Second Time Around

The deeper I dig

*Katrina POV*

2 Weeks After Attack

When I think back to the visit after Seth tried to push me away, I feel bad. I feel as if I forced him to keep me in his life, and I never thought about whether he truly didn't want me anymore. After all, thanks to one Mr. Gregory David Nolan, I had nothing pure to offer him.

The piece of s**t that ruined me, his name is Gregory David Nolan. The results of the rape kit proved it without a shadow of a doubt.

According to what the prosecutor and Officer Newman told me, once his DNA was run, he was matched to other rapes in the area. Two of the girls were my age, and their fate ended in murder.

It was awful knowing what they went through, but it was freeing to know he would never be able to hurt another girl ever again.

The rest of his life would be in prison, and hopefully his life would be a short one. I've heard about where rapists and child murderers have gone into jail, and have received something called "prison justice", and who knows, maybe Ol' Greg will get a little taste of that.

I can't say I'm not a little disappointed that Kentucky doesn't recognize the death penalty anymore, because he definitely deserved a more harsh sentence for the murders of those two little girls.

As I was leaving the courthouse, I saw my mom. She had court this morning as well, and I guess she only got probation for her part in everything. She even sat on Greg's side of the courtroom. I tried to make eye contact, but she wouldn't even look my way.

I wanted to tell her what I really felt, but let her keep walking. Mr. Darnell was with me, and he said that sometimes you just have to let the trash take out itself, even if it is your own parents.

I knew he was right, but it still stung. She was my mom for Christ's sake. She carried me in her belly for almost 10 months, and I know she loved me at one time in her life. So, I guess that's why this is all so confusing and hurtful to me. What did I ever do to her for her to hate me so much? For her to not even care that I was brutally assaulted is what hurt the most.

I dropped Mr. Darnell at his home, and told him I would be back after a while. I had to meet the officers at my mom's house to get the rest of my belongings, and there were a few things of my dad's that I wanted to get as well. After all, if I left them, she would just sell them for dope money.

I had to be there in 15 minutes, because per my request, I didn't want my mother there when I got my stuff. Officer Newman had called me to let me know that she would meet me with another officer while my mother was getting her probation officer situated and her ankle monitor put on.

Apparently, once she got to the probation center, she caused a scene. Her PO called the courts to request she be put on a monitor so that he could make sure she stayed away from me like the judge ordered. She had a lot of other stipulations for her probation, and I, for one, couldn't see her making it the full 3 years in a situation like this.

She would end up behind bars with her friends, and it was her mess to worry about now. Not mine.

When I got to the house, it looked the same as it did the night I left. Thankfully, I was able to borrow Seth's dad, Calvin's truck, to haul my stuff in. My little car would never have held anything close to what I needed to take.

I rented a storage unit to hold my things for now. I am leaving for college in a few weeks, and until I go, I don't want to clutter the room I was renting from Mr. Darnell. I have the entire attic in my new place in Knoxville, so I wasn't so worried about space once I moved.

I felt Officer Newman place her hand on my back. She looked at me and asked if I was alright, and I slowly nodded my head.

"It just feels surreal being back here. In my head, I had so much more than I realized I really do. I won't be too long," I told her.

She asked me what she could do to help, and I told her that I was just going to shove my clothes in garbage bags for right now. So, she picked up some garbage bags and helped me shove all my clothes and shoes into them.

Before I chanced to run into my mom, I went to gather dad's things that I wanted to take with me. It wasn't much, but it was things that reminded me of him, and made me feel better when I saw them.

I went to her dresser and opened her jewelry box. I took out the silver band with the single garnet on it and put it in my pocket. She didn't deserve to keep his wedding band. As I said before, it would end up at the pawn shop eventually to support her new lifestyle.

I then went to the closet and grabbed his two favorite flannel button-up shirts he always wore, and his old ball cap. I started to search her room for the very last thing I wanted, and found something I wasn't expecting. A handgun.

Why would she have a gun? Daddy never allowed small guns in the house, just his old shotgun. Mom sold that after he died to help "pay funeral costs", but I personally think the money went to something else.

I called for Officer Newman and showed her the gun. I didn't touch it because if it was stolen or used for something bad, I didn't want to be implicated.

She asked me to find some plastic wrap or a large zip lock baggie, but we had neither of those things. We instead just put it in a garbage bag, and she put it in the trunk of her car.

I had just put the last of the clothing bags in the back of the truck, and went back up to carry down the last of the boxes. As I walked down the steps, I heard officer Newman speaking with her partner. Dispatch had come back with whom the gun belonged to.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when she told me, because, of course, it went back to Greg Nolan. I didn't want to make it seem like I was intentionally eavesdropping, so I started walking towards the door.

"Kat, can I have a word with you please?" Officer Newman asked. I took the box out and put it in the truck and went back to where she was standing.

"We know now that the gun belonged to Mr. Nolan. Seems your mom is in more trouble than we initially thought. She will have more charges placed on her, and she will lose her probation status. Does your mom own or rent this place?" she asked.

I told her that we had rented the place, but she was behind on rent. I asked why, and she said that mom's things would have to be dealt with if I wasn't going to stay and rent the house myself. They had already sent

I told her that it could all go to the trash for all I cared, but I wanted to grab a few more things before they were surrendered to the landlord. I grabbed another empty box and raced to my mother's room. I placed all our family photo albums inside the box, and a few more of my dad's shirts.

I found what I had been looking for earlier, and placed it in the box as well. It was the bottle of cologne my dad always wore. When I got to missing him, I always put on one of his flannels and would smell the cologne from the bottle. It made me feel like he was with me.

The last thing I grabbed was my mom's jewelry box. Did it technically belong to me? No. However, they were gifts for her from my dad. She wasn't going to need them in jail, and I didn't want them lost. So, they now belong to me.