Secrets In The Sunset | KTH 18+ ✔️

Chapter Seventy-Six

With Uncle Kim having to handle things at the company all day and Ethan needing to prepare for another long court session soon, I had the day all to myself.

Kinsley, Megan, and Emma had their appointments for their alterations today and Madison and I won't have ours until next weekend. She took the opportunity to go furniture shopping with Justin and even though I was invited along, that just sounded...blah.

My emotions and thoughts have been getting the best of me since Uncle Kim arrived back in town throwing me into a whirlwind of uncertainty and fervor. With my heart pounding, I do the only thing I know to do when I feel like this again.

I grab my car keys and go.

Windows rolled down and music blaring through my speakers, I begin to drive towards the interstate, needing to feel the wind in my hair. I had sent a text to Ethan to let him know I was going for a drive in case he came looking for me and he informed me that he'd be working late tonight so I was welcome to come by his place later if I should want to, but he wished me well nonetheless.

The cooler breeze of autumn beginning to creep upon us once again felt refreshing against the sun blaring onto my skin as I drive onto the highway going a bit faster than I should. I used to be so worried about getting pulled over by my father that I'd never speed, but back when I heard he was fired from the force for police brutality, I no longer worried about running into him again on these state roads. Now, if I get pulled over, I don't have to worry about being disrespected or worry about what repercussions my mom may had faced for having my back.

And damn it feels good to be free.

The forty minutes it takes to drive to my hometown went by way too fast and I considered turning around and driving it again just because, but instead I decide to take a trip down memory lane. Maybe reliving some fond memories can put some closure that I've avoided having this whole time.

I never once came back to my hometown after my fallout with my mother many, many years ago. The memories of that life needed to die and I wanted the good memories spent with Taehyung there to live on forever, but it's time.

It's time that I end it all where it started and really give myself a shot to move on. Uncle Kim said he's hanging in there so he's obviously moving on himself. I need to quit this nonsense and be strong and not doubt myself like Uncle Kim said.

I drive much more slowly through the sleepy little retirement-esque town and smile at the teenage students still doing the same old stuff the teenagers back when I was in school used to do. Hang out by the local drive thru and sip on their shakes while making fun of one another.

Small towns never really change and I can guarantee you, there's been some house parties happening over this summer.

Turning onto my old street, I ease my way up to the house I grew up in and stop in the middle of the road to take a look at it.

It was now run down and the siding was dirty and rotting. The grass was over grown and the For Sale sign was rusted. The concrete on the driveway was cracked, much like the hearts that once lived here and the irony was almost comical to me.

When my father was fired, news broke out that he beat my mother so bad that time that it put her in the hospital. I went to go see her and bring her flowers, but I was yelled at and told it was my fault that she was in there in the first place so I decided to leave. I couldn't keep trying, no matter how big of a heart I had for her. No matter how much I just wanted to see her well and happy.

Since then, my father went to prison for the multitude of abuse and battery charges against him from witnesses and civilians claiming they, too, were harmed by Officer Young. Due to this, my mother couldn't afford the mortgage on this home anymore and left to go live with one of her friends on the other side of the country according to Madison's father. The home went up for sale at that point, but small town talk spread like wildfire and no one wanted to move in - stating that it was probably filled with bad energy.