Awakening Book One of the Trust Series(28)

When the cousins finally walked away, leaving just the tiny immediate family behind at the casket, Garrett walked slowly up to Caitlyn, his eyes reaching her sad ones.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Caitlyn.”

Caitlyn nodded, her eyes pleading. He had hoped that the emotional wall she had so effectively put up would come down. “Don’t leave. Please.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Her father stole a glance at the casket that now lay in the ground before turning briefly to his still living daughter. At first, Garrett thought that he might open up to her, but it was quickly apparent that he would say nothing. Still, Caitlyn took it as her sole opportunity to talk to him.

“Dad…”

Mr. Young did not respond. Caitlyn pressed further. “Dad… Dad, I am so sorry. So incredibly sorry for what happened.”

Her father stared as though looking right through her, barely acknowledging her presence.

“Dad, please talk to me!” Caitlyn’s voice took on a frantic edge.

Her father’s response was pure ice, his voice devoid of any emotion. “I told you on your eighteenth birthday and I’ll say it one last time. I am not your father. As far as I am concerned, my two daughters died the day of Hanna’s car accident.”

Garrett would like to think that a father could not be so cruel to a child, but he knew better. Her father twisted the emotional knife he had plunged into her. “You killed her. Her death lies squarely on your shoulders. She would still be alive if it was not for you. Perhaps she would have been married, in school, or even a mother herself. Hanna will never get that opportunity. If I never see you again, it will be too soon. Goodbye, Caitlyn.”

Caitlyn recoiled at the words he spoke. The strong woman Garrett had known disappeared, and an unsure child, desperately seeking acceptance took her place. Caitlyn’s only response was to nod meekly, as she turned to walk away.

Garrett wanted to punch her father, make him pay for the way that his words impacted her. After a quick glare, he walked after Caitlyn. She started slowly, her steps even and long.

“Wait up.”

She ignored Garrett, instead choosing to pick up her pace, stumbling over nothing, unsure of her destination.

“Caitlyn, please wait up!”

By this point, she was practically running, making it to the other edge of the graveyard, her father barely visible to even the eye of an Actual. When her feet finally hit the pavement, her body gave out from the stress of the past few days, her knees scraping against the harsh gravel, with large sobs falling from her lips.

Garrett caught her in his arms, letting her cry. His heart broke for her. He rubbed her back slowly with his hands, in an effort to comfort her. After five minutes, her sobs began to slow down, her body taking deep breaths trying to calm itself down. “Shhh…It will be alright. I am sure he did not mean it.”

He hated that he told her that lie.

“He meant every word, Garrett. Every damn word.”

“Caitlyn, tell me what happened.” There was obviously more to the story than what was on police reports and newspaper articles. Garrett was desperate to alleviate some of her guilt.

“I can’t. I failed her in so many ways. That should have been me.”

He should have asked her days ago what happened. This was not the ideal time at all. Still he pressed further. “Caitlyn, you need to let this out. Do you trust me?”

Her voice sounded raw as she spoke out loud. “Read me. It’s okay. I give you permission. I can’t… I can’t say what I did out loud.”

Garrett hugged her one last time before focusing on her. The images came easily, without much coercion since they were in the very forefront of her thoughts.

There were the memories of her mother dying from cancer, turning from a strong willed woman into a shell of her former self. Garrett felt the anguish and frustration of Caitlyn as she watched her mother pass away and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

He witnessed her father handing over the day-to-day responsibilities of the household to Caitlyn at the tender age of sixteen, until she finally rebelled from the stress of it all and began to skip classes and hang out with the wrong crowd.

The day of Hanna’s accident was the most vivid. Caitlyn was supposed to pick her little sister up from her dance class and had forgotten, her friends convincing her to hang out with them behind the school. He watched as Caitlyn practiced her best apologetic speech as she sped along in her beat up compact car, being well over forty-five minutes late.