Kim

By Arthur Lewis

Kim Sanders is an eighteen-year-old student at Mandarin High School. She suffers from severe social anxiety, paranoia, and is considered by some to be psychotic. Or is she? Especially troubling is Kim’s obsessive infatuation with fellow classmate, Kyle Banker. She romanticizes constantly about their future together, despite her parents’, teachers’, and guidance counselor’s skepticism. She is certain the two of them are meant to be a couple and visualizes their wedding day.

Kim faces not only the typical and often-difficult challenges of adolescence, but she also struggles as pertinent details of her past are brought to the surface. She does not cease in her quest to be with Kyle, stalking him at every turn. Though she sincerely believes they’ll have a happily ever after, will the complexity of Kim’s past prevent the two of them from fulfilling there destiny?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jul 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781480865549

Arthur Lewis

Arthur Lewis grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from The Ohio State University. He is an avid sports fan who lives in South Florida with his wife, Jennifer, and son. This is Lewis’ debut book.

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Copyright © 2018 Arthur Lewis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-6553-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-6554-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018908225

Archway Publishing rev. date: 11/02/2018

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

About The Author

CHAPTER 1

She watched him from behind the bushes. She had to be careful not to be seen. It was not because of her own inhibition, it was her fear of being caught that made her hide. Her whole life everyone, including her parents, had told her to find something she liked, a hobby. She had finally found one and nobody approved. Hypocrites. She remembered her mother talking to the guidance counselor one day after school, Kim is fine, she just needs something to occupy her time. They had suggested sports; she was not an athlete. They suggested academics; she was not a scholar. They suggested after school activities; but she could not stand being around her peers. She did not care for them. She did not care for anybody, she had found her passion some time ago and it was he. She watched him as he stood outside his Jeep in the parking lot, talking to his friends. She could not watch him from up close anymore because she had upset him by doing so. Not deliberately of course, but she found it hard to speak in front of him and he got tired of asking her questions she did not have the resolve to answer.

It was very ironic when she thought about it. Every day she played out scenarios in her head of conversations the two of them would share, but when she actually came face-to-face with him she was speechless. He was probably just playing it cool in front of his friends. He was popular, so he had to maintain his reputation. He could not be seen with her in public because she was simply not socially acceptable. Clearly, that was what mattered to him. She paid no attention to that, she knew how he felt she knew how he felt deep down. She knew he wanted to be with her, but he just had trouble expressing it. The same way she had trouble speaking in front of him. They were both frustrated individuals. She knew he had just as much difficulty in showing his feelings publicly as she did, except he pretended the feelings did not exist. She had accepted the fact that they were infatuated with each other, but she did not know exactly how to broach the subject. She had drawn this conclusion months earlier when she had requested his friendship on Facebook and he had accepted. That was the first step toward open communication between them. The affinity was real. She watched as he drove out of the school parking lot and then felt the knot return to her stomach as he disappeared from her view. Emptiness.

A Facebook friend was a good start, but that was only the beginning. In time, he would recognize their connection in any way that did not damage his popularity. That was his identity. Her intentions were not to disturb him, although that’s what the guidance counselor would have wanted everyone to believe, as he had witnessed Kim following Kyle into the locker room more than a few times. The guidance counselor, like her parents, could not fathom her obsession with him. Obsession. Why did it seem so apparent to everyone else that this was one sided? She was obsessed with him and he was obsessed with her. They were meant to be together. She saw it in his eyes. The way he gazed back at her like there was nothing he would rather look at. It did not matter what anyone else thought or everyone else’s skewed perception of what was going on. All that mattered was the truth. The truth was that he and she were going to be together and since that was the ultimate conclusion, it did not matter how it was attained.

She had it all played out in her head. Their wedding would be private, hopefully just the two of them although he could bring along his buddies if he insisted. Her family would not be in attendance. After all, she would no longer have to put up with them once they were married. Then they would ride off into the sunset together leaving this small town and every phony in it behind them.

They would not have any children if it were up to Kim. She could not bear the thought of bringing anything else into their existence together once they had left their families and friends behind. It would just be the two of them, Kyle and Kim, together forever. Ecstasy.

Yes, they would leave this community of spoiled rich people with fancy facades and manicured lawns. Everyone trying to show up their neighbors.

Kim closed the front door to her house as quickly and discretely as she possibly could in order to inconspicuously make it upstairs to her bedroom. Most likely someone in her family was awaiting her entrance. Counting down the seconds until she arrived just to scream and badger her for not ‘conforming’ and being like the rest of the so-called ‘normal’ kids. The very thought of the ‘normal’ kids made her gag, with their skin-tight designer jeans and plastic makeup. Their jaws chomping up and down with piece after piece of chewing gum that they had pulled out of their four-hundred-dollar purses. Disgusting. Conforming to that would be more detrimental to her character than suicide. Suicide. She had contemplated it many times; however, ending her life would be the end to a harmonious union before it came to fruition. A dream soon to become reality and that and that alone was the explanation for her still breathing. She tiptoed up the stairs closer and closer to the solitude that anticipated her in her bedroom. She rounded the corner quickly and as she twisted the doorknob…

Kim?! Her mother inquired.

Yes?

Just making sure…

She slammed the door quickly before she could hear the rest of the inevitable onslaught that would have followed. That was a close one. Many times, she had gotten stopped on her way in and been horribly delayed in beginning her habitual evening rituals. As long as she had to remain a detainee in the confines of this miserable house she had to do something. She had mastered a special sequence of devotions that would occupy the in-between of the blessed union between her and Kyle.

If she was not with him physically, she needed to generate a way to be with him spiritually. A vow she had made a long time ago. She knelt next to her bed and pulled from underneath the basket of yearbooks she had accumulated. She flipped through each one until she found the dedication he had once written to her above his photograph. It did not take long as each book would automatically open to the correct page as she pulled the cover back. Throughout this process she could not help but think how each instance became a lost opportunity. Months of preparation had preceded each annual encounter and not one could be heralded as a success. It was not her fault, as the moment their eyes met she melted into a mere fragment of her true self. She became too tongue-tied and burgundy-faced to utter a simple phrase. She lay each portrait face up in its appropriate place around her bed. Slammed the blinds closed and lay spread eagle across her bed. She shut out the outside world as though she were deaf and just laid there for hours dedicating her thoughts to her one and only true love. It was as close to sublime as it had gotten for her in her life thus far but was truly bittersweet. For if she could not have him beside her, she could not have closure. Closure for her meant success and success meant one definite conclusion.

CHAPTER 2

She awoke abruptly the next day, completely naked and hands tightly clamped over her ears in the closet as she had countless times before. Undoubtedly, something had disturbed her evening ritual and forced her into seclusion. She fastened her robe and walked quickly to the shower as to not be late for homeroom. His name was called promptly before hers each morning on the roll and it was one of the few times a day she got to hear his sexy southern drawl. She hurried in the shower making sure she cleaned every crevice of her body. Suppose today happened to be the day. The one time she had ever missed homeroom because of a faulty alarm clock, was brutal. Kim recalled stumbling along, a forlorn young woman wandering aimlessly among the lockers, distraught and disheveled. She had missed the only reason that she woke up every morning. From that point on she could guarantee that it would never happen again.

Before the brightest part of her morning, however, came the most dreadful. She would have to go downstairs and face the rest of the imposters with whom she was forced to share quarters. She crept down the stairs more from habit than from discreteness. As she rounded the corner…

Wow, you look gross!

Her younger brother teased in between a slurp and a smirk full of Cheerios. Alex was perhaps the closest a person could possibly be to pollution. He would constantly hang out at the tanning salon with his friends doing shots of Jagermeister in the parking lot, before sprawling out for countless hours in those cancer coffins. Tanning salons were becoming more and more popular and people were becoming more and more orange at strange times of the year. The very thought of stepping foot in one of those places made her dry heave, yet it was probably where her mother and father would like to see her hang out the most. Simply because it was a trending social behavior, they would be eternally grateful if she would just set foot in the place.

She poured herself a bowl of cereal and ate quietly as the morons discussed daily business. She only spoke if she were asked a direct question and even then, only because she found it would get her out of the house quicker than if she ignored them. She would do anything to get her on to the most important part of her day. She would daydream while staring into her bowl and think about what lay ahead. She thought about Kyle bursting through her front door at any moment, frantic and deliberate.

Kim, come on. Get in the car. Let’s get out of here! He would shout, and she would sprint from her seat, out the front door, and into his Jeep. They would speed out of town, not stopping, and never returning. What was now only a figment of her imagination would soon be a predestined reality and she could not wait.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother’s nasally interjection.

Kim?!

Yes mother?

I said ‘did you get a date for the winter formal yet?’

Of course, she lied.

Oh, why didn’t you tell me?

You didn’t ask, she dumped her bowl into the sink and turned on the faucet as if to drown out her annoying mother. Truth was she had not been asked to the winter formal yet. Not even close. But in her mind that was a good thing. As soon as Kyle and she had become an item she would not have to be asked. In fact, if it were up to her she would not have to go. But she would go with him if he asked but if he did ask, it would only be to hang out with his friends. They did not need a school dance to express the way they felt and certainly did not need to show off in front of anybody else. Their love was above a school dance, and beyond this crummy little town that they lived in. It was a bond that had no bearing in the superficialities of today’s society and needed to grow unfettered in a land far away. It was a land with no boundaries and nobody examining every facet of your being. No judgments and no criticism. Complete Freedom.

Kim pulled into the parking lot as early as possible, turned off her engine, and crouched down as low as possible. Waiting. She had to time her walk into the building so that she could catch a glimpse of Kyle. She kept her distance so that he could not see her. It was too dark at that hour for the two of them to engage each other. Rather she just wanted to register his outfit in her brain so there were no surprises when they met up in homeroom. The members of the student council were first to arrive and rush into the building so there was no chance of any sort of blemish on their attendance records. They had approached Kim to join a study group at the beginning of the year. No thank you. Kim did not trust them. They were too squeaky clean for their own good. They would have no doubt objected to something she did and complained to the guidance counselor about her. Kim did not need the aggravation.

She felt the knot in her stomach growing as loser after loser pulled up, parked, and jogged into the building. Kyle was nowhere to be found. She waited until the last possible second, then sprinted into the building. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. There was no possible way that she missed him. She was the first one on the lot and she had checked every car, license plate number, varsity jacket, and backwards cap and none of them belonged to Kyle. This had never happened before; Kyle never would have let it happen. He knew as well as she did that Mr. Richardson’s homeroom was the only chance they got to lock eyes each day. That moment of pure jubilation that sent a shiver straight through their bodies. He would never miss that intentionally. Something must be terribly wrong.

She sprinted into the building head down to the ground, cheeks flushed, mind racing. The lump in her stomach had spread across her entire body and she felt as if she had been filled with concrete. On the other hand, she was moving incredibly fast. Something was propelling her into the classroom. It was fear. The fear that her future lover may be in distress and need her. She turned the corner to their classroom and her heart sank right through the floor. Her eyes locked on the only two empty chairs, glowing together, in the center of the room.

Ah Ms. Sanders, Mr. Richardson her homeroom teacher wheezed through his goateed muzzle. You’re just in time, have a seat.

Kim froze. Mr. Richardson was the closest thing in the entire school district to a real human being. He was the farthest thing from a hypocrite, unlike the rest of the staff and students. But this time she could not oblige him. Not when her world was in disarray. Not when her life partner was missing. She did the only thing her instincts told her she could do. She turned and ran. She ran down the stairs, past the hall monitors, out the building, and straight to her car. She heard voices calling out to her to stop but they were too faint to distinguish clearly. Besides she was the only one who realized what had happened. Kim weaved through traffic towards the only place she knew to start looking for a missing person. His house.

She pulled up and immediately saw his Jeep parked in its usual spot. Before she could decide whether this was good or bad, she noticed that neither the mother’s, father’s, nor maid’s vehicles were on the property. She had been driving by his house for years and this had never been the case. She parked in her usual spot three houses past on the other side of the street in order not to draw attention to herself. If he were being held hostage, or something worse, she needed to be stealthy to rescue him. She crept through the sliver of woods that separated the enormous properties that comprised the community

As she had so many times before, she stayed low and crept around the back corner of the house nearest to Kyle’s bedroom. She dove into an army roll and gathered her balance right beneath his window. She slowly pulled herself up, so she could see over the ledge and through the window. The sun was beginning to rise now just enough for Kim to clearly witness what was happening in Kyle’s bedroom. Kim could not believe her eyes and her mouth dropped to the grass in pure astonishment. Her eyes welled up with tears, as it was ten times worse than she envisioned. Kyle was in his underwear. His hands and feet were bound to the bedposts. He was gagged and blindfolded. She knew he was in trouble, but this was way beyond anything she could have ever fathomed. Kyle was being held hostage against his will, by whom?

Right on cue, out strutted a tall, young woman with high heels, thigh-high stockings, bra, panties, and a long blonde ponytail. She was carrying a whip or some other sort of torture device, but her face was hidden from Kim’s glare. Kim watched in utter terror as her love wiggled and squirmed in pitiful attempt after pitiful attempt towards freedom. She had to put a stop to this, she could not bear seeing him in pain a second longer. Her concerns about Kyle’s whereabouts were confirmed and she had to step in and rescue him. Kim had had enough. She grasped the ledge in order to hoist herself up, but her hand slipped and she fell backwards. She flailed her arms back to try and soften her fall but was too late and her cranium cracked against a tree trunk. She lay there unconscious. Motionless.

CHAPTER 3

Mandarin Tree Village had hired a full-time security guard. As if the gated entrance didn’t provide enough security. Truth be told, it was most likely one of the safest neighborhoods in the entire country, but the self-important residents needed something to throw money at. The security guard had gotten to know Kim from other incidents outside of Kyle’s house. Today Officer Dean had found her unconscious and brought her back to school. So, Kim awoke in a familiar setting – the nurse’s office.

At Mandarin High School there was only one nurse and one guidance counselor for over eight hundred students. The school nurse in essence was a cafeteria lady in a white overcoat, without the hair net but ten times as mean. The job existed solely so the phonies could not fake stomachaches to get out of class. Her guidance counselor was a tall lanky fellow with horn-rimmed glasses and he existed solely to make Kim’s life a living hell. He was always overdressed and typically wore a bowtie. His hair was gelled and neatly parted.

Her entire life Kim had been sent either to see the guidance counselor or to the principal’s office, for no reason whatsoever. When a group of prepubescent girls giggled and laughed behind her back and Kim ran up to confront them, Kim was blamed for acting out and needed to have a sit down with the vice principal. Or, if she were in class and one of the teachers came into the room and whispered something to her teacher. Kim