Chapter 1: The Drive That Didn’t Feel Real
The road to her parents’ house felt unfamiliar, even though she had memorized it as a child.
Every turn carried a contradiction.
Fifteen years earlier, she had left this road believing she would never return. That decision had been absolute. Clean. Final.
Now she was back.
Not because she wanted reconciliation. Not because she missed them enough.
Because the life she built on certainty had collapsed in a single afternoon.
Her son sat in the back seat, talking about snacks, cartoons, and whether his grandparents had a garden. His voice filled the car with normalcy that no longer matched her internal state.
She responded when required.
Minimal.
Controlled.
Her mind replayed the kitchen scene in fragments.
Papers.
Jenna’s name.
The timeline.
The realization that the foundational event of her life—the accident—had been misrepresented from the beginning.
Not altered.
Constructed.
