Walking through the dark hallway, I can hear the floor creak with every step I take. The house is silent. So silent, that I can faintly hear my own thoughts bouncing off the walls. I come to the large, heavy door that leads to outside. I open it without a single noise. I come face to face with the very thing that awoke me, a scene not unfamiliar to the people of Edgewood Dr. A group of police cars and an ambulance. I see a crowd of people surrounding the scene with looks of disbelief. I walk into the middle of the street to see what's going on. I maneuver my way through the small crowd of people to be overtaken with a feeeling of dread and numbness.
There, on the cold pavement, lay my parents. They must've just been arriving home from their evening out because they're right in front of the house. I break through the line of policeman surrounding the bodies and fall to my knees over them as if my whole world has ended. The paramedics try to make me leave their sides, but I won't. I hold my mother's cold hands and I cry. I sit there, shaking, as I stare at the lifeless bodies of the two people who are responsible for raising me.
One of the many police officers that were there came up to me as I was kneeled beside my parents and puts his arms around me. I finally get up, and see that the crowd has dispersed. The police officer gets a blanket and wraps it arounds me. He tells me that everything will be alright as my parents' bodies are taken away in an ambulance. I open the large door one last time to get some clothes before I get taken to my grandmother's house.
I walk through the door and am confronted with a feeling of comfort I will never feel again, I take my time, taking in every detail of my home. The carpet, the walls, the placement of lightswitches, everything. I go around the first floor. I walk through the kitchen, where my parents and I once had a food fight while making dinner. The dining room, where we ate everynight and talked about our days, the conversations that I wish I remembered. The living room, where we would watch movies together and on cold nights we would sit by the fire wrapped in blankets and drink hot chocolate.
Upstairs. I go through the first doorway, which leads to our guest room. I never really spent time in this room. It was always kept neat, the green bed spread, the beautiful hardwood dresser. I take it all in. The next doorway leads to my parents' room. I am shaking as I hesitate to enter. I walk in and I instantly feel this sense of relaxation, like they are here with me. I stare at the old, beautifully decorated rocking chair that my mom used to sit in and rock me back and forth when I was a baby. I stare at the bed, where I used to sleep in between them when I had a nightmare. I stare at the closet where I once hid for a game of hide and seek. I go to the bureau, where there is a picture of the the three of us, all smiling. I remember that day, it was the best day of my life. I take the picture and start crying again. I go to my room last. I go to my closet and get the biggest bag I have. I grab all the clothes I can, and don't even look at what I grabbed. I take a deep breath. I cannot believe what has happened to me. I just go through the house one last time before I close the door behind me forever.
