Fragile // 5sos [under MAJOR reconstruction!]

Ten.

Revised.

Dru was finally cleared and discharged from the hospital after a week of meeting her mother, and with one quick trip to the lawyer's office regarding her money won from the case, she was off to her new, temporary home. Her parents' old friends had owned a second home used to rent to others, but having heard their situation, they decided to let the family stay in there for free, at least until they were able to move back to Melbourne. She watched the people on the sidewalk and the numerous amounts of cars driving past, and she couldn't help but feel immensely nervous. She couldn't bring her panic button with her because she was discharged, but she was going back to the hospital the next morning to do a routine check up and to see Melinda. But Dru had to learn to live without Melinda, because visiting her would be slowly fazed out until eventually, Dru would forget about her. At least, that was the plan.

She stood nervously by the car, her foot encased in a large moon-boot that she could hardly hold up by herself, and watched her family hustle around with grocery bags hanging on their forearms as her mum struggled to unlock the front door and tame the little girl, whose name was Sadie, at the same time. Karen, her mother's partner, was busy talking on the phone to someone that Dru did not know.

Dru looked around the neighbourhood; it was quaint, and all the houses looked identical. Some had little personal markers on the porches and scattered on the lawns that excluded them from looking the same as everyone else. She finally unlocked the door and they all went inside. Their house was simple; a grey pathway lead up the middle of the lot to the stairs that ended at the front porch. A small bike with plastic red streams clinging to the handles lay on its side on the left side of the lawn. The porch had a lonely and cold wooden bench sitting by the wall, watching the front lawn. The singular door was painted a grey colour that matched the walls. The roof was made from slates damp from the early rain and there was a soccer ball stuck in the gutter. Dru held onto the railing as she climbed the steps carefully, Karen's eyes trained on her at the ready, in case she fell. She held her hand out in support, but Dru merely looked at it before walking over the threshold. Karen looked down, slightly offended, but she brushed off the feeling and followed her into the house.

The living room was on the left, and the dining room was on the right. The only doors inside belonged to the bedrooms and bathroom. The kitchen was a little ways up the hallway and the bedrooms were around the corner at the end of the hall. This four bedroom house felt daunting to Dru, since she was used to enclosed spaces. Her old room was in the basement, where she had no windows and no doors. The threshold of her room was decorated with falling beads, which was very inviting to the clients she worked on. Her old room was draped with purple fabric and was covered a misty darkness. The only source of light were the candles situated at the doorway and on the bedside tables. Despite the horrors that happened in that room, she liked the compressing feeling that came with it. Some would see it as entrapment, but she felt comfort.

The family reunion occurred in the kitchen, where all the groceries were being put away. Sadie kept taking things from the plastic bags, but her mother would just snatch them out of her hand, despite her cry of protest. Sadie recovered very quickly, taking another item only to have the same outcome happen. Her mother refused to look at Dru because she couldn't believe that her child had returned to her after so many years. 14 years without her baby, her first born; she was heartbroken to this day. It didn't feel real to her, it still felt like a big prank to her. But deep down she knew that it just couldn't be. It couldn't be.

Once everything was settled and put into the correct places, her mother dusted her hand on jeans and sighed contently.

"We've only been in this house a couple times, so we're all still having a bit of trouble navigating." Karen said halfheartedly, but Dru didn't look at her. She wasn't sure if she was talking to her, so she chose not to engage. "We should get to know each other. Let's go into the living room."