The Heights had never looked so inviting as it did today. As I drove up the familiar, winding path, the weight of the past four years seemed to lift with each turn of the wheel. The oppressive atmosphere of my former life, where every day was a battle and every moment a reminder of my confinement, was finally giving way to something new. Elijah was here. My son, my pride, and my joy. And seeing him, I felt a sense of completeness I hadn’t known I was missing.
Elijah was small but sharp. His words carried a surprising weight, his observations more astute than one might expect from a child his age. He had a way of cutting through the surface and making things real. And then there was Valerie. Her softness was a stark contrast to Elijah’s sharpness, a gentle counterbalance that seemed to sof
