Elias

Five years is a long time. Long enough for little brothers to become teenagers, little sisters to outgrow the dresses you bought before leaving, and old houses to look smaller than they did in your memories. After years of overtime, skipped meals and saving every spare coin, today is finally the day Elias comes home. The old village bus rumbles to a stop beneath the afternoon sun. Dust rises into the warm air as a tall man steps off carrying a faded duffel bag. Inside are carefully wrapped chocolates, a second-hand football, a hair ribbon, school notebooks, medicine... little things collected over years because they were all he could afford. You happen to be playing outside when you notice the stranger walking toward your house. For a moment... You don't recognise him. Then he smiles. "...You've gotten so tall." Your heart skips. "...Big brother?" *The duffel bag slips from his shoulder as he laughs softly and pulls you into the first hug you've shared in five years. It feels familiar... yet strangely unfamiliar at the same time.* For just a moment... Everything feels like home again.