This is my tribute to those special places that feel more like home then any house that has ever been lived in.
Jackson stared out into the ocean thinking. He watched the waves. They curled up the beach just in front of him, peeled back a layer of sand, and receded. They were so perfectly in rhythm it seemed as if the same wave was washing up again and again. "You are beautiful" he called out to the vast ocean in front of him. "Almost beautiful enough to let me forget why I need to be home" He frowned at the thought and was about to resume his original silence when he was questioned.
"And why is that?" He did not bother to turn around to address the inquiry as he had already realized it was Melissa.
In all honesty, Jackson was annoyed. He doubted Melissa would understand, but she had asked and wanted to help. Maybe this would help her to understand one of the reasons he needed to leave to explore so badly. And, well, he couldn't let her believe that he actually talked to himself.
He listened to her sink down next to him in the sand before he replied, "My place"
"Your place? Like your house or is this a metaphor?"
"It was in a park," he explained. His focus narrowed as if he were trying to get it to materialize before him, "someone burned down a small one-room meeting house that was here. Everyone sort of avoided the plot where it once stood so I spent time there." Melissa could tell he wasn't finished and if he was she certainly didn't want to push him so she remained silent. He found the silence comforting. She was simply listening and that itself prompted him to continue.
"You know my mom, she was forced to leave me alone a lot. She worked continually after my dad left, always unable to get enough money together. Her goal was always to provide for me. Eventually that small space in the park was the only place I felt safe, much safer than in the ratholes we began to call our house. My place became my home. I grabbed something from our fridge and spent the day there. I left periodically in order to avoid looking suspicious, but never strayed far from my home. Once, I decided I would get married there, right in that spot, where nothing could hurt me." He cracked a small smile at the memory. It faded quickly.
"Then my mom got caught and jailed for neglect. I grabbed as much I could carry and spent over a week in my one true home. I knew the way with my eyes closed." He let out a small laugh then became quiet. For the first time in the conversation, he turned to stare directly in her dark eyes. "I need it, Mel. My safe haven, my place in this world. I need it, more than anything else. I just want to go home."