When the cold rain slapped me against my face, I started to jog. Despite this, I was still soaking wet by the time I climbed into the cabin. I was a little disappointed that I was out of breath. I could even feel a twinge of pain on the side of my chest.

That will teach me to lay in bed all day, I thought. Maybe I should go see my doctor again. Sarah would certainly ask. She had the last few times I had seen her.

I do need more cholesterol medicine, I admitted to myself. I hadn’t taken the medicine in months. Then again, maybe I didn’t need it since I wasn’t eating as much junk any more.

Too bad Mimi isn’t around to see me, I thought.

My grandmother would always tell me I needed to gain weight. Actually, everyone told me. Years later, after seeing an old picture of myself, I realized they had been right. I used to be just skin and bones. In fact, I looked like a smiling skeleton.

Actually, I should also probably go visit a dentist as well, I thought. Then I shook my head and snorted.

When I first left home, I had gone fifteen years without going to a dentist and I had been fine. Although both sides of my family had cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's, at least we had died with great teeth and a full head of hair.

Besides, I’m doing better than my truck, I thought, annoyed that it took three tries before the truck started.

I took one final look at my house through the broken front windshield. I still couldn’t quite believe I had lived in a house long enough to pay it off. My grandmother had paid the down payment for it when I was in college. After my divorce, it became my ex wife's house. Then, a few years later, I bought it from her when she couldn’t afford the payments any longer.

Just thinking about Troll still was enough to put me in a bad mood. The only thing that made it more bearable was the fact that she had eventually moved in with a drunk who kept throwing her out of the house. Part of me was still surprised that any man would want her. Then again, she was an amazing liar.

Sarah had told me stories about how she would set up dates with men with no intention of showing up. Other times she would just go for the free food. Then again, after some of the other things Sarah had told me about, I hoped she was miserable.

I still felt guilty. I wish I had known what life had been like for her. Although I eventually filed for custody, I still wished I had done so sooner. Squeezing the steering wheel tightly, I took a deep breath.

Strange how things come around again sometimes, I thought. Too bad karma is a fickle bitch.

Of course, that reminded me of my daughter again. When we were crossing a stream at the park one day, Sarah fell into the water. Trying to lighten the mood, I tried to act like I thought it was funny, only to immediately fall and crush one of the joints on my pinkie finger. I almost lost it.

“Ignorant idiots,” I muttered. Although I did wait a couple of days to visit the hospital, the doctors were far from helpful. They were even less helpful than when I took my grandmother to the hospital.

They said my pinkie was fractured and dislocated. They didn’t even explain anything else except that I needed to see a specialist. Not sure why they left it dislocated, I had tried to put it back into place myself.

It would have saved me a lot of pain if they had actually mentioned the reason my pinkie was dislocated was because the joint bones were shattered, not just fractured. It would stay that way until I had reconstructive surgery. The specialist said I was lucky not to have lost the finger.

Looking down at my left hand, I realized if there was a curse on my family, it was definitely after my left hand. Two of my fingers, the pinkie and the ring finger, had clearly been injured badly. As for the pointer finger, it was crazy how much flesh had actually regenerated after I cut off half of the finger tip. When combined with the scars, my hand looked like it had been in a war.

Taking another deep breath, I tried to clear away old memories. I hated driving at night in the rain. I had ever since Elizabeth died. Pushing aside such thoughts, I slowly backed up and started driving.

The windshield wipers were useless. Sheets of rain slammed against the glass. The road ahead was little more than a blur of darkness despite my headlights. I could feel the wind pushing against the truck every once in a while. At other times, I would be forced to slow down to the approaching cars whose headlights were blinding.

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I shivered. My knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. I then leaned forward, squinting to make out the road. It was hard to see where the road ended in the darkness. If I hadn’t known the way by heart, I would have been forced to stop and wait until the rain subsided.

As it was, the rain beat against the roof of the truck as I tried not to think about the night of the accident. It had also been a stormy night, although Carey had been driving. She claimed my hard braking would wake Elizabeth up. I could almost hear the loud, high-pitched screeching of the tires as Carey tried to avoid the drunk driver. The twisting metal and the shattering glass had been deafening.

The truck skidded slightly as I hit a patch of water. It jolted me back to the present, my heart hammering. I muttered a quick curse under my breath and adjusted my speed, trying to push the memories back down.

I shook my head, forcing myself back to the present. Sometimes, I wished for nothing more than to forget about the past. Remembering all the things I did, or didn’t do, often haunted me.

The road ahead was almost impossible to see. I could just make out the shapes of trees bending under the force of the wind, their branches whipping wildly. Each flash of lightning cast them in stark relief, momentarily blinding me. Shaking my head, I pushed away such thoughts.

The siren hadn’t stopped either. It’s unrelenting wail had started to give me a headache. At least the heater in my truck had finally started to blow some warmish air. Of course, this started to fog up the windows. Although I usually didn’t listen to the radio, I decided to turn it on for a weather update.

I was tempted to flip through the channels. However, I was worried it might lead to an accident if I didn’t concentrate completely on the road. Because of this, I turned off the radio. It wasn’t like I was going to do anything different that I was already doing.

I passed through an intersection where dark traffic lights swung violently on their wires. I could even feel the wind trying to push the truck off the road. What scared me though was the hail, which had started pelting the truck’s windshield. Since it was already broken, I was worried that it would completely break apart.

The rain began to ease slightly as I approached the outskirts of her neighborhood. The storm lost some of its intensity, though the wind still howled like a living thing. Streetlights flickered as I passed, casting eerie shadows across the wet pavement.

As I turned down the last stretch of road, the hail stopped. Even the rain slowed down drastically. I was glad for the change in the weather since it made it easier for me to drive. My headlights finally caught the familiar shape of their mobile home in the distance.

Relief washed over me as I thought, I knew I was worried for no reason.

I slowed down for a moment while I tried to decide if I should stop or not. Now that I could see their home was fine, I didn’t want to disturb them. However, after a moment, I went ahead and pulled into their driveway since something was still bothering me.

I pulled up next to the silver car I had bought for her years ago. It was a Chevy Cobalt. Considering how much grief it had given her, I was surprised every time I saw it. I was always worried that it would start working. Either that, or that she would trade it in for something newer.

As for the boyfriend’s truck, it was probably in the back. From what I had been able to gather, he would often pick up items that other people had set on the curb to get rid of and store them in his shed outback until he was able to use them or sell them. Although it wasn’t something I would do, I actually had to give him props for doing whatever he needed to make ends meet.

Of course, judging by what little I had seen when I came by at Christmas, he wasn’t the best at making repairs. Sarah had tried to brag about how he was trying to fix some of the items so that they could sell them for extra money. She had even pointed out a table that he had repaired. However, I wasn't impressed by what I had seen.

I took a deep breath. My heart was pounding as I stopped in front of their home. For a moment, I almost convinced myself to turn around. But then that worry crept back in, settling in my chest like a weight. I needed to see her, just to be sure.

While I hadn’t noticed it before, I realized that their home had lost power. Not a single light was on around the house. While I knew it was probably nothing, I still felt compelled to get out and check on them. I left my truck lights on so that I could see better.

After climbing down from the truck, I quickly shut the door and ran toward the front of Sarah’s home. Although I expected to find them in the storm shelter, I wanted to make sure they weren’t still in the house first. Afterall, I would probably still be in the house.

Sarah was different though. She worried about everything. Because of this, I knew she wouldn’t be in the house. Unless, of course, her boyfriend refused to leave. That might convince her to stay.

I wonder if Elizabeth would be the same, I wondered. What would she be like? I really had no idea since she died so young.

I shook my head and tried to force myself to focus. Still, despite my best efforts, I found it difficult. Suddenly tired for some reason, I knocked on the front door. While I was waiting for an answer, I went ahead and checked the door. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. I frowned.

I thought I taught you better than that, I thought.

Feeling a little weird, I went ahead and opened the door. It felt strange walking uninvited into another person’s home. Even when I visited family members who were expecting me, I would always wait until they came to the door.

The wind nearly jerked the doorknob from my hand as I pushed the door open. After a small stumble, I closed the door behind me. I called out, “Sarah?” While I would have liked to have called out his name too, I really couldn’t remember it.

After taking a few steps into the hallway, I paused by the entry table. Sarah’s keys were there, along with her purse and a couple of letters she’d left unopened. So, she hadn’t gone far. But where was she? And why had she left the door unlocked?