down on the farm ⚣ ryden

1

"Mom, I don't even know these people! I am not going to spend an entire summer with people I don't know all the way across the country!" Ryan yelled.

"Ryan, calm down," his mother said. "This will be a good experience for you. Besides, you need to get away from your...friends."

"My friends have nothing to do with this."

"They damn well do, and you know it," she said angrily. "You've been suspended three times this year and last night was the final straw."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Here we go."

"Yes, here we go! I got a call from the police saying you had been arrested, Ryan," she yelled. "Because of your friends!"

"Don't involve them in this."

"So you did all of it on your own?"

Ryan sighed.

"You burned someone's house down, Ryan! Do you know who else burned houses down? Serial killers," she said, nodding. "Do you want to be a serial killer?"

He scoffed. "I'm not a killer, mom. Setting one fire doesn't equal killer."

His mother sighed. "I told the cops that I would take care of your punishment because you're underage. You're lucky they agreed. And this is what's going to happen. The Urie's were kind enough to agree to let you stay with them this summer. You're going and that is final."

Ryan shook his head, crossing his arms. "You can't make me do anything."

"Oh, but I can. Because I'll be damned if my son turns out to be another Ted Bundy."

"Stop talking like an idiot, mom. Do you know anything about the homicidal triad? Because, hey, Slash wets the bed and he's not a killer. No. He's in a band. That statement was completely asinine."

"Go to your room and pack. We're leaving in the morning at 8. Our train leaves at 9," she said, crossing her arms and walking away.

Ryan stood in the middle of the kitchen for a moment. There was so much he wanted to say to his mother, but he held his tongue. Leaving. In the morning. Within the next eight hours, he would be leaving. Gone. He would be leaving Vegas and going to Arkan-geor-ippi-ana or wherever. He would be spending the summer before his senior year with a family he didn't know (and therefore didn't like) all because of some stupid teenage fun.

"Well, fuck you, too," he muttered, walking down the hall to his room and slamming the door shut. His mother might've been forcing him to go, but he'd be damned if he'd go quietly or easily. She wasn't making it easy on him and he wouldn't make it easy on her.

+

"You're not twelve anymore, Ryan. Are you going to ignore me the entire train ride there?" his mother asked.

Ryan sighed. "I'm not ignoring you. I just think this whole situation sucks dick."

"Watch your language," she warned.

He rolled his eyes. "Why should you care? You won't have to deal with me all summer, so why don't you just suck up all of my negative energy now?" he smiled sweetly.

His mother rolled her eyes. "We'll be there in about an hour."

"Woohoo."

When the train finally rolled to a stop and Ryan and his mother got their bags and got off the train, his nose immediately wrinkled. He looked around. The train station was small. The buildings were smaller. He hoisted the strap of his backpack higher up on his shoulder. He kept quiet as his mother called for a cab. The ride to the house seemed to feel longer than the train ride to wherever he was.