The Passage

     The house hadn’t changed at all since the last time she saw it, at least not physically. Today, underneath the warmth of the summer sun, it seemed more like a home to her than the last time she saw it. The flowers bloomed healthily in their garden as the cherry tree in the yard began to sprout its familiar pink blossoms. It looked like a picture straight out of a home decoration magazine. She let out a deep sigh, trying to find her courage to approach the door and ring the doorbell. The last time that she saw the house was 5 years ago. It was a rainy day and it was definitely not the welcoming sanctuary that she saw in front of her right now. The last time she saw the house, she was running away from it and she had no intention to come back. But things change in life, and those changes had brought her here in front of her home once again. It was her obligation to do this but she could not neglect it, though, try as she might, to stall it.

     “Are you alright?” a voice replied from behind her.

     She turned around and nodded to the handsome young man who was the source of the voice. The young man smiled a warm smile at her as he put an arm around her and gave her shoulder a light squeeze.

     “You’ll do fine.” He whispered.

     “Are you sure you can’t come with me?” She asked.

     “No,” he answered. “This task belongs to you.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek and they walked hand in hand to the front door.

    She saw the familiar gold mailbox outside of their front door with their family name, Martin, etched on it. For a moment, tears began to form in her eyes but she suppressed them the best that she could. She felt him give her hand a slight squeeze before she pulled her hand away to ring the doorbell.

     Those few moments that she waited for the door to open had probably been the longest she’s ever experienced. Although she had all the time in the world now, there was nothing in this world she wanted more than to get this over with. Finally, an elderly woman answered the door apprehensively. She stared at the young woman in front of her for a long time before she could contain herself no longer and began to weep.

    “Maggie…” she whispered.

    Maggie smiled and enveloped the woman into a big hug. “Mother.”

     “Jimmy! Come, look who’s here!” she yelled into the home.

     Her father approached the door curiously but it wasn’t long before he too was crying and enveloped into a hug amongst the three of them. They stood like that for a moment before finally breaking away from one another. Her mother looked at the man standing to the side behind them, smiling politely at the family.

     “Please, feel free to take off your shoes and come in.” her father said to him.

    He merely shook his head politely. “I think Maggie would like some time with you guys alone. I’ll just wait here.” He said.

     Slipping off her shoes, she entered the house gingerly. Everything had stayed the same, the place of the furniture, the pictures on the walls and the décor had been just as she remembered it. Her parents looked at her expectantly, asking her if she would like something to drink. Maggie merely shook her head.

    “I’d like to see my room, if that’s okay.”

    Her parents smiled and nodded, leading her up the stairs and into her room. Tears began to swell up in her eyes again as she saw that nothing her changed in her room either. The familiar pink and white rose wallpaper still adorned her walls and her collection of stuffed animals sat in their same places on her bed. She walked over to the bookshelf and fingered the spine of all of the books she owned, not a single one out of place. Her collage of pictures over her bed was still there and she looked at each one of them carefully.

    “You kept my room…” she whispered as she hugged one of her teddy bears close to her.

     “Yes, we clean it for you on occasion. We always thought you’d come back.” Her mother replied.

     She stood up and placed the stuffed animal back to where it belonged. “Mommy, daddy, I missed you guys so much.”

     Her parents came over and gave her another hug. “We missed you too honey. Come on, let’s go downstairs and you can tell us all about what you’ve been up to.”

    They made their way downstairs and into the kitchen where her mother gave her a can of her favourite soda while making tea for herself and her husband. Maggie looked around the kitchen and at some of the photographs that sat by the windowsill. She had never seen these photographs before; they were of her parents on vacation in Hawaii and some of her older brother and his family.

     “Peter got married.” She said.

     Her mother nodded. “They have a baby boy who looks a lot like him as well.”

     “It all looks so…beautiful.”

     “That man, who is he? Is he your boyfriend?” Her mother asked.

     Maggie shook her head. “No, mom. He’s not but he is part of the reason of why I’m here.”

     Her father looked at her mother worriedly but encouraged her to continue. She sat down at the kitchen table across from them and breathed in deeply. “I don’t know where to begin. But I suppose I’m sorry is a good place to start.”

     “Maggie, we should apologize too. If you were unhappy with something, we should have noticed and helped you.”

     Maggie raised a hand to stop them. “Please, mom, let me finish. This is…hard enough as it is.”

     Her mother nodded. “I’m sorry.”

     Maggie shook her head. “You don’t have to be,” she took another drink from her soda and set it down. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. About the way I treated you guys sometimes. I’m sorry about some of the things I said to you the night I ran away because I didn’t mean any of it.”

     “Maggie,” her father took her hand into his own. “We love you and we know that some things were said that night that neither of us meant.”

     “You’re safe Maggie, and hopefully you’re happy. That’s all we could ask for from you,” her mother said, patting her hand. “Tell us, what have you been up to?”

     Maggie smiled somewhat bitterly. “I got a job and a nice place to stay. I managed to earn enough money to go to school again and that’s what I have been doing.”

     Her mother smiled and gave her a hug. “Good for you, we’re proud of you Maggie.”

     “And that man? How did you meet him?”

     “It was all an accident really…” she said, her voice drifting off. She stood up from the table and her parents followed suit. She walked over to them and gave them each another hug. “I’m glad I got the chance to do this. I missed you guys so much and I just didn’t want to leave before I got a chance to say that I love you guys.”

    Her parents were somewhat confused. “Go? Where are you going, Maggie? You just got here.” Her father asked.

    She smiled at them and kissed them each on the brow. “My time here is running short. I don’t want to keep him waiting. He was nice enough to wait for me and bring me here but has to bring me home now.”

     Her parents followed Maggie to the door, their minds exploding with a million different questions. She slipped on her shoes and opened the door, the young man who accompanied her there standing there waiting for her patiently.

    “Everything alright then?” he asked her.

    “Please, let’s just go now. I don’t want to make this harder than it already is.” She whispered slightly.

     He nodded and turned to her parents who stood by the door with perplexed and shocked looks on their faces. Her mother was close to tears, seeing this; Maggie buried her face into his shoulder, keeping her gaze away from them.

    “Where can we find you, Maggie?” her father choked out.

    “I don’t think that will be possible,” the young man answered. He gave them a sweeping bow. “I’m sorry for all of this, Mr. and Mrs. Martin. If you have the time, I suggest you watch the news or read your newspaper. You might find lots of answers there.” With that, he urged them inside and pulled the door closed.

     Mr. and Mrs. Martin looked at one another, unsure of what to do or say next. They could try to follow after them and demand an answer but it was a method they had tried on Maggie before to no avail. So, they did what the young man suggested. Mr. Martin went into the living room to turn on the television and Mrs. Martin went into the kitchen for the day’s newspaper.

     “The victim of the devastating car crash on the east end of Highway 401 that occurred early this morning has been identified as Ms. Maggie Martin, a 23-year-old college student from Toronto—“

    Mr. Martin’s jaw fell to the ground in shock and disbelief as he called his wife to the living room. She rushed in just in time to see a picture of her daughter flashed onto the screen as the newscaster continued to embellish on the details of the crash.

     They ran to the door and pulled it open, running out onto the driveway, looking up and down the street for any indication of their daughter. They called their daughters name in to the distance but of course, garnered no response. Neighbours from the street came out of their homes and walked towards them, embracing them and offering their condolences of what happened to their daughter. Mr. Martin pulled away from the crowd, sullen and in disbelief over what happened. This was a cruel joke someone was playing on them, it had to be. He stared up at the sky in frustration, wanting to scream out loud.

     With his head to the picture-perfect sky, he saw something float down towards him, it flew gracefully in the wind before finally lilting into his hand. It was soft against his skin and he picked it up carefully with his other hand. It was a feather in a tint of white that was so pure and so beautiful that it made him want to weep.

     A sense of peace washed over him. He allowed his tears of grief to escape from his eyes. Closing his hands over the feather he walked over to his wife and embraced her, ushering her back into their home so that they may grieve in peace.