Bloomington 2 (teacherxstudent) (wlw) (gxg)

The familiar weight of the plush bunny in Catherine's hand felt absurd, a small, faded toy holding a disproportionate amount of sorrow and memory. She tried to zip her travel bag, preparing for a journey that felt less like a new beginning and more like a forced confrontation with a past she desperately wanted to outrun.

At thirty-three, a distinguished woman, she shouldn't be clutching a child's toy. Yet, every attempt to discard it failed. It was an Easter gift from her mother, a relic of a family lost too soon, too violently, in a plane crash when she was just fifteen.

Bloomington, this small town, was all she had left of them. She'd tried to leave once, for Stanford, but the pull of home, of these few material possessions, had always brought her back. They were her anchors in a life robbed of familial comfort.

Then, Jackie's voice, sharp and dismissive, echoed in her mind: 'insulting her inheritance.' Spoiled? The word stung, a fresh wound on old scars. How could someone who’d lost everything at fifteen be spoiled? Sure, the house was grand, the clothes fine, the Porsche sleek. But what was it all for? No children, no spouse, no family. She'd trade it all, every last cent, to fill the aching void that consumed her every night in that empty house, every holiday spent alone. The pain, raw and sudden, was like a physical blow. That moment, nearly a year and a half ago, when Jackie's words had ignited a rage she hadn't known she possessed, came flooding back.