Chapter 59: SOFIA
Home.
I stood before the Blake Mansion. Dreading to mount the stairs. This wasn’t home. In fact I don’t even think I have a home anymore. The one I knew had been lost and since then, one could practically say, I’m homeless.
Home, a place where we can unapologetically be ourselves. A space where we know safety.
But there have been arguments, some say a home is not a place, that it’s the people making up the place. Others say it’s just one person, one person that we truly feel safe with. That one person who accepts us and we are not afraid of being ourselves around. And there are those who believe it’s truly a place. A place where memories are made, a space where love and happiness are the walls.
For me, home could be any of these things, and to be honest I don’t really care. Why should I when the place I live now is none of these things. The Blake Mansion wasn’t a home in any way.
Our house at Pade Avenue had been a home in terms of it being a place. My parents had been my home in terms of people and my mom had been my home if it was on one person terms.
And now... now I’ve lost every piece of home I have left.
The Blake Mansion loomed before me like a haunting shadow, with its gargoyles, spires and gothic facade.
Like the fearful monster, it was. I dreaded confronting it. What lay beyond those doors were just as terrifying.
It’s been minutes since the cab dropped me at Leek Park and I trekked to this place, every step - heavy with the weight of what I was to confront.
I had tried my best in stalling, but this was inevitable. I had walked slowly from the elevator out of the Wellington Empire. Thankfully I didn’t see Emily on her desk, another lady occupied it and I was relieved because I didn’t need to talk about how much of a failure today was.
But I knew, no matter how slow I walked from Leek Park to the mansion, that not talking about it wasn’t a luxury behind those doors. I couldn’t be as lucky.