Walking on the Tracks Chapter 3
After making the crazy yet intriguing decision to go search for Ray Brower's body, the gang all headed home to pack up for the trip. I made my way back to my house to pack a few needed things, I was thinking how nice it would be to get away for a day or two to be with friends then I doubted if my folks would even let me go if they thought I was staying with friends.
My parents weren't exactly keen on my pals especially Chris mainly due to a long time feud between our families. Our old men resented each other and my dad expected me to feel the exact same way about Chris but that was impossible.
I was soon at my place. I noted my dad's car in the driveway despite it being way too early for him to be home. I got out my key and walked inside. It was quiet,it had been since what happened two months ago.
"Mom? Dad?" I called out, "in here" my mother's soft voice replied from the kitchen.
I made my way to meet her, she was sitting at the table reading a book or it looked like she was, I could tell she wasn't that interested as her eyes weren't focused on the page. I poured myself a glass of water as my mother continued to 'read'. "Hey mom" I said as casually as I could. "Mm?" she said still looking at the page,"is it okay if I stay at a friend's house tonight?" I asked turning to her."Which friend?" she asked me,her eyes moving up slightly.
At that moment my dad walked into the room with a brown wooden pipe in his mouth and newspaper in his hand. "What about his friends?" he asked gruffly,"Dan wants to spend the night at ones house" my mother explained getting up.I saw dad's expression turn sour "not that Chambers kid?" He spat the word Chambers out as if it was poison,it made my heart pump faster. "No" I replied cleverly "it's Gordie".
"Oh he's a nice boy" my mother cooed beginning to make some coffee for my dad,"is he the one who lost his brother?" my dad asked as if it wasn't a big issue,"yeah" I answered quietly.
"He was a good kid that Denny" my mother chipped in smiling sadly "perfect for Jane..." her voice trailed away as soon as she said her name. I swallowed hard. Jane was my sister and Denny's girlfriend. I remember them being so in love but when he was tragically killed a part of Jane died with him,she became depressed,didn't eat or sleep and two months ago made the heartbreaking choice of ending her life.I still feel sick at the memory of finding her...
I shook my head to banish the thought.
"Look I need to pack for Gordie's" I said quickly "bye".I ran upstairs to my room so I didn't have to see the tears in my mother's blue about ten minutes I had pretty much everything I needed for the journey,as I was finishing off my dad walked in. "You shouldn't do that to her" he said coldly.
"Do what?" I asked him still looking at my duffel bag,"running away whenever she mentions your sister" my dad told me "she needs to talk about it".
"Well I'm sorry but maybe I'm not exactly ready just yet" I said looking down at my bed.
"Maybe if you stopped running around with those reckless idiots you would be ready" my dad cruelly scoffed. I finally faced him and his stiff body."Leave them out of this" I told him trying to hide the anger in my voice.
"Why? Because you don't want to hear the truth Daniel?" my dad sneered "do you know what it's like eh? To have my own son socialising with scum like Chambers?". My rage was boiling inside my chest and my shaking hands were clutching my bag tighter. "Chris is not scum" I replied firmly "his family may be but he isn't".
I stamped out the room before my dad could make another snide comment and tip me over the edge.
When I got downstairs I said goodbye to my mum and opened the door to meet the gang. I looked at the small picture of a smiling Jane on the desk and sighed before putting it in my bag and heading off.