CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER 33: WELCOME BACK TO THE WRECKAGE

POV: Aaron

8:00 AM — The Drive Back

I didn’t pack a bag.

Didn’t tell anyone I was coming.

I just... started driving.

The air was heavy. The sky looked bruised. One of those summer mornings that pretends to be peaceful but smells like rain.

I kept my music off.

Because I didn’t want the distraction.

Because this wasn’t a road trip.

This was a funeral march.

And I was the body.

9:12 AM — The House Comes Into View

Everything looked smaller.

The driveway. The porch. The tree I crashed my bike into when I was nine.

All of it felt like the skeleton of a memory.

And standing on the porch — arms crossed, expression unreadable — was Milo.

He saw me before I parked.

Didn’t wave.

Didn’t move.

Just stared.

9:14 AM — First Words

"You look worse than usual," he said.

I tried to laugh. Failed. "That your way of saying hi?"

Milo stepped aside. "Get in before Dad sees you from the window and calls a priest."

I walked past him and froze halfway across the living room.

Because she was there.

Elena.

In the kitchen.

Washing a bowl.

Like it was 6 months ago. Like she never left.

Like we never—

She looked up.

We locked eyes.

And time didn’t stop. It just staggered.

9:16 AM — Nobody Moves

Dad stepped out of the hallway at that exact moment.

Now we were all frozen in the same room.

Elena with her hands still in dishwater.

Milo leaning in the doorway like he was watching a slow-motion car crash.

And Dad?

Dad just looked at me.

Expression blank.

Voice low.

"You’re back."

I nodded.

"Why?"

I didn’t have a good answer. "I didn’t know where else to go."

He nodded slowly. "Honest. At least we’re starting there."

9:22 AM — The First Conversation

He didn’t yell.

Didn’t throw a punch.

Didn’t curse.

We sat in the living room. Elena disappeared upstairs. Milo stayed halfway down the hall like backup.

And Dad said:

"You broke something I can’t fix."

"I know."

"But you’re still my son."

I blinked. "Are you saying you forgive me?"

"I’m saying I still don’t know how to."

That hurt more than if he’d screamed.

9:40 AM — Elena Comes Downstairs

We didn’t talk.

We just passed each other in the hallway.

Close enough to touch.

Far enough not to.

She smelled like vanilla and too many apologies.

I didn’t say her name.

She didn’t say mine.

And maybe that was the safest thing either of us could’ve done.

10:10 AM — Milo Breaks the Silence

He followed me out to the porch.

"You staying?"

"I don’t know yet."

"Don’t be dramatic," he said. "Just admit it. You missed us."

I looked at him. "You’re not mad?"

"Of course I’m mad," Milo said. "But I’m more mad at how this whole house went to hell when you left. Nobody talks. Dad won’t even make eggs. Elena’s a ghost. And I’ve been holding this family together with scotch tape and sarcasm."

I smiled for the first time in days.

He punched my shoulder.

"Just... don’t leave again," he added.

"I won’t."

10:30 AM — The Hardest Apology

I stood outside my dad’s office door for five full minutes.

Then I finally opened it.

"I’m not asking you to forget what I did," I said. "I just want to try and earn back a piece of who I was before."

He didn’t say anything right away.

But he nodded once.

And that was more than I deserved.

📘 End of Chapter 33

💬 YOUR TURN!

Aaron’s back.

But forgiveness? That’s still far away.

👇 Comment: Can this family ever be whole again — or is it just about learning to live with the cracks?

❤️ Like this Chapter if Milo’s "scotch tape and sarcasm" line hit you right in the chest.

🔔 Follow to catch Chapter 34 — where Elena and Aaron finally speak... and one of them says something they can’t take back.