Tori. After everything the two had been through together, it would be a nice change of pace to have something go smoothly.

They woke early the next morning, showered, and left the motel. An hour and a half into the drive, Tori began to recognize landmarks, but an hour later was forced to admit that her memory was still not flawless. They were lost. A quick stop at a gas station put them on the right track, and it was only twenty minutes later that they entered the Fort Shawnee town limits.

“Take that exit, over there.” Tori seemed confident in her memories of the town. Two thought about checking the map, decided she could trust Tori, and took the turn.

“Turn left. Okay. We’re going to drive up this road for about five minutes, and there’ll be a left. Darrel Drive. Turn there.”

They drove, and there was Darrel Drive. Two guided the car onto it.

“Take your next left, and then the first right, and then we’re there.” Tori looked vaguely ill.

“You all right?”

“I don’t know. I feel kinda sick. Probably just nerves.”

Two nodded. She wondered what it would be like to be reunited with her own parents. This was, of course, an impossibility in the case of her mother. The concept of returning to her father was laughable at best. Two hadn’t liked him as a child, and by her teens she’d despised him.

“Blue house on the left. Oh God.” Tori was fidgeting with her seatbelt, had been doing so for the past twenty minutes.

“Thank Christ,” Two laughed.

“Why are you so relieved?”

“Because if I was forced to watch you twist that stupid seatbelt around for another five minutes, I’d have lost my mind.”

Tori laughed, gave Two the finger, let the seatbelt fall from her hands. They were there.

It was eleven o’clock, a Saturday morning in February, cold and clear and grey with tiny snowflakes dancing in the air. The house was light blue with darker blue shutters, a ranch, sitting squat on a patch of dead grass. Small piles of snow had collected in the shaded areas. The scene was far from idyllic, yet there seemed a sense of comfort and welcome to the place. Inside, Two, thought, it would be warm, and there would be the smell of something good cooking. Apple pie, maybe, or fresh bread.

Tori took a deep breath, left the car, stood staring at the house. Two walked around the car, adjusting her coat against the cold, and Tori embraced her suddenly. “Thank you so much, Two.”

“What are friends for? Go ring that fucking doorbell, Tori. The suspense is killing me.”

Tori laughed. “Killing you?!”

As Tori moved toward the door, Two leaned up against a large tree growing in the front yard, lighting a cigarette. This was not her moment, and she was comfortable remaining in the background. Tori pressed the doorbell, waited, shifting from one foot to another.

“Just a minute!” A woman’s voice called from inside the house. Two saw Tori’s breath catch.

The door opened, and a pleasant-looking woman in perhaps her mid-fifties looked out. She was carrying a plate and a towel. There was a long moment of silence as she looked at Tori.

“Hi, mom.” Tori’s voice was soft, and shaky, almost scared. Two watched, waited, hoped.

The dish fell from the woman’s hands, forgotten, to shatter on the doorstep. Neither Tori nor her mother seemed to notice. Mona swayed a little, and Tori reached a hand out to steady her. The moment her hand touched her mother’s shoulder, Mona’s paralysis broke.

“Oh my God my baby!” She cried, and flung her arms around Tori, who could do nothing more than put her head on her mother’s shoulder and cry. Mona stood there, repeating those words, “My baby. My baby,” and rocking Tori, refusing to let go of her daughter. Two felt a painful, wonderful wrenching in her heart, saw a flicker-flash pass by her vision. Theroen, smiling. Here again was a reminder of what it was like to be loved.

Two felt tears at her eyes and was unsurprised. Tears of joy for Tori, tears of pain for Theroen, tears of relief for herself. Descent and rebirth. Tori was home, and Two stood now on the very lip of some new life. She had passed through the nightmare and come through to the other side.

“Can I see Dad?” Tori asked finally, managing to calm herself at least well enough to speak.

Mona laughed, clapped her hands, called for Jim, nearly jumping up and down in joy and excitement. “Come here!