Page 1 of Transition

CHAPTER ONE

Ileaned forward, earbuds in place as I peered out the car window watching the trees and hills go by. There has always been something about nature that spoke to me. Whether it was the serenity, the pure beauty, or the calmness that came with it, I just always felt at home around nature. That said, something about this particular scene irked me.

Perhaps it was the fact that my mom and I abandoned our home in Los Angeles to move to a small town in Virginia called Redwood. As someone who was born and raised in a big, thriving city, it was a little hard for me to accept the fact that we were making a move to somewhere so much smaller and quieter.

Then again, I had never really been social, nor did I have a lot of friends. I was sort of an introvert, always finding social interactions awkward; the world of social interaction was reserved for the likes of my parents.

My mom, Elena Dawson, was a social butterfly, thriving in society and everything it had to offer. She was always attending parties, events, charity galas, and so on. Yet somehow, she still found a way to manage to be a great wife and mother. My father complimented her since he reveled in the fame that came with being a millionaire businessman. They always attended events together, throwing parties of their own, but I never felt neglected in any way. It was no wonder my mom decided to leave LA after my father’s death. She just couldn’t handle staying in that world without her “partner in crime.”

The death of Grant Dawson, my father, was something I couldn’t yet grasp, and it had everything to do with the strange circumstances surrounding his death.

He had woken up from his nap on a Sunday evening, and we had all sat down for dinner. After some banter and a romantic dance with my mom by the fireplace, he had planted a sweet kiss on my forehead. He announced he was stepping out for a meeting with a business partner of his. Of course, my mom had been hesitant to let him go so late in the evening, but he managed to convince her and put her at ease.

When he didn’t return that night, my mom called the cops, who said they could only declare him missing after 24 hours, but we didn’t have to wait that long. A few hours later, my father’s car was found at the bottom of a lake. There was no saving him, he was dead.

Investigators wrote off his death as an accident, blaming it on the massive storm that had reaped havoc that night. But, something in my gut kept telling me that there was something strange about my father’s death, but how could the words of a 17-year-old sway anyone?

It had been two months, and even though my mom was all smiles as she drove us to our new home, I knew she missed him, and that she was broken inside.

“Oh, Katrina, I can’t wait to start this new job. You know I’ve always wanted to be in fashion, right?” My mom’s calm, angelic voice flowed into my music-free ears.

I rolled my eyes at her attempt to make it seem like everything was fine. I could see through her, but I just turned to her with a small smile.

“Yes, Mom, I know,” I replied.

“Don’t give me that look, Katrina,” she coaxed. “I know you’re not as excited as I am to move to Redwood, but I promise you it’s going to be amazing there, okay?”

Her assurances meant nothing to me. It wasn’t that I hated the move; it just felt like we were running from everything that reminded my mom of my dad, but I didn’t dare say that. It would just hurt her, and that’s the last thing I wanted to do.

“I know. It will be amazing, Mom. We’re going to be together after all.”

I smiled genuinely this time.

“I love you, Mom, but you really should start calling me Kat now. New town, new life… remember?”

I had been trying to get her to call me Kat since I was five, but she never budged. Hopefully, she would do it now that we were headed toward a fresh start.

She chuckled instead, her beautiful brown eyes shining with a twinkle and her brown skin glowing underneath the sun. “You are always going to be my Katrina, bebé. It’s such a beautiful name, I don’t know why you insist on shortening it,” she said. “You know, your father chose that name…” Then she went on and on about my father, and I immediately put on music to tune her out.

It wasn’t that I hated listening to stories about my father. It was the fact that she spoke of him like he had been dead for years when it had only been two months. The fact that she seemed to be over it got on my nerves.

Maybe it was her way of coping - acting like nothing was wrong - or it had been long enough for us to move on with our lives. I wasn’t in that place yet. My father’s death was still so raw in my mind, and the vast hole his absence had left in my heart wasn’t going to be healed anytime soon.

Memories of him flashed in my head as we zoomed past the sign that saidWelcome to Redwood, and, instead of letting them go, I embraced them.

Sounds of his boisterous laughter rang in my head. Images of him caring for me, dropping me off at school, kissing my forehead, and messing up perfectly combed hair flickered through my mind.

As I listened to The Pine Ridge Boys’ “You Are my Sunshine,” I felt hope bloom within me. Maybe, just maybe, this town would make a difference in my life, and things wouldn’t be so bad.

I leaned back and basked in the warmth of the sun as I tried to look forward to a new start.

CHAPTER TWO

“Katrina, dear, wake up. We’re here,” came a sing-song voice that roused me from my disturbing sleep.

I woke from a weird dream where an unknown masked man was chasing me while continually repeating the words, “youare next” as I ran for my life.

When I heard my mom’s voice, I was happy that I had somehow been released from the grasp of that horrible nightmare.

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