain held him hostage to his agony.
"Kathryn?" He whispered.
She said nothing. She just smiled, knowingly.
Footsteps.
Amidst the angry rumble of the decaying structure, Garrett imagined that he heard footsteps in the near distance.
Perhaps it was the pain that fed its own delusions.
"Garrett!" The familiar voice called out frantically.
"Dad? I'm...in...in here. Dad... in here." His voice pleaded weakly.
"Garrett!" Gary called out again.
"In here."
A vigilant shower of debris poured from the remnants of the ceiling, drowning out the desperate voice of the building's prisoner. However, before Gary could reach his son, the unimaginable happened.