Kat stood in the corner where she had been told to wait. She had been sent here to prepare for her punishment. To think over what she had done. She had done that. There is only so much thinking about one topic one can do before the boredom sets in and your mind starts to wander.

It had been a long time since she had been punished by Uncle Mike. In fact it had been years. She was too old to be treated this way and she would tell him so. As the time stretched into what felt like eternity her mind drifted back into the past and she remembered...

She was only ten when she first came to stay with Uncle Mike. She'd had a life full of pastries, ponies, smiles, and happiness. Then came the news that her parents had been killed in a shipwreck. She waited for them to come home and they didnt. She went through the funeral as if asleep, none of it was real and her parents would be home soon. Then the man in the suit came and told her she was to live with her Aunt Josephine. Thats when she realized nothing would ever be the same again.

Aunt Josephine was her mothers older sister, a widower that had always yearned for children. After a few weeks with Kat, several of her long term staff quit, or were offered better positions and had to start right away and after the incident with the book club and the laced tea Aunt Josephine decided motherhood wasn't for her.

After several incidents and confrontations with herself and with the remaining staff, Aunt Josephine had decided to allow Kat to sit with her and her book club for tea, she had a long talk about how Kat would behave and how there were to be no pranks, loud chatter, or further incidents. If this were done Kat would be allowed more adult activities.

Throughout the morning Kat behaved wonderfully, sitting on the sofa nibbling pastries, and listening quietly to the women give their reports on the latest book they had read. Aunt Josephine was quite proud of both Kat and her brilliant idea and was quietly congratulating herself while pouring the tea. She took a sip of tea and started to look up and tell her lifelong friend Beatrice Wittingham what a beautiful job she had done on her report when she noticed a blackish blue stain upon the womans lips, about the same time she heard several gasps and a wicked giggle beside her. Soon the giggle turned to squeels of laughter as several women shrieked and wailed as they realized the stains from the ink laced tea could not be removed.

Aunt Agatha and Uncle Charles had two sons. William was twelve and Thomas was eight. Uncle Charles was owner of a shipyard. What freetime Uncle Charles had away from the shipyard was spent tucked away in his vast library, working on a book about a bunch of stuffy old generals according to Kat. The first few weeks went smoothly enough, a few minor skirmishes between the children, a few pranks, but nothing too unbareable. The entire family and staff had been warned about Kats outlandish behavior. Uncle Charles and Aunt Agathas way of handling misbehavior was to completely ignore it. The staff and children were instructed to ignore it also. Until in the still of the night, after a very trying day, there was a blood curdling scream from the bedroom of Thomas followed by another from Williams room. The screams continued and as the household entered the rooms found both boys beds covered in spiders and small snakes. After rescuing the boys from the nightmare, the family heard an awful laugh from the hallway. Kat stood with several empty jars laughing hysterically.

She was confined to her room for several days, but she could still hear the staff speaking as they walked past her room, some words they used were insanity, possessed, evil, none of which meant anything to Kat as she sat playing with her doll apon her bed. At night she could hear her cousins wake from screaming or crying from nightmares, and felt nothing. When she was allowed to leave it was told to her she would no longer be staying there. Aunt Agatha tried to hug the child that meant so much to her, and explain. But Kat pulled away and stood unemotionally listening to her aunt. When her aunt finished Kat just nodded and went back to her room.

Aunt Agatha tried once more to get through to the child as she was helping pack her things. "You know how much we love you, sweetheart, you are like a daughter to me and so much like my sister... except... well, nevermind. You are going to stay with my step brother, Mike, he's a bit younger than me or your dear mother. Just know that if you ever need me... "her voice trailed off as she walked away, wiping her eyes on a lace kerchief."