blessing in disguise - rafe cameron

01

The closer we got to Figure 8 and the closer I got to saying goodbye to my previous life in the rare view mirror, I wasn't entirely sure anymore if I should be happy or terrified of what was to come. After all, I left everything behind not just to come back to all the broken pieces one year later, but here I was.

Despite the fact that there were countless reasons why I left this hellhole of an island, it was still my home.
This is where I belonged.

I was a kook after all.

I was too caught up in my own thoughts to notice that my parents' car had already stopped in our driveway. It was only when my mother nudged my knee that I snapped back into reality, removing strands of my ash blonde hair out of my face.

"Welcome home, Jenara," she smiled at me, her bleached teeth were way too white for my liking.

Yeah.

Welcome home, Jenara...

It was strange to be standing exactly where I had previously entered the house before everything went downhill. But apart from the hedge, which was always freshly trimmed during June, hardly anything had changed. The "Welcome" sign on the front door and the light blue exterior of our mansion still welcomed me like they used to do.

"We didn't touch your room so don't worry, darling." my father said as he ran his hand over my head just seconds after carrying my luggage up to my room.

"Thank you, Dad." I smiled briefly before he trudged down the stairs to join my mother in the kitchen, already preparing our daily family dinner.

I knew that they tried their best of wanting me to feel like nothing had changed, but it did.

I changed.

Opening the door to my room, I stood at the threshold for a few seconds, eyeing everything from a safe distance. When I abruptly had to leave a year ago, my mom only packed important essentials, so most of my belongings were welcoming me back from where I had left them behind.

Some of them I had already banished to the deepest corners of my mind. So if I were to step through this door now, would the memories catch up to me?

With a sigh, I grabbed my luggage and stepped inside, simply falling backwards onto my soft bed with lavender colored sheets, mindlessly staring at the ceiling for a few minutes and not thinking about anything.

Once again, it was my mother who snapped me out of whatever kind of trance I was in, propping myself up on my elbows as she opened the door.

"Why don't you give Sarah a call? I think it would be good for you two to catch up." she suggested, leaning against the door frame, still acting like I was the same fragile girl I used to be that couldn't make her own decisions.

Immediately, my head turned to my nightstand where I kept the framed photo of me and my best friend Sarah. We looked so happy back then, tightly intertwined with eachother as though the world just revolved around us.

Shortly after, my gaze fell upon another picture hidden behind the one of Sarah and I. But unlike the one with her, I banished anything but happiness with this particular one. When I looked at it, all I felt was disgust, and it reminded me of a time that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I couldn't bare looking at his ocean blue eyes that I once adored so much.

He destroyed me.

My love for him made me sick, and I never wanted to become that person again...