Chapter 93: Miranda

It didn't take long to pack my bag. I'd bought more at Walmart than I'd actually brought, and none of that needed to go back to New York. I folded it all and neatly put it into the drawers in my old dresser. It seemed silly since I doubted I'd ever be back to claim any of it, but it belonged here; I didn't.

With my suitcase in tow, I glanced back one final time at the bedroom I'd grown up in. It was bittersweet, but at least now I wouldn't have regrets. I had come back. I'd tried to face the demons, even if I hadn't righted any of the wrongs. There was no sense in lingering. Nothing would change, regardless of how long I stood there.

And for the second time in my life, I walked away. There were some decisions in life that couldn't be undone. I couldn't make reparations in this town for a choice I'd made years earlier. Teens everywhere disobeyed without the consequences my actions had brought. That wasn't my fate; this was.