Once she had moved into her apartment, she had weaned herself off until a coworker overheard her talking to someone without seeing anyone nearby. The wind had stopped talking to her years before, yet she inevitably found herself asking for advice when she was stressed over something even though she knew the wind wouldn’t answer. Two valuable lessons had been learned the hard way. People were terrified of anyone being different, especially if involved with someone hearing voices and talking out loud to themselves. They assumed you were a psycho who took orders from your pets. The other lesson was, keeping her medication in her system placed a buffer on the emotional turmoil which made her want to talk to make-believe beings every time she felt a breeze.

Silas’ turning into a driveway that couldn’t be seen from the road brought a knot to her stomach. In her job as a realtor, she had to appear friendly and outgoing. Inside, she was a bundle of nerves, monitoring their movements and reactions if they came too close to her. During the pandemic, she had been able to keep a space between her and clients without drawing any notice. She would move away if they inadvertently came within a few inches of her.

She wasn’t looking forward to meeting such a large group of people. Memories of being overwhelmed when she had been a child and taken to the group home came back to taunt her.

Unexpectantly, the house Silas pulled up to eased the knot in her stomach. She could tell the home was old, but well cared for. Alanna could imagine the two-story house being used in a calendar or book for Southern Living with the surrounding trees giving it a picturesque setting. Visions of a big dinner table, with a mother cooking and children playing happily inside, brought a lump to her throat.

A happy family had been lost to her with her parents’ deaths. Instead, she had grown up with children who had been taken out of her life without any notice. Some years, she went to school without knowing who she would be sharing a bedroom with that night, or worse, have an empty bed where before it had been filled with another girl she had slept next to for months.

Because of Kate, she had learned never to get attached to any of her possessions, but being a ward of the state had taught her it was just as risky to develop any affection to anyone she came into contact with. Even with the Fields family, she had never truly given them a place in her heart, too afraid of them being ripped out of her life without any warning.

Indulging herself with make-believe fantasies about what it must have been like to grow up in the large home, she was startled out of her imaginings by the opening of the truck door.