The Forgotten Home

“Zo.” Mya’s voice stayed gentle, but it stopped the rest of the question. “Your dad loves you. That part doesn’t change because we’re staying with Anna Beth.”

Elara stared at the fields. She wanted to believe that love could stretch across roads and towns without thinning. She wanted to believe it could reach from Tobacco Springs back to the apartment; to where her purple blanket still lay folded on her bed.

The farmhouse appeared beyond a line of pines.

It was larger than Elara expected, with pale boards, a wide porch, and windows that flashed gold in the afternoon sun. A rusted swing hung near the front steps. Beside the house stood an old barn, its doors leaning crookedly, and beyond that, the woods began.

Anna Beth was already waiting on the porch before Mya turned off the engine.

“There they are!” she called.

Dino barked and shoved past Elara as soon as Mya opened the back door. He ran across the yard, his tail sweeping from side to side.

Anna Beth laughed and bent to scratch behind his ears. “Well, look at you. Still handsome.”

Dino licked her hand.

Elara climbed out more slowly. The ground felt soft beneath her sneakers. Somewhere near the porch, a wind chime tapped three bright notes, then stopped.

Anna Beth opened her arms. “Come here, sweetheart.”

Elara let herself be hugged. Anna Beth’s dress was warm from the sun, and her silver hair brushed Zo’s cheek.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Anna Beth whispered.

Elara nodded against her shoulder. She was glad to see Anna Beth. She just wished Aaron had come too.

Mya opened the trunk. “We brought the last boxes.”

“The rooms are ready,” Anna Beth said. “Zo’s upstairs, at the end of the hall. There’s a quilt on the bed.”

“Can I see it?” Elara asked.

“Of course.”

Inside, the farmhouse smelled like lemon polish, old wood, and something sweet baking in the kitchen. The floorboards creaked under every step. Sunlight poured through the windows and made bright squares across the rugs.

Elara followed Anna Beth through the kitchen. Copper pans hung above the stove. A blue bowl sat on the table, filled with peaches. Along the wall were photographs in dark wooden frames.

Elara slowed.

There were pictures of Mya as a little girl, standing beside a bicycle. There was Anna Beth beside a younger man with dark hair and a serious face.

“Is that Grandpa Jed?” Elara asked.

Anna Beth stopped.

Mya, carrying a box behind them, nearly walked into her.

“Yes,” Anna Beth said. “That’s Jed.”

Elara studied the photograph. Jed stood in front of the farmhouse with one hand resting on a fence post. He did not smile, but his eyes seemed fixed on the camera in a way that made Elara feel as if he were looking straight at her.

“He looks mad,” she said.

“He was thinking,” Mya replied.

“About what?”

Mya set the box down harder than she meant to. “About the picture.”

Anna Beth reached for another box. “Come on. Let’s see your room.”

Elara looked back at the photograph, but Mya had already moved between her and the wall.

Upstairs, her room was small and bright. The quilt on the bed was stitched with yellow stars. A narrow window looked over the yard toward the woods. Dino jumped onto the rug and spun in a circle before flopping down.

Elara placed her purple blanket on the bed first. Then she set her stuffed rabbit beside the pillow.

“This can be your special place,” Anna Beth said.

Elara touched one of the yellow stars. “Can Daddy visit?”

Mya stood in the doorway.

“Of course he can,” she said.

“When?”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“That means you don’t know.”

Mya came into the room and knelt beside her. “I know you miss him.”

“I want to go home.”

“I know.”

“This isn’t home.”

Mya looked toward the window. Down in the yard, Dino had stopped playing. He stood facing the woods, ears lifted.

“It can be home for a little while,” Mya said. “That doesn’t take anything away from the home you had with Daddy.”

Elara wanted to ask why they could not all live together again. She had asked before, and the answers had never made sense. Adults used words like complicated and later, as if those words could build a bridge between two houses.

Instead, she said, “I’m going to unpack.”

“That’s my girl.”

For the rest of the afternoon, the house seemed almost happy to have them. Anna Beth showed Elara the pantry, the back porch, and the room where Mya had written songs as a teenager. Mya found an old guitar beneath a sheet and played three soft chords while Elara arranged her books on a shelf.

Dino followed them everywhere.

At dinner, Elara sat between Mya and Anna Beth while crickets sang outside. The food was warm and good, but Elara kept checking her phone.

Finally, it rang.

“Aaron!” she shouted.

She slid off her chair and answered. “Daddy?”

“Hey, bug.”

His voice came through thin and crackly, but it was still his voice. Elara pressed the phone close to her ear.

“Are you at the farmhouse?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it as big as you thought?”

“Bigger. There are stairs and a barn and a million pictures of Mom.”

“I bet she was cute.”

“She still is,” Mya called.

Aaron laughed. Elara smiled before she could stop herself.

They talked about the drive, Dino’s muddy paws, and the yellow-star quilt. Aaron asked if she was scared.

“No,” Elara said.

Mya looked at her.

Elara turned away. “Maybe a little.”

“You can be scared and still be brave,” Aaron told her. “That’s allowed.”

A slow floorboard creaked upstairs, a sound like a footfall dragged through old wood.

Elara looked toward the ceiling.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

“Hear what?” Aaron said.

Another creak sounded, slow and heavy, as if someone were walking from one end of the hallway to the other.

Anna Beth’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth.

Mya reached for Zo’s hand.

“It’s an old house,” Anna Beth said.

“But nobody’s upstairs,” Elara replied.

“Probably the pipes,” Mya said.

The creak came again.

Dino rose beneath the table. His fur lifted along his back, and a low sound rolled from his throat.

Aaron’s voice sharpened through the phone. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Mya said quickly. “The house is settling.”

Elara stared at the ceiling. “Daddy, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“You call me tonight before bed.”

“I will.”

“And Zo?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Her throat tightened. “I love you too.”

When the call ended, the kitchen seemed larger than before. The sunlight had faded from the windows. Beyond the glass, the yard was blue with evening, and the woods had become one dark shape.

Mya stood. “Come on. We’ll finish getting you ready for bed.”

“I’m not tired.”

“You were yawning in the car.”

“I’m not tired now.”

Anna Beth gathered the plates. “The first night always feels strange.”

“Did it feel strange when you moved here?” Elara asked.

Anna Beth’s hands paused over the sink.

“Yes,” she said. “At first.”

“What changed?”

Anna Beth looked toward the upstairs ceiling. “I learned which sounds belonged to the house.”

Elara waited for her to explain, but Anna Beth turned on the faucet.

In her room, Mya helped her put on pajamas. Dino lay beside the bed, watching the open doorway.

“Can we leave the light on?” Elara asked.

“Sure.”

“And the door open?”

“Sure.”

“And can you sleep in here?”

Mya sat beside her. “I’ll be across the hall.”

“That’s not the same.”

“I know.” Mya brushed curls away from Zo’s eyes. “But I’m close.”

The house made a soft knocking sound somewhere below them.

Elara grabbed Mya’s sleeve. “What was that?”

“Probably a branch.”

“There aren’t any branches upstairs.”

Mya did not answer right away.

From the hallway came a faint scrape.

Dino stood. He faced the darkness beyond the door and growled.

Anna Beth appeared at the end of the hall, holding a lamp. Her face looked pale in its yellow light.

“Dino,” she whispered.

The dog did not move.

Elara pulled her blanket up to her chin. “What does he hear?”

Anna Beth looked at Zo, then at the empty hallway.

“Stay close,” she said.

“Close to what?”

But Anna Beth only came into the room and set the lamp on the dresser. Mya climbed onto the bed beside Zo, and Dino settled on the floor with his nose pointed toward the hall.

The scrape came once more.

Then the house went quiet.

Elara closed her eyes, trying to think of Aaron’s voice, his blue shirt, and the way he had waved through the station window.

Dino gave a low warning growl.

Anna Beth stood in the doorway, watching the hall.

“Stay close,” she said again, so softly that Elara almost thought the words had come from somewhere else.

End of chapter one. 9 more chapters in the full book.