Bound by C.K. Bryant

she
had to. It was Wednesday and she’d already missed two days.
    By the time she walked to school, it was
after ten and her English class had already started. She decided to
go to the office and make sure they knew she was there and then
hang out in the library until Phys. Ed. She shared that class with
Lydia—maybe she would be there.
    No such luck. Lydia was absent.
    Not a big surprise. She was probably still on
the mountain gaining her strength back. And it wasn’t like Kira
could go by her house—she didn’t even know exactly where she lived,
only that it was on the south side of town.
    “Holy crap!” Carla said as she walked past
Kira. “Looks like someone’s been taking steroids.” She gave Kira’s
bicep a not-so-friendly squeeze before moving to her locker and
peeling off her sweater.
    “What are you talking about?” Kira had
already stripped down to her bra and panties and put on her gym
shorts, but still held her baggy T-shirt in her hand.
    Carla flipped her straight black hair over
her shoulder and motioned toward Kira’s arm. “You grew muscles
like, overnight.”
    “What?” Kira closed her locker and walked to
the end of the row to where the mirrors hung. She raised her fist
in the air and flexed her arm muscles. “Whoa.” She was buff.
    Actually, now that she stood in full view of
the mirror, there were a lot of changes she’d missed that morning.
Her hair had always been a little on the dry side, and the color a
dark, lifeless red. Now it was a beautiful auburn, with a hint of
honey blonde highlighting it in just the right places. Her
complexion was perfect. Even her teeth seemed whiter.
    Kira put on her shirt to hide her new muscles
and joined the other girls on the football field to run sprints.
Too bad it wasn’t raining out. She would have liked another go at
that rope.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Kira lingered in front of the high school as
long as she could before taking the long walk home. When she saw
Paul’s beat up truck sitting in the driveway, she changed her
direction and went around back to the kitchen door. As she neared
the steps, she paused, taking in her last clean breath before
venturing into what would now be a smoke-filled house. She pushed
it open just enough so she could listen for voices and get a feel
for where her mother and Paul might be. When she heard the
television blaring in the living room, she tiptoed in through the
kitchen and through the hall toward her room.
    “Mouse, is that you?” her mother called in
that sickeningly sweet way that always made Kira’s skin crawl. The
last thing she needed was to deal with her mother’s patronizing
tone and Paul’s rude remarks.
    “Yeah, it’s me,” she yelled back. “Be there
in a sec.” Kira swung her backpack off her shoulder and threw it on
her bed, then tried to psych herself up for the confrontation.
    Kira slipped her hands in her back pockets
and shuffled her way down the hall and into the living room. She’d
expected to find them sprawled out on the sofa watching afternoon
game shows, but instead she saw a room full of cardboard boxes and
her mother pulling pictures off the wall.
    “What are you doing?” Kira took a few more
steps into the room about the same time Paul entered through the
front door.
    “Hey, Rat . Looks like you’ll be rid of
me soon.” Paul chuckled, took a long drag from his cigarette, then
picked up a box and went back out through the door.
    “Mom?” Kira said with a little more
urgency.
    “Not to worry, dear. Just putting some of our
things in storage. Paul got a job in California and leaves
tomorrow. As soon as he’s settled, he’s sending for us. Isn’t that
great?” She ripped a piece of packing tape out of the dispenser and
tore it off on the tiny metal teeth.
    “If he’s sending for us later, why are you
packing now?”
    Her mom plopped down on the couch and wiped
tiny beads of sweat from her brow with her hand, transferring the
black print residue from the newspaper to