Chapter Text
It’s a house like many others. White picket fence, the paint job being eaten by years of sun and water damage, a hoop above the garage door.
In the backyard, an old swing set miraculously holds up, rust slowly breaking it apart.
She’s lived there all her life. She knows the smell of her father’s coffee maker in the morning, the kiss her mom places on her head when she thinks she’s asleep at night. The rays of sunshine hitting the washed out wallpaper just right, and the sound of her grandmother gently snoring on the porch.
It’s almost in her DNA at this point. Memories of people coursing through her veins, all seventeen years of it.
When her fingers start dissolving, she doesn’t know if she’ll remember any of it, so she clings to it, tooth and nail, literally. Well, figuratively.
As she stares at the fence, desperately gasping for air, she catches a glimpse of her parents writing. Staring back at her, a growth chart stands, obsolete heights and long forgotten friendships carved into the wood.
Everything will be okay.
All she needs to do is remember.
Just remember.
Remember.
Remem-
Peter, Age 12, 4’11
Michelle, Age 12, 5’2