A/N: This is an old story that I wrote under a different name. I never finished, so I revised it and am writing new chapters. Enjoy and please review.

Chapter 1: Going Back

He pulled off the interstate and his stomach began to knot up. He knew he had been driving there, but to actually be turning off interstate to his old town was overwhelming. It had been almost 5 years since he had been there. So much had changed in his life, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to face this place all over again.
"Why did I decide to back come here anyway?" He asked himself out loud. When he left so long ago he couldn't wait to get out of that place, and it took everything he had to drag himself back.

He stopped at the stop sign at the bottom of the off-ramp. He took and deep breathe and looked to his right at the dark empty road. His mind became flooded with memories of that road. He laughed out loud at the thoughts of what was down there. For a split second he thought about going down there to "Beer Can Ally" as it was known to all of the highschoolers, or at least when he was in highschool. He and his friends used to spend nights on end down there. He quickly shook the thought out of his head. Even though it was Tuesday night, he didn't know if there would be people down there or not. "Not that anyone even recognize or even know who I was." He thought to himself.

He looked to his left. One mile down that road was the small town of Hillridge. The place that he had escaped so many years ago, and had planned to never step foot in again. He reluctantly turned the wheel to the left and pushed the gas. He was driving very slow as he went under the bridge, which above was the interstate. He looked at the on-ramp to go back to where he had come. "How easy it would be to turn around and get out of here. I didn't really even say I would come." He thought to himself. "UHGGG." He yelled out loud and pushed the gas. He told her that he would do everything he could to be there, and he didn't want to let her down, again.

He rounded the corner, and saw the sky light up. There it was, just like he had seen it in his rearview mirror so long ago. Hillridge still looked the same as the day he had left. He started to feel excited, like he was 17 again. He forced the feeling from his mind and his heart. He was there for one reason, and one reason only, and then he would be gone again. He was not there to reminisce, and rekindle relationships. He didn't want to rehash everything that had happened way back then and have all of those feelings come back. "No." he said out loud. "I am here for her, and that is it!" He banged his fist on the steering wheel.

He passed the city limit sign where the speed limit changed to 35. He made sure that was doing the speed limit if not lower than the limit. He had had his share of run-ins with the law and he didn't want that again. A flash caught his eye in the rearview mirror. Blue and red lights flashed as he slowed his car down. "Great, not even one minute in this damn town and I'm already getting pulled over. What did I do?" He thought. He pulled his car to the side of the road and the police car pulled in behind him.

"STEP OUT OF YOUR CAR WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" The officer's voice came across the loud speaker of the car. Gordo did just that. He had done this too many times he thought. He didn't look back as he stood there with his hands high above his head beside his car. He could hear two people walking up behind him.

"Mr. Gordon? I thought that was your vehicle." One of the officers said. Gordo cringed wishing he would have gotten a new car since highschool, that way no one would know he was back.

"Yes sir" Gordo said back in his most respectful tone, not looking back.

"What are you doing back in this town?"

"Came to visit a friend sir." He felt a hand on his arm right before it got twisted up behind his back.

"AHH!" Gordo yelped at the pain. The officer slammed him up his car.

"Don't lie to me boy! What are you doin back in MY town?"

"One of my friends is getting married and she asked me to come!" He said wincing from the pain. A young officer turned him around and he saw an older man who he recognized as he got an inch from his face. Gordo could see it was an old officer that he had dealt with many times before. "Well it's nice to see you Officer Johnson. I didn't recognize your voice." Gordo said letting out a small smile.

"Wish I could say the same Mr. Gordon. Its been a long time since you've been around here." Johnson backed off from Gordo, but never lost eye contact with him.
"Yes sir. It has been a long while. Almost five years."

"Well I guess that's just as well. Much quieter around here since you left."

"Yes sir." Gordo smiled and laughed a little. Johnson's swung his fist into Gordo's belly before he knew what was going on. Gordo doubled over in pain, but the younger officer forced him to stand back up.

"I don't find that very funny." He looked over at the younger officer and got a small smirk on his face. "You know who this is Carl?" Johnson asked the younger officer.

"No sir, I don't think I do."

"This is David Gordon. The David Gordon. The one who was above the law back in his day."

"Sir…isn't that kid that caused you to have that wreck?" The young officer asked. Gordo let out a small laugh although he was still in pain, but in less than a second Gordo was doubled over again with another punch from Johnson.

"Yes Carl, he is the one. Let me tell you about him." Johnson turned and looked right at Gordo. "He had everything. A great family, great grades, a great girlfriend, a great future. But he threw it all away. He let everyone down." Hearing this caused Gordo even greater pain in his heart than in his stomach. He had never heard anyone say that to him before. "Isn't that right Gordon?" Johnson said.

"Yes sir." Gordo said, swallowing hard, trying to hold back the tears.

"Lets go Carl." The two officers started to head back to the car when Johnson turned back to him. "Remember son, no matter how long you've been gone, or how far you've gotten away from here, you're always 17 in your hometown." Gordo stood there by his car with his head down as the police car passed him. He took a deep breath and got back into his car, where he sat there for a few minutes trying to collect himself. On one hand he was so pissed off he just wanted to find Officer Johnson and beat the crap out of him, yet on the other hand he was so upset hearing someone put his past in perspective like Johnson did. Everything he said was true, and there was no way to fix it. He did throw away everything he had, but that was not the reason he came here. He didn't want it back, did he?

He turned his car back on and drove on to his house. He was questioning himself even more now about coming back to this God forsaking town. The tears started streaming down his cheeks as he drove. "This is not what I wanted. This is exactly was I was trying to avoid." He said to himself. "I don't want to be here, I don't want to face this all over again."