My stomach grumbles hungrily as visions of barbecued steaks and buttered potatoes swim through my thoughts. I hadn't eaten a meal like that for weeks. I can't even remember what steak tastes like. All I've been living off of are microwavable TV dinners. They're getting quite repetitive.
Then, before I can give it any more serious thought, my mind switches topics as I switch gears and I blunder head first down another path of thought.
I've seen too many lazy days like this. Afternoons spend wasting gas on Delaware's twisting backroads just so I can get out of the house and escape the tension that's been there since freshman year. More like 6th grade, I mentally correct myself. It intensified in 9th, but popped up in 6th. Damn obsession with leaping out of windows screwed me over for life.
At least I like driving. It's a temporary escape from my tortured reality. I can drive for hours and not feel even the slightest twinge of depression tug on my soul. Which is always a good thing.
Leafy green spruces and towering pines melt into one endless patch of green that paints the landscape on either side of me as I pilot my sporty Nissan through the forest. The narrow stretch of pavement that unravels in front of me offers countless sharp turns, sudden hills and drops, and multiple other challenges, which will all ultimately be defeated by my expertise in navigating these unpredictable backroads. But I do so with respect, as the road is my God. It's the only ting that will always be there for me.
Funny how the one thing I can count on is a slab of pavement.
The clock on the dashboard reads 7:12 now. 7:12 and my heart begins to sink deep into a pit of regret.
My time spend driving aimlessly as my mind wandered was up. Reality came speeding back to me as I recalled what had spurred me to take this drive. A fight with my mother. Another fight with my mother. Something trivial this time, but wasn't it always?
A forgotten chore, a misplaced item, anything could send my mom flying into a fit of rage over my 'careless thinking'. Of course she was always looking to criticize me for some reason or another. What a life.
'Enough!' I told myself sharply. 'You've done enough contemplating for the day.'
After I finished telling myself to stop thinking, a forlorn sigh escaped me and I unconsciously began taking the long way home
chapter 1