Complication

Posted on Sun May 29th, 2022 @ 1:27am by Unawakened James Corrigan

Mission: Tales of the Unawakened
Location: James' Car
Timeline: End of school day, day of The Letter

School had ended, and James stood leaned against the side of his car. Most of the guys were off trying to impress either their girlfriends or, if they didn't have girlfriends, each other. Even under normal circumstances, James had no interest in participating in that sort of macho BS. Today was not normal, not by any stretch of the imagination, and he just wanted to get out of here and on the road. Then he could talk to Kat about what had been in their mom's note – he hadn't had the chance to talk to her alone all day.

Hearing his sister's voice approaching, James turned from his lean on the car and started to open the passenger-side door but paused when he realized that the other girl with Kat was not breaking off to go her own way. James paused, door open but hand still on it and standing somewhat in the girls' way. "Hey, Kat, what's up?" he asked, trying to sound as normal as possible and not as though he was uneasy or unsettled or any of the thousand other emotions that were flickering through his head like lightning strikes.

Kat and her friend stopped, and Kat gave James an apologetic look before she returned her expression to the happy one she'd been showing the other girl. "James, you remember Karen, right?"

Karen Marx was tall and lanky with black hair streaked with dark green. Her jade green eyes stared out from behind semi-thick glasses that, surprisingly, looked pretty nice on her. That hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the moment, and Karen looked happy too. "Hi, James!" she greeted enthusiastically. "Kat said you guys are going south for the weekend?"

James wanted to lie, to tell her that she'd misunderstood, anything to make her leave. But he was not that kind of person, a liar. "Hey, Karen," he greeted, not nearly as enthusiastically as she had greeted him. "Yeah, we're gonna hit the amusement parks and stuff," he answered, knowing that Karen likely already had that information given the look Kat had shot him upon their arrival at the car. Yeah, he wasn't going to be able to get rid of Karen, he realized resignedly.

Karen grinned. "Yeah, that's what Kat said," she enthused. "I've always wanted to do that. Kat said there's room in the car–"

Kat cut Karen off, though her tone was friendly, not rude. "That's not exactly what I said."

Whatever had been said hardly mattered now, James thought morosely. The girl had gotten the idea that she was invited, and if he told her no, Kat would be the one who looked bad. Butwould it matter if they did as Mom told them to in the note? If they did that, they'd never see this girl again, so what she thought of them would be moot. But at the same time, he couldn't make that decision for Kat. He needed to let her weigh in on it first, so James came up with a compromise of sorts.

"Well," he said, looking at Karen, "we can give you a lift to your house. After that, we'll see."

Kat looked at her friend. "It is his car, so…"


Karen nodded. "Sure." She obviously either didn't get the hint or chose not to. She still looked as though she thought she would be accompanying them beyond that point.

James let it be for now and let his sister into the front passenger-side seat and then opened the door for her friend. Karen smiled in thanks. He nodded and closed the door once she was fully inside the car. This was going to be… complicated.

Rounding the car, he got in and put his seatbelt on. He saw that Kat had already done the same, but he still gave the mini-speech for the new girl in his car. "Everyone belt up. This car doesn't move until all seatbelts are on." Once he was sure all were belted in, James started the car and backed out of the parking space. He then left the school parking lot and came to a stop at the red light on the corner. "Okay, where do you live, Karen?"

"930 Olive Drive," Karen answered. "We're in the back, number 31."

James nodded, and they rode in silence until they reached the condominium complex at 930 Olive Drive. James turned in and drove through the curved streets inside the complex until they reached the back, stopping in front of the garage of #31. Karen got out, leaning back in only long enough to say cheerfully to Kat. "Be right back!" Then she was out of the car and gone before James could say anything. Damn but that girl was fast!

Kat looked over at her brother. She'd never known him to be rude, so his terse responses today confused her. "James, what's going on?" she asked, the confusion evident in her tones and eyes.

James sighed. "Why did you invite her?" he asked. Unlike their father's tone when answering a question with a question, James' just sounded… tired.

Kat sighed and looked at her hands in her lap. "I didn't… exactly." She fidgeted slightly. "She invited me to Grace's party, and I told her I couldn't go because you and I were going away for the weekend." She sighed again and closed her hands in her lap. "The conversation sort of got away from me after that, and before I knew it, she'd somehow gotten herself invited," she admitted, looking back up at her brother then. "Why? Is there a problem with her coming?"

She was confused. And why shouldn't she be, James thought miserably to himself. She didn't know the complicated bit, or rather the bit that Karen complicated. "Sort of, yeah," he admitted softly, somewhat subdued. He couldn't look at his sister now, couldn't meet her gaze. His eyes stayed on the street out in front of the car, his hands gripping the steering wheel.

Kat frowned, wishing James would look at her. What was so wrong that he kept his eyes averted? "Sorft of?" she queried. "We're just going away for the weekend. Why would one moe person matter as long as she pays her own way?"

She didn't understand, and she wouldn't until he gave her all of the facts, until he gave her the whole puzzle. Taking his right hand off of the steering wheel, he reached into his jacket's inner pocket and took out the note. Passing it sideways to Kat – he still had not looked at her – he said softly. "This is why." He couldn't tell her. He just couldn't.

Taking the folded paper from him, Kat opened it and read.

TBC>>>