0.6

I heard my alarm go off it was 11:50 p.m. at night I knew that this was the only time I was going to be able to leave without breaking down and not to go, as I packed whatever little I had had left to pack that had meaning to me I looked on my nightstand one more time I could see the bright red numbers on my alarm clock shine 12:00 am it was already midnight I thought to myself as I continued to pack I could hear the chirps of the crickets. As I finished I zipped up my duffle bag and sling it over my shoulder and headed down stairs, as I headed down stairs it became harder and harder to leave and just drop everything and crawl back into bed and forget I ever had this idea to leave as I saw the all the pictures on the wall of family smiling, laughing, and just being care free, but no I thought to myself that was the family we used to be before my dad became a alcoholic as I tried to stay focused on getting out of here.

As I reached the front door I thought to myself should I do this there’s no going back after I leave. I said out loud in a whisper while my inner voice said it’s your only chance to get away like you always dreamed to. True I thought, this was the only chance that I was going to get and this was it I said to myself as I walked out the door. As I walked down the porch steps of the house.

I looked back one more time at the house that I used to know as home, and walked farther away from it and anything I had held close to my heart, the farther I walked the farther away regret and relief filled my heart. Regret because I wished I could bring my siblings with me and my mom but relief because I was free, I was free to do what I wanted to do without a care in the world. As I kept walking down the side of the road thinking of what I was going to do when I got to Arkansas as I got closer to the bus stop and then it hit me I could call hunter he lived in Arkansas for a while now and I knew that he would help me or I hoped he would to get back on my feet as I got to the bus stop I plugged in my earbuds to my phone and sat down on the bench as I awaited for the bus to come as I closed my eyes and relaxed before my nerves started to act up again.

A couple minutes passed before I heard the screech of the tired of the bus came to a stop and for the doors switch open as the bus driver said “are you coming or staying there kid I don’t have all day” as I grabbed my duffle bag and got on the bus and paid the fee as I looked into the bus I could see there was a older lady in front clutching her purse and a man wearing a construction uniform in the back trying to go to sleep and lastly a girl that looked around my age but was heavily pregnant sitting in the middle aisle of the bus . as I the bus driver voiced said “are you going to sit down kid or are your going to stand the whole way” as I walked to the seat in the opposite side of the girl as I sat down and pulled my hood over my head and leaned my head towards the window of the bus and tied to get some sleep for the third time today as I saw the clock on my phone blink 1:00 am in the morning as I turned it off

Times Passed

As I opened my eyes I could see the state sign signaling we were entering Arkansas and leaving Texas, as the bus came to a stop I could see I was the only one left on the bus as I got off the bus I pulled down my hood and saw that the bus had came to s stop near what I thought was a city but looked more like a small town as I looked around for a bench to seat down on.

As I sat down I pulled out my phone and looked for hunters contact, as I called hunter I prayed that he would pick up the phone, but to my luck the phone went to voicemail. “Come on hunter pick up the damn phone”. I whispered yelled as I tried calling him again as I was about to give up hope Hunter’s husky voice came through the phone. “Hello, who is this”. I didn’t know what to say. I was really going to ask to stay with him even though we haven’t seen or talked to each other in a long while. That’s when Hunter’s voice brought me back to reality. “Okay, if this is just a joke I'm just going to hang up the...”. Hunter said before he could finish his sentence and hang up the phone I blurted out. “It's me Marcelo”. That’s when the line went quiet. “Hello, Hunter are you still there”. I said with worry as I checked if my phone had disconnected the phone call, that's when I heard Hunter's voice say shock. “Marcelo is it really you”. “Yes, Hunter it's really me”. I said “How long has it been, 2 years right?” he said “yup” I said popping the p at the end. “But I wonder if you could do me a favor” I pleaded. “Yes, sure, what is it?” he said. “Can you come and pick me up?” I said hesitantly. “Yes sure, where are you at” he said “900.w oak street” i said. I knew he wouldn’t ask anymore questions over the phone.

I was going to get an earful of questions when he gets here. Sitting here waiting for Hunter to come pick me up, I wondered if he looked the same as the last time I saw him even though we didn’t separate in the best of terms. As my mind wandered to random subjects, that's when I saw a man walking towards me, as the man got closer I would see that the man was Hunter. He had changed a lot since the last time I saw him, he had a beard and more sculpted body as he came closer to me. A memory of how we first met came to mind.

Past Memory

( Marcelo was 16 at the time and Hunter was 18 at the time)

I had gone to the store that day because my mom wanted me to buy her some tampons (unlike most guys I wasn't embarrassed about buying that kind of thing). As I got to the aisle were feminine products where at I tried to remember what kind I had to get my mom asked for, when a guy came up to me said “I didn’t know you used tampons that’s when I looked at him to respond back I was a stuttering mess. “T..there not fo...for m...me” I stuttered while my cheeks turned a scarlet red and looked down embarrassed. That’s when he grabbed my chin up to look up at him and said a teasing but serious look in his eyes. “There's no need to be embarrassed, kittens are they for your girlfriend”. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend there for my mom” I said quietly as I backed away from him to have some space between us as he said “so your a good boy then” as he got from the waist and pulled me into his chest while I tired to wonder if to pull away or be closer to him, before I could do or say anything to him he whispered into my ear “by the way my name is Hunter Williams”. As I felt him slip something into my pocket of my hoodie before I could tell him my name he had left. As I got home that day I grabbed the piece of paper Hunter had put into my hoodie, as I took the paper out it had his number and the words text me on it. As i thought that was the last time I was going to see him, but I was wrong.

Present Time

As that memory came to mind I could see that Hunter was right in front of me as he looked at me tensely. “Hi” I said. Really his all you could come up with my brain retarded. What else was I supposed to say? I argued back. As I saw Hunter pick up my duffle bag off the ground and walk away. “Are you coming or are you staying there all day?” he said. Shit I thought as I tried to jogged to catch up to him knowing that when we got to where he lived he was going to ask for a explanation about what I was doing in Arkansas and why was I asking him for a favor even though we haven’t seen each other in 2 years and especially sense we didn’t exactly end on good foot.