Chapter 406 Dust to dust
Chapter 406 Dust to dust
Mia’s POV
+25 BONUS
The demolition permit had taken a week.
Paperwork. City inspections. Environmental assessments. Asbestos surveys. Lead paint testing. Structural engineering reports. Neighborhood impact statements.
Bureaucrats with clipboards telling me what I already knew–that the house at 847 Elm Street was sound enough to stand for another fifty years if someone wanted it to.
I didn’t want it to.
The demolition crew had arrived at dawn. Their trucks lined the street like a funeral procession. Orange and white. Safety cones arranged in careful rows. Yellow caution tape strung between metal barriers.
Now it was 9:47 AM and I stood across the street, watching men in hard hats attach cables to load–bearing walls.
The house looked smaller than I remembered.
White brick. Black shutters. The maple tree in the front yard that my mother had planted when I was three. Its branches reached
toward the second–floor windows where my childhood bedroom used to be.
Used to be.
Past tense.
Everything about this place was past tense now.
A man in a yellow vest approached me. Hard hat. Clipboard. The universal uniform of someone about to tell you things you
didn’t ask to know.
“Mrs. Williams?” He looked between me and my mother, uncertain which of us he was addressing.
“That’s me,” I said.
“Tom Reilly. Site supervisor.” He extended his hand and I shook it. His palm was rough. Calloused. “Just wanted to confirm one more time–you’re sure about this?”
“I’m sure.”
“It’s just that it’s a beautiful property. Good bones. Someone could renovate-”
“I don’t want it renovated.”
He nodded slowly. “Understood. And you’ve removed all personal items? Photos, documents, anything with sentimental—”
“There’s nothing in there I want to keep.”
That wasn’t entirely true. But it was true enough.
Tom consulted his clipboard. “We’ll start with controlled demolition of the interior load–bearing walls. Then we’ll bring in the excavator for the exterior. Should take about six hours for complete teardown. Another two days to clear the debris and prepare
the lot.”
“And then?”
“Then you can start fresh. Build whatever you want.” He smiled. “That’s the good part, right? Clean slate.”
Clean slate.
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Chapter 408 Dust to dust
+25 BONUS
“Thank you,” I said.
He nodded and walked back toward his crew.
The first crash came at 10:03 AM.
A long, drawn–out complaint from wood and brick that had stood together for forty years and didn’t understand why they were being separated now.
The second–floor bathroom wall collapsed inward. Dust billowed out through the windows. Gray and thick. It hung in the air like fog.
I watched it drift across the lawn. Across the driveway where I’d learned to ride a bike. Across the front steps where I’d sat with my mother on summer evenings, eating popsicles and watching fireflies.
Another crash. The dining room wall this time. The one with the built–in china cabinet where my mother had kept her good dishes. The ones we only used for holidays.
Thanksgiving. Christmas. Easter.
All those forced family dinners after Taylor and her mother moved in. Sitting at that table. Smiling. Pretending.
The cabinet was probably empty now. The dishes long gone. Sold or thrown away or taken by Taylor.
The excavator moved into position. Its massive arm extended toward the front of the house. The metal bucket attached to the end looked like a fist.
The excavator’s arm swung forward. The metal fist connected with the front wall. Brick crumbled. Wood splintered. The sound echoed down the street.
A chunk of the wall fell away, revealing the interior. I could see straight through to what used to be the kitchen. The counter where I’d done homework while my mother cooked dinner. The window over the sink where she’d stood washing dishes, looking out at her garden.
Another section of wall collapsed. The front porch sagged and then gave way entirely, crashing down into the basement below.
Dust rose in thick clouds. Gray and brown. It smelled like old paper and mildew and decades of accumulated secrets.
The excavator pulled back. Its arm extended upward, reaching for the roof.
The roof collapsed completely. Fell into the second floor. The sound was enormous. Final.
For a moment, everything was obscured by dust. Thick gray clouds that rolled across the street toward us. I could taste it in the back of my throat. Gritty and bitter.
When the dust began to settle, the house was unrecognizable. Just a pile of rubble. Broken brick. Splintered wood. Shattered glass catching the morning light.
“It’s gone,” I said. My voice sounded far away. Disconnected.
All those years. All that pain. And it just fits in a few dump trucks
I stood alone on the street as the last of the dump trucks pulled away.
The lot looked raw. Exposed. Like a wound that hadn’t scabbed over yet.
But it was clean.
And in a week, I could start building something new.
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Chapter 406 Dust to dust
Something better.
A house where people could be happy.
1 looked up at the sky. Breathed in. Deep.
+25 BONUS
