2
Three days earlier...
Rose had sworn to never, ever be here again.
But here she was. Back in Elliot Town in Detroit, the same town where she grew up and where her family had been scorned. Never mind that her brother, Jim, stayed in Detroit and managed to live a good life. But for her, some things were just harder to overcome emotionally.
She tried to focus on the reason for her return. David Kings Sr., founder of Elliot-Kings Christian School had offered her a job. And her boyfriend had dumped her—right before their engagement party—one year ago, six hundred and thirty-eight miles away in Missouri.
Rose blamed herself as she stood against the stubborn spring wind howling across the porch of her childhood home. It was all her fault for believing a man could be true to his word, or mean it when he said he loved her. She had fallen for it, simply wanting to settle down. Clearly, it was not to be. He seemed like a good guy before then. Always polite and cordial, and they never fought.
She huffed and curled her arms. That should’ve indicated something was wrong when unquestioningly George agreed to everything she said. Of course, David Kings Jr., son of the founder of Elliot-Kings School, whom she grew up next door to, was the total opposite. However, she wasn’t here for David. And thankfully, she didn’t see him when she went to the school earlier this afternoon after arriving in town this morning. Moreover, why was she comparing her ex to David?
She sighed and wondered again whether this move had been a mistake. But God had said to take the job. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have done it.
Rose leaned over the front porch and shaded her eyes from the setting sun, eyeing the stubborn oak tree occupying the center of their yard. Her mom was right. They should have cut down the tree with holes in it. But Dad had insisted. “It gives a curve to the lawn. Leave it there. A good home for the birds,” he’d argued. Though her mom wanted the space for a veggie garden, she’d let it stay. And home for the birds, it now was.
If her dad hadn’t wallowed in grief after her mom’s passing years ago, it could’ve remained a healthy tree as her mom had taken care of it when she was alive. But the man had used alcohol as his consolation as soon as the clock chimed five and he returned from his day job until midnight. Her brother, Jim, had left home then to go train at a special academy, in readiness to becoming a US Marshal. She was witness to their father’s deteriorating behavior firsthand.
Sometimes he tried to sober up for work the following day, by drinking a concoction of different mixtures. Sometimes it worked, but other times it didn’t. Until he retired to the relief of his boss who knew the dedication with which he worked when her mom had lived.
That could be why they let him stay those three last years. Then he packed up and left. Just like that. He went backpacking in Europe—and hadn’t come to home soil since. The latest Jim told her was that their father had now moved to Hawaii and, according to her brother, he was a changed man.
She hadn’t seen him, but she doubted he had really changed. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see him either, considering it could bring her past failures to the fore. Failures that began when they were all grieving the loss of her mom. Except hers had taken her farther away than she expected.
A mountain bluebird with chocolate-brown beaks squealed a call, perching between two hollow spaces of a nest’s entrance in the oak. Its offsprings chirped noisily within. In the past, the sight would’ve excited her. Now, she simply wished she were somewhere else.
She sighed, carried the groceries she had bought, swept her hair back, and walked into the musky-smelling house. A sense of relief washed over her when she saw the weeds overgrowing their neighbor’s lawn. So David wasn’t in town. That left her and the new folks living on the other side of their bungalow, whom she hadn’t met yet. David’s absence eased the tension from this homecoming. That David Kings Sr. had offered her the job, with no influence from his son, was freeing. Since there had been no mention of David at the time, he was probably still off somewhere saving the world, like he’d said he’d do.
When David had joined the military, she was still reeling from the consequences of the error of her ways. She hid away in Clarksburg, the neighboring town, at a distant aunt’s place until her tracks were well covered. At least, wherever he was, he’d remember her as the nice girl she was far from being. She was left with painful regrets, and her friend’s overdose on meds had been her wake-up call.
Her eyes adjusted to the low lighting of a lone, sixty-watt bulb dangling in the long hallway. Considering it had taken one year after her acceptance of the offer from the Elliot-Kings school founder for her to join the school staff, she should have arrived earlier and cleaned the house. Instead, she delayed until the last minute, hoping an alternative would arise.
She strode into the living room where covered furniture awaited and swung her arms into a curl. She sent up a prayer of gratitude to God that she’d returned to her faith in Christ in recent years, following the horrific tragedy she witnessed. Dabbling into drugs and alcohol had been a mistake, but she hadn’t known it then.
Still, her relationship with Christ now wasn’t where it had been before she’d gone astray. She had too many scrapes and bruises in her heart to trust God fully yet. But she grew in faith one step at a time, part of which moving back to Elliot was.
But an uncomfortable fact remained. Uppermost in people’s minds would be the fact that her mom had been jailed for murdering some random guy on the night he arrived in Elliot Town fifteen years ago. He had entered her CD/DVD rental store to borrow a film to watch in his hotel room. It was already closing time, her staff had gone home, and it was ten p.m. But on his plea, she had made an exception to serve him, not knowing she’d be the last person to see him alive.
She’d locked up the shop and made her way home while he headed to the bus stop. The following morning, he was found dead where she’d left him. After her speedy trial and serving enough time—with her fiercely denying the accusation all that time—DNA evidence proved her innocent. The real murderer was identified and imprisoned ten years ago.
But that ruined their family name. It destroyed her mom’s faith, especially after their church virtually alienated them. And when she was released and returned home, she wasn’t the same. Only their vacations in Hawaii brought real smiles to her eyes. Rose had lost her faith too then and gone in a direction she now regretted.
She didn’t miss how people shook their heads when Rose cared to turn and look, regarding her as one of two unfortunate offsprings of a ruined marriage from the start. Except her brother hadn’t seemed to bear the taint of their family’s failure predicament. As it was, he was living the life as a US Marshal. She stayed away so he wouldn’t be constantly compared to her sorry life. And now, he’d left Detroit. She was coming back to it. Back to Elliot Town. To start afresh. A fresh start in an old place was certainly not her ingenious plan.
She’d promised herself she’d never return once she left. Again, life ruined her plans. Getting dumped last year because she told George about her past mistakes wasn’t her expectation. Working with him as her boss for another entire year, for money’s sake, wasn’t any easier. Every day, she’d simply wanted to flee as she watched him bring women to the school he principaled after hours. Seeing him guide them into his car and glide off to dates, while she was stuck as an observer, had added extra bruises to her self-esteem.
Sadly, a schoolteacher’s salary wasn’t exactly the kind you left town with. She became grateful the Elliot-Kings school offer had come almost immediately. It anchored her through those times when she’d cried herself to sleep, wondering where her life was headed, broke and alone.
She didn’t tell the school when they’d offered her the job, that she hadn’t wanted to accept it. In fact, God had led her to say yes by giving her inner peace, much against her will after she told them she needed to think. Then the week after she accepted, her school in Missouri announced they were closing due to lack of funding. Imagine her shock.
Considering that even after saying yes to Elliot-Kings, she searched for a whole year for another job, but the other schools in Park City, Missouri School district simply weren’t hiring. They were fully staffed and budget was tight, they said. She continued her search across state lines, stopping only last week when it became clear she had nowhere else to go. She hadn’t wanted to return to Detroit. Yet she couldn’t stay in Missouri. Her savings from a teacher’s salary were so small she couldn’t live on it for more than one month, and only if she had nothing serious to pay for. She had already cut off her cable subscription six months earlier to save a little cash, and she didn’t plan to install it here either.
She’d quickly realized that, one way or another, she was being dragged back to Detroit. Except if she’d turned down the job offer, she would’ve returned jobless. Realizing the choice had been made for her, she thanked God for giving her a job to anchor her financially. All she had in life now was her and Jesus. And for one, she didn’t want her brother hearing she was back to Detroit, and Elliot Town specifically. The moment he heard, he’d assume something was wrong. With his wedding only a couple of days away, she wanted nothing to mess it up for him.
Back then, he’d begged her not to leave, so Jim knew how strongly she felt about Elliot. The last thing she wanted now was to ruin his perfect life with her messy one. More importantly, she didn’t want to answer questions about the past to him either.
Thankfully, the area where Elliot-Kings school situated wasn’t too crime ridden, but that could not be said for the rest of Detroit. She thought of her former high school classmates who lived in such places—how had they managed to combine school with the stress of their various trying situations? Granted, judging from what she saw earlier today when she’d visited the school upon arrival, things looked good.
There were better dressed students, and well behaved too. Some looked like they came from good homes, and most of them displayed good manners—greeting her with a “ma’am” and holding the door open for her—while others still clearly needed some home training, assuming they had a home.
She wasn’t alien to troubled and at-risk kids. They were her focus. Having gone wild during her teenage years, and narrowly avoided long-term consequences because of it, she made it her goal to teach other kids to do better. Usually, a triggering situation lurked underneath it all. Many of those would need extra support in her class, and she was prepared to give it.
Turning around and gliding her luggage from the living room where she’d left it earlier, she wished she’d paid for an extra day of dusting. Cobwebs still hung from the windows around the back end behind the kitchen, leading out to the backyard where she and Jim played basketball when they were younger while he baked up something for her. She chuckled. He was always the cook while their mom was away.
The living room furniture remained covered, as it had been since the day she left. Thankfully, her parents had paid off the house before her mom got jailed. It hadn’t cost much at the time when most people weren’t living in the area yet, like it was now. Her brother moved out before her to another town in Detroit. Few miles separated both areas, but the difference in safety was clearly visible, judging from the scarcity of drug dealers here compared to where Jim lived before leaving Detroit.
She trundled past the boxed-up stuff belonging to her parents containing personal items like clothes, shoes, and such. Things they’d pulled together and planned to donate years ago to a homeless shelter down the block. They just hadn’t gotten to it yet. Three years gone by.
Maybe now, she could make out time to get it done. She climbed past different plaques of their various achievements on the wall and gave credit to the cleaners for dusting them off. Three years plus of non-use had rendered the dining room table with one broken leg, and it was leaning over. The bend threatened to toss the tablecloth and the saltshaker on it to the floor.
She released the luggage and pushed a side stool against the table, making a note to take care of it. Then she went into the kitchen and placed the food items she’d bought into the fridge and freezer. Takeout would have to do for tonight. She just needed to figure out where to sleep on between the couch and her former bedroom.
She bit her lip. Her mom’s room was where she’d typically slept during challenging times. It had felt so comforting. She shook off the pull to go down memory lane and left the kitchen.
Rose carefully passed the coat rack, wiping it first with her finger to test its dustiness. She blew off few flecks from her finger before hanging her coat. Then she proceeded upstairs to the bedrooms with slackened shoulders, feeling more worn than she’d expected. Her back ached, and she wished for a hot bath.
But the heat wasn’t turned on yet, and she would need help with that. Or she could go to a hotel, which she could hardly afford. She had to conserve her spending until she received a first paycheck. A cold shower would have to do for now.
As she strolled into her old bedroom, the floor creaked. She flipped on the lights and sunk onto the bed with new sheets, lowering her head and slapping her eyes shut. Arms spread wide, she hoped to blink away the dreamlike reality. Lord Jesus, why am I here? Why did You return me to Elliot?