8

          IT'S a long commute to his ex-girlfriend's house. Shawn panics multiple times on the train, and again when he steps off it. He remembers clearly what had happened: he caught her cheating on him, he walked out, and never looked back. He pushed everyone he knew away from him, and there was no closure. Not for anybody.

          Shawn thinks of his mantra, but it does him no good. He considers thinking of all the chilled out ladies at #87 Mystic Lane, like they were all high off of some shared spliff, but even that doesn't help.

          The only thing that calms him down is Fleur's voice, reminding him ages ago, to call on his spirit guide for help. She said, "When you're lost, they'll show you the way. They'll tell you what to do."

          So that's what he's doing now, standing at the terminal, begging his spirit guide to please, please show him a sign. What does he do? What does he say? Does he make amends? Does making amends mean getting back together?

          Just then, it hits him that getting back together might mean going back to his old life. The life he'd just stepped out of, the life he never wanted to have in the first place.

          Going back to it means a lot of things, but the worst of all meaning he'd lose Fleur. The possibility of a future with her, and all the lessons he had to learn inside her little Healing House.

          God, it was more than just a house now. It was a home.

          He can't even remember why he liked his ex-girlfriend so much; can't remember why he spent all that time pining after her when he could've just accepted that things were over and moved on. Maybe it was all that time spent in the Healing House; it tended to make you forget all the negativity.

          It was as if by stocking up on knowledge about its residents, about Aurora and about Fleur, he cleared everything else out to make room for them.

         So what on Earth was he still doing here? He had to go back. He had to go back home. To #87 Mystic Lane, with all the eccentric ladies and their quirky books and cards and outfits and beliefs. To Aurora, who had become something like family to him. And most of all: To Fleur, with whom he stood a chance of having a brighter future with.

          He had to go back. That was what his spirit guide was telling him.