It Took a Girl

The Beginning of a New Phase

Ryan awakes with a start, his clock reads 5:00 as he rolls out of bed. He had been dreaming about his first time seeing his dads old truck again. He puts on his old jeans and slips on his boots. As he creeps downstairs he sees his mom, passed out on the couch again. He sneaks out the back door and attends to his small garden. He's been maintaining it for years since it helps feed the family. Right around 5:45 he walks back inside and pops some toast in the toaster. After eating his breakfast he walks out the door. He finds his older sister also passed out holding a bottle of liquor on the front porch. Sighing he climbs in his truck he fires it up to leave for school. 

Getting to school, he parks it in the back like he always does and prepares himself for the jokes people are going to make as he goes about his day. Climbing out of the truck he walks inside. The jokes and insults start pouring down almost immediately. Words like white trash, hick, loner, and the like don't even phase him anymore. He lost his last friend 2 years ago when he double-crossed him and told everyone about his mom. Since that point, no one has wanted to talk to him. Only laugh at him.

He battles his way through the last day of school and gets out of those doors excited to get back to focusing on his landscaping business full time. He had started a landscaping business to make more money and make things a little less tight around the home. Something told him he shouldn't get home yet. So he decides to take a long drive before coming home. He ends up getting on the eastbound highway in the mountains of Kentucky. It had been a long year, school had been tougher than usual. As he tried to balance school and still work 30+ hour weeks. He was tired and ready for a break. 

Slowly his worries roll on by as he listens to the sound of his mud tires humming on the highway. quite quickly his worries are drowned out by the drone of the engine and the wind whipping through his windows. Bought 3 hours or so down the road, he comes up to the ocean. He didn't realize how long he had been driving. Now that he realized how close he was to the ocean he wondered why he had never made it out before. 

He parks the truck at the beach and leaves his shoes behind. Walking out onto the beach he strolls up to a kayak rental place. He pays the rental fee and paddles out onto the ocean, its an amazing feeling. The breeze is trying to blow him back to shore, but he ignores it and paddles a few hundred yards farther out. Turning back around he sits there and is stunned by the sheer beauty of the coast as the sun sinks down. He watches the entire sunset before paddling back to the kayak rental place. 

He walks back to the truck and drives off. He stops partway through the drive in a field. He climbs out and sits on the toolbox. Checking his watch he realizes its gonna be a late night today. He thinks about work in the morning, for once in his life he doesn't care about work in the morning. Right now he is totally engrossed in the stars above his head. 

An hour later he climbs back in the driver seat and heads off. As he rolls up to his house he sees blue and red flashing lights. Hopping out of the truck he rushes inside. The officers are standing around with notepads. 

He quickly explains his relationship to them and asks the officer what happened. A man came in and allegedly killed your mom and sister with a knife. When we arrived here he stabbed himself to death. 

Ryan wasn't sure what to think, he felt a strange void of emotion. He wasn't mad about it, he wasn't upset that his family was gone, instead, his thoughts drifted into his next move. He woke up laying on a bench at the police station. His head was pounding and he couldn't remember how he got to the station. 

Officer John greeted him and shared his condolences.  He then offered to take him to get his stuff. Ryan happily accepted the offer along with the donut for breakfast. As they drove out to his trailer the officer informed him of what was about to happen. 

"So since you have no relatives able to care for you, your going to have to go into the foster system. The foster family that is ready to receive you is located an hour and a half east. At their home, you'll wait for adoption. I know this probably isn't how you wanted to spend your summer but I wish you the best in your future endeavors. And if you're ever in town, please stop by the station, I'd be happy to see you."

As they rolled up to the house, Ryan almost didn't recognize it. It seemed like years ago that he had lived there even though it hadn't even been 12 hours. As he walked through the door he felt strange. He still was unsure of what to think. 

He grabbed his small bag that held all of his clothes. He had basically been living out of a duffel bag for years now. He packed up everything, his dads old 12 gauge that had become his and his .22. His fishing rods and his tools. He threw it all in the back of his truck and walked to the officer. 

"I'll meet you at the police station. I just want to walk around the place for a little while." He said.

 Officer Ryan said, "Take your time when you get back to the station. We will give you your directions and send you on your way."

As the squad car rolled down the driveway and out onto the road Ryan headed to the only place on the property he actually liked, the woods. He walked slowly, soaking it in, this is the place that shaped his life the way it is today. Through the ugliest of the ugly, he always came back here. The woods were always there for him. He knew this place the back of his hand. Every bush, tree, ditch and hill, he'd been up and down. He walked back to where he shot his first raccoon. Finally, he got back to the shed where he found his dads old truck. He ran his hand down the collapsing walls and soaked it all in. 

He looks at the old steel workbench one more time and decides he can't leave it. He walks back out to his truck and grabs the ax. After some trimming he gets his truck back to the shed, he takes his phone out and snaps a bunch of pictures with his truck in front of the old shed. He uses his winch and snatch blocks to lift the workbench out of the shed. He secures it hanging in the air and backs his truck up too it. After strapping it down he drives out. 

He rolls up to the police station where the entire department has gathered to bid him goodbye. They give him the address and send him off.