Chapter 44: The Memory

Rory didn’t think it was possible to recall a memory so clearly, and although it came to her in the midst of sleep, the images were crisp and the emotion as present as the day it happened.

She knew she was sleeping, but unlike a lucid dream, she couldn’t control what was happening. She was back in her body, a teenager on the night her life changed forever.

“Let’s go!” Her mom called. “We’re going to be late for our reservations.”

With their house upstate still under renovations, they’d been living in the townhouse in the city.

Rory ripped up her clothes from the hamper. “Rach – did you steal my flats, the black ones?”

Rachel peeked in the room and grinned. “They’re behind you.”

“Where?” Rory asked, spinning around.

Her brother was crouched, hiding behind her bed, his hands slipped inside her shoes, making them dance like puppets. His mischievous giggle echoed from behind the bed.

“Rachel, do you see this?” Rory joked. “They’re moving on their own.”