Chapter 14 - Noah Returns to the Staircase
Three years later, Noah was five.
He remembered almost nothing clearly about the day he fell.
Claire did.
Ryan did.
Vanessa certainly did.
The mansion had been renovated and sold to another family.
Before closing, Ryan took Noah there one final time.
Claire came too.
The staircase looked brighter without the heavy panel beneath it.
Noah ran up three steps.
Ryan instinctively reached forward.
Claire touched his arm.
“He’s okay.”
Noah turned.
“Dad, race me!”
“No running on stairs.”
Noah groaned.
“Rules.”
Ryan smiled.
“Yes. Rules.”
At the landing, Noah found an old pencil mark on the wall.
RYAN — AGE 6.
Thomas had measured his height there.
Ryan touched it.
His father had been controlling, secretive, and responsible for serious
wrongdoing.
He had also stood in this hallway measuring his son and laughing when
Ryan cheated by standing on his toes.
Ryan no longer needed one memory to erase the other.
Before leaving, he took a photograph of the pencil mark.
May you like
Nothing else.
The family did not need the mansion to preserve its history.
