Home

We had to leave immediately. Never letting go of the phone, Maggie raced to her jeep. Cassie, right on her heels, called out for Adrianna and Lauren.  Her friends could barely climb in before she slammed it in reverse.

"Breathe, Maggie."

She gripped the wheel harder.

"What the hell is going on?  What’s wrong?!"

All she could focus on was the road in front of her.  Maggie knew she was on the edge.  She had to get there before she fell over.

"Mags???"

Her friends gave in for a bit, but she could feel their eyes on her, waiting for her.  She needed to focus on the road ahead.  She needed to get there.

Nearly an hour later, she pulled off the freeway and began following the familiar roads, arriving at the town’s small hospital.

Terrified, barely a whisper escaped her lips.

"Grams.  Grams’ heart.  They don’t think she’ll make it."

Adrianna was the first to jump out of the jeep, sprinting around to the driver’s side to fetch Maggie.  All four marched to the glass entrance.

A woman in scrubs approached the four, the news plainly on her face.  It wasn’t good.

Her grandmother was already gone.

* * * * * * *

It had been a year since that day.  A year.  Maggie continued to press down on her camera’s shutter, trying to move to the next frame, trying to move forward.

The beach house she and her grandmother built their best memories in was now hers.  It had taken her a year to be able to come back.

She’d spent the last year running…from her childhood house, her friends, this beach house, her memories.  Finally coming back now to face the people and places she’d left behind.

Her bare feet slipped through the sand as she trekked back up to the house and to her friends.

Her eyes scanned the room.  Lauren was already whipping up a gourmet meal in the tiny kitchen, Adrianna hummed out the notes to a new song while she cleaned, Cassie’s eyes were closed and her feet propped up on the well worn driftwood coffee table.

Maggie couldn’t help but breathe it in.  And she realized she was finally home.

The former Red Dress Club, now Write on Edge has a new prompt for us: write a piece that begins with “We had to leave immediately” and end it with “And then we realized we were already home.”

I changed the ending sentence a wee bit, but I was a good girl & checked in with one of our Write on Edge leaders, Cheryl of Mommy Pants! ;>

Cassie was first introduced in R.S.V.P. and then in Kick Ass Shoes.  Next, Maggie arrived in Getting There and this installment, Home, picks up right where Getting There left off.  Today, there's just a glimpse of the other two, Adrianna & Lauren, who make up this friendship of four.