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HARLEY
Watching her walk away from me is like someone is slowly dragging out the stitches of my badly sewn heart.
“Fuck.” I exhale.
Kicking the ground, I start walking. I light a cigarette and shove the packet back into my jeans. It’s not until I reach the small park that I realise how far I’ve walked. I collapse onto a swing, leaning on the chain. It groans underneath my weight. I slowly push myself back and forth, watching the toe of my shoe drag a line in the dirt.
I pick at my thumbnail until it peels and starts bleeding. I don’t stop. Guilt and anger gnaw at me. Fuck. I thought I was done thinking about her and everything that happened. Now it’s all stirred back up again, and I can’t seem to get my head straight.
It wasn’t very solid, but I had a plan. Get the hell out of here. But she’s back. Now, I have a reason to stay.
It didn’t work with her last time. Why do I think it’ll work this time?
Because it would have …a voice whispers in my mind.You were so close to being together.
My phone screen brightens under my touch. It’s well after midnight, and still hot as fuck. Cooler, certainly, but still too hot for this time of night. When I finish my cigarette, I light another one.
My New Year’s resolution was to quit. Another thing I’ve clearly succeeded at. A ding pulls my attention back to my phone.
Brennon:Where r u?
Sighing, I stare down at my phone, then look out to the darkness.
Harley:Coming home now.
Slowly, I start on my way back home. My feet drag, and I light a third cigarette, even though my stomach is rolling and my throat burning.
I’m at the street of my childhood home before I even realise where I was heading. A one-story, old brick building that looks like it could blow over if someone breathed too hard on it. The grass is overgrown, the fence broken, the gutters hanging loose.
Only a few days ago I called in here, after I heard rumblings at the pub that some people were going to call the police about the noise. That’s not anything unusual when it comes to my father. I stopped by; most of them were passed out by the time I got there. Considering how much my father stole and took from me, when I saw cash sticking out of his wallet, I took it.
Gingerly, I touch my face where he savagely pummelled me. He probably would have cracked my nose open if Josie hadn’t been there to intervene. I shouldn’t have touched anything of his. I knew better. But I did anyway. And like always, I paid the price.
My number one reason for leaving is to never have to see this place again.
I scoff before spitting onto the lawn.
“Fuck you,” I whisper. Clenching my jaw, I look down the street. “And fuck this town.”
