REVIEW REPLIES :D! -excited face.

Danny Phantom Fan1:
Absolutely positively most certainly it will be a SAKE! PATIENCE ;D hehe.

FivelFleurHavens:
Okay so your reviews always make me laugh xD! They are very intellectual ;D haha I especially love the dude's :)

RabidZukoFangirl
Haha so I feel accomplished :D! I'm glad you find my chapters funny (cause I do too xD)

Jasper Winked:
So this is for your review back on chapter 16...but I found it awesome because you quoted me :D! Haha so thank you ^.^

To the rest of you awesome peeps out there who reviewed...SHPANK YOU :D! They truly do make me smile and I love reading them :)

I hid behind a bush until Jake had given up looking for me and left. His truck spitting up some gravel as he sped away angry. Good. He should be.

"What is that boy's deal?"

I jumped as dad brushed his hands off on his jeans. He stared at me squatting behind a bush a curious brow raised.

I shrugged. "No idea. I was just...weeding," to prove my 'point' I pulled out a shrub and held it up.

"You know that's not a weed right Sam?" Wyatt smiled amused.

I made an 'oh' and put it back in the hole I had pulled it out of, patting the dirt around it tight. "Yup, just testing you. Way to go daddy...," I stood up my knees creaking in protest.

Wyatt pulled off his gloves and stuck them in his back pocket. "So you gunna tell me why you were hidin' from Jake?"

Crossing my arms across my chest I sniffed. "He's a dodo head."

Wyatt shook his head and ruffled my hair. "All guys are Sam. Just you remember that." He walked to the porch and climbed the stairs.

"Oh dad!" He stopped and turned to look at me. I kicked the dirt not looking at him. "I'm going to hang out with Zach." A small blush began to heat my cheeks. Not that I knew why...I mean I hung out with guys all the time. Okay, well I hung out with Jake and Darrell...

Gram popped out the screen door smiling. "Oh that's wonderful!" She glared at Wyatt. "Isn't it?"

He looked as uncomfortable as me. "Er, yeah. Great," he paused and shot inside before he had to hear anymore.

Gram beamed. "Be back at eight." She went inside after Wyatt and I stared after them both, jaw in the dirt.

x-x-x-x

Zach's beautiful Challenger rolled over the bridge, the engine's purr sending shivers up my spine. Holy hell. Was I jealous of his wheels. Being able to ride in it was like sweet torture to myself. Like teasing me with something I wanted...but knew I'd never had. That is unless Jen decides to buy me one when she's like really smart and rich...but when that happens I may talk her into a Lambo.

He climbed out of the beautiful car and smiled at me. I tried hiding my dorky happy smile by looking down at my shoes, but I'm sure it didn't work.

"Hey," his shadow fell over me and I looked up.

"Hey," I couldn't help but to continue smiling as he looked at me. His brownish hair looked almost golden in the sun and his green eyes were full of excitement.

"You ready?"

"Where are we going?" I asked, wondering if I should let Gram know.

He looked sheepish. "It's kind of a surprise."

I gave him a warning look. "I should have you know I'm not the biggest fan of surprises." Especially recently.

"But you'll like this one," he smiled. He was so sure of himself. I just hoped for his sake he was right.

Shrugging, I nodded. "Alright," it came out as a big sigh and he led me to the car like an eager puppy. He opened my door for me and hurried to his side jumping in.

x-x-x-x

Ten minutes later, going in the direction of nothingness, I began to question Zach's sense of direction. Part of me wanted to speak up and tell him that well we were literally heading towards nothing...unless he planned on driving for three hours. But I don't think he was. I had to be home at eight and for some reason I took Zach as a punctual fellow.

"Erm," I turned down the radio even though I was really enjoying jamming out to some Foo Fighters. "So this surprise...?"

Zach shook his head. "Still not telling you."

I gave a nervous cough. "Well, uh, you see the thing is...I just feel like you may have gotten confused in your directions."

He pursed his lips, shaking his head. "Nope. This is the way."

"Are you sure?" I doubted it.

"Positive."

Because he was obviously an expert on all things Darton since he only lived here for like three whole days. Yeah. Awesome.

"Here it is."

Okay well maybe he lived here a little longer than three days...but who was counting?

He turned off the road onto a dirt one I didn't recognize at first. Then it dawned on me. I hadn't been here since I was a kid...well since I was like seven.

"The old abandoned train station?" I asked turning to face him. Confused didn't even begin to describe how I felt. Why would he bring me here? Uh oh. Did he feel cool 'cause he thought he found something super secretive and super awesome...like Batman's bat cave? Now honestly I would be impressed.

He looked impish. "Yeah. I wanted to show you something."

Oh man. He does think he found something no one knew about. Honestly, I really did like this place though. It reminded me of the old west...before it was settled. The battered and broken train station remaining untouched for years and only a portion of the railroad tracks surrounding it remained. The other tracks that used to go through Darton were pulled out through the years leaving this place forgotten by most of the residence. It was a piece of history, protected in a bubble (made by the government), that reminded me of what Darton used to be. Years and years and years and years...and years ago. The old train always kinda tickled my fancy. One: it was old and stuff. Two: it was just plain epic. The road back to it was pretty close to five miles long, so unless you knew it was here the chances of you just finding it weren't likely. You just kind of had to know.

The last time I had been back here was when we were on a cattle drive. Jake and I went out for a trail ride-which we got in trouble for later-and we ended up at the station. We had played inside that dilapidated building which the whiteish/grey and what used to be red trim paint began chipping off the rotted weathered wood for hours. The 'Darton Station' sign hanging by one rusted nail. Jake was the engineer (go figure) I was the passenger trying to buy a ticket to go to Neverland. Then we got in a fight because Jake called me stupid saying there was no such thing as Neverland. I didn't-and still don't-believe him. My stubborn self insisted that I was the costumer therefore he must take me where ever I please. So I threw him my luggage, which was Sweetheart's saddle blanket filled with rocks, and we walked out to the train. There we continued to play and climb until it grew dark.

It was one of the most fun days of my life.

Zach parked his car in front of the station by an old hitching post. He turned it off and I opened my door before he could get to it. Climbing out I at least let him shut it behind me. In a haze from my flashback as a kid, I staggered my way towards the building. I could hear Zach following me and I paused on the creaky steps.

"You okay?" He asked, putting himself in front of me so he could see my face.

I shook of my blurry haze and smiled. "Yeah, it's just...I haven't been here in forever."

"It's a cool place." He smiled before tentatively taking my hand. I let him lead me through the building and out the other side facing the train yard. Together we descended the stairs and headed towards the train that was left. He led me around the main train and back to an abandoned car that was off the tracks. A set of fairly new looking blocks were stacked like steps in front of it. Zach hesitated a moment looking suddenly nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked as he dropped my hand and shoved his in his pockets.

"I can trust you...right?" He seemed to be asking himself more than me but I nodded anyway, a little concerned. "Just don't think I'm weird or anything."

Now I was really concerned.

But I let him continue leading me up the make-shift steps. He slid the door open which seemed to slide open without a squeak or grind of protest. Walking inside I froze, my eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Holy...," I looked around pushing past him. It was like almost cooler than the bat cave. New plushy carpet lined the surprisingly even floor, a black futon was pulled down as a bed, the walls were decorated with magazine pages of rock bands and party lights were strung along the roof. There was even a fridge and a microwave. In front of the futon was a small nightstand with a laptop and a couple comic books decorating it. To top it off...there was still enough room to play twister if you really wanted to. "This place is awesome!"

Zach looked surprised and relieved. "Really?"

I stared at him like he was a real live wookie. "Um, yeah! I mean how on earth did you get power out here?" I had a lot of questions. Like how did he get this all set up, when, and...

"Wait...I thought you said you were staying with your uncle?" Or grandpa or second cousin...something like that.

His relief dissolved right back into discomfort. "It's...difficult."

Yeah, like I'd take that for an answer. I sat down on his futon. "How?"

He opened the fridge pulling out a Mountain Dew. "Want one?"

"Even the power of Dew will not compel me. Answers Captain Kirk." Don't ask me why I was on a dorky reference role today...

He grabbed me one anyway and with a sigh came to sit beside me. Handing me the soda he took a big breath. "Well he's actually still in prison."

Some mist from the soda sprayed me in the face. "Prison?"

He looked embarrassed. "Yeah, but my social worker doesn't know that."

I choked. "Social worker?"

He stood and walked over towards the fridge again leaning against it. "Yeah. Well...she knows that my uncle is in prison but she thinks that he has a wife that I came out here to stay with...honestly I don't even know my uncle. I've never met him...him and my dad were never close. Hell I'm pretty sure they hated each other but he's the only other family I got."

"Zach," I stood up too and walked towards him. Pulling on his shoulder till he faced me. "What happened to your parents?"

He shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drag you here to tell you a sob story."

I rolled my eyes pulling him back over to sit down. "You tell me yours I tell you mine."

"It's not really much to tell."

I just stared at him waiting.

With a sigh he gave a half-hearted smile. "Alright you convinced me." His smile disappeared as he stared down at his soda can, his green eyes growing dark. "It was my parents' twentieth wedding anniversary...they wanted to go somewhere special to celebrate, I didn't care...I just thought 'cool, I'll have the house to myself'. They decided to take a cross country trip...my dad bought an RV and everything," he paused shaking his head, a ghost of smile playing his lips at the memory for a small moment.

"They had asked if I wanted to go...mom and dad didn't care if it was their anniversary trip, they loved having me around and practically insisted that I go with them saying I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity," he took a good swig of his soda. "I didn't want to go. I already invited friends to come over and hang out...I had plans." He shook his head, looking disgusted and crumpled his empty soda can.

"Mom text me like twenty-four-seven. It got to the point where I barely ever answered her. It was the Sunday they were suppose to be getting home...I was pretty excited even though I would have never told anyone that. I had cleaned the house real good for mom and made them both dinner. They had called early and said they were in Maryland and would be home soon. That was at three...," he trailed off for a moment and I feared the ending. I put a comforting arm around him as he rubbed his face. "One in the morning rolls around, no texts...no calls. Dinner sat cold on the table and I was...scared. I didn't know who to call or where they were, both of their phones had gone straight to voicemail when I tried to call. Part of me knew that it was bad...the other part-my majority-didn't want to believe it," he released a shuddering breath, his eyes growing bright.

"That's when the doorbell ring...that's when I knew. I drug myself to the front door to answer it. A police woman stood before me, she didn't say a word...she didn't have to," he dug the heel of his palm into his eyes. "I collapsed into her...she just comforted me. When she dropped me off at child services she was reluctant to leave but had to. It was then that for the first time in my life I knew I was truly alone."

He sighed and sat back up looking at me. "Later when I talked to the police they told me what happened. An eighteen wheeler ran a red light going at least sixty...he hit my dad's side, it killed him instantly. My mom...she was conscious. She was talking to them at the hospital-she was panicked. They said she kept saying 'my son, my son...Zachary'. She was frantic and wouldn't answer their questions...five minutes after reaching the hospital she became unresponsive. They couldn't save her."

I felt my eyes burn with hot tears. "Zach..."

He looked out a grimy window. "You know the worst part? They were only ten minutes away from home. That's it...ten minutes."

I shook my head. How can something so outrageous happen to one of the nicest kids I've ever met.

"When dad bought the RV...he also brought me home the Challenger. He said it was for making it into my senior year with a 4.0...and he made me promise that I'd apply to go to Yale," he laughed but wasn't amused. "It's been a month...but it feels like yesterday."

I could understand that. Hell, my mother died years ago and it still feels like she was braiding my hair just yesterday. I reached for him, unable to stand looking at his pain filled expression. I drew him into my arms and we fell back on the futon. He held me tight, like I might disappear from his sight.

It was nearly impossible to hold back my own tears when I felt his soak my shirt in his silent painful cry.

OMG. That was too sad ;_; I need more jokes! QUICK BRING BACK JAKE WITH YOUR REVIEWS!