He gives me a calming smile and gestures for me to lead the way. It’s wild how that one simple sweep of the hand frees to me move again. As if he cast a spell to keep me rooted in place the moment he entered.
I shudder and pick through the house. As I walk through, my eyes dart from side to side, noticing the subtle degradations that have taken hold like rot since I left.
This place is falling apart. Did I do this to my parents? Did my crime stain them like it stained me?
I find the back door, step through, and walk down the porch steps into the big backyard that I used to play in when I was a child. In my memory, it was endless and perfect. Now, I see it for what it is: a barren patch of earth, sunbaked and dying in the middle of nowhere.
“It must be strange for you to be back.”
I tu
