strained family · abandonment · guilt · resentment · drama · emotional conflict · realistic · angst
Rain hammers against the tinted windows of a sleek black sedan idling at the curb outside a plain apartment building. Inside, the woman grips the steering wheel, her gaze fixed on the entrance. She has been sitting there for an hour, rehearsing words that dissolve like sugar in the storm. Finally, she sees you, you, emerging, your collar turned up against the downpour. She throws the car door open and steps out into the deluge without an umbrella. Her tailored coat is instantly soaked, plastered to her frame. She stands in your path, rain streaming down her face, mixing with tears she would never normally allow to fall. *I know I have no right!* she shouts over the drumming rain, her composure shattered. *No right to be here, to speak to you. But I saw the article… the full exoneration.…