It took me another six weeks to reach Blackshore.
I stopped at other towns, of course. Whitewater, Grovewood, Red Hollow, Oak Forest, but none of them felt the same as Maple Beach. So, when I finally reached the city, knowing I would meet my relatives almost made me forget about leaving Helen and Jack and the others back home.
I ride straight through the main street, still having some power left in the bike. I pull to a stop in front of the building with 'Family Archives' scrawled on the wall. If it's anything like the one in Icewood, records of every family that has ever lived here is inside.
Pushing open the door, I quickly double-check the name on the back of the picture, and head to the 'Current Residents' section. "Fowel." I mutter. "Fowel, Fowel, Fow- found it!" I exclaim to myself quietly. I pull the paper and check the address. "437 South Beech Avenue." I mumble to myself.
I leave quickly, repeating the address to myself over and over, and hop on my bike, running it until I find Beech Avenue. When I do, I drive down it, counting off the numbers. At the end, surrounded by a small crop of trees, is 437. I swing a leg over the bike and step onto the sidewalk that twists in front of the house.
Shakily, I walk to the front door. I raise a fist to the wooden door, and notice it's shaking. My nerves are a big ball in my stomach and my legs feel like rubber, and my head is really light, and before I realized it, I had been standing in front of the house for five minutes, running every bad possibility of anything happening in my head. I take a deep breath, force down my internal panic, and knock.
The hollow sound sounded so simple, considering all of the nerves I had to get under control to get there. I heard a muffled shout of a boy, and the door opens. A teenage boy, maybe fourteen or fifteen stands at the doorway with light brown hair and a mix of dark blue and green eyes. "Can I help you?" he wonders.
"Hi, uh, is y- Avia home?" I ask, my voice surprisingly even.
"That depends." he answers warily, leaning against the door frame and folding his arms. "Who's asking?"
"An old friend." I say quietly. "Please, I just need to talk to her for a few minutes."
He narrows his eyes, sizing me up. "Fine. But I get to watch. Avia!" he shouts before I could argue with him. "Someone's here to see you!"
A woman comes down at the door, a towel in her hand. "What is it now Colin?" She asks. She sees me out of the corner of her eye. "Oh, sorry. My little brother can be a pest." Avia studies me, her eyes curious. "Do I know you? You seem...familiar."
"Well," I start, not really sure how I was going to break the news to them. "That depends on your definition of 'know.'" I say. she looks at me, even more curious. "Does this look familiar?" I pull the picture out of my pocket, still folded. She opens it and gasps.
"N-no. Not possible. M-my parents burned every picture of her in it. There are no pictures of her anywhere...except for the- for the one..."
"Except for the one you left with your little sister, Arika." I say, putting my hands in my jacket pockets. "Except for the one you left with me."
Both Colin and Avia are standing there, eyes wide and glued to me. I rub the back of my neck nervously.
"So, uh, can I come in now?"
YOU ARE READING
Coming Home
FantasyThey had won the war, and all was well. For the first few months. History, apparently, was destined to repeat itself. The Guild accepted her at the beginning, but now? They even managed to get Lynn on their side. Now, Arika has been trying to get t...
