Note: messing around with the name of the novel. Right now I’m thinking “Endless is the Night.” Let me know what you think.
Chapter 6
The rain stopped.
Some warm rays of light stole their way through the clouds and landed on Cody’s face. He closed his eyes and let the warmth sink in. Two seconds later the sensation was gone, replaced by the kiss of the cold. The light was a tease. They were all still soaked, walking along a ridge at the top of the hill where they discovered the car. Cody reflected on the implication of the ten lines yet said nothing, who would listen to him anyway?
They carried in silence, the only sound the squelch of their feet against the leaves and the drops of water falling from gigantic leaves overhead.
“My dad is going to kill me,” Rick said, his grimaced face sandwiched between Cody and Mia. Cody glanced at him sideways but said nothing. Mia also remained quiet.
“I’m always screwing things up. He paid for this trip, did you know that?” Cody shrugged, Rick did give him his ticket. He had assumed it came from Rick’s wallet, not Daddy’s. “Not directly. I was supposed to use the money to go back to school. Go and make something of yourself he said. Grow up and do something with your life he said. Well, he was right about that, I’m always fucking everything up.”
“That’s not true,” Mia said.
“No, it is. Look at where we are now. It’s my fault. Everything I touch falls to shit.”
His voice quaked and then cracked as he spoke.
Cody fought the urge to say I told you so. The only words he could manage to let out were It’s okay. The words were limp and lacked power. Rick’s falling face showed that he too felt nothing in them. Cody had never heard Rick apologize before, and while he knew he had issues with his dad, Rick had never once talked so plainly about it, the nakedness put Cody ill at ease. Rick had a rare moment of opening up and was left with no one to answer him. He would never get the chance to do this again.