Kyera’s Curfew
A short story by
Yari Garcia
Copyright 2015 by Yari Garcia
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“I’m like a prisoner in here!” Kyera yelled, slamming her hands on the kitchen table. “You never let me do anything!”
She was sick of having the same argument with her mother. Every weekend it was the same thing. Kyera, now almost 15 years old, was not allowed to go anywhere after 7pm. Not on school nights, not on the weekend.
“Honey, you do plenty”, her mom insisted.
“Yeah, after school softball doesn’t count”, Kyera shot back. “I get home at 4 o’clock, then it’s lockdown. I can’t go anywhere after that. You treat me like a child!”
“I do not… Honey, it’s not that”, he mother argued.
“Then what? You don’t trust me??”
“I trust you!” her mother insisted, massaging her temples. She huffed loudly. “You’re just not going out tonight. It’s 9 o’clock! It’s dark out! End of story.”
“Uugghhh!” Kyera was exasperated. All her friends would be hanging out tonight, and she was the only one treated like a child, not allowed to go. “This isn’t fair, mom! It’s Friday night, and all my friends are going to be there! If dad was still here, he’d let me go!!”
An icy chill fell over the kitchen at the mention of her deceased father. Her mother’s face became blank and harsh. “Go to your room, and stay there”, her mother said, coldly.
Kyera’s chair went flying backwards as she stormed out of the kitchen. She slammed the door to her room hard, making her favorite poster shudder on the other side. She had so much anger built up in her, she thought she would explode.
It was another Friday of the same old story. Kyera did everything right at school- she got good grades. No, she got great grades. She played softball and never got in trouble. Yet here she was, trapped in her room like a caged bird. She opened her journal and tried to write, but no words would come out. She scribbled on the page harshly until she made a tornado of ink on the paper.
“This is not fair!” she cried as she threw the journal across her room. She sat in silence, the anger bubbling in her stomach.
She heard her mother’s footsteps in the hallway. She heard the door to her parents’ bedroom… well, now just her mom’s bedroom. The door made a soft clicking noise as her mother went inside and closed the door. Then the soft sobbing started.
“Dang it”, Kyera said under her breath. Now she was angry and feeling awful for having made her mother cry. She hated the sound of her mother’s sobs. She heard them plenty after her father passed away. But back then, she would tip-toe to her mother’s room, softly turn the knob that would make the small click, and join her mother on the bed. They would hug each other and sob until they fell asleep.
That was two years ago. She was a child back then. As much as it broke her heart to hear her mother cry, she needed to stand up for herself. She needed to let her mother know that she was becoming an adult, and she could make her own decisions. She was responsible, able to make her own choices and take care of herself.
Kyera couldn’t stand it anymore. She was too angry to dwell and she was too upset to sit there and listen to her mother sob. She needed to take control of her life. So Kyera went to her closet, where she had already picked out the clothes for the party, and started getting ready.
Kyera grabbed her purse. She unlocked her bedroom window, opened it slowly, and slipped out into the dark night. She stood under the glow of the streetlight and looked back at her house. If only her mother could understand that she was nearly an adult now. She’d go to the party, come back, and her mom would be none the wiser. No need for anyone to make a big deal about it.
It was almost 10pm when Kyera knocked on the door of the apartment. She could hear the music thumping inside like a heartbeat. The apartment building looked a little run-down, but that was the place her friends said they would meet.
Her friend Mikah was the one to open the door.
“Hey girl!! You made it!!” she said cheerfully as she wrapped Kyera in a hug. As soon as she stepped in the apartment, a guy that looked to be in his 20’s handed her a red cup full of soda. As she followed Mikah through the apartment, she set the cup down somewhere else without taking a drink of it. She didn’t consume an open drink that a stranger had handed to her- she made a mental note to rub this in her mom’s face in the future.
After meeting up with Mikah’s boyfriend, they all sat down on an old couch. Kyera got to look around the smoky room, and she realized no one else from school was there. She saw a lot of unfamiliar and older faces.
“Who else is here?” she asked Mikah over the music.
“I don’t know, I guess it’s just us”, she replied loudly, then went back to snuggling and giggling with her boyfriend.
After a few minutes, Kyera realized she was bored out of her mind, and she was glad when a group of people (including Mikah and her boyfriend) went outside to the alleyway to light a fire. They all stood around a burning trash can, some drinking, some smoking, Mikah and her boyfriend flirting, and Kyera sipping on a soda she had poured herself.
“Hey, I haven’t seen you here before”, a guy said to her.
“Oh. Yeah, I’m just here with Mikah”, she said, pointing at her friend with her drink. “I’m Kyera. I don’t...get out much.”
The guy looked at Mikah, then back at Kyera. He smiled. He draped his arm languidly over her shoulders, and spoke close to her face. “Well, I’m Nate. That over there is Josh, Michael, Bryan, and that’s his girlfriend Tina. So, you’re like, what? Seventeen? Eighteen?”
Kyera laughed. If only her mother also thought she looked and acted older.
“No, I’m 14. I’ll be 15 in two months. I go to Northwood High.”
“Eighteen, you say?” the guy replied, and Kyera thought it was quite strange. She could now smell beer on his breath. He was extremely cute, but the smell was quite off-putting. “I’m 22. I go to the university down the street. Well, used to. So anyway, I’ve never seen you here before.”
Kyera shrugged the guy’s arm off as coolly as she could. Nate was starting to give her the creeps, big time. “Yeah, you said that already… Me and Mikah…” Kyera looked up at Mikah, only to realize she was no longer where she stood just moments before. Her eyes scanned the people around the fire, and she realized Mikah and her boyfriend had disappeared. They were prone to do so from time to time- just randomly disappearing to have a wicked make out session in private. But this time, Kyera didn’t know anyone else, and she would have very much appreciated if her friend had let her know she was taking off with her boyfriend.
The couple Nate pointed out as Bryan and Tina put out their cigarettes and also left, leaving Kyera outside with the guy named Josh, Michael, and Nate.
“So hey, you wanna go do some shots upstairs? We can go in my room, where no one will bother us”, Nate said, draping his arm on her shoulders again.
“Oh, I, um… I actually have to go…”
“Great, I’ll walk you!” Nate said with his alcohol breath and started to lead Kyera deeper into the alley, where it was darker. Kyera’s heart began to pound loudly as she realized she had to get out of that situation.
“It’s okay, I can walk home alone.”
“I insist”, Nate said, gripping her harder.
Kyera was panicking. She raised her left hand to put a curl of hair behind her ear, balled up her fist, then forced it down as hard as she could right into Nate’s crotch.
He cried out in pain and doubled over. He loosened his grip enough for Kyera to drop
everything and take off running.
“You stupid girl!!” he spat as he took off after her. Kyera ran as fast as she could down the alley, towards the streetlights and the sidewalk on the other side. She could hear his heavy footsteps behind her.
She rounded the corner of a building where she was met by the bright lights of the arcade storefront. People were gathered around, hanging out on the sidewalk, waiting for their turn at whatever game they had picked to play.
Kyera tried to steady her breath as she walked among the people, trying to lose her pursuer. She was confused to see her mother among the crowd, and instinctively approached her for safety.
“Mom!” she called out.
“Kyera! Honey!” Kyera was too scared to be embarrassed about everyone who had just snickered. “Are you alright?? Why did you sneak out??”
Kyera looked behind her, but Nate was no longer following her. He must have turned around once he saw all the people.
“Let’s go home”, Kyera said as her mom looked her over with concern.
They both got into the small Mazda, and her mom pulled away from the arcade. Kyera tried to look normal, although she was freaked out beyond belief. She could tell her mother was worried sick as well, with redness and puffiness around her eyes from crying.
“Honey, I’m so sorry”, her mother said, to Kyera’s surprise. “It’s been so hard since your father died. It hurts so much not to have him with us.”
Kyera allowed her eyes to tear up.
“I only do this because…” her mother continued, trying to keep her voice steady, “...because I don’t want to lose you too. I can’t. I just want you to be safe.”
Kyera mumbled, “I know, mom.”
“I knew you’d come to the arcade”, her mom said with a smile. “You’re such a fun, lively young girl. I do trust you, Kyera. I do.”
Kyera considered telling her mom that she was actually at a party she knew nothing about- but why worry her mother more? What good would that do? And it’s not like she was going to do that again, ever.
“Mom, I’m nearly fifteen…”
“I know, Honey. Listen, let’s make a deal. I’m going to give you a curfew of 8 o’clock.”
“That’s not much better than 7 o’clock, mom”, Kyera said with a chuckle.
“And”, her mother added, “10 o’clock on the weekends. As long as you let me know where you are, and call me if anything happens.”
Kyera could barely believe it. Her mom had quite literally rescued her that night, after she snuck out without permission, and now she was willing to negotiate. Was this night even real??
“Yeah, but my friends don’t always have their phones with them”, Kyera said.
“That’s why we’re getting you a new phone next weekend”, her mother said, smiling brightly. “You’ve proven to be responsible with school work, and I think you’re ready for your own smartphone.”
Kyera squealed in joy. “Seriously mom?? That’s awesome! ThankyouThankyouThankyou! Can we get it tomorrow instead??”
“Oh, no, Honey. Nooo. You’re grounded until next weekend for sneaking out.”
They both looked at each other, and laughed. They had both gone through a scary episode that night, and now it was over. Kyera felt relief. She felt closer to her mom than she had in years. Her mom had been there when she needed her most, and she was willing to see things from Kyera’s point of view. Kyera sighed deeply and sank into the fluffy car seat, knowing there would be no more Friday-night-arguments, and no more scary, dark alleys.
The End
Yari Garcia
aka
Moody Thursday
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Yari Garcia