Outside The Safe Zone

Chapter 1. Impact

It's Saturday and everyone is out of school playing on their bikes enjoying the nice weather, unlike Elijah, who sits quietly in his room waiting for his mom to get home. He would normally be playing outside but today he waits. His mom is driving him to Montana, to a farm. It's with his aunt and uncle that he'll be staying. They own the place, the ranch if you will. They have a small orchard and a big pasture where the cows graze. A nice barn that was previously painted and a stable with a few horses. Elijah's favorite horse is Gage, a pure white steed who knows to never rear up with a child on his back. A very sweet horse. The sound of tires in the distance makes Elijah smile excitedly and rush out of his room to the hall, grabbing his suit case on the way. His mom pulls into the drive as he reaches the living room and he swings the front door open with all his might closing it behind him as he makes his way quickly to the car. His mom opens the trunk and he tosses his bag in with little effort running to the passenger side door and hopping in. At twelve years old you would think the thought of a farm would be torture with all the gadgets like phones and computers. Not in his case.

His aunt Tina and uncle Benny are some of his favorite people, after all, they keep all his secrets under lock and key. And they make time for him every chance they get. His cousin August on the other hand by this time is in class, a college course. He plans to be a Vet when he finishes. Elijah looks to his mom as they back out of the drive and smiles as wide as he can. "Auntie Tina says that when I get there Uncle Benny is taking Gage out! He wants to ride the trail today!" he says. His mom only shakes her head and chuckles, "You really do love that horse." as she changes gear and starts to drive.
Passing house after house and train track and sign, the boy starts to yawn. "How was work today mama?" he asks. She nods slightly in thought, "well, Jessica dropped a stack of papers and had to reorganize them, to which Kali called her down. I do believe her exact words were, 'Please stop trying to plant the trees back and get back to work' or something like that. Don't know." she shrugs. Elijah shakes his head, "Kali is always rude." he states. His mom nods, "Yep. And Jordan pranked Alex by putting Alex's stuff in a pie. It was interesting to see Alex's reaction when he bit in his stress ball..." Elijah holds a hand over his mouth with a grin, "knowing how he normally looks the face he made was probably unnatural." he laughs.
"Imagine a weirded out zombie." his moms exclaims with a giggle. Elijah pictured it a minute before bursting out laughing. "IMAGINE A ZOMBIE HORDE THAT GIVES YOU A WEIRD LOOK AND LEAVES!" he laughed. His mom switches on the blinker and turns grinning, "they probably saw Alex's face." she says.

The rest of the drive is full of laughs and on Elijah's side, naps. Within a few hours they arrive at the farm. Elijah is of course the first one out of the car. Tina and Benny step outside on the front porch, the boy running to them with open arms. Ben gets the first hug but Tina gets the longest. It seems fairly sweet in the one moment, but of course, it would be so much sweeter if the boy could have his mother too. She has work though and he understands that. She grabs his bag from the trunk walking to the house. Ben holds the door and Elijah runs in swiftly behind his mom. They walk to the guest room and once inside the woman is met with a warm embrace from her son. "I love you mom..." Elijah says quietly. His mom smiles softly closing her eyes savoring the moment, knowing teenage years will come within mere months, and that sentence will change in only one word. She would come to miss hearing those sweet innocent words, of love and caring. She would always dread the day they turned to hatred. Oh, how she wished he would only stay this age forever. "I love you more than you could ever imagine Eli, and more than you'll ever know." she whispers.

After a swift chat with her brother and his wife she prepares to leave, "One more thing before you go Beth," Tina says lightly. She steps inside a moment disappearing out of sight only to come back with a small box, to which Elijah grins ear to ear at. "We did some shopping last time, and Eli picked out this for your birthday. It's a little late we know, but we hoped not too late," Tina smiles. Beth sits down in a nearby rocking chair and opens the box. Inside, a silver necklace with a small locket. The locket has a horse standing on its hind legs with a tree in the background. Roses lined around the edges and inside, a photo of Elijah and his dad hugging Beth with the biggest smiles you could ever see. It almost brought tears to Beth as she rubbed the pendant fondly. "If dad was here he would say I 'have mighty fine taste' and I think he'd like it a lot" Elijah says, his smile fading ever so slightly. Beth smiles kissing his forehead and hugging him close, "I think so too Doodle Bug." she chuckles. She puts on the necklace and then walks to the car after a few thank you's are said, and drives away down the dirt road. Elijah watches his mom leave before looking up at Uncle Benny, "Why does she call me that?" he asks. Tina chuckles and Benny rubs the boys arm hugging him close, "It's a name people call their children often because it's cute, namely meaning a loved child." Tina smiles. Benny leans down whispering quietly, "It's also a bug that resembles that of the roly poly things you play with." he chuckles.