The gravel driveway crackles and slides beneath the tyres. Tyres that until today have never known anything beside paved city streets and highways.

The car slows to a stop and the engine purs into silence. The sun shines through the beautiful hanging oak trees and the birds sing and flutter about the leaves.

She takes a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. With all the nervous air exhaled from her lungs, she opens the door. Her high heels don't agree with the gravel beneath as she stands and closes the car door behind her.

Smoothing out her black pencil skirt and taking another deep breath in, Brittany takes a few steps forward, sliding her sunglasses on-top her head.
Her crystal blue eyes blink and stare up and all around where she stands, taking it all in.

The absolute quiet. The fresh, crisp country air with the warm smell of grass and wild blooming flowers.

Everything is as picturesque as she remembered it. It feels as though not a single thing has changed since the last time she stood here, all those years ago.

The white house she adored so much as child, standing before her in all it's grandeur. It's warm welcoming porch with crystal clear windows and dark blue shutters. The lush grass of the surrounding land, the sort of rich colored green she had almost forgotten existed.

Everything was beautiful and perfect. Just like it always had been.

The front door squeaked on its hinges as she stepped inside. Fiddling with the keys in her hands as she laid eyes on the same rooms she had etched firmly in her memory. It was strangely quiet but still just as she remembered it.

The warmth, comfort and love flooded through her as childhood memories came rushing back like forgotten ghosts.

Brittany smiled at the memory of her young laughter ringing through the house as she would run downstairs and outside to play. Suddenly wondering if that tyre swing she adored so much was still hanging from that old tree out back.

Nothing had changed.

The smell of her aunts perfume lingered in the walls and furniture. It was as though she was still there, still standing it the kitchen making Brittany's favorite sandwich and her famous freshly squeezed lemonade.

Brittany closed her eyes as she felt her throat begin to tighten and her heart thud deep in her chest. It was all so overwhelming.

It wasn't necessarily a bad feeling.

Just, overwhelming.

She turned and walked back out onto the porch, locking the front door. Her shaking hands sliding her sunglasses back down over her eyes.

Glancing down at her watch to see it was only early afternoon, the agent wouldn't be there to meet her with the paperwork for another two o so hours.

She knew she could take the numerous bags piled up on the backseat inside and find a place for her clothes, but at that moment it was the last thing she felt like doing.

She needed to take a moment. A moment to breathe.

Soon she was driving back along the gravel driveway and out onto the quiet country road. Her life and career back in New York felt so far away as she took in the small township she was approaching.

The locals were out walking around with their children, enjoying the sunshine of this beautiful Saturday afternoon.
The strip of local shops and stores were busy with people walking in and out but still a far cry from the sights she was used to back in the big city.

It was simple here. Small, quiet and yet utterly gorgeous.

All the love she had for this place as a child started to bloom again inside of her. She couldn't help but smile at the familiar sights and sounds around her.

Brittany pulled up along the main road and parked outside "Tides", the local bar all the grownups would hang out at back in the day. It was the social hub of the town as she recalled but as a child never got to see the inside of it.

Her silver BMW sparkled in the sun and stood out amongst the old beaten-up trucks and Utes parked nearby. Her outfit was also less than ideal for what this town would probably be used to seeing, but despite feeling out of place at that very moment, Brittany knew deep down that Madison, Nebraska was the only true place she had ever called home.

Her world had been completely turned upside down in a matter of only a few weeks. Situations she never thought she would be facing and decisions she never thought she would be forced to make.

But here she was.

As she pushed open the old door to the bar, Brittany hoped she could finally just take a moment to relax and figure out what her next move was going to be.

Maybe then her world would stop spinning.