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Going through boxes was not Evan Buckley’s idea of a good time.
Doing so in Hershey, Pennsylvania was the stuff of nightmares.
But he didn’t have much of a choice. He and Maddie had flown back to their childhood home to collect anything that was needed for Jee-Yun before the estate sale that would sell everything of value and put the money in an educational fund for her.
Getting the phone call from Maddie only two days prior had been surprising. In the two years since she and Chim had relocated to Boston for a fresh start, they communicated mostly by texts and emails with the occasional Facetime on holidays and birthdays. They both found it better. It didn’t bother either of them to do so. But phone calls out of the blue on a Tuesday morning? That was not normal in the least.
The news that their parents had passed away within hours of each other had been sad, he guessed. He didn’t really hold much love for them anymore, not after the last attempt at therapy had ended in a screaming match. They only agreed to be in the same room together for events involving Jee, which ended with the move. He hadn’t heard from them since before Maddie left.
Maddie had asked that Buck fly back to Pennsylvania to help her at least box up the most personal of items from their old home. “Two days at most,” she’d practically begged. “I promise. Even if we’re not done, you’re on a flight back to LA in two days. I just… with Chim up for a promotion at his station and Jee’s extracurriculars, I’m already stretched thin. I’d really appreciate the help, just for the weekend.”
Buck hadn’t bothered to point out that he had also just dealt with promotions, considering he was the newly minted Captain of C-shift at Station 118. But he’d given in to the request, mostly out of respect to his sister, and also because he wanted to slam the door on his past as soon as possible.
Luckily the weekend fell during his four days off shift. He caught the red eye to Philadelphia, rented a car, and drove the few hours back to the town he’d fled from so long ago.
The house hadn’t changed much in all the years he’d been gone. The paint was a different shade of white and the plants were different, but for the most part everything was very similar outside.
While he waited for Maddie to pull up, Buck took the time to check in with the 118, making sure that Ravi (who was covering for someone on A-shift) was alright and would be good to move back to C when he returned, and of course with Eddie, who was not exactly happy that Buck had caved. Hen had also sent a text, checking in from home where she was currently stuck with an injury that she still didn’t want to talk about with anyone but her doctor, don’t even think about it, I’m fine Buck.
Maddie arrived with their parents’ lawyer who immediately opened the house for them, getting them to sign a few papers, and taking off to announce the estate sale for a week later. Buck wasn’t going to be anywhere near the state at that point, but Maddie promised to be in town for it.
Once the legalities were taken care of, they split up and started to look over the house they hadn’t been in for years.
Buck found that the house felt like a time capsule. Besides some quality of life updates that were practically required in this day and age, the house looked the same as it did the day he left. Same wallpaper, same (or very similar) carpet, same feeling of not belonging. He passed a wall of pictures dedicated to Maddie’s accomplishments before heading into the garage, where his father had once stored a great deal of boxes.
That was an understatement.
“Holy shit.”
The garage was filled with plastic totes. They were the exact same style, but in different colors. Each one was carefully labeled in a black blocky handwriting on either side. The towers were taller than him, almost to the ceiling, and there was just enough space between each row to pull out a singular box.
Buck started snapping photos, sending them both to Maddie (so she knew exactly what he was about to deal with) and Eddie (because he was about to scream).
Eddie reacted first. The call connected, but the man was already halfway through a sentence. “-hell is all that?”
“Apparently my nightmare,” Buck snarked, fingers tracing over the labels. Maddie Middle School, Taxes 2010-2015, Seattle Home, Taxes 2005-2009. “Wait, what is this?”
“What? Turn on the stupid camera, I’m not doing this without seeing it.” With a quick click and a moment of pause, Eddie’s face filled his screen. He flipped to the other camera and showed him the boxes. “That’s a lot of boxes.”
“That’s an understatement, Eds. There’s like forty in here, all meticulously labeled. Most of them are either legal or Maddie. I’m on three labels, which is two more than I expected. And then there’s this one.” He turned the camera to the box labeled Seattle Home.
“Your family has a house in Seattle?”
Buck shrugged, knowing that the man wouldn’t see it. “Not that I knew of. Unless it happened after I left. I’m tempted to start there instead of starting with myself and getting pissed off at the lack of saved anything.”
“Do it. I’m curious too. They never mentioned it?”
Buck carefully balanced his phone on the row of boxes behind him after flipping the camera back. “No, I have no idea what this is. I never heard of it. They didn’t throw it in my face during those few therapy sessions. Hell, Maddie never mentioned it, so she might not know, either.” He carefully shifted the top two boxes to the floor before pulling the Seattle box free. The unassuming purple box was the only one in that color in the entire garage.
“Alright, Mom and Dad,” Buck muttered to himself, “What are you hiding?” He flipped open the top.
The stacks of folders were somewhat anticlimactic. But something shook loose from the top folder. A photo, dated only a month prior. He turned it over and dropped it like it burned.
“Buck!”
“What. The. Everliving. Fuck.”
He was staring at himself. Or, someone who looked pretty similar. Similar body type, though not as muscular. No birthmark. Darker hair, but not by much. Arms wrapped around two young children and his parents.
Buck flipped it back over again.
Daniel, Nora, and Maya, 2022.
“Buck, what the hell? Eddie is blowing up my phone and-”
Buck snapped up his head to see Maddie coming around the stacks of boxes. His hands shook holding the photo. How? Why? He couldn’t-didn’t…
She marched up to him and looked at what was in his hand. “What is that, something-” She cut herself off. “What?”
“Maddie,” Buck said, words barely leaving his bloodless lips in shock. “Mads, I-I think Daniel is alive.”