The words are now memories, and a wobbly smile pulls across my cheeks.
What do I do now?
My phone buzzes against the laminateand I pick it up.
Emma
Mom said you’re back in Dusty Hollow!
I snap a photo of my living room. Clean. Everything in place. Nothing personal. Even the new green paint doesn’t feel like me. Not anymore.
I send it as evidence.
Sophie
Emma
Soph, seriously? All road trips must come to an end.
Sophie
Which is sad.
Sadie
I think I hate this house.
I type the words honestly.
When I moved back to Dusty Hollow to help my family, living under the same roof as my parents and sisters worked . . . for about a year.
Then the tension stretched tighter and tighter—like a rubber band ready to snap.
Buying my own house felt like freedom at the time.
But it’s just another choice I made that kept me rooted in a place I didn’t want to be forever.
Sophie
Then sell it. Get a van. Travel.
Emma
Seriously, Soph? That’s your dream.
Sophie
Exactly. What is yours, Sadie?
I close my eyes, and the memory of books floods my mind—the place Milo took me. I felt like I was holding hands with people I’d never known, feeling their pain and joy—separated by so much but understood in words.
I’ve always seen the world through the eyes of others.
Sadie
Actually, I think I do want to travel.
Sophie
