Disclaimer: Do not own DP. Wish I did but I don't so I'll just have to live with the dreams I have of him at night.
Ch.1: From Violet Eyes
Driving down the road, heading to the highway so she and her boyfriend Elliot could get home in time to study for the test that was being taken place after that weekend, Sam Manson sat idly in the passenger seat of Elliot's truck, watching the scenery pass by while she and her significant other listened to the radio with little interest and an easy silence between the two.
On one side of them, there was a trucking station with a big sign that said 'Petrol'. There were a couple of fast food joints connected to it but hardly any cars, besides the huge semis, were parked in it. On the other side, there was another gas station with a couple of other fast food joints hanging off its sides. Just a little bit further down the road, the huge highway laid before them with cars speeding down the lanes to their destinations. The grass that lay wherever asphalt didn't, grew wild and tall, blowing in the wind, side to side, as the gust flew through the valley.
Sam's violet eyes squinted together when she saw someone lying casually on the side of the road. The person, a male, was leaning back against a backpack with his left arm behind his head. His legs were sprawled out in front of him, one of them casually crossed over the other. His right arm was propped on his backpack behind him, one thumb up in the typical hitchhiker way. The male's jean jacket was covering the top of his face, blocking the descending sun from his eyes.
In the field of wild grass beside the road, a giant Saint Bernard pranced through with no care of his surroundings, literally chasing butterflies around the area like a puppy.
Sam told her boyfriend to pull over beside the lying male, interest soaring through the roof. Elliot wasn't as allured to see who the random "hobo" on the street was, nor did he want to stop and find out. Even so, he reluctantly did as he was told and flipped his turn signal on before pulling off the main drag and stopping the car in front of the bystander lying on the road.
As they stopped, the Saint Bernard looked over to the truck, gazed at it momentarily, and went abruptly back to chasing after a rabbit that had hopped its way into the tall grass.
Sam stuck her head out of the car and called over to the male lying on the side of the road. He perked immeasurably when he heard a voice calling to him, taking the jean jacket from his face as he sat up, revealing himself to be around seventeen, which was Sam and Elliot's age. Blue eyes met violet as a mop of ebony hair fell across his forehead, the tips dangling in front of his eyes.
The ebony-haired girl wasn't overly impressed with the unknown male's attire or state of condition. The blue-eyed teen was covered in a layer of dust, his tanned skin almost appearing to be a sandy color from the dirt and grime. He wore a black and blue flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark-washed jeans were becoming sun-bleached and appeared white in some places. The boy's jean jacket was in the same state of disrepair. His shoes, which at one point would've been red, were a muddy brown from missteps in the past and were falling apart at the seams. All of his clothes had dirt stains on them somewhere, as well as tears and discolored stains that couldn't easily be identified.
Sam asked the teen if he needed a ride, to which he replied that he did. She asked where he needed to go, ignoring how Elliot was lowly hissing at her that he didn't want some random stranger, teenager or not, in his truck. The teen answered that he just needed to be dropped off near the closest train tracks; not at the train tracks, just near it.
Without consulting her driver, Sam told the teen to hop in the truck.
A bright smile overcame the ebony-haired boy's face, ignoring how Elliot was more than a little displeased with the plan, and he assured them he'd ride with them in the bed before calling to the Saint Bernard, affectionately calling him 'Cujo'. The large dog eagerly responded to the teen's call, sprinting up to the teen and abandoning the cricket he had been chasing. The strong dog easily jumped into the bed on his own when his 'master' gestured for him to do so. The teen quickly threw his backpack in after him before propelling himself up and in.
Before she fell back into her seat, Sam asked for the teen's name. The ebony-haired boy smiled and answered that it was Danny before asking if they could take the back-roads instead of the highway. The girl shrugged and asked Elliot. The hair-bleached teen answered he didn't mind that part of the plan too much, just that it would take longer for them to get home when they already had a long drive ahead.
Sam smiled, said she could pay for gas, and hummed in satisfaction when Elliot drove over the bridge over the highway, turning onto a road that few others knew where it led.
Danny didn't speak to them as they drove down the roads, back pressed against the cab of the truck. He had one arm draped across the side of the truck and the other around the Saint Bernard's shoulders. His head was tilted back, staring at the orange and pink sky above him with a happy smile.
The nearest train tracks were a long ways from where they had picked the teen up. Elliot even had to drive off their course just to get mildly near one of the rail lines. Once he stopped at a gas station, a pair of tracks behind it, night had fallen and they had to call their parents to tell them they were going to be late because of 'traffic'.
Sam opened her door, slipping out easily and walking to stand beside the bed of the truck, calling the other teen's name gently as she did. As she walked around, Sam noticed the hitchhiker was dead asleep with a content and peaceful look on his face. The dog, Cujo, was equally as tranquil with his huge head in Danny's lap, eyes closed and breathing deep. His white paws twitched as he dreamed.
The ebony-haired girl bit her lip, not willing to wake the two up. Elliot stuck his head on his window, asking her why the teen wasn't getting off the truck and heading for the train tracks. Sam shook her head, leaving the sleeping pair and hopping back into the truck. The seventeen-year-old girl told her boyfriend she wanted the boy in the bed to stay at her house for the night or maybe even a couple of days. After a fierce fight, Elliot reluctantly bent to his girlfriend's wishes and drove her home with the hitchhiker in the back.
After another long stretch of driving down swiveling back roads and narrow streets, Elliot pulled into Sam's pristine neighborhood, slowing down to match the legal speed. Perfectly trimmed green lawns and gardens displaying beautiful, exotic flowers passed by them slowly. Large manors, glamorous and elegant in the pale moonlight, stood erect and regal in the perfect yards.
Even though the sites made most people awed, Sam and Elliot sat in perfect silence, an agitated tension drifting in the middle of them. Everything would've been perfectly silent if it weren't for the radio playing lowly in the background.
Elliot pulled up to Sam's own pristine manor and put the car in park but did not turn it off. He gave an empty excuse about why he couldn't stay, even though the two had planned on studying for the upcoming test. The white-haired teen knew his girlfriend knew of his lie but she didn't push the matter, just sighed and rolled her eyes. Sam told him they'd talk the next day, not willing to put off the problem for long, and he agreed to talk.
Robotically, the two gave a brief peck goodbye before Sam hopped out of the truck, shutting the door behind her and creating a great disturbance in the still night. She walked around to the back of the truck, nudging the boy awake. With drooping eyes, he shook his dog awake and the boy with his backpack and the dog hopped out of the truck.
Elliot waited until he wouldn't run over anyone before he backed out of his girlfriend's driveway and slowly rolled off down the street.
With confusion, Danny managed to get out half a sentence before his half-conscious mind registered where he was. Laughing nervously, he asked which direction the train tracks were in and Sam answered, ignoring the other teen's and dog's musty smell, that they were miles off, telling him he was going to stay the night with her. Danny tried to protest, looking around the practically royal neighborhood and already feeling out of place. Sam assured it was just for the night, at most, before leading him up the driveway and up the front porch steps.
The ebony-haired teen almost put up a fight, willing to run off and journey through the night to the tracks, before he saw the fierce look on Sam's face and shut his trap. He had enough sense with him to tell Cujo to stay outside and nearby before he hesitantly stepped into the foyer of Sam's house. She closed the door behind them while Danny awkwardly shifted on his feet, his dusty form feeling very out of place in the pristine front room.
Sam's parents, Pamela and Jeremy, entered the foyer, intent to greet their daughter and her boyfriend. It came as a surprise when they saw the dirt-covered teenage boy in their front room, a nervous spark in his eye as his hand rubbed the back of his neck. The ebony-haired girl stepped in front of the boy, a defensive posture clear in her stance.
After a hissed interrogation, the three Mansons had to leave the room so the random street-kid wouldn't hear their argument. Even so, Danny knew what they were fighting about and thought about slipping from the house, taking Cujo, and finding a place for them to bed down for the night.
In the other room, the teenager and her parents quietly yelled back and forth about what to do with the boy standing awkwardly in the foyer. Finally, Pamela stormed from the room, her mission to get the boy out of her home. Her husband followed after, though he was willing to let her take care of it, while Sam tried to stop her from kicking the other teen out of the house.
Just as they re-entered the parlor, everyone stopped and froze at the scene taking place.
Danny was talking eagerly to Ida Manson, telling her about a little town in Michigan he had visited, showing her something in a large notebook with crinkled edges and a torn cover. Loose-leaf paper stuck out of the notebook at odd angles and the spiral was slowly coming undone but the pages inside were almost in mint-condition. The older woman was enthralled with the younger's words, slowly turning the pages of the notebook while he talked about whatever was scrawled across the page.
Sam slipped over, leaving her parent's side, and looking over her grandmother's shoulder. Danny looked at her briefly, though his mouth never stopped moving.
Inside the notebook were hand-drawn pictures of different places in the United States. Scenes of mountains, highways, valleys, ridges, cities, bridges, and other such depictions took a spot on every page, on the front and back. Some pages had the name of the place scrawled in the corner with messy handwriting while others were missing the handwriting, unsure of where the certain picture was in the huge country. Some of the artwork had Cujo depicted somewhere in the scene.
For each picture, Danny had a story to go with it. A smile graced his face as he retold the adventures he had been on and the ones he wanted to do in the future.
Pamela and Jeremy, once they had journeyed over, were also enticed by the various stories he recounted and listened with interest, taking much time to ignore the teen's appearance and the musty smell he gave off.
Somewhere around ten, Sam finally noticed the time and suggested Danny take a shower and get his clothes washed before they all hit the hay. An uneasy feeling laced Danny's smile and he only agreed when the ebony-haired girl's parents agreed, gave him an extra pair of clothing from Jeremy's old stash, and shooed him off with only mild agitation that they had listened to his stories for so long.
Before Danny went off, Ida asked if she could continue looking through the notebook filled to the brim with drawings and sketches of various landscapes. With no concern, Danny allowed her to, saying he didn't mind her handling his precious book at all. Ida smiled and continued flipping through while the teen was led to the guest room with guest bath. Sam took his clothes once he was in the shower and left a t-shirt and some sweat-pants on the bathroom sink.
After washing up, putting on clean clothes and brushing his teeth with his old, ratty toothbrush he carried around with him on his journeys, Danny let Sam know he was going to bed after he had checked on Cujo and made sure he was still roaming the premises. Sure enough, the loyal Saint Bernard was lying on the steps to the porch, sleeping peacefully.
In the morning, Sam found that her house guest had gotten up when the sun began rising into the sky and had already changed from his sleep clothes into his newly-cleaned clothes. She found him in the driveway, playing with Cujo and his things packed and ready to go. Once he saw her, Danny smiled and said he was ready to head out once he knew the direction of the nearest train tracks.
Stalling for the time being, Sam asked why someone her age was running around the country with little money on him, a dog, and few possessions.
Danny shrugged, smiled, and answered that he enjoyed traveling around the way he did. He enjoyed the freedom, he said, and the blue sky above them as he traveled.
Sam continued asking her guest questions while he answered to the best of his abilities while trying to get the girl to answer his question on the location of the train tracks. Sam stalled long enough for Ida to wake up, find them talking outside, and eagerly jump into the conversation and returning Danny's notebook to him.
The teen took the book of drawings from Ida's fingers gratefully, saying how he had almost forgotten about it. He stopped asking for the location in Ida's presence but his eyes pleaded with Sam to tell him. The girl smiled at him sweetly and shook her head every time.
Danny finally had to stop asking when Ida insisted he stay for a few days, at most. With a strained smile, he answered he would if it was ok with the other two Mansons but, if not, he'd be out of their hair quickly.
Much to Danny's dismay, after a long pleading session Ida and Sam held with Pamela and Jeremy, threats being passed on both sides of the spectrum, the two parents reluctantly said they'd let the ebony-haired teen stay a couple of extra days. During those days, Danny told them more stories about his travels, showed the rest of his drawings, demonstrated how he and Cujo "sang" together, and revealed he liked to play the harmonica in the cliché street-rat way.
While these few days passed, Sam noticed many things about the boy. She saw the way he seemed a little uneasy with the concept of staying with them, how he always made time for Cujo, and other such things. She'd also caught him staring out the window of his room at night, gazing into the distance at something unseen to her.
Elliot and Tucker, another one of Sam's friends, came over a few of those days and Elliot, though wary of the other boy his girlfriend had taken an interest in, mostly relaxed around the other's presence. He even participated in the conversations between Danny, Sam, Ida, and the two Manson parents.
Tucker was much more easygoing and easily bonded with Danny over small things that the two shared in common.
On the fourth morning, Danny told the Mansons that he had overstayed his welcome and asked where the nearest railroad was. While Sam and Ida assured he had not done such a thing, he eagerly took the directions Jeremy gave, quickly gathering his things and leaving the house with a hurried goodbye.
Sam caught up to him as he was leaving and offered to give him a ride. He hesitated before agreeing, hopping into the girl's Acura with Cujo in the backseat.
The two rode in silence and, in about fifteen minutes, pulled up to the train station. They got out, with Cujo hopping over and standing beside Danny. They watched the trains for a little while, knowing Danny was going to have to hop on one of the cargo cars because he refused to travel on one of the passenger cars.
One reason for traveling that way was because he didn't have enough cash on him. The second reason was because he wouldn't accept any money from Sam. The third reason was Cujo.
After a little while of standing in silence, Sam asked if Danny would come and visit. The ebony-haired boy smiled and agreed, writing her address down in his notebook before he shoved it back in his backpack. After promising to visit soon, Danny said "I love you, Baby", kissed the girl on the cheek, and ran off with Cujo sprinting beside him towards the various trains.
For a minute, Sam was taken aback before she realized the tone he had used when speaking to her. He hadn't meant the statement romantically. He had meant it in more of a friendly way, almost sibling like.
With a huge smile gracing her face, violet eyes carefully watched the strange teen run beside a slow, accelerating train. Cujo sped past him, easily hopping into the opening in the side of the cargo hold. Danny threw his bag after him before grabbing a rail on the side and kicking off the ground. He hopped up and landed on the side before turning around; he waved to Sam as he quickly fell out of sight with a smile on his face.
Over the months he was gone, Sam got many letters from her traveling friend, as well as pictures depicting where he was. She could never write back because Danny didn't have an address to write to, though she wished she could. The girl was excited when, after six months, Danny announced he was making his way back to her side of the states to visit.
With growing anticipation, Sam received letters from towns getting closer and closer to her own. It took about a month of train-hopping and hitchhiking for Danny to end back up in her parts and she ran out to meet him when he finally appeared, walking down the sidewalk to her house with Cujo trotting beside him.
Sam hugged him, even though Danny was just as dirty as the first time she met him.
The process of Danny coming and going transpired throughout the years as they grew. New things were discovered about him, like how he had been living on the streets since he was fifteen and his parents were living in a small town in Minnesota. The growing teen wrote to his parents, like he wrote to Sam, and visited just as often as he visited his friend. The two parents didn't want their child traveling the country the way he was but could never find a way to stop him from sneaking off and doing so.
Sam graduated high-school over the years, moved on from Elliot as Elliot moved on from her, and began going to a nearby college, not yet ready move out from her home and enter society as a full-fledged adult. The girl had, on multiple occasions, tried to get the boy to stay in her town as a permanent resident. Danny tried a few times, so hard, but the life of train-hopping and having few possessions was hard to give up and he always reverted back to his old ways. Every time he left after trying to stay in one spot for over a week, he said "If I don't have to, I wouldn't settle down. I love you, Baby, but you gotta understand when the Lord made me he made a ramblin' man."
Danny continued to live the life he was living even after Sam left home and graduated college. She got a stable job and, as she dated around with other guys her age, she continued to read the letters Danny sent her and admire the drawings that got better done as time drew on, hearing about his adventures and the new pet he picked up to be his companion, named Wulf, because Cujo died of old age in his sleep one day.
As Sam grew into a young woman, living her life the way she wanted, she knew Danny was off somewhere across the country, enjoying the beauty of God's earth and never even imagining about staying settled. When he visited, she occasionally tried to get him to stay, like she had when they were younger, but he always said the same thing:
"I love you, Baby, but you gotta understand when the Lord made me he made a ramblin' man."
Things to know about this two-shot:
One) Sam and Danny's relationship is entirely friendship! Two) Danny doesn't have ghost powers because they're completely unneeded. Three) Yes, that is a definition of rambling. Four) Yes, the way this is written is weird but I didn't want quotes because of the music I was listening to. Five) I have been listening to Ramblin' Man by Ruthie Collins way too much if I'm writing this the way I'm writing this.
Anyways... Repeat offenders (you know who you are), I'll have the next chap of Borderline up in a day or two. Newbies and other viewers, the second part of this will come out, also, in a day or two. See ya'll then!
Kodi, out!