I sat beside him in the passenger seat, watching streetlights pass.
It still amazed me how different familiar roads looked.
For years, I'd known every turn by sound and movement.
Now I could see the houses.
The storefronts.
The trees.
The little details I'd never imagined.
After twenty minutes, Nigel parked.
"We're here."
I looked out.
A playground.
My heart tightened.
"Nigel…"
He turned toward me.
"If this is too much, we can leave."
I stared at the swings.
The metal chains.
The wooden seats.
The open space beneath the trees.
For a moment, I was nine years old again.
I could feel the sudden shove.
The terrible fall.
The beginning of the darkness.
Then I looked at Nigel.
"Why did you bring me here?"
His eyes filled.
"Because I spent most of my life remembering this place as the beginning of everything terrible."
He looked toward the playground.
"And I wondered whether, someday, we could make a different memory here."
