A Bad Time to Heal

Chapter 1: Ghosts Never Leave

The rain hit Liam's windshield in erratic bursts, the wipers doing little to clear the murky view of the road ahead. He didn't care. He wasn't really looking at the road anyway-his mind was elsewhere, locked in a place he'd promised himself he would never return to.

Yet here he was. Driving straight into the heart of Halewood.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter as the familiar landmarks started to come into view. The old gas station, now boarded up, its rusted sign barely legible. The run-down convenience store where he and his brother used to buy cheap snacks. The empty field where they once played football with friends who, like him, had either left or disappeared.

Halewood hadn't changed much. But Liam had. Or at least, he told himself he had.

His phone buzzed in the passenger seat. He glanced over and saw the name-Nick. His brother. He hadn't spoken to Nick in almost a year. The text was brief.

Are you really coming back?

Liam's chest tightened. He hadn't responded to any of Nick's messages. He wasn't ready for the questions, for the inevitable confrontation. He wasn't ready to face the truth of why he'd left.

He reached for the phone but didn't type anything. What was he supposed to say? Sorry I abandoned you when you needed me the most? Sorry I let everything fall apart?

Instead, he tossed the phone aside and kept driving.

It was late when he finally pulled into the driveway of his childhood home. The house loomed before him, a relic of a past life he no longer recognized. The windows were dark, and the lawn was overgrown, but the structure itself was untouched-just like the memories inside it.

He sat in the car for a few minutes, his heart pounding. He hadn't been back here since... since the accident.

With a deep breath, Liam stepped out of the car. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, the air thick with the smell of wet earth and decay. He fumbled with the keys in his hand, reluctant to unlock the door, but knowing he had no choice. There was nowhere else to go.

As soon as he stepped inside, the musty smell of the house hit him like a punch to the gut. The furniture was covered in dust, and the silence was oppressive. He stood in the foyer, looking around at the ghost of the home he once knew. The memories were everywhere-on the walls, in the cracks in the floorboards, in the silence that screamed louder than any sound.

He took a shaky breath and walked into the living room. The old couch where he and Nick used to sit and play video games was still there, though it looked more worn and sunken. The photo on the mantle caught his eye. It was the three of them-Liam, Nick, and their dad. It had been taken just a few months before everything had gone to hell.

Liam tore his eyes away from the photo, the familiar guilt tightening in his chest. He didn't want to think about his dad, about what had happened. He couldn't afford to drown in those memories now.

But he knew that Halewood had a way of dragging the past back into the present, whether he was ready for it or not.

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