into the quiet home

The sun bathes another wooden structure as the trees no longer reach to touch the clouds. Beyond the dense forests that divided the skyscrapers and the suburbs, we reach a small neighborhood that seems far too familiar to Vaelyn as she follows the drifting petal on the light-sparkled sidewalk. She puts her hand over her eyes to shade from the beaming star over her head and squints to keep her eyes on the brightest source of the scenery.

The birds continue to chirp, their calls echoed and vast, but they give the two girls company as they finally reach their destination. As Vaelyn looks past the blonde hair of the child, she finds the stone steps of the little girl's home only a hundred feet away. The entrance is simple and plain. There aren't any plants in pots or welcoming signs to treat guests as they near, but instead only a mat below the door resembles their lack of attention to outsiders.

Vaelyn approaches the driveway of the home and finds no vehicles to take up its space. Kit holds her hand and helps her walk against the concrete that has memorized her steps for as long as she has lived. She never knew if she was ever ready for the little girl to go home. She had found purpose in bringing the child back to where she belonged, but yet, as they traveled, Vaelyn believed she belonged with the child. She never wanted the child to reach the end. As she felt the flower return to the place where she was safest, Vaelyn found her end again in the moment their grip on each other would loosen for the last time. She was holding onto her own life when she held the hand of her purity. Her safety belonged to the child that unknowingly saved her life.

"No one is home," Kit mentions, shoving the key into the silver hole above the door handle. "You can come inside for a little while until they do."

"Who? Your parents?" Vaelyn asks. Kit unlocks the door completely and pushes lightly on the door.

"Yes," Kit answers. The door sways open completely and reveals the living room of the home. Unlit and well-kept, the room is weighed with a few couches and a bookshelf. The black screen of the television acts as a dark mirror, reflecting Vaelyn's reaction while it sits on a short, wide cabinet.

Vaelyn glances over the crosses of religion hanging from the walls of the room and the few books littered in the room. She brushes her hand across the leather of a couch in the center of the room and looks out the bottom half of the window just beside it. She tugs on the strings that drag the blinds of the window upwards and the shine of the sun crawls through.

"Do you know where they ran off to?" Vaelyn asks the little girl. She looks behind her, searching for the child as she scans the living room and the little opening where the kitchen begins, but doesn't find the flower sitting anywhere nearby. Vaelyn releases the string over the window and rubs the top of the couch. She missed the fabrics that made up the definition of home. She knew the comforts of home were too far away from her reach after the conditioned air of every room was blighted with the memories of heavy burdens.

She waits patiently for the child to return. She doesn't hear a single noise from anywhere in the home, but believes the child knows well of her surroundings by now. She continues to stare out the window and watches the birds as they land on the rooftop of the neighbor's house. Her mind starts wandering as she waits alone with her thoughts. She has battled her own shadow for years, the moon defending its light against the ink that surrounds it, but it was only when the sun met its gaze when the moon found its glory. It decided at that moment, when they met in the horizon, that it would follow its opposite for the rest of eternity, unaware that it was keeping existence flowing with its movements.