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      "body": "Congratulations @karibarker! You received a personal award!\n\n<table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/70x70/http://steemitboard.com/@karibarker/birthday1.png</td><td>Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 1 year!</td></tr></table>\n\n<sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@karibarker) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](https://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=karibarker)_</sub>\n\n\n###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!",
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      "body": "[Source](http://journeyofadiplomaticvagrant.com/episode-6-straight-out-of-a-horror-movie-part-2/)\n[Plagiarism](http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism/) is the copying & pasting of others work without giving credit to the original author or artist. Plagiarized posts are considered spam. \r\n\r\nSpam is discouraged by the community, and may result in action from the [cheetah bot](https://steemit.com/faq.html#What_is__cheetah).\r\n\r\n[More information and tips on sharing content.](https://steemcleaners.org/copy-paste-plagiarism/)\r\n\r\nIf you believe this comment is in error, please contact us in [#disputes on Discord](https://discord.gg/YR2Wy5A)",
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      "body": "Congratulations @karibarker! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :\n\n<table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/60x70/http://steemitboard.com/@karibarker/posts.png?201905050259</td><td>You published more than 10 posts. Your next target is to reach 20 posts.</td></tr>\n</table>\n\n<sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@karibarker) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](http://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=karibarker)_</sub>\n<sub>_If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word_ `STOP`</sub>\n\n\nTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!\n\n\n**Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:**\n<table><tr><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemmeetupaachen/@steemitboard/steemitboard-to-support-the-german-speaking-community-meetups\"><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/64x128/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmeoNp9iCaCfd2D6TqnWa3Aky2mU4Fm3xaSmjTM91YoNBS/image.png\"></a></td><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemmeetupaachen/@steemitboard/steemitboard-to-support-the-german-speaking-community-meetups\">SteemitBoard to support the german speaking community meetups</a></td></tr></table>\n\n###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!",
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      "title": "Chapter 10: The Mother-load (Part 1)",
      "body": "![shaki (3).png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSZznoSKfEWUCWYfs98Lu5L3B7UHgkE2sJJU6cEF6fVEq/shaki%20(3).png)\n\n\n\n“... Don’t leave me okay.... I said don’t leave me, Kari...” \n\nThat thought lingered around in my head for a few minutes, then I wondered; \nShould I leave him?\n\nWhat will happen if I did leave?\n\nWould he even let me leave?\n\n have been in this house for approximately six weeks; the longest and scariest six weeks of my life. I had no idea the job was going to play out this way. How this will end is still a mystery. This family has many secrets. I thought the crazy mother was going to be my biggest worry, and I joked about that a lot, however, things have taken a turn — a terrible turn towards a Stephen King’s Novel.\n\nOn the brighter side — well the less dull side because there’s nothing bright about this. I had obtained a lot of information during my time and luckily, being exposed to the corporate world I gained a set of skills; I became a kick-ass researcher and a critical thinker. Hopefully, I could now use those skills to my advantage to somehow solve this “case.”\n\nThere are only two possible findings either; I’m overthinking the whole situation, or this job is the nightmare I never saw coming.\n\nThe night of my last off day, before my week had officially begun I had some trouble sleeping. All I was able to think about was the different pieces of information I had floating around in my head. My mind urged me to grab a pen and paper, but without my contacts, I wasn’t able to see squat! And I had to let them soak for at least six hours.\n\nThese thoughts, however, weren’t going to take my vision into consideration, they kept burning into my brain harder and harder. “Ugh!!” The loud outburst was released from my mouth, which I then quickly covered. It came out a lot louder than I expected. The house was extremely quiet and the walls were extremely thin, I feared waking up either kid; especially Corey. Then it dawned on me — of course, it was quiet it was only 3 A.M. Not realizing that I was up so long. I had to get those thoughts under control, but how?! I am female — it’s in my DNA to overthink everything.\n\n![giphy (60).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZd5TYtbMxo5qr1Q5cPSsAyC1RoVU45wHbw7w4DpGUmuN/giphy%20(60).gif)\n\nI took a deep breath. The only way I was going to get through the remainder of the night was to get my thoughts out of my head, and since I couldn’t see to write it down, the only option I had was ‘speech to text’ – thank you Lord for technology. I had to be mindful because of the walls, they would definitely tell my secrets if I spoke too loud. So, I reached for my iPhone, got out of bed and locked myself inside of the closet.\n\n“Siri, open Notes.”\n\nThe Notes app had opened and it was time. I took another deep breath — this one was more of a “brace yourself” breath because I was about to let my thoughts go haywire. As I exhaled, I started to think about all sorts of unnecessary things: men, food, cocktails, being a world-renowned author, walking the red carpet, wine, a large pepperoni pizza. Slowly shook my head, then giggled — jeez, why was my attention span so low?!\n\nAnyway, “focus Kari,” I whispered. The thoughts then gradually calmed down — it was amazing, even without a lot of sight, my thoughts were so powerful it projected itself vividly. The following things about the family were evident:\n\n1. They were crazy — not people on drugs crazy, more like Leatherface’s family from ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’... How ironic right?!\n\n2. They had no family or individual pictures anywhere around the house.\n\n3. Corey’s past tantrums caused Liza and Cathy to move into an apartment\n\n4. Cathy has a chipped tooth she is not allowed to talk about, and from the picture, I saw with her and the past nanny it was clear that she’s had the chipped tooth since she was three years old.\n\n5. Chris is hardly at home.\n\n6. Liza is scared of her own son.\n\n7. There is no glass allowed in the house; nothing breakable because of Corey.\n\n8. There are blood stains on the parent’s bed and Cathy’s bed.\n\n9. Cathy is scared to sleep in her own room.\n\n10. The Attic???\n\n\nThe only thing left to do was to connect the dots.\n\nLater that morning, after Corey and I’s exercise session whilst I rolled up the yoga mats, I noticed Chris walking towards the kitchen counter and picked up his brown briefcase. First of all, I didn’t even know people still carried around briefcases, do they really still make those?!\n\n“Come on Cathy, it’s time for school,” Chris said to her as she finished up her chicken nuggets. Usually, it was Liza, who drove Cathy to her prestigious preschool on mornings, but Chris had to that day because Corey had insisted that Liza took him to the bowling alley.\n\nLiza wanted to get him there at a reasonable time, meaning before anyone else showed up. I was told that morning “earlier the better, at least there was a lower chance of him blowing up and having a tantrum.”\n\nIt was almost 8:45 A.M., Chris and Cathy had just driven out of the yard, and I was busy trying to get Corey ready. As I got to his room, I was “shook-eth.” Corey was looking out of his window butt naked, waiting for me to start his shower — I guess that was an indication that I took too long to get upstairs.\n\n![giphy (77).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQ6ZNmLzj7KYozDpBXZRGQ612xupwzc2fev7SeWxnAisZ/giphy%20(77).gif)\n\nCorey was quite quiet during his shower, he just stared at me.\n\n“Are you okay Corey?”\n\nHe said nothing, just continued staring and smiling. It was such a creepy ass smile, almost reminded me of that horror movie “Truth or Dare” — not the best horror movie, but Corey’s smile looked exactly like when the characters got possessed. It always made me cringe whenever he did it.\n\n“All done!” Corey said abruptly, immediately turned the taps off and hopped out of the shower. It happened so quickly when I stepped back to give him more space I almost tripped over the green toilet mat. He then stormed out of the bathroom soaking wet, before I could even wrap the towel around his chubby body. The bathroom floor was dampened, so, there I went running behind him trying my best to dry his skin before he got more water anywhere else.\n\nI managed to get the towel around him before he laid on the bed. He just kept mumbling to himself as I wiped his skin. I then grabbed the lotion and began to lotion his feet. For a brief moment, I wondered why the parents gave the kids Victoria Secret Lotion to moisturize their skin — couldn’t they use Jergen’s or Johnson Johnson.\n\nDuring my thoughts, I felt Corey placed his hand on my head and slowly caressed my hair. I hope he doesn’t mess up my bun, I thought. And, how awkward that moment was. I quickly stood up and got his clothes out of his closet. I noticed he followed me as I walked towards the closet. \n\nIt sucked that I couldn’t tell him “no” and explained how uncomfortable it made me feel. He’s a kid, and I am certain he would’ve understood, but his parents made him believe that nothing he did was deemed as wrong. How was that supposed to help him as he gets older?\n\nHe needed to know right from wrong. The funny thing was I honestly believed that Corey knew, but he also noticed that he was feared — this little boy could practically get away with anything!\n\n“Kari... I am ready,” Liza yelled.\n\nJust in the nick of time, I was able to finish getting him dressed. He proceeded to meet Liza at the front door. I badly wanted to scream “Hasta La Vista” as they walked out of the front door. As soon as I heard the car engine rev up, my body was overflowing with joy — I almost backflipped, but I remembered that I had no insurance nor was I able to do any sort of flips.\n\nThere was a little window next to the front door, I ran towards it, took a quick peek to ensure that the coast was clear, then ran into the kitchen and started stuffing my face with any snack I could get my hands on. Oh my goodness! I was hungry and thirsty, but I didn’t want coffee! My taste buds went wild for the taste of some vodka.\n\n“Vodka!” I said out loud, hoping the bottle would prance down the stairs and into my arms. Quite dramatic I know!\n\nI hopped up the staircase and headed straight into the room. I grabbed the vodka from the top shelf in the closet and took a gulp — a huge gulp. I pranced around the room feeling free; the air felt lighter and fresher. I placed the bottle back on the shelf, and right before I turned my back to walk out of the closet, I notice a boarding pass laying on the floor. It must have fallen from the shelf when I moved the bottle, I figured. Momentarily, I thought it was mine, but then I remembered that my boarding passes were usually electronic. I slowly bent over to view the past, I recognized the traveler's name because I have heard that name before, Cathy had mentioned it to me a couple of times.\n\nI quickly grabbed my phone and looked the name up on social media and Google; it’s the same routine I do when I meet a guy. Some call it stalking, I like to refer to it as federal investigation — what can I say... CSI and Catfish episodes have taught me well.\n\nInstagram: J.e.n.n.a. . . .\nFacebook: J.e.n.n.a. . .\nGoogle: J.e.n.n.a. .\nSearch — NOTHING!\n\nI had an idea of how she looked from the picture Cathy showed me, but nothing came up. Shit! I suddenly remembered I had to wash the parent’s sheets, and I wasn’t in the mood to hear Liza’s bitching and moaning, especially when I’ve had a few sips of Vodka.\n\nI rushed downstairs, straight into the master bedroom almost slipping on the wooden floor as I turned the corner, luckily, the wall broke my fall.\n\nI walked into the room and began ripping the sheets off the bed, I wanted to get back to enjoying the little freedom I had, yet, I couldn’t help notice a couple of pink sticky notes on the parents’ work desk. Suddenly, out of nowhere a gust of wind blew my body from the far left side of the room, all the way to the desk on the right.\n\nI must have lost some weight, I thought. The wind just took me away with ease. I figured since I was by the desk, I should just take a little peek at the sticky notes. There were quite a bunch of them, clearly ripped apart and then placed back on top of each other.\n\nCall therapy school,\n\nCall Chris,\n\nGo to the grocery,\n\nPick up clothes for Cathy,\n\nCheck Kari’s phone Info\n\nReschedule with Margaret\n\n....... Wait... I missed that one. \n\n![giphy (86).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQkjvDSrMi6vyRr66VCSTEN3NLLVdj56irPV5VBjkSK51/giphy%20(86).gif)\n\n“Check Kari’s phone information.” What the fuck did that mean?! Marian was right! They wanted to keep tabs on me — they wanted to see my information, that’s why she was so fucking eager for me to put the SIM into my iPhone. Fool! Not like she was going to see anything because it’s in my Android, and Android is no snitch! I think.\n\nHow stupid could Liza be to have written that down, knowing that I had to wash her sheets?! Unless she forgot, shoot, with everything going on in her life it’s possible she had to write it all down to have remembered — she's old — senior citizen old.I became so annoyed! I rolled my eyes and left the sheets in the room. As I marched up the staircase the voices in my head began arguing with each other,\n\nPortuguese side: “it’s time!”\n\nBlack side: “don’t do it!”\n\nPortuguese side: gooo gooo Kari\n\nBlack side: dead girl walking\n\n“Shut up!” I shouted.\n\nMy thoughts were almost deafening, and I needed to compose myself and be strong. It was time to put my assumptions to rest, it was time to check the attic. I had told Chris about unlocking the door. I just hope he did. I stood in front of the entrance a bit hesitant to open the door, I then swallowed my fears and turned the doorknob really fast. \n\nAs the door swung open, without thinking twice about it, I swiftly ran up the stairs. The adrenaline was pumping. Maybe I had expectations for the door to be locked because I didn’t brace myself firmly enough for when the second door swung open, almost falling flat on my face. Instead, my upper body just moved with the door since my hands were still clutched onto the doorknob.I quickly caught my balance and stood in between the open doorway, staring at the pitch black door. There had to be a switch somewhere in here, I thought. So, I ran my hand along the wall searching for the switch.*Click*Perfect! My initial thoughts were, thank God these people didn’t have me clean up here, at the same time I wondered why didn’t they. \n\nThe room was filthy; the air was filled with dust and wet wood smell. At least, it didn’t smell like a dead body, I chuckled. There was loose wood and broken glass on the cracked wooden floor.\n\n\nI moved through the room carefully and swiftly as possible before Liza and Corey came back. I realized I wouldn’t have been able to hear them from up there. The walls in the attic seemed different — thicker, almost soundproof. Both doors were open, but I could no longer hear the neighbor mowing their lawn anymore. It was strange.\n\nThere seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary up here, just the weird smell. Then, I noticed a relatively small pile tucked away deep in the corner. I couldn’t make out clearly what it was, so, I slowly moved towards it to get a better look. Frighteningly, the light got duller as I drew closer to the pile, and I didn’t have my phone with me to get additional light.\n\nThey looked like picture frames. I picked up the first and carried it closer towards the light. There they were; the family portraits, but the glass was broken. As I searched them, I noticed that all the frames were cracked and there weren’t a lot of photos with Corey in them. On the other hand, there were a lot with Cathy and the parents; those had the most damage.It was time to get out of there, even though there was nothing freaky in there, the room gave me goosebumps, not the good kind. I had to get out. On my way out I noticed a box with a piece of clothing hanging out of it. I couldn’t quite make out what it was. I was going to go closer until I heard a creek, I took that as my cue to get the fuck out of there. I figured the clothes were some of Liza’s old clothing from the 1800s.\n\nI shut the door behind me, ran down the stairs and closed the entrance door. As I closed that door, I heard the garage door opening up.\n\n“FUCK ME!!!!!” I grunted.\n\nI ran back down into the Master bedroom, grabbed the sheets and threw them in the wash, so it looked like I was busy — being a good little servant.\n\nAfter the trip to the attic, I became relieved. All of those things were all in my head. The family was crazy, but not “nanny-killer” crazy. Finally, my thoughts had somewhat settled..... Something still felt off. I continued my chores and played with Corey for a bit. Everything was going well during Corey and I’s card games. It seemed like good fun, we were laughing until I began winning a couple of rounds which made Corey furious. After my third win, he threw back his chair and stood up, then marched to his room.\n\nI sat there and waited to see if he would’ve come back out, but he didn’t. Someone’s a sore loser, I mumbled. That was not my concern — well, maybe it was since I’m the nanny, however, I didn’t feel like being concerned at that very moment. I packed up the playing cards and proceeded downstairs. When I walked towards the staircase I jumped, there was Corey standing a few feet away from me, staring at me with that strange look in his eyes.\n\n\n![giphy (79).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRVAGEAPSvYXr2PQwzHWtvkzFbUnQMfWrphu9eHj5wRUi/giphy%20(79).gif) \n\nI did a little smirk, then walked down the staircase. Every step I took his eyes followed me — the shit was weird, but it wasn’t the first time he had creeped me out. \n\nHe just stood there smiling as I walked away. Shortly after I heard Cathy’s squeaky voice yelling out,\n\n“Kari Kari Kari...”\n\n“Kari where is he?” Liza shouted.\n\n“Upstairs” I replied, trying my best not to make Corey hear, but let’s be real, I am certain he did. Yet, he hadn’t budged. It seemed as though he was still in his room which was great.\n\nCathy rushed into my arms, “Can we play now please?”\n\n“ha..ha..ha, soon you have to eat a snack first,” I said to her, poking her little belly.\n\nCathy then threw her head back, pouting, trying her best to negotiate with me, “okay, I’ll eat one sandwich, and then we play, deal?” she said cheekily.\n\nI shook my head, then agreed to her terms. I then grabbed the bread, grape jam and Jif peanut butter from the refrigerator, and began making her favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I normally added a special ingredient — my tears, it’s a nice blend between sweet and salty.\n\nAfter I made the sandwich for Cathy, I sat her down in the dining area and went back to put the ingredients away. Whilst licking off some leftover jam I had on my thumb, there stood Corey leaning over the balcony on the floor, but he wasn’t staring at me, it was in Cathy’s direction. I glanced over to see if she was looking up at him, but she was busy humming and playing with her hair as she nibbled on her sandwich. My eyes then looked back up at him, and he wasn’t there!\n\nMy instincts told me to get over to Cathy’s, so I threw whatever I had down on the counter and power walked over to Cathy, then sat by her side. It’s a good thing to listen to your instincts because there stood Corey at the bottom of the staircase looking over at the table.\n\n“Gosh! What now, ” I said in a hushed tone.\n\n“Are you ready to play outside Cathy?”\n\n“Yeah!!” Cathy replied joyfully.\n\nI grabbed her hand and the plastic plate walked towards the trash and threw the empty plate away. I kept making little glances over at Corey to ensure he didn’t move, which he hadn’t, he just stood there speaking to himself.\n\nFor a brief moment, I wondered if the feeling I had, had been how Liza had felt. I don’t like the woman, but I just felt like Corey was plotting something — I was unsure as to what. The look he gave me every time I was around Cathy felt a bit hostile.\n\nThe strangest thing happened this time around. Normally, he stayed at a distance and watched as Cathy and I played, but this time he came closer — a lot closer. We were in the enclosed trampoline jumping around, throwing the softballs at each other. Well, I threw the softballs while Cathy threw the golf balls at me, which was painful! I must say she has a good arm. This girl could play baseball in the future or dodge ball, I had the bruises to show for it. I was tempted to throw them back at her, so that she knew how it felt, however, Cathy was so skinny even the soft toddler balls did some damage to her.\n\nAs we continued throwing the balls at each other, I noticed Corey came outside on the lawn. He stood in front of the trampoline staring as we played with each other, and Liza wasn’t around. It didn’t seem as though she was in the kitchen either. It was a bit strange to see him and Liza was not threading along behind him.\n\nThere was nothing to get worried about, I thought. It’s his home as well, and he could go wherever he wanted to. Therefore, I stayed cool and continued playing with Cathy. I then noticed Corey moved and was climbing to get onto the trampoline. I had to think fast about how to keep them apart. My heart began racing, but I had to be prepared for anything. He probably just wanted in on the fun which was a good thing.\n\n“Are you good Corey?” I said out loud, hoping the Liza would've heard. \n\nFor an elderly woman, her hearing was quite good, she normally heard whenever I wasn’t doing anything and rushed out throwing her hands in the air, screaming “Is that nothing I hear you doing Kari”My reply usually stayed the same \n\n“Yes master, now hop off of my imaginary dick... beeyotch!”\n\nOf course, I didn’t say that, but I plan to make it my exit phrase when I leave in two months.\n\nCorey didn’t reply to my question, and Liza was still nowhere in sight. I quickly turned around to Cathy and instructed her to stay behind me and play, so that I could be facing Corey. It seemed as though Corey wasn’t about to share me. He walked towards me, sat down and held on firmly to my right leg. He began rubbing my leg, looked up at me and smiled.Under these circumstances, Things seemed to be under control, until Cathy started yanking my body towards her, \n\n“It’s my turn, play with me Kari... play with me!”\n\nCorey’s grip became firmer as Cathy pulled me. I knew he was getting angry; it was written all over his face.\n\n“Corey, come down from there, Corey get out now!!!!!” Liza yelled.\n\n“I said come down... come and play inside”\n\nBut he didn’t move. Liza sighed, then I looked at Cathy and mouthed to her to get out. \n\nEven though she wasn’t too thrilled about it, she listened to what I said and went to her mom. When they went inside, Corey released my legs and smiled, then got out of the trampoline.What?! Why?! He didn’t want to play with me, so why did he do all of that?\n\nAll I wanted was one day of no strangeness. I thought since the attic mystery was put to rest, that would’ve made things a lot easier, yet my mind still wondered.\n\nBefore I knew it, it was nightfall and my shift was over. Right on time; 9:30 P. M — the joy. My whole body ached. As soon as I got into the room, I face planted onto the bed. After a couple of seconds, screaming into the pillow, I turned on my back and stared at the ceiling, allowing my thoughts to be free for a bit. \n\nThere was nothing in the Attic, but what about that sticky note Liza had on her desk, I wondered. That was very peculiar.\n\nIt then dawned on me, back to something Chris had mentioned in the beginning, \n\n\"You are allowed to go out, but the city is quite far from where we are and you can’t bring a guest to the home,\" which I respected, but then he continued \n\n“Our previous nanny was on Tinder a lot, and spoke to a lot of guys .... we don’t allow that so don’t do it.”At first, I didn’t think too much into it because I figured, the previous nanny told them her business but that wasn’t the case, they snooped through her information, searched through her messages, probably photos. \n\nWhat the flying Fuu......\n\nThe next day, Corey hardly said anything to me. All he did was smile at me during our morning exercise and try to touch my hand. The usual creepy stuff, on the bright side he had a therapy session in the afternoon, which was fantastic news for me. It seemed like a chilled week; two days in a row and I got an hour and a half to myself. I felt “hashtag blessed.”\n\nAt 1:30 P. M they were out of the house. I waved as they walked through the garage door,\n\n“Bye guys, have fun... I’ll miss you,” I said sarcastically. It wasn’t loud enough for them to hear, but it felt so good to get it out of my system.\n\nI decided to use that free time to research potential literary agents. Thirty-minutes into my chilled vibe, I heard the garage opening. I flew up off of the chair, and ran upstairs to the children’s play area, just to give the illusion that I was doing something — you know “busy.”\n\nThe front door opened up, “Kari!!!!!”“Fuck!!” I mouthed aggressively.\n\n“I am coming, Liza.”\n\nSlowly took my time coming down the staircase.\n\n“Hurry hurry,” Liza rushed me.\n\nWhat’s the problem now, I thought.\n\n“Go and play with Corey, he had another bad day, just go to him.”\n\nHonestly, since he had a rough time I wanted to give him a few minutes to himself, but the old witch kept nagging.\n\nWithout replying, I walked outside to the back yard and watched as Corey walked around in circles.\n\n“Would you like a snack Corey?” I asked.\n\nCorey turned in my direction and charged towards like a bull. He then punched me in my stomach. I will be honest, the impact made a little fart slip out that’s how unexpected and powerful it was; luckily it wasn’t poo. Well, hopefully, it wasn’t!\n\n“No Corey, don’t do that... that’s not nice!” I said firmly while holding onto his wrist.\n\nHe pulled away and went inside. I looked around puzzled, then went inside to explain to Liza what had happened. \n\nBefore I could get a word out she began bitching some more,\n\n“OMG Kari go ask him if he wants something to eat, he is probably hungry!”\n\n“I did, and he pu.....”\n\n\"Just stop, I am going to pick Cathy up early today and run some errands.\"\n\nWhat? Leave?! \n\n![giphy (49).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmeC73bHJro1FW9oBzyNLv1TizVHHeTfm2BUq4MghEQj77/giphy%20(49).gif)\n\nShe was going to leave me alone with Corey?!  A couple of minutes ago the boy tried to punch out my oesophagus. It seemed like she didn’t even care about what I was trying to tell her.\n\nI stood in the middle of the hallway trying my best to stay calm, maybe he was a bit upset outside and is better now. He wouldn’t hurt me, I thought. Out of nowhere Corey then ran from the master bedroom and charged towards me, pushing me into the white wall. This little bitch was strong.“Stop, Corey!” I said to him, again holding his wrists.\n\n“Stop it Corey... look at mommy ...look at me” Liza shouted to him,\n\n“You can let go of my hand now Kari, I’m done.” He said calmly. \n\nThen turned to his mother looking puzzled. Liza mouthed to me to go into my room and stay there.Shoot! She didn’t have to tell me that twice, I quickly ran up the staircase and went into my room, then grabbed my phone. I had to inform one person about what was going on. My hands trembled, my heart raced as I walked around the room. For some reason, my instinct urged me to also lock Cathy’s door, in case he tried to get to me through her door. I had to take all the precautions. \n\nSuddenly,\n\n“I don’t want to get mad so, you can leave now mommy... now say okay Corey.”\n\n“Corey, come on let mommy give you your medication.”\n\n“Nooo, you can go!” He shouted. \n\n“I said you can go!” Corey shouted even louder.\n\n“Okay fine, Kari will leave then....is that okay with you” Liza replied.\n\nI sat on the carpet next to my bedroom door listening to Liza and Corey voices as they erupted. My whole body filled with fright. I knew this situation was about to get worse, but I prayed and hoped that he didn’t try to come into the room. I placed my ear by the door and continued listening.“Okay, that was stupid mommy, I am sorry,” he joyfully replied.\n\nThere was a pause.\n\n“I like to say bad words... I like to swear... I don’t like to say good stuff... I like to hurt...you go pick up Cathy,” Corey continued.\n\nThe tears began filling up in my eyes because his voice kept getting closer towards me. I was so scared. No matter how much I tried to calm myself down, my hands kept trembling, and I covered my mouth so that he couldn’t hear me crying.\n\n“Why aren’t you leaving mommy...... I promise I will be a good boy!” Corey said, releasing a small giggle and the end of his statement.\n\n*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*\n\n“Ahhh” I outburst, I crawled backward, further away from the door as it shook. \n\nIt was Corey trying to get in. He banged and kicked the door harder and harder, tugging on the doorknob trying his best to get through to me,\n\n “Kari open up!”\n\nThen he stopped. I took a deep breath and stared at the door with tears streaming down the side of my face. This was it! This was what my gut was warning me about. I felt as though I was in a horror movie and I had no clue how this scene was going to play out.\n\nThen I heard another bang, it came from Cathy’s room, he kicked and banged on her door. The thought of it being locked and him not being able to get to me made his blood boil because he ran back towards my bedroom door, and with more of his might he banged and kicked it causing the whole floor to shake — it almost felt like an earthquake. Why was he causing that much of a ruckus? Why did he want to get to me?\n\n“Corey stop!!” Liza shouted.\n\n“Okay, I am sorry I promise I’m done,” he said to his mother. \n\nThere was another brief silence.\n\n“You can go now mommy, go pick up Cathy...it’s time to pick her up”\n\n“Corey, you have to come with mommy to pick her up,” Liza insisted.\n\n“No, I will stay here Kari!”\n\n“Corey, come with me”\n\n“NO! You leave.... you leave now! Leave me and Kari home alone! Go and pick Cathy up and leave me with Kari!!” he demanded. \n\nThen continued tugging on the doorknob.\n\n“Do you think Kari is going to stay with us if you threaten and hurt her,” Liza said.\n\nWithout hesitation, Corey replied, \n\n“Yes, she will stay... she has to!”\n\n![giphy (9).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPrQUTzHmLucR5SsRAjHx21EiDUwLrpavPkpTmrJMkPKG/giphy%20(9).gif)\n\nAs he repeatedly banged on the door, I tried to get out of the room, I got up and went towards the one window in the corner. I looked through the glass, hoping that someone would’ve passed along the street, but it was no good, no one would’ve noticed me from the window. Plus, there was no way for them to hear me through the solidly fixed window. No matter how hard I banged on it. I was stuck in the room, scared out of my mind.\n\nI tried to make a couple of calls, but they didn’t go through. The Wi-Fi was off and I didn’t know any locals. My mind went crazy... was this it? It didn’t sound like he was going to stop! It didn’t sound like Liza had any control over the situation, the longer she refused to leave the house, the more he got aggressive! Corey wanted me.... me alone in the house with him. \n\nWhat was he about to do?!",
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      "permlink": "chapter-9-straight-out-of-a-horror-movie-part-2",
      "title": "Chapter 9: Straight out of a Horror Movie (Part 2)",
      "body": "![shaki (3) 1060 x 550.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmefVaVMQ1U96w1XFVTDJpEnS6DEauTPhSFZREhPmMvEhP/shaki%20(3)%201060%20x%20550.png)\n\nA week has passed and my mind still pondered about what Marian said to me. Yet, I haven’t replied nor called her back; she knew my family well, and the last thing I wanted was her having everyone scared. Why wouldn’t they get scared? I should be... I am! \n\nIt was the beginning of a new week and before I got out of bed that morning I reflected on everything; past, present, the possible future. I wondered if going through this experience was worth it; if becoming a writer was really worth this much stress. Giving up has never felt so easy; I had just enough money to leave the state, but that was it.\n\nI then wondered, if going back to the life I had before - being that female who just existed - at least she had a steady job, a nice beachfront apartment, made people on Instagram assume that her life was perfect. Who cares if she was depressed, lonely, losing her sight?! We weren’t taught in school to follow our dreams, instead, we were taught to survive – have income, not be poor, heavens no; because if we were adults and broke that meant we’ve failed at life - we would be labeled as Losers. At least, the Kari back then had a roof over her head, food, money – that meant she wasn’t a failure right?!... So, why did she feel as though she had failed herself back then?!\n\nI know I am crazy for staying with this family, but I needed the money. All I could do was hope that everything I thought about was false, and I was overthinking the situation.\n\nI finally got out of my head, got dressed and went downstairs. Before my shift began, Liza walked towards me while I was making my coffee. I felt the hostile energy drawing closer and closer. Here we go, I thought.\n\n“I want you to spend more time with Cathy this week... she really wants to play with you.”\n“Okay!” I replied.\n“It’s unfair that you spend most of the time with him and not with her... that really hurts her feelings,” Liza said.\n“Ohh... and don’t forget to not have that thing on you,” she said while looking at my iPhone in my hand.\n“Sure, no problem.” I then quickly ran up to the room and left it on the desk next to the bed, I wanted to avoid any bickering from Mother Dearest.\n\nThis woman never ceased to amaze me; maybe if she didn’t have me doing so many fucking chores, I would’ve probably been able to spend more time with Cathy. Also, the parents never wanted the kids to play together, so, it was quite difficult for me to go back and forth between the kids, along with juggling my Cinderella duties.\n\nFor some strange reason, Mother Dearest has yet to wrap her little brain around my inability to be in two places at once. I’m assuming it’s a difficult pill for her to swallow that I was not a member of the Justice League.\n\nPerfect example; Later that day, while I gave Cathy her shower, Mother Dearest apparently called my local number twice, but I didn’t hear it because she made it clear to leave my phone far away, which I did - with both of them. A couple of minutes later, she stormed upstairs, pushed open Cathy’s bedroom door with steam coming out of ears and her eyes bulging out of her head. She was so furious the bags under her eyes grew threefold,\n\n“Where is your phone, Kari?”\n“In my bedroom Liza, where you instructed me to leave it,” I replied in a diplomatic manner.\n“No you are to have it on you, in case we need you... you need to have it with you sometimes then not have it with you other times....”\n\n![giphy (75).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaso4fXTb1iKQt5f3Qe5z3dXycBNHth5ErcMex3uutqLG/giphy%20(75).gif)\n\nWOMAN WHAT THE FLYING FUCK... I am sorry, I almost got carried away there. Let me compose myself. What I actually said was, “Okay, Liza I know what to do next time... I’m sorry.”It made absolutely no sense explaining anything to her. So, I needed to figure how was I to have my phone with me, but not have it with me at the same time... okay!\n\nTen hours later....\n\nAfter long deliberation, there was only one solution; to search through the Yellow pages for the number of the fucking Justice League, explain to Superman or one of those motherfuckers my dilemma, and kindly ask them to share their damn superpowers with me.\n\nIf you have a better idea, please share it with me because I don’t know how the flying fuck this woman expected me to work this out. Maybe, she misinterpreted the phrase “Black girl magic.” \n\nThat woman drove me NUTS!\n\nOver time, her behavior became even more questionable; there were a couple of times I caught her standing in front of the window for about a full two minutes, gazing – looking at completely nothing. Or was there something she saw that I was unable to see?! Then, she would snap out of it and walk back into the master bedroom. I assumed it had something to do with Chris; this was the second weekend he had booked a hotel room in the city to have fun with his friends. I found that strange, but it was none of my business. What else could it be?!\n\nOn the other hand, I realized Corey did the same thing - he stood in front of the same window in the dining room and stared outside, but it was usually when Cathy and I were playing in the yard. At least, he was looking at something. I had a feeling he wasn’t too fond of Cathy's and I playtime sessions. There was a slight feeling of guilt every time Cathy came back from school because I would have to leave him, wherever he was, and attend to her. Yet, I was mostly relieved to some extent because Corey became very affectionate towards me - a bit too affectionate. \n\nGood news! He stopped hitting my Gluteus Maximus, but he’s moved onto doing something else. At first, I thought he just enjoyed hugging me. Until, he kept running towards me and placing his head in between my bosom, practically motor-boating me – minus the sound effects. Yes, and then screamed out “YEAHH!” The naïve side of me figured he’s too young to feel that “sort of” way, so, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Well, that was until midway through my week...\n\n![giphy (90).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPkenBFJPxbGdwp7WyXhSjbEhMynv9NvLvbwuedTqcwDt/giphy%20(90).gif)\n\nI couldn’t quite put my finger on what was going on, but something was off with Corey - again. During our yoga session on Friday, while we faced each other, he usually asked me the customary questions; my favorite color, my hobbies, and my favorite monster, yet, this time he was silent. He just stared directly into my soul, smiling. Then, he looked over at the dining area where Cathy sat, eating her breakfast. Seconds later looked at me, but I wasn’t sure if it was Corey I was looking at. His eyes – his presence seemed different.\n\nHe then stood up and shouted, “I am done!” then stormed up to his room. Was he upset with me, I wondered. Corey and I had little contact during the remainder of the morning, I figured he wanted some time to himself. When it was pool-time, however, he went back to his regular self. It quickly went back off when I told him I wasn’t getting into the pool with him. He became furious, and his tone grew more aggressively, “get into the pool now,” Corey demanded. I wouldn’t lie, I pissed myself a little - just a little tinkle. I immediately went into the pool. As I got in, he swam up to me, hugged me and laid his head on my chest.\n\n\"Come on, let’s race,” I said to Corey and swam off, which he eventually followed suit. Whilst swimming, I ensured there was a good enough distance between us, to avoid him from touching me, and every time he caught up to me, he grabbed my foot.\n\nAfter the third lap,\n\n“Kari!!”\n\nTo my surprise, there stood Cathy and Liza. Cathy was eager to get into the pool, so Liza gave me the look for us to do the switch. I knew exactly what to do, but for some reason, my body refused to take any orders from my brain. I did a 180 turn and saw Corey staring directly at me.\n\n“Corey, come out .......Corey come out now!” Liza yelled.\n\nCorey didn’t budge. He continued staring at me, again I had that feeling that it wasn’t Corey I was looking at. His eyes looked so different. Less than ten seconds later, he snapped out of it, smiled and then swam away. I swiftly turned back around and lifted Cathy into the pool.\n\n“Let’s play.... splash Kari splash...” Cathy chuckled. Before Liza and Corey headed back to the house, I noticed through the corner of my eyes Corey looking in our direction, with his favorite green towel wrapped around him. I glanced over at him, this time it was more of a death stare.\n\nThe remainder of the day was spent with Cathy because Chris made plans to take her out the following day - another father-daughter bonding moment I guess. The night went by lovely, for once she wasn’t a stubborn brat. I washed her hair, brushed her teeth, fed her dinner and read to her.\n\nThe next day, around midday Liza and Corey, left for his therapy session; that was the closest thing he had to a school setting, but it still wasn’t enough, since he only went once a week. Usually, the session is during the week but they couldn’t make it this particular week. I was thrilled that they were going to be out of the house. Freedom!\n\nPrior to her departure, Liza approached me whilst I was lacing Corey’s shoes up;\n\n“Make sure you have your swimsuit on before we arrive... I want you to take him to the pool for an hour or more before Cathy gets back.... Oh! And there are some ants on my bathroom counter... make sure you fix that problem.”I stood there with the fakest smile, fix that problem Liza said to me. \n\nIt took me a while to grasp what she meant. She probably wanted me to call pest control - had to be! Or, she probably thought I was a fluent “ant speaker.” There was no other reasoning. All I did know was that she certainly knew better to even think for a second that I was going to clean up her bathroom. No fucking way! What’s next?! “Oh Kari, I have some poo stuck on my ass can you fix that problem!”\n\n![giphy (82).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcY8Loi2pPmBuQof6s7Tt8xuGVfhSrFzeiHefbLteUf77/giphy%20(82).gif)\n\nNo-No-No-No... If it’s the children’s bathroom, of course, because that’s what I was there for.\n\nShortly after they left, there was a knock at the door, followed by the doorbell. As I approached the front door, there stood two sturdy white men. That was fast, I thought – I guess the pest control workers have obtained some special fucking powers. To my disappointment, it wasn’t pest control; the company logo on their blue shirt gave it away. Damn!\n\n“Hello, ma’am,”\n\"Hello!”\n“We are here to check the floors of the house... Chris called and requested that we take a look at some cracks.”\n“Sure come in.”\n\nI allowed the men to come inside and continued my chores as they inspected the floors. Moments later, the shorter of the two men approached me, \n\n“is there an Attic?” he asked.\n“Yeah.... uhmm upstairs,” I replied.\n\nI pointed at the door that led to the Attic. Now was my chance, I thought. Nothing scary could happen because I wasn’t alone. We both proceeded up the staircase. I wondered if the guy was able to sense my nervousness, I stayed a few steps behind him just in case he felt I was in his personal space. When we got to the door, the man turned the knob and pushed the door open. As it swung open, I took a peep inside by looking over the man’s right shoulder, he then turned and looked at me with his brow raised. \n\n“Sorry, my bad” I smiled.\n![giphy (72).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXqEffTb8zaWL7KUac2v7PqWXA7C1vud6sW6pBCu5JB9S/giphy%20(72).gif)\n\nTalk about a cringe-worthy moment. He then proceeded up the flight of stairs while I stood at the bottom contemplating whether or not I should walk along behind, but the area was confined, so, it was best for me to wait until he opened the other door at the top of the stairs.\n\n“Hey, do you have a key for this?” He asked.\n\n“.... No, I don’t,”\n\nHe turned around and walked back down the stairs, \n\n“We’ll come by another time, tell Chris to unlock the door so we can check the flooring next time,” he stated.\n\nI looked up at the locked door and wondered what laid behind that brown door. The men then signaled to indicate their departure, “we’re all done, you can tell Chris we’ll be back to fix the crack in the kitchen floor and remind him to leave the attic door open.”\n\nI then went down the staircase, escorted the men out and locked the door behind them. As I headed into the kitchen, I heard one of the doors upstairs slam shut. The noise echoed. I jumped. I hadn’t recalled anyone else being in the house. Should I go up, I wondered. Then I remembered my ethnicity, and I had no business going up there to “check it out” yet, I needed to know.\n\nMaybe it was my head playing tricks on, there was only one way to find out. So, I checked. The voices in my head went wild and I questioned if I was even black; any black person in their right mind would’ve ignored it or just got the fuck out of the house, but my foolish ass had to “make sure.” I stood at the bottom of the staircase and shouted, \n\n“Hey, is anyone up there?”\n\n“Yes bitch, I’m a killer! I have come to murder you and eat your brains ha-ha-ha-ha .... come on Kari what the fuck do you think this is... asking if anyone is up there... do you really want to know?!” one of the voices in my head said. I assumed it was the black side.\n\nI shook my head, sighed and proceeded. As I slowly walked up the staircase, I reminisced about being on the beach drinking Cosmopolitans, in my favorite tiny blue bikini, but no, I had to go and pursue my dreams, now I’ll probably die, I thought. My heart raced as I drew close to the final stairs. When I was able to see Corey’s bedroom, I took a quick peak on the left side and saw Corey’s door still open – a sigh of relief. When I got to the top I looked to my right and saw Cathy’s door close in.\n\n![giphy (73).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXQ3Gihm6byPVi6P1MFYXecS7zKomMRseRGiUfdZizQSp/giphy%20(73).gif)\n\nThe room began spinning and I could feel myself hyperventilating. “Deep breaths, deep breath.......Fuck this,” I headed back down the stairs. Midway I stopped. \n\n“Maybe, her window is open,” I said out loud.\n\nSo, I turned around once again and went to Cathy’s room. The palms of my hands became sweaty, and my hair was itchy as though I had a full sew-in. My hand was quite hesitant to turn the doorknob. I took another deep breath and quickly pushed it open. For some reason, I braced myself and closed my eyes. I slowly opened up my eyelids to take a quick peek. Another sigh of relief. There was no one in there. A weight had lifted off of me. I sat on Cathy’s nicely made bed and chuckled. “Kari, you have outdone yourself, once again,” I laughed. Then I stopped and wondered, what was it that made the door slam?!\n\nOh, Fuck! Jumbee – Ghost – Spirit; call it whatever you want, something was in the house. I ran into my bedroom, went into the suitcase and grabbed my Holy oil. Only Jesus was able to fix these problems. This house needed some blessing, but I couldn’t use up the whole bottle. Like a mad woman, I ran through the house sprinkling Holy oil everywhere, and I do mean everywhere.\n\nWhat else was I to do?! Then, I sat at the bottom of the stairs with the bottle clutched in the palm of my hands, trying to slow down that overthinking mind of mine. My attention was then drawn to a tiny hole in the wall. The same holes I noticed the first day I arrived. I assumed that was where the family portraits once hung.\n\nWait, pictures... \"where were the pictures?\" I thought. The same thought I had from the beginning, but I got so distracted the thought never surfaced, until that very moment. There were no pictures anywhere, not one. Why was that?! Wait no, there was one picture I saw. Cathy showed it to me a couple of weeks back, I vaguely remembered because I was hardly listening to her. I think I was thinking about food or Johnson – maybe it was eating food with Johnson, or eating food off Johnson’s ripped ......Focus! I almost got carried away there; into an erotic realm. I had to stay focused and tried my best to remember that exact moment.\n\nFuck! I heard Liza’s car pulling up into the driveway, and I wasn’t in my swimsuit. I ran up to my room and got ready before Liza and Corey came into the house. When I was finished, instead of walking out of my door, I went through Cathy’s door, because I had to find that picture. I quickly searched through some of her storybooks, and smack in the middle of the “Come on, Baby Duck” book laid the picture of Cathy and her past nanny. I couldn’t recall her name, but I remembered Cathy mentioning how much she missed her.\n\n“Kariiiiii!!!!!”\n\nI rolled my eyes and replied, “I’m coming!”\n\nI placed the picture back into the book and put the book back in the bedtime book pile on the desk, and proceeded downstairs.” Honestly, I hadn’t expected them home that early. Liza was at the bottom of the staircase nervously looking at me whilst peeping out into the yard,\n\n“He had a tantrum... he hit one of the kids and made them bleed...I don’t think he should go to the pool today...”\n\nJust when I was about to open my mouth, Corey stormed towards us, pushed passed Liza and gave me a tight hug. Five seconds into the hug, in front of Liza, he placed his head in between my bosoms and motor-boated me.\n\n“Corey!” Liza screamed.\n\n“What are you doing?!” she continued. Liza looked petrified.\n\nCorey then looked at me, “let’s go to the pool now.” I looked over at Liza, and she nodded to indicate that I should go. Corey then ran up to his room to change into his swimwear. Liza grabbed my hand, pulling me closer to her – a bit too close, I smelt the curry on her breath, “I’ll come with you guys, just to keep an eye....to make sure nothing happens... don’t make him know that I’m there, it may upset him.”\n\n“...okay...” I replied,\n\nI never saw her that frazzled since I’ve been there. She released my hand and walked away. I grabbed the pool gear, then Corey and I headed to the pool. When we got there, I placed the items on one of the blue and white pool chairs. Whilst I was removing the floatables and paddle board from the bag, my surroundings sounded a bit too quiet. I turned around and noticed Corey hunched over in the grass. I rushed over to him to see what was wrong,\n\n“Corey...Corey... are you ok?”\n\nCorey slowly turned and looked up at me. What the fuck, I took a step back and was speechless.\n\n“I like cigarettes.... I want my lungs to be black,” he said holding a used cigarette he found on the ground, in his mouth. He then took it out of his mouth and threw it away. He stood up firmly facing me, smiled and went into the pool before I could say anything.\n\nI watched as he splashed around in the water giggling. Then he began speaking in that evil tone again to himself.\n\n“Who are you talking to Corey?” I asked\n\nHe looked me directly in my eyes, smiled, and replied “my friend Jeffery.”\n\nSay what now?! Who the fuck is Jeffery?! I was not going to get into the water with him and his invisible “friend” Jeffery. All I thought about was the bottle of Vodka I had up in my room because I needed a couple of shots, and the therapy bill I’m going to have after I leave this family. \n\nI looked to the sky and prayed for the night to appear, and just like that my prayers were somehow answered. Time went by so quickly, I hardly remembered what I did between pool time with Corey and 9:15 p.m. The only thing on my mind was a massive headache I had. Right, when I was about to call it a night and opened my door,\n\nKari?!” Liza whispered from downstairs.\n\n“What now,” I mumbled, “Yes please Liza.” I looked over the balcony and Liza signaled for me to come downstairs. I grunted and went to meet her. She was all dressed for bed in her pink robe – I wished I was already dressed for bed. Written all over my face was exhaustion. I tried fighting back the many yawns but was unsuccessful. Liza pulled me into the kitchen and whispered;\n\n“We cannot talk in front of Corey of what he is not allowed to do, but you need to make sure nothing looks absurd...What he did earlier, when he brushed his face against your breast has me shocked... I have never seen him do something like that... he loves hugs and he is very innocent now, but he is approaching teens, so, we have to be very careful... You have to figure out a way to make sure he doesn’t indulge inappropriate touching... It’s strange that he does that to you and not to me... I can’t tell him don’t do something because it will trigger him...so figure something out...”\n\nShe didn’t even allow me to reply. She walked back to her room. I was a bit taken back, why was it up to me to get that situation under control?! She’s the parent. Great! Another issue added to a massive headache.\n\nThe next morning, I woke up with an even bigger headache. I was thankful it was the last day, Cathy’s aunt had picked her up and took her for a fun-day, Chris was out of the house yet again; he has hardly been home nowadays. By midday, it was Corey, Liza and I, after lunch, Liza asked me to check the mail for her. \n\nCorey was outside in the yard, so I grabbed the mailbox key and headed out. It was only a two-minute walk, but I turned it into a five-minute stroll. I had no problem collecting the mail, anything to get out of the house was good enough for me. On my way back, as I approached the front door I heard shouting. I turned the key and opened the door, Liza was sitting on the first stair holding Corey’s wrist,“Why did you hit mommy? Why?”\n\nI tried to mind my own business, and quietly entered the house, but I brought attention to myself as I locked the door. They both looked over at me. I cracked an awkward smile\n\n“Hey you’re back,” Corey smiled.\n\n“why did you leave me?” he continued.\n\nI said nothing, I was too confused. What was happening?!\n\n“...Wait is that why you got upset... because you thought Kari left?”\n\nCorey said nothing. He smiled at Liza and said, “you can let go of my hands now.”\n\nLiza slowly released Corey’s arms, and he ran up to his room giggling. What did I just miss?! I looked at Liza and she stormed off, towards the master bedroom. I had no idea what had taken place. I figured he slapped the shit out of Liza once again; her cheek was pink.\n\nIt wasn’t until later that night I understood what happened. After I read Corey his bedtime story, he sat up on his bed, and stared at me,\n\n“Where did you go?”\n\n“...What do you mean?” I replied.\n\n“Where did you go?”\n\n“Oh! I went for the mail,” it took me a while to understand what he was talking about,\n\n“I thought you left me..”\n\n“Don’t leave me!” he said with that same look he had in his eyes earlier that week during yoga and in the pool; the one where it didn’t seem as though, I was looking at Corey.\n\n“Okay...” I replied. \n\nAs I headed out, I flicked the bedroom’s lights off.\n“Kari...”\n“... don’t leave me...”",
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      "body": "![shaki (3) 1060 x 550.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmefVaVMQ1U96w1XFVTDJpEnS6DEauTPhSFZREhPmMvEhP/shaki%20(3)%201060%20x%20550.png)\n\nNarrator: Day 4399 in the Big Brother house. Kari has lost most of her senses, but still holding up strong!! I FINALLY, know exactly what Mother Dearest expects from me. \n\nLet’s remember - during the interview I was told that my busy period was:7:00 A.M – 9:00 A.M., and 4:00 P.M - 9:00 P.M.9:00 A.M – 4:00 P.M was supposedly my downtime with “minor” chores.\n\nNow, let’s get to the facts. *clears throat*\n\n![giphy (68).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmd6VNwBiquNYEagUyS5Wk3CcG2DcBBz6P2ifnyLJ5bi1s/giphy%20(68).gif)\n\nTo Do List\n\n7:00 A.M.: I had to be ready; ensured that Cathy’s tea was prepared beforehand.\n\n7:15 A.M.: Cathy and I would play in her room for 30 minutes; which involved her screaming in my face and pulling my hair - F.U.N!\n\n7:45 A.M.: The biggest challenge; brushing her teeth. This child hates brushing her teeth! \n\nMe: “Come on Cathy, it’s time to whiten those teeth”\n\nCathy: “No, I don’t want to”\n\nMe: “Come on sweetie, you have to get ready for school.”\n\nCathy: “But I hate brushing my teeth.”*Repeated for five minutes*\n\nMe: “Fine! Your teeth will get rotten and they will fall out, your breath will smell like dirty feet, and no one will want to talk to you.”\n\nCathy: “ugh, finnneeeee!”\n\nMe: “good!”\n\nCathy: “I don’t like toothpaste”\n\nMe: “........”\n\nCathy: “it doesn’t taste nice... I don’t want the toothpaste”Me: “I’ll put on a little bit”\n\nCathy: “No, NONE”\n\nMe: “Fine, your tongue will be covered with germs and eventually drop off!” This was normally said with a smile.\n\n8:15 A.M.: While Cathy is having breakfast, I was told to do exercises with Corey; to keep him away from Cathy, and Mother Dearest insisted that he should lose weight. We did yoga and some basic exercises. He seemed to really enjoy that moment - a bit too much though. Every time we did jumping Jacks, he stared directly at me, screamed, clapped and blushed. I figured it’s his favorite exercise.\n\n 8:45 A.M.: I was expected to give Corey a shower, get him dressed and play a few games with him, while Liza dropped Cathy to school.\n\n9:00 A.M.: The wicked bitch.... witch (my bad) returns home. Hear this; I am allowed to eat breakfast around this time. For about thirty minutes. Liza didn’t like the idea, but Chris said otherwise. This was amazing because having breakfast at 6:30, and then having to wait seven hours later for lunch with no snack in between was ROUGH! On weekends, however, I had to eat whenever Cathy ate, and be finished at the same time. \n\n9:30 A.M.; tutor Corey.\n\nFrom 10 A.M. - 1 P.M.; I was expected to complete the “minor” housework while entertaining Corey. Minor housework consists of; wiping down the tables, counters, polishing the tables, unloading the dishwasher, washing each sheets (except mine), making up ALL of the beds, ironing the father’s work clothes (sometimes Mother Dearest’s clothes), emptying everyone’s trash bin (except mine), vacuuming the house, mopping the floors, cleaning the yard, putting everyone's shoes away.... Hold while I sip on my coffee and vodka mixture... Yumm! ...... \n\nLet’s continue, doing everyone’s laundry, ironing Cathy’s clothes, folding their laundry and finally, putting the clothes in the respective places - God forbid if I mixed up any of the clothing, I wouldn’t hear the end of it. Corey’s clothing had to be folded a certain and hung on specific hangers. That wraps up the “minor” housework. I wasn’t allowed to sit nor rest during these hours, as Mother Dearest always said in her annoying voice, that somewhat sounded like Miss Trunchbull: “There’s no time for relaxing, do you think I have time to relax?! I am always on the go. I don’t know what a break is, ”What I wanted to say was “Woman! Shut the fuck up.”\n\n1:00 P.M.: Lunch hour – kind of.\n\n2:00 P.M.: I was supposed to take Corey to the pool. Sometimes 1:30 P.M., depending on how badly Liza wanted him away from her. My swimsuit had to be on beforehand, because I was not allowed to make Corey wait – ever! After throwing the plate of food down my throat, I had to get him ready, and then walk out of the house.... with him of course, not by myself; I wish!3:00 P.M.: I had to shower Corey, clothe him, then give him a snack - nothing fattening.\n\n3:30 P.M.: I had to complete the remaining chores. And yes, usually in my wet swimsuit underneath my clothes.\n\n4:45 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.: Give Cathy a snack. Then spend two hours playing with her; which was basically me running away from Cathy trying to kiss me. Afterward, I was expected to give her a bubble bath, then try to brush her teeth, but she complained, “we only brush our teeth on mornings.” I was expected to have her downstairs by 7:00 P.M. Corey was normally fed first, then told to sit in the living room alone with his iPad so that Cathy could eat peacefully. They didn’t really sit at the dining table together unless both parents were around. \n\nThere were times I glimpsed him staring over at the dining table as Mother Dearest and Cathy laughed about some shit – it was somewhat disheartening. While Cathy ate her dinner, I had to tidy up the kitchen. Then, put Corey into his pajamas and read him some stories. Roughly, around 8:00 P.M., Chris came home, and sometimes put him to bed. By then, I was allowed to eat dinner quickly because I had to put Cathy to bed; read bedtime stories until she fell asleep which was normally between 9:15 – 9:30 P.M.\n\nThe End.\n\nThose seven days, last week drained me! Never again was I going to do that. No please! Five days were more than enough with these people. I wasn’t even paid for the extra days. However, this week I only worked for three days; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – which was great news because the family creeped me out.\n\nI have said before that this family is different, but I was wrong to use such a word to describe them. Everyone in the world is unique – we are all different. This family wasn’t unique. I am now convinced they were crazy, and I get a feeling that something happened in this house. Something bad.\n\nThe Friday morning, I would say around 3:30, I could still hear the rain falling outside, and the roaring wind. It became so loud, I jumped out of my sleep. I thought someone was in the room. It was just the wind, I thought, but my instincts disagreed. There was something else in the room that made the hair on my neck stand at attention.\n\nThen, I heard sniffling, “Kari, Kari I’m scared,” Cathy said in a trembling voice. For a split moment she almost made me poop myself; without my contacts, she looked like Tabitha from the Ring. Yikes!  \n\n“Ohh honey, it’s okay! It’s just the rain,” I replied, trying hard to hold back a yawn.\n\nI got out of bed, held her hands and took her back to her bed, which wasn’t as difficult because the only thing that separated our rooms was a door. I pulled back her covers and said, “C’mon, hop in.” As Cathy laid in her bed, I ensured she was nicely tucked in. Right when I was about to head back to my room, she said, “What about the monster?”\n\n“Sweetie, it’s just some bad weather, it’ll stop in a while,” I said calmly. I then leaned over, gave her a kiss on her forehead and walked away. Then, in a whispering tone she said:\n\n\n“I’m talking about the monster in here....”\n\n“The monster is still in the house and I’m scared,” she continued.\n\n![giphy (41).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUVG15jFod6AhY3BuhzjEiu8fWHwrjoxE9dc7o91ugKwZ/giphy%20(41).gif)\n\nI stood there for a few seconds, with my back turned to her trying to comprehend what Cathy was saying. She’s only four, probably thinks it’s the boogie man, I thought. I turned around, walked towards the top of her bed, got on my knees and said, “I promise you, there’s no monster here.”\n\nI smiled, took a deep breath, and walked back to my room. I laid on the bed, staring into thin air, searching for sleep to take over my body. My eyes began getting heavier and heavier.\n\n“Can I sleep with you please!” Cathy said as she stood in front of my bed. The only thing missing from that moment was a flash of lightning, and thunder – that would’ve sent me into cardiac arrest. “Sure, come on,” I replied.\n\nCathy quickly jumped onto the bed and got under the covers. We laid there facing each other. She stared at me with her bold eyes, “Do you hear it? Do you hear the monster?” Cathy asked. I didn’t know what to reply. Was she serious, I wondered. Then a voice in my head told me to listen. So, I blocked out the outside noise and concentrated.\n\nThey say when you’re losing one of your senses, another improves. Hopefully, my hearing had improved for this very moment. I shut my eyes and listened carefully; I heard the vents, little creeks, Cathy’s heavy breathing, but wait there was a voice. I heard a voice. Whose voice?!\n\n“MOM.... DAD...... MOM..... DAD!! Come here.”\n\nI opened my eyes and looked at Cathy. It was Corey’s voice. Was is it him, Cathy was referring to?!\n\n“Let’s go to bed,” I said.\n“Okay!”\n\nA few hours later, while I was snoring my life away, I heard a frantic voice shouting, “Cathy?! Cathy?!”\n\nI slurped up the dribble I had oozing out from the side of my mouth. I channeled the little energy I had, and shouted: “She’s in here Liza.” I heard the heavy footsteps approaching.\n\n“What is she doing in here? She’s not to be in here? Don’t ever let this happen again!” Liza said while she swiftly grabbed Cathy off of my bed.\n\n I had zero energy left to reply. I used my hands and searched for the phone to see the time, I didn’t remember hearing my alarm and I knew it was way too early for this shit. I tried to get a few more minutes in, but it ended up being an hour. I quickly got up and got myself together, with time to spare.  \n\nAfter getting ready, I proceeded to the kitchen, it was shockingly quiet - a bit too quiet. Corey was surprisingly sleeping. As I approached the kitchen, there was Liza, “Good morning!” I said joyfully.“Ohh good morning Kari,” Liza grunted.\n\nPlease Liza, not with all that excitement at once, it’s far too early to give me such joy – calm down, I thought sarcastically. It was a clear indication that her \"afterglow\" had worn off, and probably wouldn’t be back for the next ten to twenty years. It was around 6:50 A.M., so, I decided to make a cup of coffee. The silence got too awkward. I had to do something before my shift started. While making my coffee, I noticed Liza constantly glimpsing over at me. It was a bit weird.\n\n“Look, Kari, don’t ever let that happen again...” Liza said. \n\nHer eyes looked strange - a merge of a death-stare, a bit of fright with a splash of tiredness. I was confused to what I had done.\n\n“... Uhmm pardon?!”\n\n“Don’t ever let Cathy sleep in your room... I don’t want her to get accustomed to you,” Liza replied.\n\n“Oh, okay! I am sorry, I didn’t know that was a problem... she came into my room saying that something had scared her,” I replied.\n\n“... You know kids, she’s just being dramatic,” Liza said.\n\n“Okay, it’ll never happen again,” I said. \n\n*click* \n\nSaved by the coffee maker. I grabbed my coffee, added a few spoons of sugar, and walked towards the dining table. I blew on the hot coffee and watched as Liza walked towards the master bedroom with her head held low. Maybe she was right; Cathy probably had a nightmare and was being dramatic. As I took a few sips of the coffee, I was tempted to run up to my room and add a splash of vodka, but I refrained myself.I then quickly gulped the coffee down before Liza came back out. As soon as my shift started, I am not to have any liquid in my hand, Liza always said. I threw the remainder down the kitchen sink in the nick of time, because there came Liza storming out of the room.\n\n“You can go into our room, Cathy is in there,” Liza said.\n\nI quickly walked towards the master bedroom, there was Cathy in bed with Chris,\n\n“I’m sorry, Good morning Chris!” I nervously said. \n\nIt was strange seeing him topless: I definitely was not impressed by his \"dad body.\"\n\n“Good Morning Kari, I hope you slept well.” Chris smiled. \n\n“I did.” I reached my hand out to Cathy and asked: “are you ready to go upstairs?”\n\n Cathy charged towards me and shouted,” Yes, Yes!” We both chuckled and headed upstairs to her bedroom, which was shockingly locked - weird. I decided to walk through my bedroom to get to hers.\n\n“Your mom probably locked it by accident,” I said to Cathy whilst walking through my bedroom door.\n\n “Noo... she always does that... She locks my door at night and in the morning she takes unlocks it with the keys,” Cathy said as she hopped towards her bedroom. I said nothing. \n\n“You’re sleeping in my mommy’s old bed,” she looked up at me and giggled.\n\n“What?!” I replied.\n\n“Yeah, my mommy slept in that bed every night since the apartment. I miss the apartment. It was fun.” \n\nAll of this made no sense to me. I froze in the middle of her room, again trying to process everything Cathy said. “C’mon Kari let’s play... come, come, comeee...” I quickly snapped out of it and began playing with her. A couple of minutes in, I ended up tripping on her bed which was strangely wet. \n\n![giphy (63).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdwWcBBE3gdB9RHQUPGak1msoT9LjDWwxdmB1113Rrwz4/giphy%20(63).gif)\n\n“Did you spill something here?” I asked.\n\n“Noooo, I had an accident,” she said in embarrassment.\n\n“It's ok honey, we all have accidents, I use to have them when I was your age too,” I said comforting her - which was a lie because I was potty trained like a fucking boss. I loved my little blue potty. \n\n“Please don’t be mad at me Kari...” Cathy begged, staring at me with those hypnotizing eyes of hers.\n\n“Nooo, of course not... why would you think that?”\n\n“.... It really wasn’t my fault; I was scared because the monster was outside my door,” Cathy said while moving her hair from her face. \n\n“Come let’s play...” she continued.\n\nThere my body went again; frozen. What the Fuck! Was she being serious?! All these alarm bells went off in my head. I could hear the black and Portuguese side of me going back and forth.\n\nBlack side (B):“LOOOOKKKKK girl if you don’t get your fucking broke ass out these people's house...do you hear me?!...” \n\nPortuguese side (P): “Noo! Don’t leave, you need to find out more... you need to find out more about the family’s past!”\n\nB: “what is this bitch talking about?! Find out more? Why?! You don’t need to know about this family’s past.”\n\nP: “Yes, you need to know what happened, maybe nothing happened – still, you just need answers.” \n\nB: “DA-FUCK-YOU-DON’T! - what are you going to do? Snoop around in their attic and look for clues like scooby-fucking-do?? - No!”\n\nP: “OMG that’s a great idea black side! Go up to the attic and see what’s in there when they’re not home!”  \n\nB: “Oh hellll no! You’re not going into no attic - next thing you NEVER leave here?! How are you going to write your other books? - from the grave?! I don’t think stationery is a part of the coffin package, sweetheart.” \n\nP: “Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?!”Hmm, what's the worst that could happen, I began contemplating. \n\nB: “This bitch! All those horror movies she’s watched and now she wants to play Nancy Drew! She wants to play detective. Clearly, she doesn’t remember that black people seldom make it out of horror films alive. I’m done! BYEEEEEEE!” \n\n*poof* \n\nP: “You’ll be fine.”\n\n*poof*\n\n Okay! I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I have lost my fucking mind!\n\nI quickly snapped out of it and continued my daily routine. Got Cathy ready for school, and then took her downstairs. As we stepped out of the room, Corey stood at the top of the staircase case and stared at us. We stopped abruptly. He then ran downstairs. I took a deep breath and commenced walking with Cathy closely by my side. A few steps in I couldn’t help, but notice the door to the attic on my right. I got such a bad feeling when I passed it. I clutched onto Cathy’s hand a little tighter.\n\nAs I got to the bottom of the stairway, Corey rushed towards me, and from nowhere Liza popped out and yanked Cathy out of my hand; carried her into the kitchen. Corey gave me an almost suffocating hug and looked up towards me grinning. Boy, was he happy to see me?!\n\n“Good morning, let’s exercise,” I said to him. I grabbed the yoga mats from the closet near the staircase and rolled them out. Corey and I faced each other and began to do our stretches. He then stopped and started tapping my chest - this was new. Even though it wasn’t painful, and he got some sort of joy from it, I gently grabbed his wrist and said, “C’mon, we have to exercise.”He stopped and went over to his mat. \n\nWe continued exercising, and had our usual chat about monsters; we only like the good ones and we didn’t like the bad ones. We shared a couple of laughs here and there which was good, it got my mind off of everything Cathy said. Later that day, my phone kept going off \n\n*iPhone ringtone*\n\n“Hello, Kari”\n\n“Hi Chris”“I called you a couple of times on WhatsApp, anyway, I need you to go into your settings and give me a number, I am buying you a local SIM card for you to use.”\n\nI paused. I wondered for a second why he was buying...... and before I could finish my thought Chris rushed me, \n\n“C’mon Kari I need the number now...hurry, go to settings....”\n\n I had no clue what he wanted, but he directed me to it. After I gave him the number, I hung up the phone and finished my thought; I already had an American number - from New York. Why did I need a local one? – I guess they wanted to pay for my calls, but what was that number he needed?\n\nA little after 9:00 P.M., the kids were already tucked and I had just finished brushing my teeth. There was a knock on the door. I wiped my hand and opened the door, “this is the SIM card; you have to put it into your iPhone,” Chris handed me the SIM, then walked away. It was a bit weird, something didn’t feel right. I had the SIM in the palm of my hand, pacing back and forth in the room. \n\nFor some reason my gut told me not to insert the SIM into my iPhone, instead I inserted it into my Samsung phone – the parents never knew of my second phone. I didn’t think it was necessary for them to have known. Plus, when I first arrived, Chris was happy when he saw that I had an iPhone, I assumed they were just big fans of Apple Products.\n\nI had a really bad feeling, but it was probably just a long day and I was more than likely lacking sleep, I thought. I flicked off the lights, went into bed and tried not to think too much into anything. I chuckled like a crazy person. I figured, I was being overly paranoid and over-thinking everything. I got too invested in finding out about the family and their past, it was probably all in my head – there was nothing to worry about. I had blown things out of proportion. I shook my head, smiled and then went to sleep.\n\nThe next morning, the parents decided after their breakfast that each of them should take a kid; take them somewhere nice. Chris took Cathy, and Liza had Corey – she didn’t seem too pleased about that. I stayed back to do some chores; Liza wanted me to wash her bed sheets – FFFFUN.\n\nFirst out of the door were Chris and Cathy; they were so excited to go on their little adventure. I then helped Corey put on his shoes. He kept giving me this strange smile and rubbed my head as I leaned over and tied his laces. A few minutes later, Liza and Corey were about to head out through the front door, Liza walked back into the kitchen where I was:\n“Call my phone so I could get your local number.”\n\n“Yeah, sure I will,” I replied.\n\n“Do it now,” Liza insisted.\n\nI ran upstairs to my room and picked up my iPhone. On my way down the staircase, there was Liza, tapping her feet on the wooden floor, as I walked down each stair.\n\n“I think I still have my old number in the phone,” I explained.\n\n“What do you mean.... give me your phone let me see,” she said aggressively. \n\nI stood there and stared at her as though she was crazy; I wasn’t going to hand over my fucking phone to her. “Fine, just open your settings,” she continued. With her breathing over my neck, as soon as I tapped on my “settings” icon, Liza took one look and sucked her teeth, \n\n“It’s not in... Why don’t you have the SIM card in your phone?”\n\n“Because I have to inform my family about my new contact information,” I replied. \n\nI knew it was a lie and I could’ve told her it was in my other phone but I didn’t.“You should’ve done that already.”\n\n“Well, I don’t mean to be rude, but I received the card right before I went to bed, I will put it in today,” I replied.\n\n“You and these excuses... look you have to be fast, send the number, and we need that card in your phone now, so, after I leave, do it.” Liza shook her head and stormed out of the house with Corey, who was looking out of the window, close to the front door, speaking to himself. It took everything in me not to flip her off – throw up those middle fingers in her face. What a bitch! I took a deep breath and went into the kitchen for a snack.\n\n![giphy (55).gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTci5b15RS1omgV1Tih1E2YrGxyA2Lx9kdt6MurdFXz8S/giphy%20(55).gif)\n\n\nAs the snack digested, I thought about how Liza reacted. Why was she so pressed for me to put the SIM into my phone? How did she know I didn’t have it in, just by me opening “Settings”? - I didn’t click on anything else. What was it that gave it away? There was no information there – or was there?!\n\nI was like a caveman when it came to technology; I didn’t know much, but I knew someone that did. I went through my WhatsApp contacts and called Marian; A sweet dorky girl I went to university with, we lived in the same dorm together, the guys called her JLO but she didn’t have the voice nor moves. Yet, there was a slight resemblance. Marian was the perfect person to ask; knew so much about technology, everyone went to her whenever there was a problem with their device and she fixed them.\n\n“Heyy Mari!!”\n\n\"Heyy Kari, it’s been so long....how are you... I heard you quit your job w.t.f!!!”\n\nI sighed. “Okay, not now I’ll explain everything to you later... I need to find out something quickly...please.”\n\nI briefly explained to her what happened, while I tried tidying up the parent’s bedroom. When taking the sheets off, Marian said,\n\n“It could be that the family added you to their data plan, so the data is shared amongst everyone that’s on the plan, but there’s a catch... you said that you only opened up the settings and she knew right away?”\n\n“Yeah...” I replied.\n\n“That means they probably have a picture or logo for their cloud .......which then means that all....” before Marian could finish.\n\n“Stop!” I said in a hushed tone. “I’ll talk to you later.”\n\n“Kari are you okay?”\n\n“Yeah Mari, I uhmmm thanks...I have to go.”\n\nI hung up the phone and everything Marian said to me went over my head at that moment. Why were there little blood spots at the top of the fitted white sheet, I wondered. Similar to the ones on Cathy’s sheets. I then looked at the pillowcases and there were also a few blood spots on them. I gathered all the sheets and pillowcases and threw them into the washer - then into the dryer. I took a deep breath and after the cycle, it would probably go away, I thought. \n\nSomeone may have bitten their lip or something. I came up with so many explanations to put my thoughts at ease.I was relieved when the dryer went off. I took the sheets out and made up the bed. I placed the fitted sheets on the mattress, and the spots were still there. Didn’t fade or anything. I continued making the bed, and then left the room.I went straight upstairs to my room. As I was about to open the bedroom door, I slowly turned around and stared at the door that led to the attic. Now was my moment. I was in the house alone; I didn’t know when any of them were going to be back. I predicted they wouldn’t have arrived any time soon. I took a deep breath, walked towards the attic, my hand reached for the knob.\n\n“NOPE! FUCK THAT!” I walked away. Maybe my blackness kicked in. This was too intense for my little heart. Instead, I went to wash Cathy’s pee stained sheets. I had to pull myself together. What was going on with me?! Again, I snapped out of it and completed my chores. A couple of hours later, Chris and Cathy came home. Cathy ran straight into my arms, \n\n“Let’s watch a movie together.... come on daddy.”\n\n“Sure,” I smiled at Cathy. Then looked at Chris who looked a bit distant.\n\n“Yeah, let’s do it... I’ll grab the popcorn and meet you guys up there. You did a great job with the cleaning Kari. Thank you!”\n\nI smiled and took Cathy up to the cinema room, which was close to Cathy and I’s room. We all sat together and watched, the Princess and the Frog. Midway through the movie, Chris’s phone rang and he stepped out, but never came back in.\n\nA few hours later, Mother Dearest and Corey came back home. Liza yelled my name a couple of times, after a while, I decided to head down with Cathy. When walking towards the kitchen Liza came over, lifted Cathy up and carried her into the Master bedroom, while I headed over to Corey, who was fiddling with something on the kitchen counter.\n\n“These are candles, I like candles... My dad’s birthday is coming up, ask me which candles are his, Kari!” Corey said.\n\n“Ok, which candles are his,” I chuckled.\n\n“Three and six are my daddy’s candles because he’s going to turn thirty-six... Now ask me whose birthday is next...”\n\n“Whose birthday is after your dad’s?” I asked.\n\n“Mommy, mommy’s birthday is after my daddy, and her candles are the blues, five and nine, now ask me where I got the candles from.”I laughed, \n\n“Yeah five and nine ...ye....” \n\nWait! I paused. What the fuck did he just say?! I frantically looked at the candles Corey placed on the counter. Did Corey just say his dad was turning Thirty-six and his mom fifty-nine – No! I had to make sure I heard correctly, so, I said to him, \n“oh, I like candles too, tell me again whose birthday each candle is for.”\n\n“My daddy’s birthday is coming up soon, his candles are the three and six because he’s turning thirty-six... After his birthday is my mommy’s birthday and her candles are the five and nine, the blue candles because she’s turning fifty-nine.”\n\n“Ohhhh don’t remind mommy she’s getting older, please Corey,” Liza said as she walked into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator. I figured Liza was old, but I had no idea she was that old. Okay! I did jokingly say she looked around seventy, but I simply assumed she was forty-something, who was aging like a cabbage left in a refrigerator for a thousand years.\n\nI stood there with an awkward smile – it was more of a cringe than a smile; like a Chrissy Teigen at the Emmys cringe. \n\n\nI tried my best to get through the remainder of the night, yet, it was so difficult. They decided to have a little BBQ, and we sat around the dining table. They kept speaking and laughing, but I had zoned out. \n\n“Kari you’re off...we’ll put the kids to sleep tonight,” Chris said.\n\nI heard that for sure! I was stunned. It was only 8:45 P.M., but I quickly got up and power walked to that room. I feared, if I had hesitated they would’ve probably changed their minds. I locked my door and decided that I needed a hot bubble bath, and a drink – vodka to be precise. So, I reached for the vodka bottle I had in my closet, on the top shelf, then went into the bathroom.\n\nI turned the bath pipe on hot and threw some Johnson’s baby bedtime bubble bath into the rising water. When the bubbles began to form, a tear fell from my eye – it was a beautiful moment. I then placed my hand in the water to check the temperature, \n\n“Ahhhh...MOTHERFUCKER...HAWWTTT.” I wanted it hot but not this scorching; I switched the pipe to cold – to balance it out. When it was just right, I grabbed my bottle of vodka and my phone, then hopped in the bath. It felt so good. The worries, stress, anxiety, had faded away.\n\nA sigh of relief as I sipped on my drink – more like chugged than a sip. I then scrolled through my messages and checked-in with a few of my friends. I glimpsed a message from Marian, I forgot I told her I would’ve called her back. I took a couple of sips and tapped on her unread message.\n\nMarian’s text: \n“I am not sure what’s going on, but I was telling you earlier that the number they asked you for makes you a part of their plan, which means your data will also be in their iCloud; that’s why she knew you didn’t change the SIM... your iCloud picture was what she saw. This means that they could possibly get some information on your phone. Like photos, videos, maybe text messages, it’s not definite but there’s a possibility... especially since the dad specializes in I.T. If you need anything else, let me know ok? We should catch up. Call me!”\n\nI laid there in the tub so confused. The next day I felt a bit ill, it could’ve been the food or something. I had no energy to do a fourteen-hour shift. I explained to the family about it and of course, I heard Liza bitching, but I didn’t give a fuck – she complains about everything. I couldn’t help but wonder about Marian's text.......should I be worried?!Until next time... \n\nHmm, wish me luck!!\n\n xoxo",
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      "voter": "misterakpan",
      "author": "karibarker",
      "permlink": "re-misterakpan-re-karibarker-chapter-3-first-day-on-the-job-20190305t195012889z",
      "weight": 10000
    }
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}

{
  "trx_id": "30d7cc3c1abef58ebfc7f68916452cf75cf4104c",
  "block": 31254994,
  "trx_in_block": 26,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2019-03-18T07:24:42",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "karibarker",
      "parent_permlink": "chapter-7-stranger-things",
      "author": "steemitboard",
      "permlink": "steemitboard-notify-karibarker-20190318t072444000z",
      "title": "",
      "body": "Congratulations @karibarker! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :\n\n<table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/60x70/http://steemitboard.com/@karibarker/voted.png?201903180436</td><td>You received more than 1000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 2000 upvotes.</td></tr>\n</table>\n\n<sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@karibarker) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](http://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=karibarker)_</sub>\n<sub>_If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word_ `STOP`</sub>\n\n\n\n**Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:**\n<table><tr><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/drugwars/@steemitboard/drugwars-early-adopter\"><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/64x128/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYGN7R653u4hDFyq1hM7iuhr2bdAP1v2ApACDNtecJAZ5/image.png\"></a></td><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/drugwars/@steemitboard/drugwars-early-adopter\">Are you a DrugWars early adopter? Benvenuto in famiglia!</a></td></tr></table>\n\n###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!",
      "json_metadata": "{\"image\":[\"https://steemitboard.com/img/notify.png\"]}"
    }
  ]
}