Chapter 16 - Maplewood Drive Again
At twenty-three, Emily returned to Maplewood Drive.
Sarah came with her.
The Miller house had been sold years earlier.
New owners had painted it pale gray.
A bicycle lay on the lawn.
Children's chalk drawings covered the driveway.
Emily stood across the street.
“You okay?” Sarah asked.
“Yes.”
They waited.
Emily expected something dramatic.
Fear.
Anger.
Flashbacks.
Instead she mostly felt strange.
The house looked smaller than she remembered.
“That's it?” she said.
Sarah nodded.
Emily laughed softly.
“In my head it was enormous.”
“You were eight.”
A child burst through the front door chasing a dog.
The mother followed, laughing.
Emily watched.
The building wasn't evil.
Walls didn't own memories.
People made places frightening.
People could make them safe again.
Emily turned away.
“Ready?”
Sarah asked.
Emily nodded.
May you like
“Yeah.”
They left Maplewood Drive behind.
