Catharsis (Book 2): Catalyst by D. Andrew Campbell Read Free Book Online Page B

call you to find out about your life, not theirs .  I can't go down that road.  Not right now.  Not for a while, at least."
                "I know.  I'm sorry," she tells me.  "They just miss you and ask about you.  And I promised them I would..."
                "Leyni Jay!"  I growl out my pet nickname for her before she can continue.  "Stop.  Please.  I don't want to have them on my mind tonight.  Do me that little favor?"
                "Ok, ok, Cat.  I had to at least try, or I wouldn't be able to look mom in the eyes later when she asks," she says with a final dig at the topic.  "Forgiven?"
                My younger sister may only be in her first year of high school, but sometimes she shows the twisted genius of a young Machiavelli.  She knew mentioning our parents would haunt me until I eventually break down and write them another letter.  She can still find ways to manipulate me, and I have to respect her for it.  But respect and forgiveness are two different things.
                "Uh huh," I say non-committal.  "Speaking of fun topics for us to bring up, how are Brandon and Evan?"
                "Ugh," she groans into the phone, and I have to smile at her discomfort.  Her constant social machinations with the boys of the school are a world that I never had to deal with, and I get no end of joy tormenting her with the topic.  "They're both getting a lot more persistent, thanks.  Sometimes I just think I should swear them all off completely..."
                She continues to rant about the social hierarchies   at the school, but I only half listen as I approach the neighborhood that Ren had indicated on the map to me previously.  Her words become a pleasant hum in the background as I do my best to push her comments about our parents from my mind.
                I know my disappearance nearly destroyed them, but I honestly don't think I could have handled it any other way.  By the time I had enough of a handle on my life to start thinking about them again, it had been months since I had left.  And I had disappeared after attacking our school nurse in the middle of the day and then fleeing the school building by jumping out of a second-story window.  Then they had no contact from me for weeks.  And that contact was only because I let myself be seen on a convenience store's security video so that they would know I was still alive.
                Looking back at the past year, I can't imagine how they might feel towards me.  Leyna says they love me, but I know that love has been tested.  I won't let her talk about them or that day I left.  I don't want to know what the school thinks about me or my old friends or how my being gone has destroyed my parents.  I can't change it, so I've learned to accept it.
                Plus, I've had Ren set up multiple savings accounts in Leyna's name using the money from the drug houses.  I'll never be able to use it all, and I know my parents would be horrified to even think about taking money like this from me.  So I invest it in Leyna.  Someday she will be a very rich girl.  I just hope I'm still alive to see it.  But that's a dream I doubt a little bit more with each passing day.
                "Cat, you're close," Ren's deep voice tells me over the helmet's speaker cutting into Leyna's melodic ramblings about the kids at school and her exasperation with them.  "We're going live in about thirty seconds.  Be ready."
                "Hey Leyni, I gotta go," I say interrupting her mid-word.  "Sorry.  I love you, little sis."  I consider saying more, but nothing comes to me.
                She seems unfazed by my abruptness, though.  "Love you, too.  Be safe out there.  Please."
                "I will.  I always am," I say before disconnecting the call.  I've never exactly told Leyna what I do in the city, and she's too