You never expected to return to Vanderkill, but you have to, because you failed at everything you tried for.
You flunked out of law school, so you got a job to try and save up for college a second time, only to get fired for reasons you don't care to think about right now. You got back up on the work horse several times, only to wind up as someone's wife in the end, which didn't work out either when you couldn't become a mother, and Richie wanted the perfect family more than he wanted you.
So here you are, homeless, loveless, jobless, luckless, just less in general. All you have left is your parents, your car, and some suitcases of clothes.
But you have to go on, you refuse to give up even when life is at its lowest. You get back in the car, turn up the music to drown out all the thoughts in your head, and you drive on to your parents home.
The car goes by the old sign that says "Welcome to Vanderkill!" which has seen better days, and as you roll into town you turn down the music so you don't wake the slumbering inhabitants in their perfectly old and charming homes lining the streets that you move through.
Everything looks the same, it feels like 9 years ago before you left for New York, left for bigger and better things, and look how that turned out. If only you had been satisfied with the small-town life back then, maybe you'd be happily married to some other guy, working as a kindergarten teacher or something, who knows.
When you reach Broadleaf Lane, you hope and pray that your mother's insomnia hasn't been cured in the last few years since you visited. You park on the side of the street in front of the cute little home where you were raised. For a moment you're tempted to sleep in the car, so that confronting real life could wait a moment longer, but that won't make it any easier in the long run. So you get out, walk up to the red front door, and through a window to the living room you do see your mother watching television. Gently, as to not wake your father or the dog, you knock on the front door, and in response your mother turns in her recliner to look at you through the window.
Her jaw drops, and with urgency she goes to open the front door.
"Samantha! What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night!"
You tell her everything.
You bawl your eyes out.
You say nothing.
You apologize profusely.
Voting ended onDec 4, 2025
