"I'll pick up my hiking boots when I am ready and I'll put down my roots when I'm dead."
never coming back 2
Tommy walked with the crowd, he followed the people but he didn't feel like he was supposed to be there. Soon he pushed through the group and climbed the stairs to the city streets, he didn't know where he was going but he kept moving. He had no money to his name but there was still a smile and a bandage plastered on his face as he stepped down the broken pavement. It was a cold day in September so Tommy held the worn jacket he had gotten only years ago close to his body, it had been ripped and sitiched up countless times but the boy still loved it.
The city pavement was rough and cold, Tommy knew he couldn't sleep there for the night. He didn't know where he would go but his pace was steady as he continued the hike. His old sneakers were broken at the seems but the memories held them close to him. The trees were barren and dead and their branches hung low, they seemed like hands reaching towards Tommy as he stepped past them.
A calming melody played from inside a shops door and the warmth tempted Tommy to slow his pace but the determination in his heart pushed him forward. The cold air stung the tips of his ears, the wind keeping a balanced breeze around the blond as he walked. It had been hours since he first entered the subway cart and he was long away from his old home, long away from the liars and the snakes. A chill ran down his spine as the memories came back to him, he closed his eyes for only a moment as the wind burned them.
When he opened his eyes again he stopped his walking and stood still on the cold pavement. Above him a sign held the name of a shop, he read it again but the words only faded to the line under them, "now hiring." This was where he was meant to be.
358 words.
~inspired by the song Since I Saw Vienna by Wilbur Soot~