Katie sat down on one of the chairs. She looked up at their family portrait hanging above the fireplace. The photo was taken last fall. On their way to the studio that day she remembered the leaves falling from the trees and gathering on the road. The faded browns and oranges of fall decorated the black pavement. She could hear Sean laughing in the back seat from Nelson’s singing, begging for him to stop.
Katie forgot Sam’s presence until he spoke very quietly.
“Mrs. Miller,” Sam said.
Katie continued to look at the family portrait. That day she was thinking of in her mind seemed so far away.
“I’m never going to see them again, Sam,” Katie said.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. Look at the rest of the neighborhood. They either died when everything collapsed on them, or they ran off. Either way, I won’t be able to find them.”
“Maybe they headed back into the city looking for you.”
“I hope not. I hope they got as far away from this place as they could.”
Katie leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. She didn’t cry and she didn’t feel angry, she was just tired. She was foolish to think she could find them, to think that they were still here. Of course they left, just as she should have left the city the first day the blast hit.
“I’m going to look around, make sure the rest of the house is secure,” Sam said.
Katie nodded her head. She leaned back into the chair, sliding down against the burgundy velvet seat. Her eyes focused lazily on the fireplace. She could feel her eyelids drooping down, the exhaustion from the day of traveling hitting her all at once. She tilted her head down, and that’s when she saw the crumpled up ball under the couch.
Her head perked up. She dropped to her hands and knees and reached under the couch, grasping the ball of paper in her hands. She smoothed the crumpled sheet out on the couch. After reading it, a few tears fell and stained the edges.
Sam came back downstairs and stopped when he saw her crying.
“Mrs. Miller?” he asked.
Katie looked up at him. She was laughing through her sobs.
“I know where they are.”
Copyright
Copyright 2014
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