And it was me walking back into that hallway without needing the past to disappear.

I touched my cheek.

No pain.

No bruise.

Only skin.

Mom linked her arm through mine.

“You ready to go inside?”

I looked at our warm living room.

Family photographs covered the wall.

Dad smiled from one of them.

For a moment, I imagined what he would say.

Probably something simple.

Probably something like, Keep going.

So I did.

I turned away from the rain.

I walked inside with my mother.

And for the first time since that morning in the courthouse, I did not look behind me.

I did not need to.

I was safe.

I was loved.

May you like

I was believed.

And finally, completely, I was free.
THE END

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