he recognized many of the things around him but could not remember the significance of most of them.

it was a weird mix of emotions for him. sentiment was something he had long extinguished from his being but being back here reminded him that the embers were not totally dead. on the other scale, he felt strangely liberated from the nostalgia that used to affect his every move back when he was still an inhabitant in this run-down house.

he took a deep breath, coughed a little more violently this time and took in the sights more intensely.

it was time.

he was home.