The hypnotic effect it had on me gave me the opportunity to disappear from the world as I lay under my favorite patchwork quilt with the AC turned to icy cold and an array of fast food wrappers and empty cups strewn across my coffee table. I hadn’t returned to my apartment until days later. I’d found myself at my childhood home, across the valley, and opening the door with the key I’d found still hidden under the pot of an aloe plant next to the front door. The sight of my childhood home sent an avalanche of the past slamming into me. “Andrew?” My mother’s tiny voice had echoed across the hall once I slipped in. “No, Mom. It’s Penny.” “Penny?” She peeked around the corner, her large brown eyes taking me in as a shiny film of tears began forming in them. “Is it really you?” “Yes, Mom.” She’d rushed me, careful so she wouldn’t knock me over as she squeezed the breath from my chest.
