Coming Home

 

Julie stood at the bottom of the hill looking up at her parent’s farmhouse.  It had been so long since she had been here.  As she made her way up the lane, she saw her mum standing in the doorway waving at her, her face all smiles, her grey hair looking almost white in the sunlight.  It filled her heart with joy to see her mum again, after all this time, she felt a longing deep inside. 

Toby came running towards her, wagging his tail as usual, even his coat was starting to look a lot whiter than she’d remembered.  He scampered off into the wheatfield in pursuit of some poor unsuspecting wildlife no doubt, it brought back memories of her childhood, chasing Toby around the farmyard while he barked at the chickens.  The wheatfield seemed to glow as the sun rose in the sky giving it almost an ethereal look.  The old oak tree in the pasture still stood, tall and firm, like it had been there forever.  The rope swing was still hanging from its branch, and the memory of her days climbing and swinging almost brought a lump to her throat, they had been some goods times despite the grazed knee and the bruises.  Her and Jenny had been inseparable back then, running through fields, climbing trees, rolling down the hill in fits of laughter, it had been a happy time.  She wondered if Jenny would be here too.

The little style still had the wonky plank, her Dad still hadn’t fixed it, nothing changes.  James joined his wife on the doorstep, his broad smile making the lines on his weathered face stand out even more.  Waving his calloused hand, she remembered how much it used to tickle and scratch when he held hers, she’d never minded.  The sun shone through the farmhouse silhouetting her parents and bathing them in a warm glow.  She loved how the sun always shone through the back door and out the front on her birthday every year.  Her Dad had told her that he built the house like that especially for her, like Brunel’s Box Tunnel so that it always lit up her birthday.  It wasn’t until she grew up and realised the farmhouse was so much older than her that she decided it was probably just a coincidence, but she loved the idea anyway.

Seeing her parents standing there waiting for her, smiling, made her wish she had come back sooner, why had she left it so long?  She should have come back after Roger left, she almost did, but something held her back.  Life just got in the way.  But she was here now, at last and everything was going to be all right.

“Looks like the vehicle hit a patch of ice on the corner Sarge, driver lost control and straight into the tree.  Didn’t stand a chance the doc says.”

“Any ID Jones?”

“Driving licence, Julie Robinson, and an address in Ealing, West London.  Wonder what she was doing up here.”

“Get onto the Met, see if they can get someone round there, find a next of kin.”  The mist was rolling in off the hills making it almost impossible to see.  Driver, unfamiliar with the road, takes the bend too fast straight onto a patch of ice, he’d seen it plenty of times.

Sergeant West looked down at the dead woman and he thought he saw a smile on her face, she looked almost content, maybe it wasn’t an accident.  The sound of the zipper on the body bag broke his train of thought.  He looked out over the moor to the old farmhouse on the hill, empty and derelict now, then he watched the paramedics slide the body bag in the back of the ambulance and slam the door.  Sometimes he hated his job.