4:3 Cursing The Gift

Caution: very mild partial nudity, references to violence,

and the finest ass this side of Riverview.
(which I unfortunatly didn't use pics of from the right angle)

 "Shae? Are you ok?" 

Kaity had been woken by the sound of Shaena walking down the stairs a little over an hour ago. She'd assumed she was getting a glass of water, and fallen back asleep. She wasn't sure what woke her up the second time, perhaps guilt? Whatever it was, she'd found Shaena curled up on the couch staring blankly into space.

"I think it's over, Kait." Shaena's voice was emotionless, and she didn't even blink when Kaity plopped herself down next to her.

"Did he break up with you?" Kaity secretly hoped he had, but she felt Shaena needed a friend more than a lecture right now.

"No." She wasn't giving anything away.

"Did you break up with him?"

"No."

 Kaity re-adjusted herself. This could be a long conversation by the looks of things.

"Do you want it to be over?" Please say yes, she thought to herself.

"I don't think so."

"You're gunna have to give me more than that." Kaity said, her calm voice starting to carry a harsh tone. "Why are you here?"

Shaena sat herself up a little. She looked nervous now, almost like she was afraid to admit something.

"Shae? What's going on?" Kaity's tone was laced with worry now. Shaena glanced at her friend before looking at the floor again. "Shaena. Tell me." Kaity said, firmly.

"After you beat him up..." Kaity flashed a look of guilt, before bringing back her 'I'm listening' face. "We went home, and he blamed me for it. We had this massive argument, he started telling me that I should have learned to control you by now, and that you were out of control. I should have just nodded along, just agreed with him, but I stood up for you, told him you were drunk and didn't mean it..."

Shaena folded herself back up, and looked away. Hiding something.

"And then what, Shae? What did he do?"

"He threw a plate at my head." She muttered.

Kaity jumped up at stared at her cousin.

"Are you kidding me?! You are never going back there, I'll get your stuff and you can live here."

"Stop, Kaity. He said he was sorry, and he missed anyway, I ducked."

"That's besides the point, Shae. He could've killed you!"

"Don't be stupid-"

"I'm not being stupid. I'm pretty sure a plate to the head could kill you. And if not, you'd be in hospital or seriously disfigured or something." Kaity started pacing the small space between the sofa and the TV, trying to calm herself down. If she raised her voice too much, the twins would wake up.

"Kaity, calm down. He won't do it again." Kaity stopped, her back to her, and twisted a little to look her in the eyes, Shaena repositioned, seeing the seriousness on her friends face.

"And how do you know that, Shae? Have you seen the future?" Shaena's face dropped.

"You lied." She accused through gritted teeth. "You told me you'd not seen anything bad." She stood from the seat, and strode quickly towards the door. Kaity caught her waist as she passed.

"Stop, Shae. Just listen, please." Kaity was desperate, she'd never intended Shaena to find out, or go through, what her vision had portrayed.

"You lied to me, Kaity. You promised me you'd not seen anything other than a happy ending. You could have stopped this. You knew all along, and you never said a word. Do you know how much that hurts?" Shaena broke free from Kaity's grip as it loosened at her words.

Kaity watched as her best friend stormed out the door. Her words hurt, but she was right. If Kaity had told her all those years ago, she'd have broken up with him then and there, and none of this would have happened. At the time it seemed only logical to let her have the good times, and be there for her when it all fell apart, but what if he had taken it further? What if he'd killed her?

She moved forward to apologise again, try and undo what she'd done, but the door slammed in her face as she got there. She moved to push it open again, but decided against it. She needed time, they both did. She'd betrayed her friend's trust, and she just hoped she'd take her up on her offer of staying here.

She leaned herself against the wall as she heard Shaena enter the bathroom.

Please don't be washing up to leave... she thought to herself.

"Stupid." Thinking aloud now. "You stupid, stupid girl, Kaity."

She let herself sink to the floor, and picked at an invisible spot on her arm as she listened to Shaena draw herself a bath.

Why me? Why do I have to be the one with a gift? 
Some gift. When has it ever come in any use?

Her mind responded to her by reminding her of the times it had been of use.

She sighed to herself. "Get out of my head." She breathed. Meaning her ability, but knowing there was nothing she could do. It was part of her, there was nothing she could do about that, and without it she wouldn't have a career. Who would she be without the sight? She'd moulded her whole life around it, and at times she thought it was the only interesting thing about her, even if it did feel like a curse a lot of the time.

Shaena relaxed herself into the bath, letting the hot water try to wash away the events of the past few days.

She lied. How could she lie?

They had been best friends pretty much their whole lives. Had she lied about anything else?

She sat herself up a little, gently sponging off her body.

She was lying to protect me. Maybe she didn't think he'd really do it. Maybe he didn't. She looked surprised when I told her, maybe she saw something else.

Maybe he won't do it. What if this is the turning point? 

                           What if this event changes the event Kaity saw?

It was a lot of maybe's, but it made sense to her.

She's not out the bath yet. What's she doing in there?

"MOMMIIIEEEE!!!!!" The cry was muffled by the distance, but it was unmistakably Jaydean.

"Oh plumbob above, Jay, don't wake Soph!" Kaity muttered to herself as she went to see to her children.

Kaity had no idea why babies were so loud about eating. After she'd dressed them both, and given them both a bottle of formula, she left them screeching to each other in their room as she went to shower and get herself ready for work. She'd hardly had any sleep, and still hadn't caught up from the other night when she'd got drunk, but she still needed to work.

Shaena cornered her on her way to get breakfast.

"Kait, look, I'm sorry about earlier-" The hot bath had changed her whole outlook.

"No, you're right. I should have just told you, but I didn't, I kept it to myself and just assumed I'd be able to know when it would happen and stop it in time.

"It was the most stupid thing I've ever done, and I promise, from now on I'll tell you everything, and I'll be there to protect you if Alex ever dares to go anywhere near you-"

"Kaity. Stop. It's fine. I'm going to talk to Alex after work, see if we can work somethi-"

"No! Shae, please!"

"Kaity. I'm doing this." Shaena stated, and Kaity knew she should stop arguing now. She took a deep breath.

"Ok." She replied, as she let her breath out. She'd be there when this fell apart.

"I'm so glad you're letting me do this my way." Shaena said as she pulled her into a hug. 

Best friends again.

The girls sat down to breakfast, Shaena made pancakes, disproving Kaity's earlier theory that she could only make waffles. And Shaena headed over to the shop to open up while Kaity gathered the twins.

*Unknown Number*

Kaity looked at her phone for a moment before answering. It wasn't often she got calls from an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Hello is that Kaity Mattell?"

"Who's asking?"

"This is Celia Goth, calling from the Goth hotel in Starlight Shores."

"Uh, hello, Celia, how can I help?"

"I'm calling to invite you to a psychic's convention..."






By the way, I put up gen 3 summary, and added a new section for gen 4: character profiles. They're just a couple of lines about who's who, because there will be a lot of outside characters this gen. I'll add to it as I introduce more. It's here btw.

Also, Taylor broke up with Bebe and started dating Rose's best friend Shavon. I dunno how I'm gunna write that one in :|

4:2 What Kaity Did

 Kaity groaned as she poured herself another cup of coffee. Her head was pounding. She'd had no intention of getting drunk, but she'd got drunk so quickly. She didn't even know where the twins were, Luis and Layla must have kept them overnight when she didn't show to pick them up. How did she even get home? She decided to drink her coffee on the porch, maybe the fresh air would help a little.

It was 8.45. Where was Shaena? She was very rarely late, especially not two days in a row. She smiled as she dialled her number, imagining her in a similar state as herself in bed.
No answer.
Confused, she tried again, with the same results. It just kept ringing. She must still be asleep.

She decided to let her have the day, and called Layla to apologise for abandoning her children. Layla said Luis had the car, and so Kaity would have to pick the girls up. She couldn't leave the shop, Shaena wasn't here. So she called Bonnie. Bonnie didn't sound hungover, but she didn't sound happy. She agreed to pick the girls up though, and finished by saying 'We need to talk when I get there'.

What did she mean? Talk about what? Had something happened last night? Kaity tried to think, tried to clear the brainfog. She remembered seeing Alex there, but it was way before 10pm, when he'd said he'd finish work. She remembered she'd felt angry... What did she do? She was now worried about Shaena not answering the phone. Had she pushed Alex to do something? Or was she just annoyed and avoiding her? Bonnie couldn't get here soon enough.

At 10 o'clock, Bonnie finally arrived with the twins, just as Kaity was holding back a wave of sickness.
"Hello babies!" Kaity chirped, her head feeling a bit better after 5 cups of coffee. "Did you miss me?" she asked as Bonnie set them on the floor.
"Mummy, why did you forget us?" Jaydean pouted. That hurt.
"I didn't forget you, babies! Mummy was just busy, is all."
"Did you make a new boyfriend?" Sophie asked. Suddenly Kaity wished she hadn't called her string of men 'boyfriends' when they'd not escaped before the twins woke up.
"No, honey..." Kaity replied, looking quizzically at Bonnie, who shook her head to confirm. "No, Mummy was just busy helping auntie Bonnie with something."

Once the kids were settled, the adults got to talking.

 "So... Uh... What exactly happened last night?" Kaity was a little embarrassed about the whole thing, she'd never been so drunk she couldn't remember.

"You really don't remember?" Bonnie asked, a sadistic smile on her face.
"Bonnie, please!" Kaity groaned, not wanting to wait any longer. If she'd done something, she should put it right. The sooner the better.
"You've not seen the paper, then?" Bonnie handed Kaity a copy of The Sunset Valley Star, Kaity's hands shook as she unfurled it. "Page eight." Bonnie stated, and watched as her friend's face fell at the article.

The 'Valley's most crazed celeb?

Sunset Valley's most out of control celebrity, Kaity Mattell, was spotted late last night participating in a brawl at hotspot The Grind. The altercation seemed unprovoked, with Miss Mattell stalking up to an unknown man on the dancefloor and shouting. Witnesses say the victim tried to walk away, before crazy Kait jumped him at the bar. The fight was stopped by a presumed friend of Mattell, and a second friend led her out the door soon after. Who is this mystery man? Could this be the father of the illegitamate twin girls Mattell has been raising alone for two years? Or has crazy Kait really lost it?

 "Please tell me this isn't how it looks..." Kaity gasped, as she set the paper on the desk.

"I wish I could." Bonnie sighed, looking at her friends distraught face. 

"I don't know the whole story, but I first noticed something on the dancefloor. You'd just downed that random drink you'd found, and stumbled onto the dancefloor with Shaena. Shaena started dancing, assuming you were too, and Alex was being... Well, pretty vulgar if you ask me, kissing all down her neck, running his hands everywhere, but she seemed perfectly happy. You pulled him away, and winked at Shae, obviously she thought that meant you were just gunna talk, so carried on dancing with his weird sister.

 "You obviously weren't being nice, and in hindsight, I should have pulled you away then. Shae had her back to you guys, and you were being pretty tame, considering how much you seem to hate him."

"Oh, if only you knew how much I hate him." Kaity scoffed. Bonnie gave her a look to silence her so she could carry on with the story.

"So, as I said, you were being pretty tame, but enough to wind him up. I mean, let's face it, you're an annoying person." Kaity looked hurt for a second, before nodding her agreement, allowing Bonnie to continue.

"I have no idea what you said to him, but after he'd responded, he walked off. Obviously, he's a bigger man than you think he is, and not this crazy violent llama-head you think he is." Kaity rolled her eyes, if only all her friends had the sight too. Then they'd see. They'd all see.

"I thought that was the end of it. Y'no, crisis averted. And I was just about to start up dancing again, when suddenly you stormed off after him. I ran up after you, and just as I was about to stop you, you grabbed him, spun him round, and screamed something like: 'You lying, cheating son of a llama!'. And now he looked really angry, which is fair enough, you just implied his mother was a llama, and you know that's not on. Then you started going on about how you were going to stalk him and get all this proof, that you'd 'save Shae yet'.

"By this point, you'd wound him up to breaking point, and he pushed you-"

"Ah-ha! So he started the fight!"

"Kaity, really? I'm on his side for this one. You pushed him to the point where he needed to lash out to shut you up, and besides, you didn't have to hit him back." Bonnie continued.

"Before I knew it, you two were a mix of bodies. I tried to grab your hand, but you both kept moving so fast. By this point, you had everyones attention, and they turned off the music. That was when I heard Shae.

"I don't know who she was more angry at, but she jumped right in the middle of that fight, and you didn't even care. I'm pretty sure she got hurt, but she wouldn't say on the phone earlier. After a while, you somehow beat Alex, even though he's twice your size in every way, and that was when I dragged you outside before you could do anything else stupid."

Kaity took a moment to let it all sink in before responding.

"I don't even know what to say, Bonnie. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I put you all through that, I'm sorry I'm such a waster I can't even pick my own children up, and I'm sorry I didn't remember it." Bonnie shuffled, unsure how to respond.

"I've got to get to work, but it's Shae you should be apologising to, not me."

Kaity nodded, and thanked her friend for picking the twins up and telling her what had happened, before Bonnie left for work.

What was she going to do?

She spent the rest of the day milling around the shop. It was a quiet day, with only a few customers for herbal remedies and no readings.

_____

It was early evening, Kaity had shut up shop for the night, and the toddlers were starting to moan.

"Mummy will fix dinner in a minute!" Kaity said, hoping to quiet them while she attempted to call Shaena yet again. She'd been texting and calling all day, with no answer, but hoped this one last attempt would make a difference.

Just as she heard the diall-tone, indicating the recieving phone was ringing, the front door opened and Shaena walked in.

"I am so sorry..." Kaity started.

"Just get the twins ready for dinner." Shaena snapped, cracking eggs into a bowl in the kitchen.

Confused, Kaity did as she was told, and got the toddlers ready in their highchairs.

"Do you not think we should talk about this?" Kaity asked as she put Jaydean in the highchair next to her sister.

"Tomorrow. I'm staying here tonight."

Once the twins had their meals, Shaena and Kaity sat down to theirs. Kaity inwardly laughed at waffles for dinner, it was about the only thing Shaena could cook.

"Thank you for dinner." Kaity tried to break the silence.

"I knew you'd just give the twins a jar of baby food, and get yourself some cereal. You need real food, so..." Shaena didn't finish, she hadn't intended to.

"Do you want to talk about why you're staying over?" Kaity offered. Her offer was met by silence and a cold stare.

After they'd eaten, the girls put the twins to bed, and Shaena retired to the spare bedroom.

Kaity returned downstairs to wash the dishes from dinner.

Why wouldn't she talk? Obviously, she and Alex had argued over something, was she only here to wind him up? Had she forgiven her already?

She drained the sink and went to bed herself.

Her vision from a few years ago replayed in her mind as she climbed into bed.

Had he hurt her?

It couldn't have happened exactly like the vision, because there was snow everywhere, but she could have made it happen sooner... Couldn't she?

Alex's weird sister does have a name, and a part in the story. I will find out her name next time I go in, and mention it in the next chapter so she isn't such a mystery. :p