I wake up in a hospital bed with an older woman standing over me.
I groaned and tried to sit up but she pushed me back.
"Son you need to rest. The only reason I woke you is because otherwise you would go into a coma."
I looked at her in shock. "Why am I here? I don't remember much."
"You had panic attack and blacked out, and according to the young man who brought you, you hit your head extremely hard and got a concussion." She said this while checking my monitors and other things. She started to take my blood pressure and I tried to make myself remember what had happened.
"Now, you'll be staying in this room with another patient. You're over 14 so you don't have to have a family member with you, but if you need to call anyone let us know" she said while walking out the door. I look to my left and see a curtain splitting me and another bed from each other.
I hear the curtain pull back and I see a boy that looks to be about my age in the bed.
"Um, hi? I'm Blake."
I sit up and smile "I'm Holden James."
After talking for a while and me telling him why I ended up here, I asked him, "So why are you in here?"
"It's a long story but I ended up stabbing my leg. They think it was a accident but...you know.'" Blake says awkwardly. He looked away towards the window.
"Well damn" I said mildly shocked. I examine his features a bit more when he turned back around.He had loose curly light brown hair and blue eyes. Freckles scattered his face and when he smiled I saw a small gap between his two front teeth. He had a bit of a childish spunk to him and for some reason...that was really attractive.
He picks up a pack of cards and looks to me. "They left us a pack of cards and some crayons and paper. Now I'm not an artist so I think we should play cards if you're up to it?" he says laughing.
I nod my head and we agree on playing something called Slap. When it starts he says to me "So any idea when you get out?"
"Not really. I figure not long. Maybe today. I woke up earlier and they were talking about putting me on something called Lexapro. I don't know. What about you?"
"Today or tomorrow, my leg is almost healed enough to leave" he said smiling partly. "Hey, when we get out of here, do you want to go with me somewhere? I ain't got family to keep me say home so I roam a lot. I know a few cool places"
I smiled. "Yea. That would be cool. I don't really have anyone either, except for my sister and she's at college down in Alabama. She really only went there for the band. She's a bari sax player and they needed her. She was a Tennessee Honor Band legend."
I laugh remembering when she got in. She was going out with some friends to shop for dresses for prom when the letter arrived. She opened it and she had been granted a full scholarship. This was a year after my mom died and 14 years after my dad left.I loved my sister. Brealyyn was the only family I had.
Blake looked toward the window yet again and signaled me to come over. "It's only 11 am and the city is already busting with life. Do you like Nashville?"
"I guess. We lived in Alabama for some time. It was quieter and more rural. We helped do crops and take care of animals on a big farm next to us. I guess that's why I know so much, and why I'm a good farmhand."
We talked for a few hours. About our lives, our families. I discovered that he lived alone. His mom was a drunk that lived in Maine now and left the house to him and his dad got shot in a bar. He lived in Nashville his whole life, on the outskirts. He taught himself what he could and when that didn't work he forced himself back into high school. His birthday was June 19th, but the check from his mom never comes until the middle of August. His mom was a rich drunk that sent him money to help him through on his birthday.
Several hours passed and right before I was released Blake grabbed my hand and wrote his number down in pen. "I'm getting out tonight. Meet me at the swings in Warner Park at 7." He said grinning, his blue eyes looking at me as if this was a challenge. I agreed daringly and after a while I got my papers in order and right as I left they started to release Blake. I heard his full name, Blake Kent Anderson. It sounded really familiar but I didn't know where from.
After the taxi trip and I walked into my apartment. The familiar space felt like heaven to me. I wanted stay home but, seeing as I had no one left, I might as well make some new friends
When I got settled I turned on music and went to my room and started to undress from the blood covered shirt and the old pants, changing into a pair of black ripped jeans and a black shirt. I put my deep red gauges back in from where I had to take them out at the hospital. I examined my arms, where the freckles covered them and scars did to.
Maybe if I just stay quiet. That's what I used to tell myself when the older ones used to hurt me. Though not all of the scars were inflicted by them. The thick line ran down my arm and I couldn't ever forget about it.
I shook my head getting rid of the thoughts and brushed my teeth. Next was my hair. I swept it aside and examined where working in the sun darkened it. The freckles along my face scattered, just like they did my arms, and sometimes I wonder if I've had this many my whole life or if working as a farm hand played into that, but if I'm honest I've been a farm hand since I was young so I can't remember.
I went back into my room and pulled my notebook from under my bed. This notebook held every clue I had to finding my dad. Every lead to finding him. You'd think that after every missed birthday, award ceremony, basketball and baseball banquets that I would give up,but I refuse. There has to be something more. He has to know something.
He's too infamous for us not to know if he was dead but if he wanted something hidden, it'll stay hidden for as long as possible. No, he wasn't impossible to find, but finding where to start was the nearly impossible part. One month after my mothers murder I began. I checked who came to the funeral, and he was there. In the shadows, lurking. I tried to use that to track him down but it was to late. After that I followed every lead possible. I checked newspapers to see who had become an inmate, I checked stores, I checked bars. There was always a hint of him. But nothing enough to grab. Barely a lead, but enough to give me hope.
When I pulled the papers out and set them on the coffee table in the living room I noticed a thick off white envelope slipped under the door. My hands shook as I picked it up. To even get in this building someone had to let you in and I let no one in. I set the letter on the kitchen counter. It was 6:30 and I needed to leave to see Blake.
Blake Anderson was a interesting person. When I arrived at the park he signaled me over to his pick up truck. This truck was a rusty red ford f150.It was a 1960 model.
I walked to his truck and smiled at him. He had a cigarette in his hand and lighter in the other.
"Blake, smoking? Really?" I laughed
"Yep. Do you really think a boy like me wouldn't smoke? Hop in loverboy. I have some places to take you."
(A/N)
Hey guys. Finally a longer chapter. They should start coming in weekly so don't forget to vote to let me know you like it and add it to your library!
