For notes, warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1

Scene 3: Empty Drawers
(Age: 7)

As happened all too often, when she got home Kara found her mother sitting in front of a half-empty bottle of ambrosia... actually it wasn't really half-empty, it was almost completely empty. That wasn't good and she knew it so she decided to try to avoid her. Kara was hoping her mom would be too drunk to notice she was home but unfortunately luck wasn't on her side... not that that came as much of a surprise.

"He's gone," spat out her mother as Kara tried to make her way past the kitchen.

Kara didn't know how to respond, she didn't even know what her mother was talking about, though at least she was relieved by the fact that she wasn't yelling at her. Not knowing what else to do Kara just stood there, frozen in place, desperately wanting to get away but not daring to take another step for fear of making matters worse.

"What? Aren't you going to say anything, you little shit? He left because of you and he's not coming back! We were fine before you came along and screwed everything up!"

"I'm sorry," said Kara, not really knowing what it was that she was apologizing for, not sure of what it was that she was supposed to have done this time around but growing more and more worried by the second.

"You are not sorry but I promise you, you will be," growled her mother, rather menacingly, but luckily she made no move to get up, she just reached for her bottle and poured herself another shot.

Realizing that chances were her mom was in no shape to come after her, at least for the time being, Kara gathered her courage and backed away, even as her mother kept cursing at her.

By the time Kara finally made it to her room she was terrified. That had been bad, really bad. Even though her mom got plastered on a daily basis Kara had rarely seen her that drunk so early in the afternoon and she knew that meant there was something wrong. She knew something was happening, something big. The problem was that she didn't have a clue as to what that 'something' was. Who had left? That was the most important question. Well, the only 'he' in the house was her dad but he would never leave her, Kara knew that much. The problem was that her mom had been clear: she had said that he was gone and there was no other he so she couldn't quite get the idea out of her mind.

At the thought of her dad being gone Kara started to tremble and then she felt the tears running down her face. She wiped them away with her sleeve feeling rather stupid. She knew crying was a waste of time, she knew it never helped, she knew it only showed how weak she was and yet she couldn't stop herself. She tried to tell herself that it couldn't possibly be true, that he wouldn't leave her so it had to be a lie but it wasn't working.

Knowing that she had to find herself some answers, Kara decided to venture out of the relative safety of her own room. Very quietly she made her way to her parents bedroom. She knew that if her mom were to catch her in there she would be in a world of hurt but that didn't really matter, for once she didn't really care.

She didn't know what it was that she was looking for. She didn't exactly have a plan and she didn't really know what it was that she was expecting to find but in spite of that it took her only a moment to come across the answers she had been looking for.

Her father's clothes were gone, his drawers were empty and in that moment Kara realized that her mother had been telling the truth.

Her dad was gone, he wasn't coming back... and he hadn't even said goodbye.