Is That Mom

Part 10 of Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

The Road to the City

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Part 10:

The Path Forward

The city skyline shrank in the rearview mirror as Ethan drove down the highway, the hum of the engine the only sound breaking the quiet. His eyes flicked between the road and the small collection of items spread out on the passenger seat—the letters, the photographs, and the key. Each one felt like a small weight pulling him further into the unknown, away from everything familiar.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he made the decision to leave. Hours, maybe. The city had become a blur of noise and people, and now, as he sped down the lonely road toward Red Hill, it felt like another world entirely. The further he got from the city, the more isolated he felt. But that isolation was almost a comfort now. It matched the growing distance he felt from everyone he had known—especially Sarah.

The betrayal still stung, a constant ache in his chest that refused to fade. But Ethan had no room for that pain anymore. His focus had narrowed, the emotional connections that once tethered him to others severed by the weight of the mystery he was unraveling. He had a mission now—one that allowed no distractions, no wavering.

His grip tightened on the wheel as the road stretched endlessly before him, the countryside growing wilder, more desolate with each passing mile. Trees stood like silent sentinels, watching him as he passed, and the occasional small town blurred by, barely registering in his mind. He wasn’t looking for civilization anymore. He was headed to a place where people kept secrets, where his mother had hidden parts of herself that Ethan was only now beginning to discover.

The first mention of Red Hill in the letters had been subtle, almost an afterthought. A place she had visited, or had to visit, as part of whatever dark dealings she had been involved in. But the more he read, the more he realized Red Hill was a turning point—a place tied to something significant in her life, maybe even the moment when she had crossed a line she could never come back from.

Ethan’s thoughts drifted back to the letters. The more he had read, the more cryptic they had become, filled with references to names he didn’t know and events he couldn’t piece together. But there had been one name, one figure, that kept surfacing—a man who seemed to be at the center of it all. He had appeared in the photographs, always near his mother, always watching. Ethan didn’t know who he was, but he knew this man held answers.

Maybe Red Hill would bring him closer to finding out what this man knew—about his mother, about the key, and about the secrets she had kept hidden for so long.

The road twisted, the sky darkening as the sun dipped lower on the horizon. The air felt heavier out here, colder. Ethan pulled his jacket tighter around him, feeling the chill settle in his bones. This place, this journey, wasn’t just about answers anymore. It was about confronting the ghosts of his past, the parts of his mother’s life she had never wanted him to know.

He wondered, not for the first time, if he really wanted to know. If learning the truth would bring any peace or if it would only tear apart what little he had left of the woman who had raised him. The letters had already begun to chip away at his memories of her—each one a revelation that made her more a stranger to him than the loving mother he had once known.

But it didn’t matter. Ethan was past the point of no return. He couldn’t stop now, even if he wanted to. His mother had been involved in something dangerous, something that had reached out from the past to haunt him now. He had to know what it was. He had to understand why she had kept these secrets, even if it meant shattering whatever image he still held of her.

The road signs grew less frequent, the towns even smaller, until there was nothing but the open road and the encroaching wilderness. He was getting close. Red Hill wasn’t far now. The letters had described it as a secluded place, hard to find and even harder to leave, but Ethan had tracked down the general area. The rest, he hoped, would fall into place when he arrived.

As he drove, his thoughts wandered back to Sarah. There had been moments—fleeting, fragile moments—where he had thought about calling her, about sharing this burden with someone. But those moments passed as quickly as they came. Sarah had betrayed him, and Ethan had no room for anyone who couldn’t be trusted. He had been foolish to let her in before, and he wouldn’t make that mistake again.

No, this was something he had to do alone.

His resolve hardened as he spotted the next sign for Red Hill. A faded, rusted metal placard with peeling paint, pointing down a narrow, almost forgotten road. Ethan turned onto it without hesitation, the tires crunching over gravel as the car slowed to navigate the winding path ahead.

The darkness was falling quickly now, the trees thickening on either side, their branches casting long, twisting shadows across the road. Ethan’s heart pounded in his chest, the air in the car suddenly feeling too thin, too close. But he pushed forward, his determination outweighing the creeping fear that had started to settle in the pit of his stomach.

Red Hill was waiting.

Whatever was there—whatever answers or dangers lay ahead—Ethan would face them. Alone, with only the truth as his guide.

And he wouldn’t stop until he uncovered it, no matter what it cost him.