Missing Pieces

Coming Home

She couldn't help but think about how funny it was really, as she sat on the train and stared out of the window. From the age of fifteen she'd been desperate to leave the village she had grown up in. It had consumed her every thought, she'd had a big calendar up on the wall and had been literally counting down the days until she could leave to go to university. The day she'd left for London her Mum had cried all morning, but Maddie had got on the train and never looked back. It had been eight years since she'd been home, if she could even call it home anymore. She'd found an excuse not to come home every Christmas and summer holiday. She'd be lying if she said she didn't regret it now. Well, at least part of her did.

She fiddled with the diamond ring on her left hand nervously as the train slowed and began to pull into the station. Her stomach flipped and she gathered up her bags, walking through the almost empty train towards the exit. She didn't even know why she was nervous. It wasn't like there was anything of her old life left there anymore anyway. Her Mum had been her last tie with the village, and now she was gone too. She'd been putting off going to sort out her Mum's house for weeks. Except now the idea of being as far away from London was very, very appealing. Running away, that was something she was more than familiar with doing.

The station was deserted as she climbed off the train, the cold night air hitting her as she stepped out into the darkness. She stood on the platform for a moment, looking around before she spotted a lone taxi parked up. The driver looked at her in surprise as she tapped on the window and gave him the address. He threw her suitcase into the boot and she climbed in, her head resting wearily against the window. She'd almost forgotten what life was like in the countryside, when you couldn't just hop on the tube to get to wherever you needed to go. As the taxi wound its way down the narrow country lanes she felt a pang of homesickness for the house in London- that was where she'd considered her home for years. Then again, was she ever really going to be able to go back there without thinking of what he'd done?

She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew she was being woken by the sound of the taxi driver clearing his throat. "Sorry." She mumbled, scrambling around to find her purse. "How much do I owe you?"

"Twenty seven pounds." He answered. "You're Marion's daughter, aren't you? I knew you looked familiar."

She handed him the money with a forced smile, mumbling a thank you before climbing out of the taxi as quickly as she could. The last thing she wanted to do was stand and make small talk with someone about her mother. She pulled the keys she'd been given out of her pocket, fumbling to find the right one as the taxi pulled away, the tyres crunching on the gravel driveway. The heavy wooden door unlocked with a click and she stepped inside. As the light in the hallway flickered to life it was as though she'd stepped back in time eight years. It was bizarre, how she felt so different and yet everything there seemed exactly the same as the day she had left.

She pulled the door closed behind her and locked it, the silence of the empty house engulfing her. It was like stepping back in time, that was probably the only way she could describe it. She was half expecting her Mum to start shouting at her from the top of the stairs. Except she wasn't going to, because she was gone and Maddie had missed her chance to say goodbye. She stepped further inside as though she was in some kind of trance. Maybe it had been a mistake to go back there after all. She'd been so desperate to escape from London she hadn't given a second thought as to what it might actually feel like to be back in her Mum's house. Being there, without her Mum, just made everything seem so final. The house that had once been filled with memories and laughter was now silent and eerie as she stood there alone.

It took her a little while to get the heating to work, she used the last few logs she'd found out in the shed to light a fire in the hope it would warm the place up enough that she could at least take her coat off. She'd unpacked the few bits of food she'd brought with her and put them in the fridge, although she was definitely going to have to make a trip in to town in the morning if she was going to eat anything halfway decent. For the meantime though she had enough milk to have a cup of tea, and really that was all she wanted. She took herself by surprise, moving around the kitchen on autopilot. In all the years she'd been gone her mum hadn't moved anything, in fact her favourite mug was still in the cupboard. She ran her finger around the rim, tracing the chip just above the handle from where she'd dropped it all those years ago.