This is based on the 2005 movie War of the Worlds. It's a little draft I found myself thinking when Robbie's left behind on the hill and Ray goes to save Rachel. I was sad they didn't explain why Robbie left and how he survived and this is what I thought might have taken place in that scene.
Disclaimer : Anything that's familiar is not mine.
A father's son
He had to see it. He had to feel it. He had to knowHe just had to.
"Please," He whispered. "You have to let me go."
The hand held onto him tightly, the screaming and crying around them seeming to fade away that very moment he looked into the eyes of his father. It wasn't Ray anymore, it was dad.
Slowly the hand slid down to his leg, his foot, and then let go.
Scrambling to his feet he began to make his way to the top of the hill. To where the fire was blazing, to where he didn't know what to expect but to where he just had to be.
He just had to.
There was no looking back, just the tugging on his heart of leaving them. Sweet innocent Rachel. He had promised to never leave her and he had broken it.
Ray. He remembered when Ray had left him. Staring out of the window as the car drove off in the distance. A comforting hand being placed on his shoulder and his little sister had been holding tightly onto his hand. Thick tears of misunderstanding rolling down her cheeks.
"Don't worry honey, everything will be fine." His mother had told him and he had seen the tears shimmer in her eyes. It hadn't all been fine in the end. She had married Tim and he had liked the man. Tim had a great job. Tim bought them great things. Tim was a great guy. But Tim was no dad.
He could never live up to the image of his father. The image of the strong man, who used to play ball with him in the backyard.
But Ray had left.
"Try to catch it, son." His father had patted him on the back and ruffled a hand through his messy hair. "That a boy. Keep it up and you might play for the Yankees one day." He had placed the blue colored baseball cap onto his head and it sank down, too big for him.
Now he wore a Boston cap. One that fitted, one that had been bought when Tim had taken him to see one of the Red Sox games.
He was almost at the top of the hill and the heat coming from the other side burned in his eyes, tears forming in the corners of them.
"Robbie! What are you trying to do? Where are you trying to go? Who's going to take care of me if you leave!" She had screamed, her small fists hitting him with all her strength.He had broken a promise even though he had vowed to himself never to make that kind of a mistake.
The mistake Ray had.
He thought of the times Ray would tell him he'd be there to watch him play on the little league baseball team. All the disappointing times he had looked at the stands filled with parents in hope, only to find the seat next to his mother empty. Only to feel the bitterness when she'd smile at him and her eyes would be filled with guilt because his father wasn't there.
He pushed his hair out of his face and dared to look back at the running people. Trying to see the familiar faces but not finding them. They had left already.
Ray had left all those years ago and he had expected him to do the same now. But now, when the world was falling apart around them he had stayed. Yet when the world had seemed to end all those years ago, he had chosen to leave. He had caused the world to stop at that moment when he had chosen to take the road instead of staying. Instead of taking his responsibilities and taking care of his children, his marriage. He had made all the wrong decisions.
He hadn't been a father back then. And that's why he couldn't call him dad anymore. He hadn't been able to since the day he had left. Dad wasn't the word to describe a man like Ray. Tim had asked him to call him dad but he couldn't call him that either. Tim wasn't dad even more then Ray was.
Something hot and burning hit him against the leg, waking him from his daze. It was a man, barely recognizable in his army uniform, his face covered in burn marks. He was clutching onto Robbie's ankle, like minutes before his father had. This man, barely breathing and trying to get away from where he had been so desperate to get.
Why? Why had he wanted to see it? Because he needed to prove he had made it on his own? To prove he didn't need Ray? To prove that the departure of Ray all those years ago hadn't been of any effect?
Slowly he kneeled down, grabbed the hand of the man and tried in all his might to pull him up. The man begged, mumbled things under his breath and closed his eyes. The grip on his ankle was released. His eyes grew big at the sight of the now dead man.
He thought of Rachel again , of his mother, and Tim. He thought of Ray who had left them that day, a long time ago.
He thought of his father who had tried to save his children with all his might the moment the world ended what seemed to be just hours ago.
He thought of how he might not need Ray, but he needed his father.
Without taking a glance at what was behind the hill he turned and ran. Ran because he wasn't one to break a promise. He wasn't like Ray who had ran like a coward when times got rough all those years ago. He took responsibility, he took care of the people he loved. He didn't need to be a hero, he just wanted to save those important. He wasn't like Ray at all.
He was like his father.