Starlight - Chapter 1 Kari let out a big sigh as she looked around her empty house.  She took a seat on the couch and stared out the window.  She watched as the Hardy boys and their father, Gilbert, worked hard in the field.  They were racing against daylight to bring in the harvest.  She had grown very close to them over the last 6 years.  Her mind filled with the memories of those years. Kari and her father never had a close relationship.  Her mother died when Kari was only twelve years old.  Her father was a truck driver so he was gone on the road a lot.  He tried to be at home as much as he could, but he couldn’t always make it home.  So, Kari was left at home alone a lot of the time.  Twelve years old is a little young to be at home alone for so long, but things were a lot different in their little town of Cameron, North Carolina.  The town was so small that everyone knew each other.  Everyone looked out for each other.  This way of life is how Kari had become so close to the Hardy family.  Mrs. Hardy couldn’t stand for Kari to be alone, so she took it upon herself to take care of her.  Although, Kari stayed at her own house, Mrs. Hardy always made sure that she had everything that she needed.  She would always take her to town if she went.  Eating dinner at the Hardy’s had become a nightly ritual, unless Kari’s father was home.  When he did come home, Kari had to cook dinner and do all of his laundry.  Kari grew to hate the days when he was home.  She would have much rather had been down the way, helping Mrs. Hardy with her daily chores or doing her homework at the kitchen table with the Hardy’s sons, Matt and Jeff.  Over the next few years, Mrs. Hardy grew sick.  She was stricken with cancer.  Kari took it upon herself to take over Mrs. Hardy’s household duties when she became too sick to do them herself.  Kari would never forget the day that she came home from school to find that Mrs. Hardy had passed away.  Kari was devastated to say the least.  Just three years after she had lost her own mother, she lost the woman whom she had grown to love as a mother.  The Hardy family was also devastated.  Gilbert was left alone to raise two sons - Jeff was 9 and Matt was 12.  Being the strong man that he was, Gilbert was determined that he could do it.  Kari continued to help by doing as much around their house as possible.  She would come home from school and help with their laundry and whatever else needed to be done.  Gilbert wanted the boys to be able to take care of themselves, so he insisted that they help.  By this time, Kari never saw her father anymore.  He never came home and hardly ever called.  He would send home half of his paycheck every week, but that was the most she heard from him.  By the time Kari was seventeen, her father was hardly sending any money home at all.  She took a job at a local gas station.  Her daily ritual was almost that of a grown woman.  She would get up every morning and go to school - stopping at the Hardy house to pick up the boys.  She would take them home in the afternoon.  They would all sit around their kitchen table and do their homework.  Kari wouldn’t let the boys up until they were finished.  When they were finished, they would head out to their backyard where their trampoline was situated and practice their wrestling moves.  Matt and Jeff were determined to be professional wrestlers one day.  Kari would laugh at their antics and head out to her job at the gas station.  She would work a few  hours and then head back home.  Gilbert would come home from his job at the postal service and spend a couple of hours working in his tobacco fields.  Kari and the boys would take turns cooking supper and doing dishes.  Twice a week, Kari would bring her laundry over so that she could do all of theirs together.  The boys would help her with the laundry if they weren’t out back.  They had become one big family. The timer dinged and snapped Kari out of her thoughts.  She grabbed the food from the oven and loaded it into her truck.  As she headed down the road, she wondered how she would break her news to the boys.  Just before she had graduated, she was accepted to UCLA with a full scholarship.  She had already informed Gil of her plans, but wanted to wait until the right moment to tell Matt and Jeff.  She just hadn’t found that moment yet.  She was to leave in a week.  She hated to leave her "family", but ever since she was little, she had dreamed of being an actress.  The move to Los Angeles would put her a little closer to that dream.  She just didn’t know how to tell the boys.  She took the food inside and set the table.  Gilbert and the boys came in the back door.  "Something smells good.", Jeff said lifting the lid on one of the dishes.  "Go wash up, squirt!", Kari said swatting at his hand.  "Yeah, squirt!", Matt said smiling as he hit Jeff in the back of the head.  "You two cut it out and do as your told.", Gilbert said firmly.  "Yes sir.", they answered in unison.  Everyone washed up and took their places at the table.  They said a little prayer and then dove into the food.  As they were eating, Kari decided that there was no time better to fill them in on her plans.  "So, guys……are you gonna come visit me in California?", Kari asked looking up from her meal.  They both looked puzzled as Matt spoke up, "California?  Who you going to visit there?"  "No one.  I’m moving there.", she answered slowly.  Jeff finally took his attention away from his food and looked at Kari, his eyes filled with sorrow and confusion.  "What?  You’re leaving us?  Why would you do that?", he asked.  Kari explained everything to them.  Gilbert sat silent.  "Well, if that’s what you want to do, then I’m behind you.", Matt told her.  Jeff stared at his plate, picking at his food.  He had lost his appetite, "Well, I’m not." And with that he jumped up from the table and went to his room.  Kari started to get up and go after him, but Matt stopped her, "Let me go.  I don’t think he wants to talk to you right now."  So, Kari sat back down and Matt excused himself to his brother’s room.  She and Gilbert sat there in silence.  "You know, maybe I should just forget it and stay here.", she said as she stood up and began to clear her dishes.  Gilbert grabbed her arm and guided her back into her seat.  "Kari, you’re going.", he insisted, "This is your dream.  It’s  your chance at a good education if  nothing else."  "Yeah, but I don’t know.  You guys need me here.", she said as she turned her head to look towards Jeff’s room.  "Kari, like I said, you’re going.  We’ll be fine.  He’ll be fine.  I’m not going to let you give up an opportunity like this just because we don’t want you to go.  He’ll get over it.  He’s a twelve year old boy, and you know how long their attention spans are.", he said as he began to chuckle, "He’ll be just fine."  "Okay.  I’m going.", she said firmly.  Kari spent the next week packing her belongings.  She spent one last dinner with the family.  No one said much at dinner.  Jeff hadn’t spoken to her since she told him that she was leaving.  He avoided her at all costs.  Moving day had finally arrived.  Matt and Gilbert helped Kari load all of the boxes into her truck.  They both lectured her on the safeties of driving across the country by herself.  It made her feel good that they both cared so much.  "I’ll be fine.", she insisted.  She glanced around occasionally hoping that Jeff would come to see her off.  But, she didn’t see him anywhere.  The last box was loaded and Kari went back in the house to make sure that she had everything.  She decided that she had everything and locked the front door as she walked out for the last time.  She was suprised to see Jeff sitting in the swing on the front porch.  He was staring down at the floor.  She smiled slightly as she sat down next to him.  "You still mad at me, Squirt?", she asked.  "I don’t want you to go.", he said still looking at his feet, "I’m gonna miss you."  "I’m gonna miss you too.  But it’s not like you’ll never see me again.  I’ll come back and visit as much as I can.  And I’ll call and make sure that you’re not giving you’re Dad too much grief.", she said smiling as he looked up at her.  "No you won’t.  You’ll get out there and forget all about us.", he said.  "How could I forget you?", she asked.  He didn’t answer.  She reached under her shirt and pulled out a necklace.  She took it off and placed it in Jeff’s hand.  It was a large silver cross on a silver chain.  "I want you to have this.  It was my mom’s.  I’ve worn it everyday since she died.  I want you to take it.  And when you become a big time famous wrestler, I want you to keep it with you to protect you.  That way, I know you’re safe.  I won’t have to worry.", she said.  Jeff looked at the necklace and then closed his hand around it tightly.  "I’ll keep it with me always.", he said, "And I’ll never forget you."  He hugged her as if it would be the last time that he would ever see her.  They stood up and walked to her truck.  It was time for her to leave.  She was filled with emotion.  She was scared to death to go across the country where she knew no one yet at the same time that was exciting to her.  "Well, I guess this is it.", she said beginning to cry.  Matt walked over and hugged her, "I can’t wait to see you up on the big screen one day."  "And I can’t wait to see you in the big ring.", she said laughing through her tears.  "I’m gonna miss you.  I love ya girl.", he said.  "I love you too.", she said as he released her from their embrace.  Next, she hugged Jeff, "Remember what I said….keep it with you always.  And don’t forget me when you get to be a famous wrestler.", she said as she hugged him.  "I won’t, I promise.", he said trying to fight back his tears.  Then it was time for her to say good bye to Gilbert.  The man who had been more of a father to her than her own father.  "How do I say good-bye to you?", she asked as she hugged him tightly.  "You just get in that truck and go and never look back.  Live your dream and make me proud.", he said his voice cracking.  "Thank you so much - for everything.  I don’t know how I can ever repay you.", she said.  "Just remember me in your ‘thank you’ speech when you when your first Oscar.", he said laughing as he tried to lighten the mood.  "Okay….you have a deal.", she said laughing as she wiped away her tears.  She climbed into the truck and waved at them one last time as she drove away.  She was off to live her dream.                                Next Chapter ..*.. 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