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“I still want to see it.” I head down the crumbling sidewalk with Leo following behind. I push on the front door but it’s stuck.
“Just kick it in,” Leo says. “You want me to do it?”
“No, I got it.” I step back, then kick hard against the door. It breaks free from the hinges and falls into the house. “Shit, I didn’t mean to do that.”
“We’ll just put it back when we leave,” Leo says, going past me.
I slowly walk into the house. The place is destroyed. There’s cracks in the walls. The carpet is stained and matted. There’s abig hole in the ceiling with remnants of it scattered on the floor. It reminds me of how the house looked when I was growing up, but even that wasn’t as bad as it is now.
My heart breaks seeing it this way. I was hoping coming back here would make me feel better about losing Haley, but it just feels like another loss.
4
JAKE
“Looks even worsethan last time I saw it,” Leo says.
“When was that?”
“Last year. I think it was March. A girl invited me to a party here.”
“And how’d it look?”
He points to the ceiling. “That hole wasn’t there.” He glances around the room. “And the walls weren’t this bad. I heard the guy who owned the place was renting it out to some of his friends. I think they’re the ones who destroyed it. They were always having parties.”
“How long’s it been abandoned?”
“Like a month or two.”
I gaze at one of the walls, remembering the hole that used to be there, but it wasn’t because of a party. It was because my dad threw my mom against the wall and almost killed her. Dean tried to protect her, but couldn’t. The damaged wall was a constant reminder of that until his friends came in and fixed it so he’d never have to see it again.
“You okay?” Leo asks, coming up to me.
I shake my head. “I can’t believe it looks like this. After all that work Dean’s friends did to fix this place up.”
“You gonna tell him?”
“No. I don’t want him knowing about this. I don’t even want him knowing I was here.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t want me coming back to the neighborhood. He says it’s too dangerous.”
“You used to live here,” Leo huffs. “Now you’re too good for us?”
“It’s not that. He just knows what it’s like around here and doesn’t want me getting shot.”
“I’ve been here my whole life and never been shot.”
“Yeah, well, you’re lucky.”
“Don’t let Troy hear you talking that way.”
“Troy’s here? I thought he moved to Detroit.”
“He never did. You know him. He says all that shit and it never happens.”
“So what’s he been doing?”
