Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis — Read

Robert Miller had begun the cleansing on Thursday, November sixth, starting with the exterminator he always used in such cases, tenting the house at six o'clock that evening. On the following night of November seventh Miller's team set up their equipment in 307 Elsinore Lane and left, returning on Saturday night-exactly twenty-four hours later-and once it was understood that the space had been cleaned removed their equipment from the house. This was all relayed to me by Robert Miller in a phone call after my plane landed at the Midland Airport at 2: 15 on Sunday afternoon as I was driving the Range Rover back into town. Miller felt confident that the house was "safe. " He mentioned "specific changes" that had occurred after his team returned on Saturday. He assured me that I would be pleased with these transformations. The damage that had occurred during the ISR was not "corrected" (the door that flew from its hinges; the hole punctured in the wall) but he insisted I would be gratified by the "physical differences" in the rest of the house. After this conversation, my need to see the house was overpowering. Instead of heading to the Four Seasons I drove to 307 Elsinore Lane.

The first thing I noticed-and I gasped at this as I pulled up to the house-was that the lily white paint had returned, replacing the pink stucco that had infected its exterior. I remember parking the Range Rover in the driveway and walking toward the house in awe, my hand clutching the keys, and the sheer relief washing through me caused my body to feel different. The regret that had been defining me lifted off, and I became someone else. I walked to the side of the house-now the same blank white that had been there in July-and I touched the wall and felt nothing except a sense of peace that, for once, I hadn't imposed upon myself. It was genuine.