53. COMING BACK HOME

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★ Leonard ★


The bus stops in front of the dirt road going up to my house. Bianco jumps off first, and I carry out my black luggage. I look at a white house standing in the green field far away in the distance.

I came back home after two years of my soul searching. It is so good to be back, but I am still not sure if facing Beth's death is something I could handle.

Bianco dashes off to the white mansion, and I walk slowly while dragging the heavy luggage along. Bianco barks loudly at the front door, and my mother opens the door to see what is out there. She sees Bianco and holds him tight, and looks in my direction.

She runs toward me as if nothing else really matters. The thought of being ashamed lights up in my mind because I have been away from my parents for two years without letting them know where I had been.

My mother grabs me so tight, and I almost fall over.

"It's you, really you! I missed you so much, Leo!"

Tears fall on her cheeks, and she stares at me as if there is nothing more important in her life. Now, I know what a child means to a mother. I am also choked with emotion.

"I am so sorry, Mom. I didn't communicate with you for so long. Now, I think I am ready to face reality. So I came back home to move on with my life."

"It's OK, Son—no need to say sorry. I am just so glad that you are home. That's all I care for."

She takes my black bag, and we walk back home together as if everything is back to normal as it always has been.

I walk into the entrance hall and look up the large staircase. Nothing has changed since I left, and I am finally home. A sigh of relief comes upon me, and I feel my soul searching is finally over.

The fatigue wraps all over my body, and I tell my mother I need to take a nap for a while. So I go up to my room and fall onto my bed as if someone stabbed me to death.

A few hours after, I rise from the dead, feel some huger, and walk down the staircase following the nice smell coming from the kitchen. When I walk into the dining room, my mother's smile greets me, and my father lifts his face from the newspaper he is reading. He dashes toward me and hugs me tight.

"My son, welcome back home."

I am embarrassed to say a word, so I stay quiet.

"I've been dying to see you, but you've been sleeping for more than 24 hours."

"I thought I just took a nap."

My mother joins us.

"I know that you finally came home from a long trip. So your body relaxed completely."

"I guess that's what happened. But it is so nice to be back home."

I stretch my arms in the air.

"I prepared your favorite dish, a chicken fried steak and pecan pie!"

"Wow, that sounds great! I haven't had that since I left—Mom's pecan pie is the best!"

This is how I came home, and I am itching to reconstruct my life back together because I want to move on with Anjali.

The first week, I walk around town to feel the place again. Then I see places where all the memories with Beth are scattered.

My start is Fire Oak Grill. Walking into the restaurant,  the owner greets me as always. He tells me he hasn't seen me for a long time. I tell him that I have been out of town and just returned from New York last week.

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