A Thing From the Past

ONE

‘This is stupid.’ Nadine says to herself as she pulls off the driveway of her parent’s house.

She was happy that her older sister was getting married, but maybe it would have been okay for her to be absent.

Selfish but Nadine had the fear of opening Pandora’s box and releasing all the evil in her world. Still, she needed to man up and put on a brave face while she parked in the driveway, stepping out of her rented car.

This will be therapeutic, she said. This will be good for your soul, she said. Rebuilding bridges is necessary for a good life, she said. All the words her aunt Vivian had said. It was easy for her to say when she was on the other side of the world, enjoying her best life with her husband of twenty years while Nadine had to face the pits of hell.

She scans the area first, feeling a tiny bit frazzled as she realized she was home. Funny or not, there was that nostalgic feeling of seeing the old houses of her street for the first time in eight years. This must be how people felt in videos of soldiers coming home she often watched late at night.

A feeling mixed with sweat on her pits, the tingling sensation on her feet, and the weird worm in her stomach. She had the urge to scream and vomit simultaneously, if that actually made sense, Nadine was oblivious.

She reaches for her phone and reread the texts from Kat, her sister.

‘Mom and Dad will be gone until the cookout tonight. Let yourself in and get yourself comfortable and I’ll be home before lunch. xxx’

That just made a lot of things easier for her. After a horrific three-hour plane ride from New York to Texas, seeing her parents was the last thing she wanted to do.

With a step, she ventured to the porch like a caveman, vigilantly scoping the area for a surprise. For a moment, she feared that she had gone mad and started to look like a lady on sugar, so afraid of something even if she didn’t need to be.

She stands on the wooden steps, remembering how many times she had already fallen face-first from it. The tiny scar on her forehead was proof of it. She smiles as she reaches under the doormat in front of the door. There was a hidden compartment beneath it that holds the house’s spare key and to open it required a seven-digit pin code.

“Let’s see,” she scrunches her lips while trying to rack her brain. “One, two, one three, one, nine, nine, five.”

The sound of the compartment’s lock clicking open made her grin and simply retrieved the key, unlocking the door.

“Nadine?” A voice behind her chimed.

She jolts, immediately turning behind her to face the woman that called out her name. Her eyes dawned upon a thin, elderly woman dressed in a neat yellow sundress. The woman’s visible shock was palpable. Nadine grimaced.

“Mrs. Clark, hi.” She feigned a smile, clasping her hands behind her back.

The woman ran towards her, skipping a step on the stairs, and excitedly hugs her like a child seeing a new, expensive toy for the first time.

“Oh my god!” The woman screams in her ears while shaking her. “You’re home, you’re home! We’ve missed you so much, child. My son, Henry will be happy to see you again.”