Chapter 38 - The Unlocked Door
That evening, back at the Hudson Valley stone cottage, the sun dipped below the rolling hills in a brilliant display of violet and gold.
After dinner, while the boys were upstairs playing quietly in their room with their endless blocks and cardboard spaceships, I walked down the second-floor hallway.
I stopped in front of the master bedroom—the room where it had all started fourteen months ago, where Annie had been found sleeping with my traumatized sons pressed against her chest, and where the crayon warnings had been scratched into the plaster behind the headboard.
I gently turned the brass handle and pushed the door open.
The room was bathed in the soft, warm glow of a bedside lamp. The bed was made with fresh lavender-scented sheets, the duvet neatly tucked at the corners. The plaster wall behind the headboard had been carefully repaired, painted over in a soft, soothing cream, leaving no trace of the frantic words SHE WANTS US TO GO.
Instead, framed in a simple dark wood frame right where the old crayon marks used to be, hung a single photograph.
It was a picture taken three days ago by the lake behind the cottage: Jordan and Justin laughing hysterically as they splashed water on each other, Annie standing between them with her head thrown back in pure joy, and me wrapping my arms around all three of them.
No ghosts. No fear. Just life.
Footsteps approached softly from behind me in the hallway.
I turned my head. Annie stood in the doorway, leaning against the wooden frame, watching me with a soft, knowing smile.
“Are they asleep?” I asked quietly.
“Out cold,” Annie nodded. “And the bedroom door is wide open.”
I stepped back out of the room, walking over to her. I reached down, taking her hand in mine, our fingers interlacing naturally.
“Let’s go downstairs,” I whispered.
May you like
“Lead the way, Mr. Morrison,” Annie smiled.
We walked down the stairs together, side by side, leaving the bedroom door wide open, knowing with absolute certainty that no matter what tomorrow brought, the house was finally safe, the doors were unlocked, and someone was always there to notice when the world grew cold.
