Chapter 2

It felt awkward for them to go back to the big house where they all grew up together. In the past they didn't feel like coming back here because of what they had done, now because they didn't know what to do next. The house was standing empty and uninviting, there were no lights on and when they opened the door, the familiar smell of cooking did not hit them. They were standing in the hall in silence looking around and feeling a wave of nostalgia washing over them. Everything looked exactly the same as the day they all left, and they half expected their mum to appear in the doorway wearing an apron and giving them this famous smile of hers that could make your day bright.

But she didn't.

Instead, they all moved reluctantly, trying to act normal. Jack took his old room and was now lying on his bed, strumming his guitar and remembering the old times and moments that took place there, both happy and sad. This place still felt like his home even though he had been trying not to think about it for a long time.

He looked up when Bobby entered his room and with a sigh sat on the floor, laying his back on the side of the bed.

"You been crying in here, you little fairy?" he asked playfully blinking some odd tears away.

Jack put away his guitar and grabbed a box of cigarettes.

"Leave it alone, man" he said and lit up one.

"Still making a lot of racket on that freaking thing?" somehow Bobby could not stop blinking but focused on sustaining his voice.

"Yeah, still making a lot of racket" Jack grinned.

"Too weird in Mom's room?" he asked with a cunning smile on his face but knew exactly how his big brother felt.

"Oh, man. Way too weird" Bobby closed his eyes trying to forget the past couple of days but the reality was coming back to him with a double force.

"It's crazy. I mean, everything's exactly the same"

But it Jack thought it wasn't. Maybe the place looked as if time had stopped in here but people in it were not the old Mercer boys that the neighborhood once knew. Those boys were long gone and forgotten.

Well, one thing didn't change, Bobby thought.

Jack still smoked.

***

"I don't give a damn what you thought!" Marie was shouting at her boyfriend and started to throw things at him.

It was a circle of hell for Liz to listen to her mom and her almost-stepdad fight. She could never understand why Marie had stayed with this guy for over 10 years. It was one of those toxic relationships and Lizzie swore to herself that she's never gonna end up with an abusive guy that would cheat on her with anything that moves. At least she would have guts to move out and never see him again. But somehow, every morning after one of those fights she found her mum making blueberry pancakes for him until another screaming session.

This time it has been going on for over an hour and she was sick of listening to them calling each other names. She grabbed a cigarette and left the house slamming the front doors as hard as she could.

She leaned on the wooden fence and puffed out a white cloud of smoke that disappeared instantly in the dim light of the street lamp. She felt so pathetic still living with her mother at the age of 21 but after renting an apartment right after graduating from high school and losing her job one year later, she couldn't afford anything better at the time; and so she was back there, listening to Stan complaining about undercooked food or unwashed clothes. At last he didn't start on her any more as he did with her friends.

She thought she hated this place more than anything when she looked at the dark figures behind the curtains and realized her mom was getting to the silverware cabinet.

Maybe this will make him think next time he brings an unwanted friend to the house, she thought.

She was about to breath out another portion of smoke when she heard a voice on her right in the darkness.

"Some things never change, do they?"

She couldn't see him in the darkness but she would recognize his voice everywhere.

"Nope. I still smoke and they're sill ready to rip each other's throats apart" she said with a sigh. She missed those times when she was sad and he would comfort her, how he always knew how to say the right thing to make her feel better. There was a time when he was the person who knew her better than she did.

But those times ended the moment he left Detroit three years ago.

"You wanna go for a walk?" he asked shoving his hands in his pockets as it started to snow.

She did.

***

"Wow, I haven't been here for years" they were walking down the park alley looking at the fragile white dust falling from the sky. It must have been after midnight but neither of them wanted to go back home and they both had a deep need to act as if nothing had changed and they were still high school kids not even worrying if they had homework.

They stopped by the empty fountain that brought old memories back.

"This is it" Jack looked around, remembering that particular moment that brought them there. It was more or less the same time of the year, close to Thanksgiving, and it was snowing, too.

"This is where we had our first kiss" she almost whispered. Even the forked tree was still there, covered with the white fluff. It was the people, who have changed.

"Liz…" he started but she cut in.

"Jack, can I say something?" she wasn't nervous because she hadn't actually planned to say it but she knew she needed to.

"Last time we saw each other we both said things we didn't really mean and even though I believe it hurt us both pretty deep, why don't we just call it past and start a new future? I'm pretty sure we both need it right now" she looked at him expectantly and prayed he would say yes.

He looked at her for a brief moment before slowly nodding and entwining her arm with his.

They both hoped it wasn't too late to start a new future.