Life, little by little, became livable again.
But recovery did not mean that every part of the past had become easy to face.
There was still the road.
For years, Elira had treated avoiding it as a practical decision. She told herself that there was no reason to visit a place associated with something painful. The road had nothing to offer her. It could not change the past, provide answers to every unanswered question, or make the accident disappear.
Why return to somewhere that made her feel worse?
That reasoning seemed sensible. It allowed her to protect her peace without having to explain herself to anyone.
Yet beneath that explanation was another feeling she rarely acknowledged.
She was afraid of what might happen if she went back.
She wondered whether the memories would return with the same intensity. She worried that the sight of the fence or the shape of the road might overwhelm her. Perhaps she would feel as though she had traveled backward in time, returning to the person she had been during the most difficult period of her life.
