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This was the place my mother ran away from at seventeen-years-old, yet it was the place I was now running to at twenty-one Life is ironic that way I would have told her as much, but she wouldn’t have found the humor in it Her dreams for me weren’t here on the coastal shore of southern Alabama As for my dreaed Death has a way of doing that It takes froranted without any remorse

Finding your way after losing soive me some direction My mother had infor toin this town that would ease reed with her because I knew a place itself couldn’t replace a soul that was gone She had never understoodlike my mother Perhaps if I had knownto do with being a father at eighteen-years-old and when he enty he had been killed in a ia My o to stop asking about the man that aided in my creation

I inhaled deeply and enjoyed the srandmother’s front porch had once been a peaceful place or so Gran had said The h The Shores was noisy and packed with people on their summer vacation Her porch faced the road but her house was the first one on Sunset Street and Sunset Street was directly off the rew in popularity, her sued yet she had reht in nineteen-eighty, three years before my mother was born

Larger houses had been built around them as the older homes were torn down and replaced I could see thethe beach Gran had told ht the house they could see the water crashing onto shore froh rise condos and parking decks

My phone lit up beside lanced down to see a text from my mother I would respond tomorrow She knew I’d made it safely and that was all she needed to know The peace of being disconnected froa hy I had come My mother wanted to re worth keeping

Yelling and laughter rang out froest house sat three houses down on the right side of the road My grandlanced over my shoulder toward the three-story elaborate home and saw the activity on the very top of the house It had a flat roof with a railing around it so that their view of the gulf was unobstructed It sat so that it was directly between the two condo complexes that sat across the main strip

If it was a vacation rental, it was for the wealthy I couldn’t iroup of people on the roof appeared younger than expected and although there weren’ttheht be sleeping

Just as I started to turn around, I saw soht illulow froarette in hisjeans and a white tank I thought about going inside but houses this close to the beach were all on stilts and the height gave me a sense of security froer He was probably co from the house party and too drunk to drive Either that or a tourist out for an evening walk

“SAAUULL!” a female voice called out loudly from the darkness behind him and he paused for a moment as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to turn around When he did, he turned slowly then took a long pull from the bottle

The sounds of su else that was said between the two of theainst him and they walked on toward the main street up ahead