Days after a childhood fight in the yard at Mathew Bluedorn’s house in 1980s Rushland, PA, thirteen-year-old Lewis Hoppen vanished, leaving his best friends Amelia and Mathew haunted by unrelenting guilt stemming from his disappearance.

Years later and married with two children of their own, they submerge themselves in intense careers to distract themselves from their nagging shame—Mathew as an obsessive corporate accountant, and Amelia as a trainer in a toxic equestrian business.

When they realize decades of emotional Band-Aids aren’t working to heal their hearts from the loss of Lewis, the couple find themselves desperate to reclaim a sense of self and escape the dark shadow of their youth. They drop everything and buy their childhood getaway, the dilapidated Sugarmere Park Campground, hoping the remote Pennsylvania woods will quiet the ghosts of their past.

But the forest isn’t giving them the peace they are seeking. It’s hiding it.

As the all-consuming need to find the truth behind Lewis’s disappearance embeds itself into their new life, Amelia and Mathew must confront the reality that their geographic cure has turned to poison, and running from their past is no longer an option.

Set against a backdrop of poignant landscapes filled with memories and heartache, this novella explores whether the path to healing lies in reliving the best moments of our lives or facing the truths that shape us.