Happily Ever After

Boy did I feel like a loser. Here Kitty had finally starting showing signs of having her own interests instead of timidly going along with whatever I do, and I had outright told her off for it. Slow clap.

She repeated one word the rest of our time out and on the way home, "Okay."

When I apologized; "Okay." When I said we should get home; "Okay." It was miserable. I felt absolutely horrendous. I figured I should let things be, and we could talk it out whenever she felt ready and had calmed down a bit.

I was beyond relieved when we got home. I went to unlock the front door to our house, but she didn't follow me. I turned around to look at her and saw she was heading toward her mother's house.

"Kitty, where are you going?" I called out to her.

I received no response. She simply put one foot in front of the other until she reached the door to her old home. At this point I was definitely panicking. What on earth had gotten into her? I ran to catch up with her.

"Kitty, please, talk to me. What are you doing?" I asked slightly out of breath.

"I just wanna be alone for a bit," she responded distantly.

I desperately wanted to say something like do you think your mom's really gonna leave you alone if you go in there, but the words stuck in my throat.

"Okay?" she asked after my hesitation became clear.

"Okay," I responded, "But you come running and let me know if anything happens. And I do mean anything!" I placed extra emphasis on the last word.

She nodded and knocked on the door. I decided I should at least wait until Karina answered. There was no guarantee she would even let Kitty inside. Much to my surprise Karina opened the door and smiled upon seeing who it was. Kitty nodded at me indicating that I should leave at this point. As I turned to leave I heard Karina saying, "Come on in... I've been meaning to talk with you anyway." I had a bad feeling about this.

Kitty didn't come home that night. Well, I guess technically she was staying at what could be considered her home, but you know what I mean. I checked on her a few times by walking over to her house. Each time I could see the living room light was on, but I didn't hear any commotion or anything. I decided to wait and see what happened tomorrow.

I woke up the next morning to see that Kitty was not back. It was a Saturday, so we didn't have to worry about school at the very least. I ended up skipping breakfast because of how anxious I was feeling. Kitty showed up around midday with a surprisingly pleasant smile on her face. It looked like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

She proceeded to tell me how her mom had apologized to her last night. That was a shocker. I honestly didn't believe it for a second. Clearly Karina was putting on an act, right? She had been nothing but cartoonishly evil toward Kitty for her entire life. There had to be something going on. Still, I tried to be as supportive as I could without fully buying into it. The good news was this unexpected development had seemingly erased Kitty's memories of what happened with me yesterday. I wasn't about to bring all that up if she didn't bring it up first!

"That's a great start, Kitty! I am really glad to hear that. But you know, trust takes a long time to rebuild, right? So, I would be really careful and take things slowly. She needs to play by your rules following what you are comfy with, okay?" I gave her the best advice I could think to give while internally thinking there's definitely more to this.

We talked it over with my parents, and they essentially seconded my advice. It was a great relief when nothing crazy happened even when Karina started having Kitty over two nights of every week for the next 6 months. All was going well!

By this point we had transitioned into being high school seniors. We had comparatively early September birthdays meaning we had both recently turned eighteen. Since our birthdays were only 2 days apart, we had taken to celebrating them both on the same day. I got her a nice sapphire pendant to attach to her favorite choker that she wore regularly.

I figured her birthstone would be a good choice since she liked wearing jewelry and things that make her feel like a lady. She had taken to wearing over-the-top feminine stuff like long frilly skirts, blouses, and a choker every day. She made every effort to appear the princess she wanted to be. I had to admit, I always thought she looked cute, but now she was starting to become gorgeous.

In return she got me some fancy cologne. I wasn't sure whether to be offended wondering if I smelled bad or something, but she probably didn't mean it that way. I think? She probably liked the logo of a man on a horse on the front being perfectly honest.

Time marched on until it became time for us to think about our respective futures. Our school had us fill out a sheet detailing potential universities or plans to join the workforce after graduation. I had already put a good deal of thought into this topic. I was nothing if not studious. I quickly filled my sheet with the 3 most likely candidates I would attend while Kitty curiously looked over my shoulder.

I couldn't help but notice that Kitty had carbon copied my form word for word when we went to turn our papers in. I found it a bit touching that Kitty wanted to continue following me around even after finishing our compulsory education. Touching, and a bit strange if not entirely unrealistic.

I don't want to brag too much, but my grades were rock solid, and I had at least enough charisma to interview well. As a direct consequence, I had already been awarded several decent scholarships. There was no real concern about where I would end up or how I would pay for schooling. I would get enough in refunds that I could even afford to buy food and the like without needing a part time job for at least the first few years.

Meanwhile, Kitty as I mentioned before, desperately struggled to stay in the same classes as me. She came out on the other side of those classes with her grades averaging in the Cs. School was not her cup of tea. She had not been as fortunate on the scholarship front, so even if she managed to attend the same school as me, I had no idea how she would fund it without becoming saddled by a ridiculous amount of debt in the process. Suffice to say, her prospects were a bit grim. Nevertheless, my parents and I encouraged her as best we could knowing all the while these goals were most likely not going to come to fruition.

High school graduation came and went like a flash. I had been accepted to my chosen university, and coming as a bit of a surprise, Kitty had been accepted too. She certainly worked hard enough on her grades to make it work out. I still couldn't help but wonder how she would pay for it all.

If she wanted to be responsible she would need more than just loans for tuition. She would need a job to cover food and the like to avoid taking out more loans and screwing herself over in later life. I couldn't imagine Kitty holding a service job. She would panic and run away after the first hour. Let's be real. She wouldn't make it that far because she wouldn't survive the job interview.

I tried to spell out her problems in as gentle words as I could. Whenever I brought it up she would simply smile and say she's working on it. I was baffled when she told me her mom had actually been talking over all this with her recently. Karina had apparently been very supportive of Kitty going to college. Maybe she really did have Kitty's best interest in heart nowadays.

Chapter 3: I would do anything for you

In any case, this cycle continued until we moved out of my childhood home and into our new dorms. It should go without saying that Kitty and I couldn't room together in the dorms. I was concerned she would try to find a way to do so anyway, but I kept that fear to myself. Thus we settled into our new environment.

I decided to major in child and family studies. I have to admit that I was totally influenced by Kitty's family life growing up when making my decision. I devoted myself to my studies. I didn't want to make that classic college freshman mistake of partying my way right out of my scholarships.

I refused to tell Kitty which classes I had elected to take to minimize the chance she would follow my path without thinking about what she wanted to do for herself. This greatly frustrated her, but there was nothing she could do about it. My "punishment" for such behavior was having her visit me literally every evening after classes. She would drop by my dorm room (which was technically shared by another student, but he was never around for some reason) and stay practically and sometimes literally all night.

She seemed so happy with the status quo that I honestly didn't have the strength of will to send her back to her own room. She "borrowed" my ever absent dorm mate's bed often. I don't know what clairvoyance allowed her to orchestrate this setup... but I knew she'd find a way somehow. Had she bribed my roommate?! Surely this was a coincidence!

I have to admit though, I certainly didn't hate the current setup either! Why wouldn't I want to continue rooming with Kitty? Kitty was awesome. Like I mentioned, she was very particular in how she fussed over me. She kept the room tidy, took care of my clothes, brought me tasty treats and generally treated me like a king. It certainly didn't hurt that her beauty had blossomed in recent years. She was blessed with an innocent kind of air about her. Fragile, yet determined. She really looked like a princess sometimes.

The first few weeks of university life had gone off without a hitch. I was wondering how Kitty was managing her finances, but everything "seemed" to be going okay for her too. I decided not to worry too much about it. If Kitty needed help, I figured she would ask. Then something unexpected happened.

I found a note on my door a certain Friday evening saying, "I'm going out and won't be around tonight, so don't wait up, okay? -Kitty." That was weird. No, that goes a step beyond weird. Kitty has been attached at my hip for literally the entirety of our lives up to this point and has been mostly afraid of interacting with other people for at least the last 8 years of that time. Now suddenly and without explanation she decided to go do her own thing?

I should have been overjoyed. Finally, Kitty was going out ostensibly with friends or something to do her own thing. I honestly would feel a little sad or maybe lonely knowing she wouldn't obsess exclusively over me anymore, but growing as a person was more important... but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was definitely wrong here.

It was too sudden with no evident buildup. It would have been one thing if Kitty had tried to build up courage or endurance around other people. However, that wasn't the case at all. She hadn't been working on he ability to venture out without me at all. I tried texting her phone, but she never responded. There was nothing I could do. I decided to go to bed early and try to find out more tomorrow.

Kitty came to visit me around two in the afternoon the next day. She looked rough. It seemed like she was exhausted from running a marathon or something, and I could just barely tell she had been crying.

"Hey, Kitty, what's up? Is something wrong?" I asked as soon as I saw her.

"Oh! No, I'm fine!" she recoiled ever so slightly before responding.

There was an awkward silence while I peered into her eyes looking for traces of the truth. I came to the conclusion something had obviously happened, but there was no way to determine what unless she decided to come out and tell me. I determined to wait until she was ready to talk about it, but she never did.

We passed the day watching boring old black and white movies we found left in one of the dressers the room came furnished with. Looking back it is so obvious to me now what was going on. I wish I could go back in time and slap myself for being so naive. I had my suspicions then, but I figured there was no way in hell Kitty had actually been going out.

Kitty stayed the night with me but was very quiet that evening. When I awoke the next day she was gone again with another note detailing how she would be gone again later tonight.

Kitty began dropping by more regularly again and acting completely normally from that Monday onward. I figured whatever had happened was sorted by this point. Phew, back to normal! Everything was just fine for a couple weeks after that. Then all of a sudden I found a familiar note on my door one night. My heart sank.

"Again?" I wondered aloud. "Is she struggling to adjust to college level courses or maybe living on campus? I hope she's not holed up all alone crying somewhere."

There was no one there to answer my questions. I keenly felt the lack of her presence as I stepped inside the dark room. It felt wrong not having her with me. The cleanliness of the room and leftover snacks served as proof she had been here only the day before. After all, if left to my own devices, my room would become a pig sty within a matter of days. I was starting to scare myself with how I had taken her for granted.

"I really need to let her know how much I appreciate her," I said to no one in particular then headed to bed resolved to talk with her tomorrow.

Tomorrow came quickly despite having a relatively sleepless night. I couldn't stop worrying about Kitty. I resolved myself to visit her dorm and check on her before she would have a chance to come visit me. This would help to demonstrate how concerned I was about her.

I nervously knocked on the door I knew belonged to Kitty and her roomie. After about thirty seconds a grumpy looking girl opened up.

"What do you want?" she said flatly.

"Umm... is Kitty, or maybe Caroline in?" I asked.

"What are you talking about? I don't think I've seen her spend so much as a single night in this room. She comes around every now and then to grab a change of clothes or to use our mini fridge, but that's it. Why you wanna know anyway? You her boyfriend?" she asked slightly narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Oh, umm no, I mean not really. I just haven't heard from her for a bit is all, and she usually checks in with me," I replied while doing my best not to trip over my words while freaking out about the misunderstanding.

"Ah. I'll bet you're Kevin, huh?" she waited for me to nod and continued, "Well I kinda assumed you're her boyfriend since she has spent every moment of our limited interaction talking about Kevin this and Kevin that."

She looked legitimately annoyed while I blushed probably to the tips of my ears.

"Okay... well I'm sorry to bother you! If you see her, can you tell her to text me or come see me? Thanks!" I said turning tail to run away before giving her an opportunity to respond.

I heard her mutter, "Yeah, sure, whatever..." as she grumpily shut the door.

Concerned was an understatement for how I was feeling at this point. Kitty hadn't spent the night in her room and she hadn't spent it in mine unless she had been concealing the ability to turn invisible. Where had she been all night then? I got my answer sooner than I thought I would.

As I was walking out of the girls' dorms back to the boys' dorms on the other side of the street I caught sight of a car I recognized pulled up to the curb letting someone out. That was Karina's car, and the person exiting the vehicle was most definitely Kitty. I could barely recognize her. She was all dolled up wearing heavy makeup and fancy clothes, but I could see her makeup had run a little bit around the eyes like she had cried while wearing it. She looked like she had seen a ghost the second she saw me.

I understood immediately what was going on. Like I said before; I had my suspicions, but I was honestly naive enough to think there was no way Kitty would do it. Kitty had clearly turned to sex work to obtain the cash she needed to cover living expenses. She had taken my advice to heart and only taken loans to cover books and tuition while using money she earned to cover everything else.

Suddenly her improving relationship with her mom started to make a lot more sense too. I remembered all the cars and strange men at Karina's house after Roger had left. I had a hunch it was Karina who pitched the idea of sex work in the first place.

Karina had probably had this in mind for a while. She most likely acted like she wanted to patch up her relationship with Kitty specifically to give her an opportunity to set this up. Was she skimming some money off the top or something? That had to be it! Karina was using Kitty. I couldn't think of any other explanation.

I found out later that I was only halfway right. It really boiled down to Karina, being the vindictive woman she was, wanted her daughter to experience the same hell she had conceived her through. Money was just a bonus. She saw an opportunity to get revenge on the daughter she never wanted, and she took it. Misery loves company and all that I suppose.

After a few moments of staring at each other like a couple of deer in the headlights, I saw Karina drive off with a satisfied smile on her face. No doubt she thought Kitty's relationship to me and my family was doomed. Meanwhile Kitty started muttering incoherently.

"Wh...Why?" she finally managed to speak. "Why are you..."

"Lookin' for you," I interrupted. "Kitty. I may be dense, but I am not a complete idiot. I knew something was going on; I refused to believe it could actually be this though." I emphasized the word "this" to let her know the jig was up.

Tears started falling from her face. It was a sight both terrible and beautiful.

"Kitty..." I began to say.

"Why!?" she shouted at me. "Why did you have to find out!? I could have kept doing this... for you! But now..." she trailed off overcome with emotion.

"Kitty," I paused and took a deep breath. "It's okay. Let's go inside and get you cleaned up, alright?"

Surprisingly, she nodded and obediently followed me back to my dorm. Thankfully my AWOL roomie didn't pick today to suddenly decide he wanted to use this room. We sat in silence for a while. It was heavy with the tension palpable, but it wasn't awkward. If I had to pick being with Kitty like this or being alone... I would pick being with Kitty ten times out of ten.

Kitty suddenly broke the silence as her tears started to subside, "it was awful, you know?" I had assumed she meant allowing some stranger to use her body, but she continued, "hiding this from you was the worst thing I've ever done. It hurt so bad I wanted to scream! You weren't supposed to find out, Kevin! I would do anything to stay with you! I just needed to save up enough to... but now I can't..." her words became as weak as they were elliptical until they gave way to tears once again.

I was grateful she wasn't going to go into specific details about what other men had done to her. I certainly wasn't about to bring it up on my own. I would've lost my mind to jealousy and rage. I was surprised I was feeling that way, but couldn't think of how to respond appropriately. So, once again I had no idea what to say to her. Ultimately, I gave a generic, "yeah," and waited for her to continue.

"I just wanted to follow you! I wanted to be where you are! You're the only one I can be myself around! I get so scared and I try so hard to make sure you won't hurt me or abandon me! I convinced myself that if I just keep being your dainty little princess, you'll keep treating my like you always have... but if I ever mess up, then maybe even you...."

I could tell where this was going and my heart ached as I continued to listen.

"You're the only one I've ever trusted to never hurt me! But now I've messed up so bad.... I'm sure that's whats gonna happen! Even you! You're gonna be so mad that you'll leave just like my dad! And even if you decide to keep me around, you'll get mad at me like my mom! It's all my fault, it's always my fault!" she wailed deafeningly at the end of her tirade.