The Return

She walked in the house. She hadn’t been there in about ten years. She didn’t feel to visit was a necessity. She thought the occasional thought, maybe even a call, would be fine. People always said it would be like this. But she never thought this could really happen. It had been three years since she’d last called. Two since she’d changed her number. For four months she was overseas enjoying a grand vacation all across Europe.

She stopped to take in the room. The sudden movements unsettled the six month thick dust, making her choke and sneeze. She saw the liquor thick with dust because it still uncapped. The glass sat just as submerged in dust as everything else. She looked closely and saw where they’d dragged her father out. She momentarily wondered why everything else was untouched. That lead her to ponder how her father handed his last two months alone. She continued to look around and she saw on the floor a framed photo. It was her deceased mother. That made her think of her very last day at home. She’d ranted and raged at her father about the death of her mother.

Ten years later and now she was alone in the world. She’d always figured the punishment of being alone was one to be served by her father. She never knew that when she walked out on her father ten years ago after her mother died, she, too, would be alone. Now her father is gone and no longer alone no matter where he may be. Now she is left to fulfill this life long sentence.