Kate looked out the windshield, as Chloe’s truck came to a stop.
“I know that this is your place, Chloe. I feel like an intruder. Why did you being me here?”
In front of them lay American Rust, Chloe’s home away from home.
“Because, kitty Kate, you need to blow off some stress.” Not saying another word, the bluenette jumped out of the vehicle.
The question she was about to ask dying on her lips, Kate followed.
As she moved into the junkyard, she saw Chloe come from a small building holding a large baseball bat.
“What I am supposed to do with that?”
“This”, Chloe replied. She swung the bat at an old fish tank, which shattered into a thousand pieces.
“I don’t know if I can...”
“Sure you can.” She handed Kate the bat. Chloe set up her phone a safe distance away. “You see that mannequin over there? That’s your bitch of a mother. The one trying to control you.”
Kate closed her eyes. She saw her mother nagging her, saying she needed to be a better Christian. She could hear her voice, clear as day. “You’ve brought shame to this family, Katherine! Why do you keep disappointing me? You’re a wicked child!”
A base line started.
She, she screams in silence
A sullen riot penetrating through her mind
Waiting for a sign
To smash the silence with the brick of self control
She opened her eyes, and saw her mother standing there, a snarl on her face.
A kind of anger Kate had never known surged through her.
At the next lyric, she swung, the bat shattering the mannequin’s head.
Are you locked up in a world that’s been planned out for you?
Are you feeling like a social tool with out a use?
Scream at me, until my ears bleed
I’m taking heed just for you.
As the scream from the song echoed, Kate let out a scream as well. At the injustice of the world. At her uncaring mother. At the students at Blackwell.
She smashed the mannequin to pieces. She shattered an old TV set. She banged the bat on the hood of a broken truck.
SMASH
SMASH
SMASH
SMASH
Tears streamed down her face, a face of incandescent rage.
As the song suddenly stopped, Kate dropped the bad. Her lungs were heaving. Her face was beet red.
But she felt good, relived. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt that way.
As she dropped to her knees, Chloe crouched down.
Sobs tore from the young woman’s throat, as Chloe held her.
After she had recovered, Chloe said “Good therapy session?”
Kate smiled “Not usually what I think of when I think of that, but, yeah.”
Chloe brushed a kiss on Kate’s cheek. The duo headed back to the truck, Chloe grabbing her phone on the way.
“Anytime you need to vent, Bunny, just let me know.”, Chloe winked.
Kate giggled “I’ll keep that in mind.”