Day 5 — 7:45 AM — Back in Town
I didn't even know where I was driving until I passed the green "Welcome to Spring Hill" sign.
Five days.
I'd been gone five days, sleeping in my car, crashing at a friend's empty guesthouse, dodging calls from Milo.
I told myself I was leaving for good. That it was better for everyone if I disappeared. That love like ours — twisted, wrong, impossibly complicated — wasn't meant to survive the light of day.
But here I was. Turning down Maplewood Lane. Slowing in front of the white two-story house I used to call home.
Except now?
It didn't feel like mine anymore.
8:05 AM — Something's Missing
I parked across the street. Didn't move.
There was a for-sale sign on the neighbor's lawn. Our trash cans were out on the curb. Someone had finally fixed the screen door that had been broken since last spring.
Everything was the same.
But it all looked off.
Like someone tried to recreate our life from memory — and got the details just a little wrong.
