The Empty Life by Naomi Anderson (read aloud .TXT) 📕

I nodded, then hugged Dakota back. It felt right, to be back. She was my family, and I missed her like crazy.
“Kelby!”
I looked up and saw my mom standing by Ada. Dakota slowly pushed herself off of me and lead me over to our mom.
“Hi,” I said nervously.
Tears exploded out of her eyes and she attacked me with a hug. I had to fight my impulse to push her off, but after a few seconds, I couldn’t hold it any longer and pushed her away by the shoulders.
“I...I’m so sor...”
She smiled softly, “Don’t be. Come inside!”
I followed all three of them into the house. On the table were mountains of food, and a little banner that said ‘Welcome Home!’ hanging on the wall next to it. In the center of the table was a small picture frame, with a picture of Colin and I, seconds after our engagement. I stared at the picture, then my mom who was just glowing with pride.
“I thought you weren’t going to put that up,” Ada said irritatedly.
“You don’t like it?” Mom asked, facing me.
“No, I mean...it’s fine,” I stuttered.
“You sure?” Ada asked.
I nodded. As happy as I was to be back home with my family, it still felt unfair that I was the only one able to make it out alive, and I couldn’t stop thinking about everyone that died. It was my fault, and nothing would ever be the same. I watched Colin die along with my best friend, and I didn’t do anything about it.
Ada nudged my side, “I know what you’re thinking. Stop it.”
“Sorry,” I whispered under my breath.
There was a few minutes of awkward silence between the four of us. I could see Mom looking me over, up and down like I was a different person. In some ways I was, but I was hoping that once I was home, people wouldn’t see me like that.
“So...” Dakota said, quietly clearing her throat.
Mom laughed sheepishly, “I’m glad you’re home Kelby.”
I was really getting tired of people saying that, but because it was my mom I just gave her one of my best fake smiles.
“Are you girls hungry? I made your favorites,” Mom said.
Ada and Dakota nodded so I played along and nodded too.
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s eat!”
We all sat down at our usual spots at the table, leaving Dad’s seat and our brother Blake’s empty. Mom reached for Ada’s hand, Ada reached for Dakota's, and she reached for mine.
“Let’s pray,” Mom said softly, “ God, we thank you for this food. For rest and home and all things good. For wind and rain and sun above. But most of all for those we love.”
During my time in Iraq, I couldn’t help but lose all faith in God. I was born and raised into a Catholic family, but after my father died I began to question everything about God and Heaven and Hell. None of it made sense to me until I was kidnapped. It was then that I knew I was in hell, and even though it seemed like I wasn’t anymore, I still was. Images of gooey, dark red blood covering dead bodies and everything else in sight ran through my mind non stop.
“You okay, Kel?” Dakota asked as she passed around a tray full of pre-made sandwiches.
I nodded and gave her a weak smile, “Yeah.”
After a few minutes my plate was filled with food as was everyone elses. I watched my sisters as they began to plow away all their food on their plates and my mom just picking away at hers. A few minutes later mine still sat there untouched.
“Excuse me,” I said, standing up and rushing to the bathroom.
Once I got there I just stared at myself in the mirror. Despite all the nasty scars and bags under my eyes, I still seemed the same. I was still Kelby. But I wasn’t. Everyone wanted me to be, but I wasn’t. I couldn’t. I didn’t even want to be a part of my own family because I felt like such an outcast. They said they still loved me, but they would all tense up when I was around and I knew why. I wasn’t stupid, it wasn’t hard to figure out. I was weird, different, and I didn’t fit into their normal lives anymore, and honestly, I didn’t care. Chapter 3

Yay chapter 3 is finally over! This took so long for me to write! I got really busy with school the past few weeks and I didn't have a lot of down time between that and work. But here is chapter 3! :) I hope you enjoy it! Comment vote whatever :p

 

-Naomi

“So how was your visit at your Mom’s?”

 “It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.”

 “That’s good!”

 “Yeah."

 “You saw your sister? Dakota right?”

 “Yeah.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Good, I think. I don’t know, she looked kinda sick, but it was nice to finally see her.”

“When was the last time you two saw each other?”

“Two and a half years ago, but I was only home for like three days. I feel like I missed out on her entire childhood.”

“But you’re back now.”

 “I know.”

“Having your family around is going to help you get back to your normal self, or as close to it as you can get.”

“It isn’t my entire family.”

“Well, Colin isn’t coming back, Kelby, and neither is your father. But just because they aren’t physically there, it doesn’t mean that your family isn’t complete.”

“Blake is never around either.”

“Blake?”

“He’s my older brother.”

“How old is he?”

“I think he’s like thirty-six or something.”

“Have you talked at all since you were rescued?”

“He sent some flowers and a card. Ada tried to call him a few times but he never answered. Mom says he’s coming to town in a few weeks. 

“What does he do?”

“I have no idea. We kinda lost touch after Dad died. Something with the Army.”

“Is your whole family a part of the Army?”

“Blake and I were the only ones who went into it after dad. Ada is a lawyer and my mom just stays at home with Dakota.”

“What motivated you to join?”

“My dad. I never really wanted to do much else.”

“How did your mom react when he went into the army?”

“I don’t remember, to be honest.”

“What about when you went in?”

“She was really pissed. Ada said she kind of lost it for a while. She didn’t even talk to me until two years after I was enlisted.”

“What made her talk to you again?”

“I begged her to talk to me. It was the first time that I actually needed my mom since I got shipped over to Iraq. 

“What took you so long?”

“I don’t know, I just needed someone to talk to other than my sister and Colin."

“It’s good that you recognized that, most people don’t.”

I nodded, not knowing what else to say as Dr. Reid took notes in her little book. After a minute of silence she looked up at me, as if she was waiting for me to say something but I stayed silent.

“How did you sleep last night?”

 I sighed. The entire time I was hoping that she wouldn’t bring that up.

 “Kelby?”

“Um...same as usual.”

“How long were you asleep before the nightmare?”

“About an hour.”

“Thats shorter than usual.”

“Mhhm.”

“What was this one about?”

“Amy.”

“Will you explain it to me?”

 I scratched my head, “Amy collapsed next to me and our Sergeant told everyone to get moving while he stayed back to try and get her up but I refused to leave. Then next thing I know he’s dead too and there’s a gun pointed to my head. We wandered around looking for people for a while but they had already been captured. There were only eight of us left at that point.”

“Did you ever get back to sleep?”

I shook my head, “After I woke up I started stressing about physical therapy.”

Dr. Reid looked up at the clock above the door, “Oh crap! I forgot about that, I’ll walk you down, if that’s okay with you?”

I nodded, thankful to leave, but worried about going to my first session of physical therapy. So much therapy! Ada sat outside the door as usual, typing away on her computer. She didn’t even notice we had came out of the room until the door slammed shut.

“Jesus Christ!” she yelled as she jumped in fear.

“I have physical therapy, remember?” I asked flatly.

She looked at her watch, “That was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago, Kel.”

I nodded, pleased that the session would be shorter than intended because of Dr. Reid.

“It was my fault Ada,” Dr. Reid admitted, “I’ll walk you two down there.”

Ada gathered her things and walked alongside Dr. Reid while I followed, trying to stay at least a few yards behind them. Every once and awhile Ada would peek back at me to see if I was still there, and I would just stare at the ground until she turned back around to continue her conversation. After many twists and turns around the hospital and one very awkward elevator ride, Dr. Reid dropped us off at the physical therapy station then left with a quick goodbye.

“Hi,” said an overly cheery lady at the front desk.

I stood at the counter with Ada. Both of them were waiting for me to stay something, but I just stared at the ground, hoping that I could just leave.

Ada cleared her throat, “She’s here for her physical therapy session.”

Thank you captain fucking obvious.

“Name?” asked the lady.

Ada glared at me until I answered the lady.

“Kelby Summers,” I muttered quietly.

“I’ll go get your papers,” she smiled, then walked into the back of the little room she was in.

“Why are you so nervous?” Ada asked, turning to face me.

“Because I am.”

She sighed, clearly sick of my attitude.

“Kelby, this is going to help you,” she stated, “I mean you can barely walk.”

I nodded, “I know.”

The lady came back with a few papers in her hand, her smile even bigger than before.

“If you could fill these out and then bring them back to me, that would be great,” she said handing them over with a pen.

I nodded and walked over to the waiting area. There was a little boy sitting in one corner playing on his mother's phone while she watched nervously over him. Other than them there was only one other person. He was wearing a dark hoodie and sweatpants, much like me. He had a pair of Beats around his ears and he had his head leaned back against the wall as he quickly tapped his foot to the music. I sat as far away from everyone as I possibly could and began to fill out to forms. Ada had gotten her laptop out the second she had sat down.

“What are you working on?” I asked her.

“Hmm?”

 “What are you working on?”

"What do you mean?” she asked, not even glancing up from her computer.

I sighed, “Never mind.”

A few minutes later I was finished with the forms, but I was too scared to go up to the counter by myself. I felt like a fucking five year old. Everyone and everything