A Way Back Novels & Stories

"We take it back to the packhouse. ---

"I'm sorry." "It's alright." Rosewood replied still looking at the kids' door before turning his attention back to Vontrap. "You have something else on your mind Vontrap. Say it." Vontrap exhaled before asking. "What do you plan on doing?" Vontrap asked after a few seconds of hesitation. Rosewood smiled meeting Vontrap's eyes. "Bringing her back is the best option." "Have you thought of why you want to bring her back?" "What do you mean?" "Is it because of the falling profits and invests or because you really want her back?"

Not the rushed departure, but the inevitable return. He was back. Dread, cold and paralyzing, flooded my veins, turning my limbs to lead. It warred violently with a surge of pure, incandescent fury that burned through the numbness, leaving my skin prickling. The humiliation, the abandonment, the echo of “Get out", they coalesced into a white-hot coal in my chest. He. Was. Back. “Naomi…” The whisper was barely audible, strangled. “He’s here.”

"Ms. Hathaway, I'll be going overseas for further studies next month. Here is my resignation letter." The HR manager, Kelly Hathaway, looked at me in surprise. "What's with the sudden notice?" she asked. I gave her the explanation I'd prepared long ago. "My son's mother is in Austera. I'm planning to take him there so we can be reunited as a family." Kelly nodded. "That's good. It must be hard for you to raise a child alone here. We all thought you were a single father."

Seven years after walking away, I was back in a classroom. …. Time slipped by. Before I knew it, I'd been home for six months. "Ms. Downey! Your test results are out — congratulations, you got into Belcaster University!" … Brian Cartwright, an architect from Belcaster on assignment at Marleton Institute of Architecture, had come to Marleton six months earlier. He was conducting a site survey when he slipped on the hillside. That afternoon, after class, I had been hiking up to pay my respects at Dad's grave, and by sheer luck, I was the one who found him and pulled him back.

The journey back was a nightmare. If the trip to the edge had been like swimming up a tar waterfall, the trip back was like being swept down a raging river towards a waterfall they couldn’t see. The Weave was unstable, sick. The paths they had used before were frayed and broken. The music that usually guided them was distorted, full of static and wrong, jarring notes.

Together. There’s no turning back now.

As soon as I stepped out of the airport, Alfred, my family's butler, was already waiting at the exit. He took my luggage with his usual respect. "Welcome back, Sir. Your father and mother are waiting for you at home." The black Bentley drove into the inner city. Looking at the familiar yet strangely distant streets outside the window, I once again remembered the days when I used to sketch blueprints in our rental apartment. Back then, Ruby was always dreaming about the capital city of Norcrown.

It was the first time I had ever been this angry. Isabel went silent, clearly shocked by my outburst. She looked at me and said, "Fine, I admit I wasn't thinking and messed up this time. Now add Miles back to the group chat and apologize to him. We'll celebrate your parents' 50th anniversary together another day, okay?" I crossed my arms. "Isabel, have you seen anyone who has a redo for a 50th wedding anniversary?"