Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

The dark clouds pass when we turn onto the street I grew up on. It looks a little different with
Calvin here. I notice things I normally wouldn’t—the broken shingles on the little brown house at the
top of the street, the rusty stain dripping down the side of a house-turned-makeshift apartment
complex. We pass another house-turned-apartment with shabby front steps and last year’s Christmas
lights strung up even though it’s late summer.
I wonder what he thinks of the place. I know Calvin grew up with money, so I wonder if he
pictured the place I grew up a little nicer.
I push away the anxious thought. I don’t think it will really matter to him. He knew I came from a
modest upbringing.
I glance around as Hollis stops at the last stop sign before my house. On instinct, I glance right,
then left, to look for a car.
Only when I look left, my sight catches on something strangely familiar. A big beige house with a
wraparound porch.
My heart seizes when I see that porch.
Sinks into my gut when I notice the dingy blue Knicks flag hung up beside the front door.
My chest tightens. I try to breathe, but I can’t.
“Hallie.”
I hear Calvin’s voice, but it’s not enough to pull me out of it.
It can’t be.
It can’t be.
He knows where my mom lives. He picked me up from there a couple of times. There’s no way
that selfish bastard actually bought the house four houses down from my mom’s.
“Hallie.”
There’s more urgency in Calvin’s tone this time as he sits forward.
I try to stop it, but I can’t control my body. I can’t make myself breathe. Panic sets in and the
suffocating feeling intensifies.
Calvin is off the seat and sitting beside me a moment later.
The car slows to a stop because we’re right in front of my mom’s house.
“Hallie, breathe,” Calvin says firmly, looking me in the eyes. His voice is calm and grounded.
Once I lock eyes with him, he inhales slowly and exhales through his mouth, as if to show me how to
do it.
I draw a shallow breath, my eyes not leaving his.