The smell of roses filled his nostrils, just like they did many decades ago, the aura these lonely streets of Statesville brought would never change.
The houses, however, looked strange to Lee as he walked down the 5th road, heading to the 6th block. ROAD 5 BLOCK 6, he would never forget that, no matter what life had dealt him these past 30 years, Lee would always remember.
Maybe he should have felt a bit of remorse for his strange disappearance so many years ago, but he didn't, he couldn't. He saw the posters, saw his mother crying on television while his father gently rubbed her shoulder compassionately, urgh, the thought of their presence infuriated him still. They put up a good show, he had to admit, anyone would have thought that they actually gave a damn. But not him, he knew their tactics. He knew why they searched for him so bitterly, love was definitely not the reason. They didn't know the meaning of such an emotion.
As he strode down the driveway and walked u to the door, the memories came with a rush, and he almost felt like he had made a grave mistake by coming back. But it was too late to turn back, as he raised a fist and gave the customary 3 times knock.
It took barely a minute before a man opened the door with as much grace as you would expect from a retired social worker of 70. This was a man he once knew, he looked at him strangely, recognition had not dawned on him yet, so he asked in his southern accent 'hello there young man, what can we do you for?'
Lee was silent. His voice was still the same, yet all he could recognize were his eyes. They were so kind, yet they held so much cruelty.
'Hey, dad' was all Lee could offer, in a voice that was too calm to be his own.
Robert Wright starred deep in his eyes, and Lee saw the exact second recognition came to him. He drew his hands to his lips, turned to the living room, screaming 'Mary! Come here right now'.
Mary Wright, jumpy as always, asked, while she walked over to him, 'what's the...' she paused the moment she saw who stood at her door, 'Lee? Is that you'. Without waiting for a response, she walked over to him, pulled his face closer, as if trying to defy her own self.
'Yes mum, it's me' he said.
Robert and Mary stood there, not knowing whether to let him in or shut the door to his face. They had searched for him for close to 10 years and given up all hope of finding him, they had a funeral for him, mourned him as they had mourned his sister only a week before he disappeared. And here he was, standing right in front of them. 30 years older, a man, all grown up. How he survived was a matter they were yet to question but all they could think of asking was 'why?'
The living room felt so small now that he was older. It still had that fains=t scent of cinnamon and ginger. The curtains were different, they were changed to complement the new furniture, he guessed. And well, it had been 30 years, mom always kept to fashion trends so those probably weren't the first changes they had made.
Beside the plasma was his and Sara's photograph from their junior prom. It was taken 6months before she died, and was probably the most recent picture of both of them they had.
Sara, his twin sister who died in the hands of these people he called his parents. He still couldn't forgive them, he probably never would. Every morning he looked in the mirror and all he saw was Sara. Their resemblance had always baffled everyone, including them, and that made them closer than most twin siblings ever were.
Her golden hair and her olive-green eyes were their only distinction. She had been his exact replica, up until that day.
She never should have gotten into that car, or maybe he should have gotten into the car instead of her. But grocery shopping had always been her favourite activity. He never quite understood why.
When he heard that the crash had happened because his parents had both been drinking, he lost it and knew they were both a lost cause. They were both so deep into their alcohol that night that right after they survived running into a trailer coming opposite them and the car had twirled to a stop by the side of the road, they hit the accelerator so fast on the reverse that they ran into a tree with a loose branch, and that was the end of Sara. She was crushed by a tree.
Mary served them tea, in her usual fashion, and sat beside Robert with her hands clasped on top her knee. She couldn't look him in the eyes. Good. She didn't deserve such luxury.
How they had survived with so much drinking was a mystery, but they looked terrible.
At only 65, Mary looked like she could pass off as an ancestor, grey, pale and weak. Robert, however, looked nothing like the 6ft man he once was, now he just looked like a frail old truck driver.
'You look really well', Mary trying to break the ice said, 'you look really well'.
'Thanks'
'Do you have a wife now?'
'Yes, and 3 kids; Sara, Sandra and Luke'
'Oh, that's lovely'
'Why?' Robert asked in his no-nonsense voice which was terrifying 30 years ago, but now only sounded like a joke.
'Why what?' retorted Lee.
'Don't play dumb with me!' Robert responded with a frown and his nostrils set for a fight. 'We messed up, we know. But we are still your parents Lee. We searched for you, went through 5 cities, spent all our money trying to find you -'
'And what makes you think I wanted to be found?'
'Well, obviously you didn't'
mary let out a silent sob, as she said 'we made a mistake Lee, but you should have given us a chance to change. We -'
'Do you remember when Sara and I used to play roles as arents out in the garden when we were 10', Lee said as he cut her off midsentence, 'we would play 'parents' and create the perfect stories of the perfect family and at the end of these role-playing, Sara would always cry. She was so scared of you two and you never had a clue. She told me she feared one day you would hurt her, and I promised her I would hurt you both twice as hard if you ever laid even a finger on either of us.' He paused to catch his breath, and control the tear threatening to spill, 'Now, I knew when she died I didn't have the balls to hurt you physically, so I only hoped my absence would give you as much pain as any punch I could have ever thrown'.
Mary sobbed loudly at this point and held onto Robert...
I hope you enjoyed my first entry for the @inkwell #fastandfurious 20 days writing Day 5.
I'm sadly a very lazy writer, and creating an end to my storied has always been a battle, but I really hope you enjoyed this one and it met up with most of the conditions.
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