It was hard to walk down this street again, especially from the direction my brother walked away to. In the distance I could see that night. The snow falling, the cold brittle breeze. I could feel the anguish in my body as I walked over the place I knelt in the snow that night like it didn't affect me.

I had been trying to talk to Viktor on our way here but the closer i got to the house, the quieter I became because the lump in my throat was rising and I would not let it loose. My hands shook when I reached the gate in front of our house, swinging it open. It didn't even creak as I walked up the pavement, Vitor in tow.

I climbed the steps to the house as I did those many years ago. "Don't step on the middle stair," I told Viktor jumping over it. I didn't think it hand been fixed. I walked up to the door and stared at the number beside it.

I run my hands over the digits, doing my best to take a deep breath in without having it stop at my lungs to choke me and make me cry. I tried the door and it was locked. I crossed the porch and over at the bench beneath the window, I lifted pillows and found the key. Viktor watched me quietly, looking for something to pin down what I was feeling but I was reeling in so much I felt numb.

I put the key in the lock and turned it before pushing the door open. The house was musty but clean. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere. I guess Mrs. C had been popping in often. I made a note to thank her for that. I entered the house and left my shoes at the door, signaling for Viktor to do the same.

I glanced at the living room and then the kitchen. I made my way inside this particular room and looked into the sink. It was as clean as ever which made me feel a little silly to think I'd find the bowl my brother broke still sitting in there.

It had been three years. I needed to get a grip on myself.

"This place is nice," Viktor commented and I noticed him at one of the shelves in the living room, looking at some family photos. Usually, they'd be face down but Mrs. C kept them up and cleaned.

I moved over to where he was and looked at the picture he was gazing at. Surprisingly, it was the last good Christmas we had with my mom. I was young, like 10 years old, sitting in the corner of the picture, playing with a doll. My brother had his arms around my mum from behind. He was around 16 at the time and had had that large growth spurt that made me think he'd never stop growing and become as tall as a tree. My dad was the one who took the picture. He wasn't in it but he was there in a few others.

"It was," I said softly to Viktor's words. It was nice but darkness causes a lot of things to change. Somewhere safe can turn into a deadly room with a flick of a switch.

"You look a lot like your mother," Viktor commented making me smile.

"Everyone used to say that," I explained to him. "But she was more connected to my brother and he looks a little like my dad."

"You and your dad get along?" he asked.

"Sometimes," I answered because it was true. My dad and I didn't butt heads like he did with Peirce. We had common interests and a similar thought process which made conversations easy and interesting. "He was in the army when my brother was younger, trying to get money and health insurance for my mum. That's why she and my brother were so close. It's only when I was born that my dad dropped from duty and decided to settle down and take care of all of us."

I didn't say that he thought of going back when my mum got sick because the health insurance would've been a lot of help. Someone had to take care of mum and her parents didn't care enough to come visit or offer a hand. Peirce was in that season where college and a good university were on his mind but that didn't work out for him.

"Come," I said after a while of silence. "I'll show you to a room."

Viktor hesitantly turned from the pictures and followed me up the stairs to my old room. I opened the door and flicked on the light switch. My walls were grey and baby pink, a large stripped pattern my mum had loved putting in. I had book and movie posters from Marvel to Jane Austen everywhere.

There was a large wardrobe and some cabinets where I'm sure a few of my old clothes still rested. There was a bed in the middle and a window after it. The bed was bare, nothing but the mattress that was part of its foundation but I'm sure I could find some sheets. Viktor entered and looked around, paying a lot of attention to my Pride and Prejudice poster, hearts lining around Mr. Darcy.

"I was 12," I tried to defend. I hadn't been here in forever. I even almost forgot about this.

"That's no excuse," Viktor teased making me roll my eyes. "I didn't peg you for the fluffy romance type."

"You don't know me," I pointed out, trying to make it come out as a joke but the fact hit home somewhere in my heart. "The girl who slept in this room all those years ago changed."

"But she's not completely gone is she?" he asked and I shrugged. He would believe what he wanted but I was convinced I'd killed that Peach long ago.

I stepped into the room and went straight for where I used to keep my sheets. I saw a few Disney princess ones and picked them out, along with a dark purple duvet that went with the theme. I turned and placed all the cloth in Viktor's hands.

"I trust you know how to lay a bed," I stated with a brow raised. "I'll go find us some pillows and the bathroom's just across the hall. Try not to wonder."

"Aye aye captain," He sighed and placed the sheets down on the bed. "I'll set base."

"Good. Then I'll see if there's anything to eat around the house for lunch."

Thanks to the weather, the sun was not out, a fact that I didn't like. Snow made everything out my window look white, bland and pure. It would be months before the sun properly shone down again and I prayed for this winter to pass quickly.

I walked out of the room and passed by brother's, trying to ignore the last time I stood in the threshold of that door. I went to my parent's room instead. It's where all the extra stuff was kept since they had a walk in closet but I hadn't entered their room since mum died. That was almost eight years ago. My brother and I tended to avoid going this far. My guess was that it was only Mrs. C who reached here.

I was scared to enter the room and see how bare it was. I remembered my dad cleaning out all my mother's things when she died, selling them all like it meant nothing to him. That was the day I'd realised my mother was utterly and truly gone from this world. I would never hear her sing or play the guitar again. I would never hug her again. So I hesitated at the door, looking down at the knob. I had to go in.

Pressing my cool fingers on the cold brass, I turned it down. The room wasn't locked to my dismay and the door swung open easily but it did creak. I let it be as wide as possible, just looking inside.

Bare couldn't even describe the state of this place.

It was naked, stripped of everything. No bed, no dresser, no colour on the walls. Just white and the cold dark floor. Tears rose to my eyes at the emptiness of it all and I wondered where everything had gone. My dad must have sold it to get money. I don't know how he could've had the strength to do this. I walked into the room and my steps echoed. The bathroom door was open and it was as naked as this room was.

I directed my gaze to the walk-in closet and reached for the handle. I quickly pulled the door open, readying my heart to find it empty but... it wasn't.

Clothes lined the sides, one filled with shirts, trousers and coats and the other... dresses, skirts and blouses.... my mother's things. I couldn't help the sob that slipped past my lips and I put my hands to my mouth to keep them in.

He kept her clothes. He didn't sell them.

The relief in my heart was so great. I couldn't help but reach out to a particular floral dress my mum loved so much. She wore it almost every Sunday when she'd drag the whole house to church to give thanks to God, the maker and creator of all things. The same God who had taken her from me. That's why my faith struggled. I didn't want to believe there was an all loving being who would let such despair fall on one of His own.

Still, I pulled the dress off the rack and pulled it close to my face and sniffed. My heart broke in pieces when I realised it no longer smelt like her but clean soap and dust. Eight years was a long time for her scent to linger. I folded the dress in my arms, grabbed a few pillows from the back of the closet and left the room.

Viktor had laid the bed and I gave him the pillows which he dressed. He glanced at the dress in my arms but didn't say anything. I was grateful. I took a shower first and slipped on the dress. The floral pattern consisted of yellows, purples and a bit of green. It had full sleeves and fell all the way to the floor. I combed out my hair and pulled t back into a low puff just like my mum used to do. Looking in the mirror, I did seem like her. A lot.

Even the bags under my eyes matched the ones she had on her last days with us. She was always tired, always resting until she didn't wake up from sleep one day. I left the bathroom and went down the stairs to the kitchen. A few minutes later, I heard the shower turn on as Viktor took a bath. I looked around the cabinets for stuff I could cook, only to come up empty.

The front door opened as I still searched for what to eat and I grabbed a knife from the drawer beside me. I hid it in the fold of my dress as an old familiar face walked into the house.

Mrs. C was a short large black woman with coily grey hair. The wrinkles in her face were minimal but the age in her gaze was too much to comprehend. She had a kind soul and an even kinder smile. When we locked eyes, she froze and seemed startled.

"Deliza?" she called my mother's name. "Mary mother of God what is this?"

"Oh no!" I quickly corrected the old woman. Her sight might not have been great. I didn't need her having a heart attack. "Mrs. C it's me. Peach."

She looked closer and let out a breath, holding her chest. "Jesus child I almost had a heart attack. Don't you know the ol' engine ain't what it used to be?"

I smiled and moved forward, hugging her short frame. She patted my back and let out a soft laugh. "Oh baby girl, welcome home."

"I wasn't expecting you till later," I said and she had a big smile when I pulled back.

"Look at you," she whispered running her hand down my cheek. "You're her very image you know. Telling her that always did make her proud to have a daughter."

"I found it in her room. I thought dad had sold everything," I explained.

"Your father couldn't," Mrs. C made it clear. "He needed to pay her pending hospital bills and did sell some of her belongings off but not her clothes. Everything went besides these. It was hard for him."

"It was hard for us," I stated referring to Peirce and I.

Mrs. C sighed and nodded. It was hard for everyone who knew her well enough. "What are you doing here?" she asked after while.

"What did Peirce ever do here?" I asked with a frown.

"Who are you running from?" Mrs. C demanded.

"I don't know," I told her the truth. It was easy to. I trusted her more than I did myself. "But I'm scared. Whoever this person is... they aren't playing around."

"Is it because you hacked them?"

"I thought it was when I started running but... things have changed. I'm a pawn in a game I can't see or understand," I told her and a door slammed upstairs. Mrs. C looked in that direction.

"You aren't alone?"

"Not this time."

"Who's here?"

"You'll meet him soon enough."

"Him? Your new boyfriend?" Mrs. C scoffed. "I talked to an ex of yours, Tye is his name and he reported each and every dirty thing you did in that city. I'm disappointed in you."

"I've changed," I tried to explain. "Really. I have. I didn't want to end up like..."

"Like your bother?" she asked and when I nodded, guilt and shame filling my system, Mrs. C rubbed my arm. "It's not bad to admit he was a disastrous bastard that boy."

I hated that she referred to him in the past tense but didn't comment on it. I did it sometimes but not anymore. It was about time I changed the subject.

"There's no food," I stated and Mrs. C rolled her eyes at me.

"You didn't check the pantry did you?" I was silent for a while. I hadn't. "I always keep stuff around incase one of you decides to drop by.

"Thank you," I sighed and hugged her again.

Things had to look up from now on because I could feel it deep in my heart that the enemy was getting closer. I had to prepare myself before either Viktor or I decided to take a one way ticket to hell.