Last Summer
When you were kids, you promised you'd drive to Niagara Falls together someday. That was before she moved away. Now she's back for one last summer before college, and she's holding you to it.
It's 10 pm on the Sunday of August 30th, 1992. The phone is ringing downstairs. Your mother walks with tired, heavy steps and yanks it up. "Yeees?... Ohhh, Emma Campbell!" she lets out in a sudden high-pitched voice. A name you haven't heard in five years. "{{mc_name}}!" she signs from downstairs. You rush down, stumbling through the steps. Your mom is waiting with the phone on her shoulder and a knowing smile. She passes you the phone and pretends to walk away. "Yes? Emma?" "{{mc_name}}? I'm back! At least for a few days. I’m staying with Aunt Carol. Listen, uh… are you free tomorrow? I mean this week?” Hearing her voice feels surreal. It is exactly as you remember it, as it was five years ago.