Chapter Four: Is this the end?

Standing before the door of the house that was once hers, Divine once again wondered how she managed to make all the wrong choices that led to this point.

How does one even start? 'Hello uncle, I should've never disagreed with all those names you called me, because I am exactly everything you said?' Or 'I'm sorry, I should've listened to you, now I'm pregnant and homeless, please take me back'?

She thought of a thousand words to say after she knocks on that door and it opens to reveal the only person she could call family. At one point, she blamed him for everything but even that didn't seem right. She walked out on her own two feet and trusted Liam all on her own.

She unconsciously held unto her still flat stomach protectively "Would they even let me in if I mention the pregnancy?" She took another shaky breath before straightening her back and pressing the doorbell with a shaky finger, nerves a mess.

After waiting for a while and getting no reply or even hearing sounds of movements, 'are they even at home?' she muttered, looking into the peephole which offered her nothing but the pitch black insides of the house. That was unusual, even when her uncle and aunt were out, they always left the mood lights on, so it was never this dark.

She tried going around, but that too turned out to be unfruitful, all the windows were shut. Maybe they went on a trip or something? She decided to wait around and see, but after a few minutes of standing, her legs finally started to give in, courtesy of how long she'd been using them, so with that uncomfortable feel of her wet shoes on her feet, she trudged to the neighbors house, a lovely old couple that she was sure wouldn't mind letting her in to wait for her uncle, but after knocking a couple of times and getting no replies too, she gave up, walking back to her home, deciding to sit on the terrace. Which, as opposed to the size of the house, didn't have that much space or sheltering so the drizzle of rain could still touch her from where she sat, but seeing as she was already soaking wet from head to toe, that was the least of her troubles.

She couldn't really tell how long she's been waiting but it had to have been a couple of hours seeing how she almost dozed off a couple of times and had to look behind her shoulder numerous times thanks to how eerily silent it had gotten. It had to be around midnight when she was hurrying to get on her feet when she saw a hooded figure walking closer to where she was sat.

After squinting to make out if it was a threat and if she needed to run, she almost heaved a sigh of relief when it turned out to be a woman, on closer look, she looked middle aged and she had a rain coat on to protect her from the rain, a gentle smile on her face when she pulled the hood off, looking at her.

"Hello dear, I've been watching you for a while now and you don't seem to be a burglar. What are you doing outside in the cold for so long. Are you perhaps lost?" She questioned softly and Divine was quick to shake her head.

"No ma'am. I just….I'm waiting for someone" she pauses, before continuing to speak, "my uncle, he lives here, with his wife" she ended with a bit of hope, maybe the woman could have an idea where they went.

Her brows furrowed before she was speaking with a head tilt "Here?" She pointed at the house behind Divine who nodded eagerly. "I live just across from here since a month now and I don't think anyone has occupied that residence for about a month now, dear"

Divine's eyes widened at the same time her heart dropped. "What!?"

The woman startled for a bit but she spoke up again after the shock died down "Yes, no one lives here anymore, atleast not for as long as I know"

For what felt like the nth time that night, Divine felt her life crumble again as she sunk unto her knees, shoulders shaking as the tears resumed falling again.

"Oh no, what's wrong, don't cry" the woman all but whimpers as she crouches next to her, lifting her head and wiping her tears.

Divine couldn't believe everything could go so badly for her thanks to one bad decision she made on impulse, months ago. Where had her uncle and auntie gone to? Did they move? Where to? Where was she to go now? All those questions only seemed to make her heart squeeze tighter in her chest as she hit it continuously with her fist until the woman stopped her, grabbing her fist to halt her actions and before she knew it, the woman was helping her to her feet.

"You can't stay here any longer. Come, you can think of something else inside, let's go" slowly, with the woman's hands still wrapped around her, Divine was led into the house across the street like the woman said, welcomed by two very excited dogs and two cats which the woman spoke lovingly to before she took off the raincoat and led Divine into the living room.

She couldn't even bring herself to look around the house when the woman excused herself, the sounds of her footsteps fading up the stairs. It was still so unbelievable. How and why did it go so wrong.

When the woman came back, she handed her a towel, pointing at a room at the right and instructing her to change her clothes immediately and head to the bathroom, gently thrusting her in the direction of the room where Divine silently walked to.

Peeling the cold clothes off her skin felt both relieving and unnerving. Once again, she was taking comfort in another's stranger's house, having no idea what the future held for her as she shivered her way to the en-suite bathroom, standing under the showerhead and letting out a loud scream when the hot water rained down on her.

In what felt like seconds, the bathroom door burst open, revealing the wide eyes of the woman and Divine bit her lower lip, guilty.

"I'm sorry, I set the water temperature too high" she explained sheepishly and the woman sighed before walking into the bathroom, unbothered by the fact that Divine stood naked.

"Oh dear, you need to balance it" she held unto the handle, setting it in the middle of the hot and cold gauges, "like this, for it to be at the right temperature" she said before stepping away and Divine nodded.

"I know it's a bit late, but do well to come eat when you're done taking your bath, you look like you could use a hot meal"

Divine felt tears well up in her eyes at the words before she muttered, "Thank you. Thank you so much" and the woman smiled, nodding slightly before speaking up again.

"I'm Kathleen. And you don't need to thank me, the world could use a bit of kindness every now and then"

"I'm Divine. Divine Reed and I'll never forget your kindness" Divine finally let a tear fall and the woman landed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine, your eyes are all swollen, I think you've cried enough for a day" she said before gesturing for Divine to continue with her bath and walking out of the bathroom.

It turned out to be a long bath, Divine unable to help the tears that escaped as she scrubbed her skin of all the dirt that never seemed to finish. She was warm under the water but the cold feeling in her chest ached like a hole that was plastered with a bandage. Deciding not to take Kathleen's kindness for granted, she got out of the shower, hoping she hadn't wasted too much water and wrapping a towel around her body. She dried her hair with another towel and on getting back she saw Kathleen had left some clothes on the bed. A long sleeved night shirt with matching pajama pants, which she hurriedly put on, spreading the towel to dry before heading for the door.

She heard a knock just before she could pull the door open. "Mom asked me to get your wet clothes for laundering"

The voice from behind the door belonged to a girl, a younger one and she pulled the door open, proven correct when she met a doe eyed teenage girl, she could see the similarities with Kathleen.

"You must be her daughter". Divine thought out loud, going back to pick her wet clothes and putting them in the basket the girl held.

"Yes, my name is Karo, nice to meet you"

She replied, already turning on her heels. "And the dinning is that way, mom's waiting for you"

On her way to where Karo pointed to be the dinning area, Divine came across some pictures she hadn't noticed on the wall earlier, pointing out Kathleen in most of them, a middle aged man she figured to be her husband, and some had baby and older pictures of three kids, they looked around 18, 16 and 14, the boy looked the oldest.

On getting to the dinning area, she was welcomed by the very promising aroma, Kathleen smiling at her as she ushered her to take a seat.

"It's not much but that I hope it would serve you for the night" Kathleen said and Divine thought it was more than enough, she hadn't eaten all day and the smell of food only reminded her how hungry she'd been.

"I know you're wondering what my story is. But, it's a long one and I learnt my lesson in the end" Divine said into the silence when she noticed Kathleen's worried eyes on her as she ate.

Kathleen stretched an arm over the table, placing her palm comfortingly over Divine's "I made some calls…. regarding that house, and, it's been put up for sale. It was quite the story when we newly moved in, apparently, the owner, who I guess is your uncle, fell into debt after his wife ran away with a huge sum of money and he sold it to pay it off"

And that was the last news Divine needed to be sure her life had finally ended. All hopes were gone and there was definitely no option of starting over again. Because where would she even start from.