Lenore almost had everything she wanted.
In just a few short months, she'd graduate early from high school, start an internship at her father's new startup in San Francisco, and then head off to college in the fall on a full scholarship. Everything...
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The wind slipped down the path after Lenore, snatching at the edges of her dress as she ran. Even though it was still summer, the leaves in the forest behind the house were already starting to yellow and fall, and the half-bare trees provided little cover. Lenore wound her arms tight around herself to guard against the chill, but it did little good.
Once she had made it a good distance in, Lenore paused and looked behind her. She could still see the house if just a little. Her mother, Terra, and Delilah were still on the porch, watching. She didn't know if they could see her, but at least they weren't following. Lenore let out a sigh of relief and turned back to the path, slowing to a walk.
The wind kept pace, swirling around her and playing with the stray hairs that had snuck free from her bun. Lenore wished she had a better companion—she wished her grandmother was with her now. She had many memories of the two of them walking this path together. On hot days, they'd come this way to picnic in the shade of the trees. The image was so vivid she could almost feel the heat of the absent sun and let herself be warmed by its memory.
In her mind, she was small again, toddling after her grandmother with a heavy armful of flowers plucked from the garden while Gran led the way with the old wicker picnic basket. In this particular memory, her grandmother looked little like the thin and wispy thing Lenore had just left behind. Here, she was warm and full of life, her dark hair only half-silver.
"How much faaaarther?" Lenore had whined to her as she dragged her feet over the dusty dirt path.
Her grandmother looked back over her shoulder, smirking. She never complained or snapped at her, even when Lenore knew she was being bratty.
"Not much," she had said, punctuating it with a wink.
"But I'm tiiiiired of carrying these flowers," Lenore had replied. She had picked too many, and the bundle was heavy in her little arms.
"Why don't you run ahead, then?" her grandmother had replied with a nod up the path. "You can say hello to grandpa first, and I'll catch up."
"Okay!" Lenore chirped. Her grandmother's permission gave her a burst of energy, and suddenly the thick bouquet no longer weighed quite so much. She raced around her grandmother and down the path, her little legs pumping as hard as they could go as her grandmother chuckles following after her.
Her grandmother had been right. Of course, there wasn't much further to go, but the measure of distance had still been foreign to her at the time. Soon the forest parted, opening up onto a lush green clearing... and an old graveyard. In the bright summer light, the graveyard was a calm place, almost pretty, with bright wildflowers growing between the slanting stones. The only real structure was an old mausoleum that sat at the very back, a simple, unadorned stone building closed off with a rusted metal gate and overgrown with moss that held the sleeping remains of her great-great-grand-somethings.
