This Was Home [h.s.]

| 24. TRIPLE SCOOP |

"Mom always got the toasted coconut flavor and an extra cherry on top," I continued softly as I reminisced. "I don't even remember what I would get. Just her order. It never changed."

I let out a soft sigh as I glanced over to Harry. He met my gaze for a moment and smiled. He looked like he was caught up in his own thoughts. He also kind of looked like he just didn't know what to say either. That was okay with me, though. It was nice just to tell stories to someone who was open to listen to them. I hadn't been able to share memories that others hadn't heard in awhile.

"My mom was obsessed with coconut anything. Candies, ice-cream, pies, or even by itself," said Harry without looking away from the road.

I let out a soft hum as we both sat there, content with our own recollection of memories. I never really thought about how similar Harry and I's lives were. They were different in an abundance of ways, but I hardly considered how similar they were, too. Honestly, I think that had been what helped us understand one another more as we continued to learn about each other.

We both just really missed our moms.

I started to realize I was guiding Harry where to go without the map. I hadn't looked down at it once since we passed by the ice-cream shop. Each building served as a landmark of memories, each representing their own stories. Seeing the old diner on the corner made my heart skip a beat upon coming up to it.

When I was younger, seeing that diner filled me with the opposite feeling. It meant that Uncle Dan's house was coming up and we would be there soon. It was also the usual go-to spot for us to eat all together as a family. It was before Alayna was born, because the trips soon stopped afterwards. Life seemed to just get too hard for her as a single mom, and I didn't think she ever fully caught up. Then the Crawlers happened and neither did anyone else.

"It'll be right down this road here," I said quietly as I pointed towards a side street.

It was rocky and I heard little pebbles spin through the tires as they shot out behind us. A cloud of dirt trailed from the back, leaving a weird feeling in my chest. It felt tight, almost like I was breathing in the dust and debris with it. It was like I felt every little rock that hit against the wheels also hit inside my chest and into my lungs. I could feel the holes puncturing now, leaving little pockets of air to escape the second I inhaled in.

"It's gonna be fenced in, so just wait at the opening. He used to have a camera, but it's been a long time so I don't know if he'll still have it," I said softly as I folded up the map that had laid unattended to in my lap the last ten minutes or so.

He was the one who helped build our fence at our home in Oregon. Mom called him the second she found out about the havoc that was going on in the city, and he immediately urged her that we needed to go somewhere else secluded. I remembered her arguing with him, saying that she couldn't leave our family home with all our stuff. I wasn't sure what was all said between both parties, but I did remember that we stayed for quite awhile after that. We camped out a lot in the basement, surviving off all the canned goods that we had left in the pantry. We stayed until we couldn't any more, resulting in us finding the house we had spent the last of our days together in.