15 and a half years later

Odyssey General Hospital, room 106

"Hiya Mr. Riley." Richard Maxwell greeted the mayor. He was sitting in bed working on his laptop.

"Please Richard, I told you, call me Tom." Tom Riley reminded the youth.

"Right." Richard responded.

Tom and Richard had been at odds for a long time but they had reconciled after Richard had been injured by jumping out of a moving car trying to save Tom's mayoral position from Dr. Blackgaard.

Since the accident Richard had been in the hospital recovering from a coma. But through all the turmoil, Tom and Richard had forgiven each other for their past offences and had been well.

"So how are you feeling today?" Tom asked Richard,

"You ask me that every time you visit." Richard replied,

"Because I want to know how you're recovering."

"Well, I feel the same as yesterday. Okay. I would say I felt great but I don't. My body feels great, sure, but I'm itching to get out of this room! Out of this hospital!" Richard said, closing his laptop.

"Didn't doctor Graham say you'd be getting out soon?" Tom asked. He took his usually seat next to the bed.

"Yep! Only a couple more days until I'm outta here for good." Richard sighed in happiness, "These buildings can get so boring, believe me, I know! I've been to quite a few hospitals in my time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but those are long, very very long, stories." Richard quickly said.

Tom looked at him quizzically, although he didn't find it hard to believe that Richard had been to the hospital quite a few times. Considering his daring, and sometimes reckless, personality.

Tom and Richard talked for awhile until Tom's daily visit was over.

"Well, I best be going." Tom said, getting up from the chair. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya Mr. Ri-Tom." Richard corrected himself. He smiled until Mr. Riley left. Then a frown came to his face. He would miss Tom a lot when he returned to Chicago in just a few days.

Why not just stay in Odyssey? Richard asked himself. You can't. There's no use staying in a place where you're not wanted, remember?

Yes...not wanted. Little did Richard know of how much he was wanted in the small town of Odyssey. By Jason, Lucy, Connie, Jack and all the other friends he didn't know he had made in the past few weeks. He didn't even know how much Tom Riley would miss the person who was now one of his closest friends. Friends. Tom meant even more than that to Richard. Over the past weeks Tom had become like a father figure to 16 and a half year old Richard. Yes, Richard would miss him the most.

But he knew he couldn't stay. He had to go to Chicago. Who knows? Richard thought, I might even come back someday...when everyone has forgotten about the things I've done...Yeah...someday...

Tom strolled into the hospital and asked the receptionist for permission to visit the patient in room 106.

"I'm sorry sir. The patients in room 106 left this morning." The receptionist informed him,

"Left? But Richard Maxwell wasn't supposed to leave the hospital for a couple days!" Tom was aghast.

"Dr. Graham released Mr. Maxwell early because she believed him to be fully recovered. But he asked me to give you this when you dropped by." The girl handed Tom a folded piece of paper.

"Thank you..." Tom unfolded the piece and the world around him seemed to stop as he read the following words:

Dear Mr Riley, or Tom,

I hate to do this, especially to you. This isn't the way I wanted things to turn out but...hey! it's life, right?

If you're reading this then I'm most likely on a bus to Chicago. I wanted to stay in Odyssey with everyone...and you...but it's no use staying in a place where you're not wanted, right?

I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye but it's for the best, right?

It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime so let me say that so much of me is made from what I've learned from you. You'll be will me, like a hampering on my heart. And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend.

Gee, that was poetic. I saw it in a Broadway show once in New York and I've always wanted to use those lines.

Anyway! Say hi to Whit for me when he returns from the Middle East.

So now I'm at the end so instead of see ya, I think Farewell will be better.

Farewell Tom.

Richard

"Oh Richard. Not wanted?...you don't know how far from the truth that is."

Tom left the hospital and walked to Whit's End and sat down at the counter.
"Hi Tom." Jack Allen walked in from the kitchen, "How is Richard doing today?"
"I don't know." Tom replied,
"You don't know? Well didn't you visit him?" Jack asked,
"I tried, but he wasn't there."
"Wasn't there?"
"That's what I'm trying to tell you. And are you going to keep repeating everything I say?" Tom questioned.
"I don't understand. Where did he go?"
"Here, read this." Tom handed Jack the note.
"And he didn't even say goodbye." Jack said after he finished reading. "Doesn't he understand how much of a hero he is in this town?"
"I don't think he does. He's under the impression that he's not wanted."
"People don't usually forget about their past easily. And in his past, from what I understand, he has every right to feel unwanted." Jack explained,
"I know that. I just wished he hadn't run off to Chicago like that..." Tom sighed, "I'm about to tell you something that I haven't told anyone yet, not even Richard. If I had told him he might be here right now."
"I'm listening."
"Over the past few weeks, Richard has become like a son to me. When he got out of the hospital I was ready to bring him home to live with me on my farm. I guess I just expected him to stay in Odyssey. It's gets lonely all alone out there sometimes and I thought it might be nice to have someone to keep me company. Who better than someone I care about. Now who knows when, if, he might come back?" Tom Riley confided, "Where's he gonna go in Chicago anyway? He's only sixteen for Pete's Sake!"
"Sixteen? I thought he was in his twenties." Jack said,
"That's what I thought. But he told me he was sixteen. I think he's been on his own so long that he's learned to act older then he actually is." Tom replied,
"Is that what he told you as well?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"It just sounds like something Richard would say." Jack laughed.
Tom laughed too, but underneath the forced laughter, Tom vowed that one day he would find Richard and let him know just how wanted he really is.