Keep You

~POV: Kylie~
Standing outside, staring at the stone wasn’t exactly how I planned on spending my day, but it was a “family day,” so I was forced to go. My headphones was forced from my ears, shocking and scaring me at the same time.

“Show some respect,” my father hissed, his arm was wrapped around my mother.

“Why? He’s dead, it’s not like I knew him anyway.” My mother sniffled as she started at the stone. Dad said something to Willy, my little brother, and grabbed m arm.

“That’s you grandfather in that ground, and your mother is a complete emotional wreck right now. I don’t care if you knew him or not, show respect for your mother.” Dad turned back to my mom and Will. I just rolled my eyes and sulked back to the car, but a sudden idea hit me.

“Hey William, you know what’s under that rock?” I asked my brother, kneeling down to his height.

“Grandpa Mark,” Willy replied. I smirked, not really believing how easy this was going to be.

“Yes, it is grandpa, but he’s all mangled, like the people from last night’s movie; and when you’re asleep, he comes out, and into your bedroom, and sits, waiting for just the right moment to eat your brain.”

“Kylie!” My parents yelled as my brother started screaming. I laughed, but stopped at the look on Mom and Dad’s face.

“Car, now,” my mother said, grabbing my arm and forcing me into the backseat. Dad helped Willy into the car. After they got in, we were on our way home.

“You’re grounded for a week Kylie Nero,” My mother said stiffly. I just rolled my eyes, watching the trees pass by. I don’t know what my parents were thinking with raising us in a place like this. The nearest mall was an hour away and I still wasn’t able to drive. My friends felt the same way I did about the place, and we vowed that together we would get out.
I watched as our house rolled into view. If there was one thing my parents did right by us, it was our house. The house was big and obviously expensive, and the yard went on for miles.
Dad stopped the car and I was the first one out, leaning against the railing on the porch to wait for them to open the door. My mom walked up to me and held out her hand.

“Cell phone and iPod, now,” she said.

“That is so not fair!” I whined. “It’s not my fault William’s such a baby and can’t take a joke.”

“He’s 8 years old Kylie, he doesn’t know when someone’s joking with him like that.” Mom snapped. “That was way too out of line anyway. Give me the stuff now.” I whined again as I handed her my items.

“No computer, phone or TV either.” Mom added. “You want to entertain yourself, read a book.” Dad opened the door, so I pushed past him and into the house, storming up the stairs to my bedroom.

~POV: Riley~
I watched my daughter storm up the stairs. I sighed, not knowing where we went wrong with her. She was always a really sweet girl, then she started high school. Now she teases her brother, she yells at her father and me. She’s not even as close to her uncle as she once was.

“Where is she?” Jeff asked as he walked into the house, William right behind him.

“Her bedroom,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes feeling suddenly drained. “Where did we go wrong Jeff?”

“We did everything for her, it’s those girls she hangs around with at school.” he said, watching Will walk into the living room. “They’re brainwashing her and she’s too stubborn to listen to us.”

“Mom, Dad, will Grandpa Mark really come here and eat my brains?” Will asked from the couch, staring at picture on the mantle. It was a picture of Dad right before the accident that took his life. It was taken a week before William was born, so I had my big baby belly. Jeff had his hands on Kylie’s shoulders, who was sporting a smile with her two front teeth missing. My aunt and uncle was on the ends. My step-mother Sara was beside Dad, my siblings Gunner, Chasey and Gracie in front of them. I stared at my father, still finding it hard to believe that eight years has passed since he died. It still felt like yesterday that I got the call. Jeff said something to Will, but I didn’t pay attention. My memories was taking over my thinking.

~Eight Years Before~
“Oo, that hurt,” I muttered as I felt a pain go through my stomach.

“You okay?” Jeff asked me, sitting next to me on the couch. I nodded, letting my hand rest on my stomach. Jeff placed his hand on mine, locking our fingers together as Kylie ran into the room.

“Is he coming yet?” she asked, staring at my stomach.

“Not yet baby,” I answered with a laugh. She let her lip pout as she ran from the room.

“She is so excited to be a big sister,” Jeff muttered, watching our daughter leave the room.

“I know, it’s so sweet.” I replied, leaning my head against his shoulder.

“Want some tea or something?” Jeff asked me. I nodded as he brought the coffee table closer to the couch for me to rest my legs on. I relaxed to the point to where I was nearly falling asleep when the phone rang. Since I had the hand held in my lap, I answered it before Jeff got it.

“Hello?”

“R-Riley,” Marylyn’s voice said. Right away I knew something was wrong. Her voice was thick with tears and cracking.

“Aunt Mary, what’s wrong?” I asked her, putting my legs down and sitting up straighter. Jeff walked back into the room at that moment and gave me a confused look.

“You need to get over here right now,” she said. “We’re at the house, just get over here.” she hung up before I could say anything else.

“That was Mary, she wants us over at the house.” I told Jeff.

“Kylie, come on we’re going to go see Grandma Mary and Grandpa Paul!” Jeff called out.
The girl ran into the room excitedly. When we got to the house, Sara’s van was in the driveway. That confused me because normally when Dad and Sara was here, they were in Dad’s truck.

“Something’s going on,” I said as Jeff stopped the car. I rushed into the house to find everyone in the living room, tears trailing down their faces and looks of shock in their eyes.

“Where’s Dad, what’s going on?” I asked, looking at my step-mother. She started crying harder, sobs shaking her body and filing the silence.

“Riley, sit down,” Paul said gently, standing up and grabbing my hands. He sat me on the couch as Mary adjusted a pillow behind my back. “Riley, there was an accident. M-Mark was involved. It was a head on collision where the other person was swerving and driving on the wrong side of the road.” I knew where it was heading, but I didn’t want to believe it.

“N-no,” I muttered, my hand covering my mouth. Jeff wrapped his arms around my shoulders as he listened.

“There was too much damage. I’m sorry Riley, but he didn’t make it.” I heard it, but I didn’t believe it. There was no way Mark Calaway, my father, could be gone. There was no way my father was dead. My tears came hot and fast, but I was too shell shocked to realize it.

“I’m sorry honey,” Jeff muttered into my hair.

The funeral was the worst day of my life. It was the first time I seen my father since before the accident, and I was having small contractions through the entire service. I’ve seen him in coffins before due to his role as the Undertaker, but it was either him scaring someone or a dummy version of him, never was it really him. They had him dressed in a mixture of his character and as himself. They even put the tear he used to put on himself in the mid-90s. Jeff sat behind me during the service, trying to keep Kylie under control, which was turning into a bigger challenge than he thought.

Nearly everyone from the WWE rosters showed up for the funeral. Shawn and Paul came with their families, and they were the first ones to come up to me.

“I’m so sorry sweetie,” Shawn said, hugging me the best he could. Paul hugged me next, tighter than Shawn, but not so tight that it hurt. Just a firm hug that offered strength, which I gladly accepted.

The service was slow, and drug on. By the time we got to the cemetery, I was tired and couldn’t wait to get home, which is where Jeff took me right after everything was over and done with. I laid down in the bed letting the sleep take me over.

~Present Day~
“Riley, honey are you okay?” Jeff asked, grabbing my arm gently to bring me from my thoughts. I nodded, noticing that Will wasn’t in the room anymore.

“Sorry, just got lost in my thoughts.”

“It’s fine,” he replied, kissing the side of my head.

“I was thinking about the funeral,” I finally admitted to him. “I was supposed to be in that car with him.”

“Honey, it sucks that your dad died in that way. I never thought he would die that way, but it happened. I hate that he died, but I’m glad you wasn’t in that car. If it as you there, I could of lost both you and William, and I wouldn’t of been able to deal with that.”

“I know I can’t get my father back, but I can’t help but wish he was still here with us. He missed the birth of his grandson, missed his grandchildren’s lives and most of his own children’s lives. I would give anything to go back to not knowing him than to be here right now.”

“You do that, you’ll be giving up your own kids, your family.” Jeff pointed out. I just let my head fall backward on the couch, my eyes starting to close.

“I can’t help it Jeff,” I muttered finally. “I want my father back, my daughter hates me, there’s just so much going on.” I took a deep breath, letting it out as more tears flowed from my eyes. “I think we’re losing Marylyn Jeff. She hasn’t been acting like herself and she’s getting up there in years. I think we might be losing her soon.”

“If it happens, it happens. We’ll take it the way we did when my mom died, and when your dad died, we’ll deal with it together.” I sniffled and nodded, letting my head rest against his shoulder again. A knock at the door broke the silence. Jeff stood up to go answer it as Kylie flew down the stairs.

“I’ll get it!” she called, rushing past Jeff. Outside was a teenage boy who looked to be about 19.

“Hey David,” Kylie said sweetly. I looked at Jeff, who looked at me with shock.

“Hey Ky, ready to hit it?” David asked. Kylie nodded and started walking out the door.

“Whoa whoa,” I said, grabbing her hand. “Uh, did you already forget that you’re grounded?”

“No, I was kinda hoping you two forgot,” she muttered.

“Well, we didn’t,” Jeff snapped. “And you’re not going to go hit anything with him, upstairs to your room now young lady.”

“How old are you?” I asked David as Kylie started protesting.

“Nineteen,” he answered. He looked between Jeff and me as if he knew us, which I wouldn’t of been surprised if he had heard of us. “Listen, you can’t do that to her, she’s 18, she’s legally an adult.”

“Oh, really?” I asked, turning to look at my daughter. “Hang on one second,” I rushed into the office and grabbed the frame that had Kylie’s birth certificate in it. It was Jeff’s idea for both kids.

“What does that say?” I asked.

“Kylie Nero Hardy, Mother is Riley Michelle Hardy and Father is Jeffrey Nero Hardy.”

“What about the Date of Birth?” Jeff asked.

“March 28, 2011.” David replied.

“And what year is it now?”

“2026,” he answered slowly. “You’re fifteen?”

“Yes, she’s fifteen. Now unless you want a piece shoved up your ass, you’ll leave here, and never come back.” Jeff said. The guy handed the frame back to us and was out of the driveway in two seconds flat. Jeff and I watched the dust clear before slowly turning around to face our daughter.

“How much longer?” she asked in a bored voice.

“None,” I said with a sigh. “I’m done Kylie, I’m done playing around with you. You want to go out there and get yourself in trouble be my guest.” I turned and went into the kitchen to get dinner started, but my hands was shaking so badly, I couldn’t hold anything right.

“She’s in her room again,” Jeff said as he walked into the kitchen. He saw me trying to dice a tomato with my hands shaking, and he grabbed my hand to take the knife from it. “You don’t need to be doing this with your hands shaking so badly Riley,” he said, setting the knife on the counter.

“Where did we go wrong, honestly Jeff I really want to know.” I said, leaning my arms and head against the counter.

“Riley, I’ll take care of dinner tonight, you go upstairs and rest.” he replied. “We did nothing wrong, it’s the damn girls she hangs out with at school. You know Christian was talking to Shane about her a few nights ago. Shane told me about those girls. They live in town and they do nothing but smoke and drink on the weekends. They get to innocent girls like Kylie and brainwash them into doing whatever the hell they want.”

“Sounds like the type of group she’s into right now,” I muttered, rubbing my hand over my eyes.

“Riley, we just need to get her away from that crowd.”

“How?” I asked, looking up at him. “We can’t go to school with her everyday.”

“No, but her cousin is there, so is her aunt and Christian.”

“Mitch's in the grade below them though.”

“True, but he’s still there, and he’s mature for his age.” Jeff replied. I groaned and covered my eyes again, a small ache forming in the back of my head.

“What do they need to do?” I asked.

“Just hang out with her at school, be relentless about having her in their group. We have to get her away from them, she’s fifteen, so she’s at the age where she’ll believe anything anyone tells her. We need to get her away from the bad and into the good.” Jeff answered. I nodded, my temper going back down to normal.

A knock at the door had me and Jeff looking around. Jeff crossed to the door and opened it to reveal his older brother Matt. Amanda, Matt’s wife and their two kids Savanna and Mitchell was with them. Mitch was a year younger than Kylie and Savanna was three years older than Will.

“Hey uncle Jeff,” Mitch said as he walked in.

“Aunt Riley!” Savanna exclaimed, running into the house and hugging me.

“Hey you two,” Matt said, following his kids into the house. Amanda walked in last and shut the door.

“You look pissed Ri, you okay?” Matt asked.

“No, your niece upstairs is driving us crazy,” I replied, walking into the kitchen to work on dinner. “Kylie, William!” I called out. Will ran down the stairs right away, and when he saw his cousin Mitch, they went straight into the living room to play video games. Kylie, however, didn’t come down at all. I grabbed out a tomato to chop as Amanda grabbed drinks for people.

“What’s she doing now?” Matt asked.

“Well, ignoring her parents for one. Sneaking out, lying, stealing, just a lot of things.” Jeff answered him, rubbing his hands over his face. He sighed as he stood up. “I’m going to go see if she’s still up there.” He left the room, Matt following behind him.

“Hey Anna, will you grab me the pepper from the table?” I asked my niece. She nodded and rushed from the room.

“So, is that all that’s going on with her?” Amanda asked as she grabbed a knife and started chopping an onion.

“As far as we know of, but I have a bad feeling it’s a lot more than what’s being let on,” I admitted to her.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Amanda admitted. “I’m not saying anything about yours or Jeff’s parenting skills, but I’ve watched that girl the past year, there’s a lot more going on than she’s letting on.”

“I know, but I have no idea how to find out.”

“I do,” Amanda said. “Mitchell, come here for a second.” When the teenager walked in, he looked at his mother. “Tell your aunt what you saw a few days ago.” Mitch looked at me with solemn eyes, not wanting to tell on his cousin, but wanting to help her.

“Go ahead and tell me Mitch,” I said to him gently. I put the knife down and dried my hands with a towel. “What happened that you want to tell me?”

“I-I saw Kylie and her friends skipping class and smoking behind the bleachers.” he said in a rush.

“She’s being herself,” Jeff said when he walked back into the room.

“Get her ass down here now,” I told Jeff. “Thank you Mitch, I needed to know about that.” Jeff looked confused, so I walked to the bottom of the stairs.

“Kylie Nero Hardy get down here right now!” I heard her growl and slam things around. My temper started flaring again, but hands on my shoulders brought it back down. Kylie came down the stairs, but stopped halfway.

“What?” she asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

“First off, drop the attitude, we have guests over,” I said. “Second of all, get down here right now.”

“Uh, don’t think so,” she replied, turning to walk back up the stairs. Jeff climbed the stairs before she got to the top and grabbed her arm, half dragging her down the stairs.

“Listen to your mother,” he snapped at her.

“What the hell is this I hear about you skipping class?” I asked, waiting to save the second part for later. I looked at Amanda, who nodded and went up the stairs.

“I didn’t skip class,” she said, looking alarmed.

“Stop lying!” Mitch shouted suddenly.

“You told, you little ass…”

“Kylie!” I exclaimed. “He told me because he wants to help you.”

“No, he just likes seeing me in trouble.” She snapped, her eyes rolling. Amanda came back down at that instant, a grim look on her face. I knew she found something, but it wasn’t what we thought it would be. She held up a bag of something green. Kylie looked toward her aunt, and her face paled.

“Marijuana?” I asked, taking the bag. “You’re smoking pot?”

“Fuck,” she muttered, staring at the ground.

“Watch your language and start explaining missy,” Jeff snapped. “Why do you have drugs in your room?”

“Why is she going through my stuff?” Kylie asked me back.

“She cares about you, she doesn’t want anything to happen to you.” Jeff answered her.

“N-no, we do not have to answer you,” I said. “Answer your father right now.”

“I don’t have too, I’m fifteen I can do whatever the hell I want.” For the first time in my daughter’s fifteen years, I wanted to backhand her smart mouth, but I resisted the urge by taking in a deep breath.

“You know what, that’s it,” Jeff exclaimed. “You’re failing out of school, you’re in the fast lane to going to jail. I’m sorry, but there’s only one thing I can think of to do to you. Military School.”

“Militar…” Kylie’s voice trailed off. “You’re kidding me right?”

“Why would we joke about something like that?” I asked her in reply. “There’s nothing else we can do besides lock your room down, but that won’t help with school, so this is the next best thing we have.”

“I’m not going to a Military School.” she snapped. “You can’t make me go.”

“We’re your parents, and your fifteen, we can send you wherever we want,” Jeff replied.

“I’m not going. I don’t care, I’m not going.” She was screaming by that point, and also by this point, I started to feel dizzy. I stumbled slightly and Jeff caught me.

“Riley, go lay down, you’re over stressed enough and this isn’t helping,” he said, rubbing my back. When I refused to move, Matt walked forward and picked me up.

“Riley, I know you like to play supermom, but even she has her limits.” he said, taking me into mine and Jeff’s bedroom.

“Damn, I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m really tired all of a sudden.” I muttered to my brother.

“It’s stress sis, the situation with Kylie isn’t helping out at all.” Matt replied. “Get some rest okay, we’ll take care of her.” I nodded and watched him leave. The argument downstairs had escalated, and Matt must of realized it as well because no sooner than he left the room did he come back. He blared classical music through the stereo, drowning out the shouts from downstairs. He left again, and with the help of the music, I fell into a deep sleep.