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Seattle, Washington

Vin pulled the car to a stop in front of the address I’d given him The address I’d clutched onto the entire plane ride here, the ink of that address now s scrap paper in ht ahead, too afraid to look towas silent as I tried to breathe throughthe quiet

I openedhand to the door handle As the door popped open, and withoutme up"

"Not a problem, Elpi," he replied "I’ll ot for you to continue your work"

"Fine," I said in a clipped tone and ju over e brick mansion in front oflike a da harder as I thought about aited forravel crunched beneath my boots My sto hair

Everything I had left in the world was on the other side of that door Everything I had left, but nothing I deserved Questions bombarded my mind: what if they rejected er loved me back? I hadn’t seen them in three years, cut theive me for that? What if I was truly onto push the fear fro increasing the closer I got to the house Everywhere was quiet, only a few birds singing in the high trees surrounding the property I hated quiet, it hts constantly inthe front door, I tried to listen for any signs of life inside, but I couldn’t hear shit Inside was as silent as it was out here I wasn’t used to it I was used to shouting, ness Not this unsettling peace

The sound ofblood thundered in my ears and I liftedI couldn’t fucking stop it shaking I immediately lowered my head

I didn’t think I could do it After all this time… what if they didn’t wantpussy!

Clenching my hand into a fist, I took a deep breath, opened my eyes and before I could talkhts were running throughlike a little fucking girl Then footsteps sounded on the other side

Holdingunlatched and, like tiin’ slow motion, saw the doorknob turn My hair covered my face as I tried to calm my nerves, but when a pair of feet caht in front of me… finally, after all these years

"Can I help you?"