Chapter Fifteen:

 

So, why did I regret investigating Alice? Well, because I would soon find out my worst nightmare to come true.

I don’t remember the night well, but the things I do remember are my parents arguing, Dad yelling something at Mom and then asking Kamile something. Kamile then goes with Dad somewhere that neither I or Mom know of. Then, I remember Mom crying…

 

December 13th, 1998

 

“William! You’re being ridiculous!” Mom said. 

“I’m not being ridiculous, Mary!” Dad shouted at her. “I never asked for another child, especially one that is hideous!”

Mom gasped. 

Dad continued on with his rage. “And, you named her Halo? That’s the worst name I have ever heard of! Are you a hippie, Mary? Huh?”

Mom stared at her husband in disgust. Dad walked over to my baby crib where I was sleeping. But, I could still hear him. 

“Halo, huh?” He mutters. 

I sneeze softly. 

“Just so you know…” Dad says. “I never wanted you…”

He turns around and walks back over to Mom. They start arguing again. I don’t even remember what they said because this one was just all over the place. All I remember is hearing screaming and yelling, but it wasn’t too traumatizing to my little baby brain. 

I then hear 10-year-old Kamile walking down the stairs, probably tired from the lack of sleep she has from our parents fighting. I’m now awake, but surprisingly like most babies, I didn’t cry. I now see Kamile staring at them while arguing, she is wearing her purple footsie-pajamas and holding a stuffed bear in her arms. 

Kamile’s sleep deprivation suddenly catches Dad’s attention. He walks over and kneels down in front of her on one knee. 

“Kamile, dear,” He begins. “Would you like to pack your things so I can take you to DisneyWorld?”

“Yes, Daddy!” She says happily as that clears up her grogginess completely. 

Kamile runs up the stairs, leaving her bear on the steps. Dad turns back to Mom, to continue arguing presumably. But…that didn’t happen. 

“I hate you, William!” Mom shouts in anger at him. “You are not taking Kamile with you!”
“Oh, I think I am, Mary!” 

Mom then runs up the stairs, I’m guessing to try and convince Kamile that she’s not going to DisneyWorld. Dad runs up the stairs, probably to try and convince Kamile that she’s lying. Leaving me, only two months old, alone…

I end up falling asleep because of the quietness. But, I’m then abruptly woken up by the slamming of feet on the steps. 

“C’mon, Kamile!” Dad yells up the stairs. “We’re going to go meet Mickey Mouse!”

“She’s not going with you, William!” Mom yells from the top of the stairs while holding Kamile tight to her. Kamile is all packed and ready to go, but Mom is still not letting go. 

Dad grumbles and runs up the stairs. “Kamile, sweetie, take my hand! Let’s go!”

Kamile reaches her hand out but Mom holds it back. “She is not going with you!”

“We’ll see what Kamile wants then!”  Dad says as he looks at Kamile. 

Mom releases her arms, letting Kamile be free. 

“Kamile,” Dad begins. “Who do you want to stay with? You can go to DisneyWorld with your Daddy, or, you can stay with Mommy and play with your…little sister.” He grumbles at the words of ‘little sister’. He must have really hated me. 

“Why can’t I stay with both of you?” Kamile asks. 

Mom and Dad look at each other. Mom opens her mouth to say something, but Dad interrupts her. 

“It’s complicated, honey,” Dad says. “But, come with me and you get to go to DisneyWorld!”

A smile brightens on Kamile’s face. “Mommy, I want to go with Daddy!”

Kamile reaches her hand out to Dad. He takes it, as he does, Mom tries to grab Kamile, but it’s too late, as he and Kamile are already out the door, in the car, and are driving away to who knows where. 

Mom runs down the stairs and falls to her knees by the door and starts crying. For, what seems like an eternity…

 

Present Time

 

“Halo, get off your sister!” Mom yells at me. 

James pulls me off of Kamile and I fall back into him. He’s laying on the floor while I’m sitting up, realizing that I’m not on top of her anymore. I get up for Round 2, but Mom cuts in front of me. 

“What are you doing?” She scolds.

“I’m giving her what she deserves for leaving us eighteen years ago!” I yell. 

“She was ten years old, Halo!”

“But she still had the freedom to choose! And when she did, she was dumb enough to pick the man who left us and called me hideous!”

James and Kamile gasp. 

Mom stares at me. “Didn’t we have this discussion when you found the picture of William under my bed?”

“Oh, so you’re calling him William now? Not Dad?”

“Halo quit being so…”

“So what Mom?”

“Quit being so childish! You’re eighteen! Grow up!”

Mom storms off upstairs and I hear her slam her bedroom door. 

My eyes drift off to Kamile as I stare at her angrily. “Why are you here?”

Kamile sighs. “Well, just so you know, I thought I was going to DisneyWorld.”

I stare at her once more. 

She continues. “I lived with Dad in Montana throughout my life after we left. I went to high school and got a great education there. After I graduated, I was accepted into a college in Oregon and graduated there top of my class in Biology.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. I asked why are you here? Not your whole life story that is pretty much a reality every kid would dream of.”

Kamile stares at James. “Who’s this?”

“None of your business,” I say. 

Ignoring what I said, James reaches his hand out and offers it to Kamile. “I’m James, I’m her boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend, huh?” Kamile says ignoring me as well. 

I groan. “Can you just answer my question?!”

They both stare at me. I raised my voice a little too much. 

I sigh. “Why are you here, Kamile?”

“I left Dad, I have come to spend more time with my family.”

My eyes squint at her. “Why have you decided that now of all times?”

She walks back over to the couch, sits down and motion for me to sit next to her. I groan again and sit down. 

James sees that this might be a private moment once again and walks over to me. “Hey, uh, I’m gonna give you two some space. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” He kisses me on the cheek and leaves. 

I blush a little as he kissed me on the cheek in front of someone. 

“He’s special,” Kamile says ruining my moment. “You should keep him.”

“I’m gonna.”

Kamile takes a deep breath. “After I realized that we weren’t going back home, I started learning as much as I could so I would be able to go to college and come back.”

I nod at her. 

“I devoted my whole life to get back here, that’s why I was worried when I got to Texas that Mom was in the hospital. I checked her out because the doctor said she was better enough. When I got to the hospital, she looked great. I mean, you can still see the stitch marks from the stitches they gave her, but she looks perfectly fine besides that.”

I look at her, growing impatient. 

“So, I found her address on the release papers and drove back here. We have been talking for the whole afternoon.”

“If you were talking the whole afternoon, how come no one was here when I came back after school?”

Kamile smiles. “We went to get ice cream.”

“So…you checked her out of the hospital?” I ask coming to my realization. 

Kamile nods. 

“Um, did Mom tell you what I-”

She laughs as she interrupts. “She told me you went to JUVY. Though, I already knew. It was the biggest news story of 2012. Dad was ecstatic about it. He would say: ‘I knew that little brat was hideous. Hideous people deserve to be punished.’ But, yet did he know, that the reason you were put away was because of your crime, but also because you raged him leaving.”

I smile. She actually related to what I felt like at those times. No one really knew how I felt because I never told them. Yes, the reporter and journalists guessed it right, but they never had the legitimate evidence to back it up. 

“Y’know…” I begin. “I always wanted a sister while I was growing up-before I found out about you that is-and when I found out about Dad leaving, that upset me, but what also made me upset was that I had a sister and no one told me.”

Tears start to roll down both of our cheeks. We put our arms around each other and hug for what seemed forever. 

As much as I didn’t want to meet Kamile, I am so happy she came back to us now.

 

 (The picture at the top is supposed to be baby Halo’s crib.)

P.S. THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE GAME CALLED LIFE