"No, that one," she points to more open space. She places her boots down into the grass and reaches inside; retrieving the key I gave her while she was in the shed. She kneels down and extends her neck, squinting her eyes at something as if it were right in front of her nose. She places the key carefully into what I only see as air, and twists it. Her other hand mimics the action of opening another door and her head jerks backward. "Oh my God. We're saved," she cries. "Sin, it's the way out. We're saved. We're saved." She falls onto her hands and pulls herself forward. "I see my house. My mom must be inside. I'm going to see my mom. I'm going to show her I'm still alive. She's going to be so happy, Sin. Do you have any idea?" My heart crumbles into a million pieces at the hope she's going to lose. I don't know whether to stop her or let her figure it out. Regardless, she stands back up and continues forward, the smile on her face only growing larger. I can't break this to her.
"Reese," I call over. "Can you wait?" I feel so damn dizzy and weak. I need to close my eyes just to settle myself down.
"I know it isn't much, just a little farmhouse for the two of us. But we painted it blue and added the white shutters ourselves. I helped mom plant those rose bushes in front and we lined the little dirt path with plants just so it would feel more like home. It still looks exactly the same. She didn't leave and she didn't give up hope. I have to believe that." Her words stir in my head as I do my best to refocus my attention on where she's going. I can't lose her again, and with her lucid visions right now, it would only take a few minutes to get lost. Lost. We are lost in the middle of fucking nowhere. We've been walking in so many different directions that I don't know which way we came from. Not to mention, the horizon only reveals more grass on every side.
Where did she go? I turn around, finding her—finding her...walking toward a blue house with white shutters. "What the hell is going on?"
"Come on," she says, smiling, waving me forward.
Every step I take is hesitant. A house like this would not be in Chipley. A house like this isn't in Chipley. She opens the front door and continues waving me toward her. This is insane. I'm most likely insane. I am.
I enter into the small house that smells of flowers and…just…clean air. And something is cooking, something that's making my taste buds burn and my cheeks clench. "Mom?" Reese calls out, turning a corner. "Mom!" Before I follow her into the next room, I hear cries—loud, cheerful cries filled with elation. I turn the corner into a small kitchen, seeing Reese squeeze her arms around her mother. Her mother's face is red, with tears barreling over her cheeks and her hands are wrapped so tightly around Reese that her skin is white. They both fall to the ground, locked within each other's embrace, crying harder and louder as the seconds pass. "Mom, I missed you so much." Her mother—the nurse I remember—doesn't respond. However, as her eyes open and she finds me, fear illuminates her face and she pulls Reese with her as she backs away across the floor, as if I were standing here with a gun pointed at both of them.
"I won't hurt you," I say softly.
"You already have," her mother responds.
