Book 15: I'm Leaving

Marianna

The townhouse in Wisteria Way is cloaked in shadows I don’t remember being there as I follow my mom into the living room. Dust shimmers in the sunlight, highlighting just how long it’s been since anyone has been here.

I stare at the foot of the stairs for several seconds, locked in my head as the memory of Dean screaming in my face and punching me hurtles back into clear, unfiltered focus, but then Mom steps into my line of vision, and the present pierces the memory, fading it into obscurity.

“You know,” she says, sliding her finger over the dusty mantle, “I think I’m going to stay here.”

“What?”

I follow her progress across the room while she inspects the freshly framed pictures now resting on the mantle. New frames, since Dean smashed everything that was once there. Someone came here a few weeks ago and cleaned from top to bottom, scrubbing any hint of what happened here from existence, but the smell of bleach still hangs in