Miles settled into the passenger seat of the truck, urging Felix to start the engine and drive without hesitation. He dismissed any concerns about Sandro, his loyal dog, not being with them. His certainty about moving forward seemed almost forceful as he tried to suppress the emotions swirling inside him. Felix, though concerned, wisely chose not to press the matter further, respecting Miles’s desire to proceed in silence. The truck moved steadily down the road, but Miles’s thoughts were far from quiet. He had been overwhelmed with worry just moments before, fearing for Felix’s well-being, yet in this moment, those concerns felt misplaced. The realization came slowly, but with clarity—he had been misdirecting his fears all along. As they left the house behind, Miles was left grappling with the weight of these thoughts, questioning everything he had been feeling.

As the miles passed, Miles’s thoughts turned inward, and his mind wandered to his sister, Dizzy. Her tear-streaked, disheveled appearance from earlier haunted him, making him feel a deep sense of sorrow and frustration. It was impossible for him to comprehend how their father could be so neglectful, failing to show love for her, a girl who had been through so much. The painful memory of Dizzy peering through the door peephole lingered in his mind, stirring up a torrent of emotions. This image triggered a deep resentment, one that had been building for years, aimed directly at their father. Yet, in a twist of fate, Dizzy’s soft words about Sandro wanting to stay resonated with him, and for a fleeting moment, they shared a bond through their mutual pain. This connection, unexpected but real, made him feel less alone as they drove toward the hospital. However, the joy of discovering their new half-sister faded into the background as the unresolved tensions in their family threatened to overshadow everything else.

As the truck continued on its way, Miles found himself feeling an unexpected shift in his emotions. The anger he had carried for so long toward his father began to dissolve, leaving behind a cloud of confusion. His mind started to drift back to the idealized images of his father, the man he had always believed to be strong and infallible. He recalled the pictures, the snapshots of a man he had once admired, but now, those images felt distant and almost unattainable. The door that had been so firmly closed on him and Dizzy by their father left him with a bitter taste of betrayal. This realization brought with it a complex mix of feelings—anger at the abandonment, but also a deep yearning to understand what had led their father to make such choices. These conflicting emotions left Miles torn between his need for closure and the painful reality of the situation. He felt adrift, unable to reconcile the father he had hoped for with the man he had become.

As they neared the highway, a sudden, sharp physical discomfort overtook him. It was as if his body had become alien to him, growing awkward and unbalanced in the face of his emotional turmoil. Dizzy, sensing his unease, moved away from him slightly, her own discomfort mirroring his. The tension in the truck was palpable as he fidgeted restlessly, unable to settle into the seat. In that moment, amidst the chaos within, a sense of clarity emerged from the confusion. Miles, with a newfound resolve, knew that the only way forward was to face the unresolved issues that had been clouding his mind. “I’m sorry, Felix, but we need to go back,” he said, his voice steady but firm. The decision felt right—he couldn’t continue on this path without confronting the emotional baggage that had been weighing him down. Miles recognized that facing the past was the only way to find peace and closure, and he knew that this journey was one he had to make, not just for himself, but for Dizzy and their future.