After several days of close calls, she had to breathe.

Nia thought of a line in the popular philosophical text, Elements of The Sublime by Anderz, Just as the body exhales carbon, the mind must expel negative emotion.

She was heading back home in a helicopter moving at max speed.

Flying feels like a miracle, Nia thought.

It was her first time.

She watched as the grassy plain below rolled by in a blur and tried to make out the shapes of houses and people in the rolling haze, but she was only guessing. Everything moved too quickly to discern one thing from another.

After a few more hours, the day began to dim.

The setting sun cast soft red light into the chopper, warming everyone more gently than it had during the scorching day.

Theo remained quiet. His mind was experiencing different weather.

The kind of weather reflected in his sulking face.

"15 minutes left," the pilot said.

"Get ready," Theo muttered, turning to Nia. She could see the spark of urgency in his eyes.

"I am."

She was anything but ready, though. She was drowning in anxiety; anxiety she tried to flush out by planting her feet firmly to the floor and twisting them back and forth vigorously in a poor attempt to let out the angst that tingled at the thought of returning home after being gone so long without any warning.

"Alright, I'm going to drop-copter," the pilot said.

"Drop-copter, what's that?" Nia asked Theo.

"Drop copter is short for drop the helicopter. So he's going to turn off the engine. That lowers the spin on the rotors and reduces the sound, so the helicopter will glide to the ground much more stealthily to avoid detection. We'll jump out quickly, and he'll take off right after."

"5, 4, 3..." The pilot counted down.

On one, he turned the rotors off. At first, there was a pause, like the pause at the moment when the train gets to the top of a roller coaster and is just about to fall. Then they began descending, slowly, then quickly. Nia felt a vortex form in her stomach, like that feeling one gets in free fall. She gritted her teeth and balled her hands into tight fists, resisting the urge to scream.

A light bump rocked the chopper. Theo swung the side door open, and both leaped out onto the soft grass. Mere seconds later, the once barely spinning rotor picked up speed, and the aircraft towered back into the starry sky.

Somewhat far off in the distance, Theo and Nia could see the outer ring of Nia's town. \

There were a few lights on in the houses. And some people were walking in the quiet, mostly deserted streets.

"Let's move," Nia said, taking Theo by surprise. He was used to giving orders. But, as anxious as she was, Nia was impatient to get home.

"Wait. Remember, Xymoran Police could be looking out for us. So keep your eyes open."

"Alright," she said, ignoring him as they sped off.

Nia turned her attention to the fields nearby. Watching the blades of grass bending back and forth, gracefully swaying in the gentle nightly breeze, was almost numinous.

The chill of the air, coupled with Nia's ringing anxiety, provided just enough energy to counteract the tiredness she felt creeping over her after a long, dramatic journey over the last few days. She was grateful for that because she wanted to be fresh-faced when she showed up to her home again.

They approached the town's outer limits cautiously. Nia was almost tipping. The main street, which the town's entrance opened into, was clear. It seemed everyone had retired to bed.

My family must be waiting up for me, right? Nia thought.

Perhaps it was vain, but she wanted to see them with tears for her in their eyes. Who doesn't want the people they love to mourn for them when they disappear?

They wound up a few more streets and alleyways before getting near Nia's home. When they were close, they ducked behind a tree. They looked to see if there was any sign of the Xymoran police. But there was nothing.

Nia could see that lights were on in the house, and she watched as a shadow moved back and forth against the curtains in the kitchen window.

"I think that's my mother's shadow, Theo," Nia squealed in delight.

"Shhh," Theo whispered, "are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright, you go in, and if everything's alright, wave at me through the kitchen window."

"Ok."

"But wait, take this," he said, stretching his hand toward her. In his palm was a sliver of tightly coiled paper. Nia reached out, took it, and uncurled it. It was a phone number.

"If you ever need anything, call."

"Hmmm. I don't want to ever see you again," Nia hissed.

Raw emotion filled Theo’s moonlit eyes. Nia could tell it ached him to say goodbye. As had been the case so many times with Theo, she didn't quite know how she felt. There was a knot in her throat, but it could just as easily have been woven of anger as it could have been of sorrow. Whatever it was made of, she figured she wouldn't miss the trouble.

The last few days had packed in them more drama than she had experienced in a lifetime.

It had been thrilling but far too scary.

"I have to go," Nia said blandly.

As she walked away, she felt him looking directly at her. She breathed a sigh of relief once she got far enough away.

On her way to her house, she took the paper and memorized the number on it, just in case, then discarded it.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Moments later, she knocked on the house's front door rapidly, with the unique combo she knew her little sister would recognize. The door creaked open. Nia stooped down to receive her little sister, Acadia, into her arms as she did whenever she returned home from any trip. Nia recalled Acadia would always come running clumsily and tumble into her arms with her cheeky smile and charming giggles. But it was Nia's mother who answered the door. Her head was bowed, and she looked disheveled; streaks of gray hair hung across her face, and tired eyes were shrouded behind them.

Nia stood still. Her mother had never been much of a hugger. In fact, she had shown her little affection over the years. Her mother often treated her like a stranger.

But, oddly, once she looked up and registered it was Nia, she brightened up.

"Hug me," she said.

They fell into each other and embraced. Nia could feel her mother's warm arms snake up across her back.

She was stunned to be experiencing so much affection from an always distant woman.

She was happy her mother was finally loving her.

Nia told herself not to cry, but once she heard her mother's sobs, her dam broke as well.

They moved inside, locked the door, and held each other for a while more.

Finally, Nia paused, remembering that Theo was waiting outside. She ran to the kitchen, peeled back the curtain, and waved to signal as they had agreed. She watched him step out of a tree's shadow into the glow of the moon; his face was calm, barely concealing sorrow, and he smiled as gently as the pain he felt would allow. Then he turned his back and jogged off into the night.

Nia shook her head.

Her mother looked on with a puzzled look that Nia detected in the haze of her periphery.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, mom, just waving at one of the neighbors."

"Oh."

"Where is Acadia?" Nia asked.

“Nia,” her mother, sighed and frowned.

“What?” Nia replied. “Everytime I mention Acadia, you always look so drained.”

"No...it’s...with you gone, I was worried we’d run out of food too fast, and she kept crying every day, so I sent her to her to her cousins to eat more and cheer up

be with her little cousins to cheer up."

"Damn, I'm dying to see her!"

"Don't worry; I'll call for her to come back. But right now, you have to tell me what happened. How did you disappear?" she asked, placing her palm against Nia's cheek.

"I'll tell you what I can, but I have to do something first."

Nia walked into her little sister's room to seek some solace. Nia wanted to be as near to Acadia as she could be. The room was undisturbed. The bed sheets unruffled. Nia jumped onto the bed and coughed as dust flew off it. .

The room was filled with shared memories. Acadia's drawings and paintings decorated the walls; some rested on her dresser, which Nia moved to. In the center of it was a drawing of her and Nia, with a large heart floating over their heads. “This heart’s color was once a vibrant red,” Nia said. “Now it’s faded,” Nia whimpered. Strangely, she somehow felt more sad than she thought she should. But she was far from the person she loved most in the world.

“Things fade too quickly,” Nia’s mother said.

Nia stared at it, arrested by sentimentality. Her mother's hands landed softly on her heavy shoulders, prompting a loud sigh to escape Nia’s lips. She fell back into her mother's cradling arms.

"I miss her."

"So do I," Nia's mom sobbed.

"Look," Nia said while she pulled out the bracelet she'd gone diving for.

"Oh my! Was this lost?" Her mother asked as she reached out and took it in her palm. "I remember getting one for each of you so long ago," she said, almost choking, while her eyes poured over it like it was a piece of Acadia herself.

"I got it back for her. I just wish she was here to see it."

"Hmmm," her mother said, taking Nia's hands into hers.

"Look, I have to ask again. You must tell me about everything that happened to you. I was worried sick."

"I will, mom. There's just so much, and I don't know if I should tell you. It might put you in danger." Nia said, just before collapsing back into her sister's bed.

"Oh, hun," she said with a quivering voice. "I'm your mother. I should be the one who's worried about you."

"Alright, I'll tell you tomorrow, but right now, I'm exhausted. I need some sleep."

"Ok," she said. "Tomorrow then."

#

Nia brushed her teeth, then took to the kitchen for food in the morning. Unsurprisingly, the cabinets were almost empty. Without her to go diving and trading, supplies had, of course, dwindled.

But some fish jerky was still stored in a large box under the dining table. So Nia grabbed a large piece and choked it down with some water.

Then she checked in on her mom, hoping to continue their conversation from the previous night, but she was fast asleep.

So Nia journeyed outside. The cool morning air greeted her with a gush at the door. She loved watching the leaves swirl in the breeze as she walked up the street. She had lived in the neighborhood for a long time, so the air there was saturated with the past. Every few breaths fired an image from an earlier time into her head.

The rows of houses triggered a vision of the past when the neighborhood was filled with life when she played with the neighbor's kids and cut herself falling again and again. Recalling those tearful moments brought a smile to her face. Nia thought of another excerpt from The Elements of the Sublime by Anderz, Nostalgia hurts, but it is the only wound we never really want to heal because the joy it brings heals our other ails.

It's too bad that most of the houses were empty, overrun by greenery, vines tangled over walls and roofs. And the grass in the yards was as tall as corn stalks.

Many former residents fled to the outskirts of cities. They were often better off living with the scraps tossed there than they were staying in a town where they struggled to feed themselves since it had no jobs or industry.

And since the discovery of the cloud in space, and the sense that a massive realm-wide war was coming, there was a vague apocalyptic feeling in the air that led them to leave behind their possessions and seek refuge in the jungles and forests.

Nia walked up to the end of her street and saw that streets that branched out from hers had many dilapidated homes too. That soured any desire she had to keep moving.

So she walked back home.

She went to her sister's room, found her way to the dresser, and began looking over it again. She began pulling open the drawers and noticed something she had missed. She remembered how she had replaced Acadia’s bracelet with her own when Acadia lost hers as a temporary measure.

Acadia promised to always carry it with her, just like she had always worn her old one wherever she went. It never came off her arm, and she would have done the same with the one Nia gave her, yet it was there on top of the dresser.

"Mom, come here, please!"

Her mom hurried into the room.

"Why did Acadia leave this?"

Her mother’s face straightened up.

"Mom, she never forgets this. You know, it's like a part of her," Nia said, draping her palms down her face.

“Not this again,” her mother said.

Her mother went silent and began walking to the bedroom window. Her face had reassumed the dim, dry expression Nia was more familiar with. She rapped her knuckles against the window loudly and screamed, "She's here! She's here!"

Then Nia saw a multitude of shadows stream outside the curtain that dressed the window. Her mind froze for a moment. Somehow, she knew deep in her heart that her mother had betrayed her. Reality rushed back in and snapped her out of her stupor when she heard the front door get kicked in followed by repeated yells of, "Xymoran Police!"

In a flash, she found herself flat on the ground, being cuffed. She looked up at her mother, desperately scoured her face for answers or at least a hint of remorse.

Her mother began speaking, "I had no choice."

Her words collapsed on Nia's heart like a ton of bricks.

The barrage of men hauled her outside. Their patrol cars were waiting to take her. As her feet dragged along helplessly beneath her, she strained her neck to look back at the house. She instinctively knew she would be leaving for the very last time. So she surveyed the outside intently to savor the image of it. Little had changed since she had last left. It was still a beaten-down, one-story shack. The paint was stripping. The wind and weather would take it all one day. But a house and a home are not the same things. Home is a feeling stitched together by many intimate memories shared with others in a common space. And despite the taint of that day, the feeling of home would forever be lodged in Nia's mind and heart.