This story is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
--Into the Flames- Chapter 2--
Ryne awoke the next day at 8am sharp, once again covered in sweat and with tears running down his face. "This really needs to stop," Ryne thought. He got up, and walked to the kitchen where his mom was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Good morning sweetie. Did you sleep alright?" She asked.
"As expected I guess, yesterday was pretty rough," Ryne replied with a fake smile.
"Aww, it's ok Ryne. Everything is going to get better, I promise." She said as her cell phone rang.
Ryne began pouring a cup of coffee for himself while listening to her conversation.
"I'm sorry to hear that sir, I'll see what I can do." A pause, "Well I don't know if I can. You know what my family has been going through... I understand sir, I'll see what I can do...Ok, I'll call you as soon as I know anything." She hung up the phone and took a deep breath and turned to Ryne.
"Well, that was Ron. It seems as if we have had some issues with one of our clients out west. He wants me to fly out immediately. I told him that I'd have to discuss it with you first. I don't want to leave you alone unless you're okay." She explained.
"It's fine mom," Ryne lied, "the only way things are going to get better is if we go back to our lives. You should go."
"You're sure about this? I love you son." She replied.
"Yep, I love you too." Ryne said taking his mother into a hug.
"Ok, you know the drill. I'll be back as soon as I can be." She said as she made her way up the stairs. Lilith Calloway was a partner in a successful corporate law firm that had clients all across the United States. She had to be ready to travel anywhere at the drop of a dime, so she always had a bag packed. She could be on her way to the airport within fifteen minutes of receiving the call. Today was no different.
Ten minutes after she went upstairs, she returned carrying her luggage out to the car. The two exchanged "I love you's" and she was out the door.
Ryne returned to his room, coffee in hand. The first thing he did was send an email to his calculus class reminding them that the first day was tomorrow. He then started to read over and edit the lesson plans he'd created. With music playing lightly in the background, Ryne worked on his lesson plans until 2:00 pm. After he was satisfied with his lesson plans, Ryne decided to look over his roster to begin putting names together with faces. While he only had 15 students, he was horrible with names. As he went down the list, he stopped at one picture that he couldn't help staring at. It was one of his male students. He had short but thick brown hair, two brown eyes that seemed as if they were looking right through him, a well-defined jaw line and a perfect smile. Ryne looked over to the name—Hayden Clarkson, 18.
There was something about this boy that Ryne couldn't get out of his mind. Whether it was his eyes or that perfect smile, Ryne just could not put his finger on it.
Ryne pushed on and continued going down the list, every few moments though, he took another glance at the picture.
At 7am his alarm went off. While he didn't start his senior year until tomorrow, Hayden thought it might be a good idea to practice getting up early at least once before he had to. School started at 8am and he had to be there at least 10 minutes before hand to go to his locker and get to class before the final bell rang. On the bright side, he only had to be there until 1pm every day. After that he drove to Kaplan Institute of Technology for a college level Calculus class.
Hayden started his routine... went into the bathroom, removed his shirt, exposing his upper torso. At 5'10" and 180lbs, he had a swimmers build, but was also "thick" as his mother liked to put it. After looking himself over in the mirror, he hopped in the shower. After his shower, he brushed his teeth and styled his hair with gel.
He had no plans for his last day of break, but then again, he never had plans. He would probably just hang around the house; maybe wash his car in the driveway. Hayden walked over to his desk and hit the power button in his laptop. While he didn't fit the typical image of a "nerd" he always considered himself to be slightly geeky. He absolutely loved technology. Anytime a new gadget came out, he was first in line to play with it, if not buy it.
He decided to check his email. He usually doesn't get anything remotely useful, but it never hurts to check. Just as he had thought, nothing. Sure, he had sale adds from various internet retailers and numerous "meet hot singles in your area" messages, but nothing pertinent. He was tempted to click on one of the singles web pages, but decided against it.
"Those are for desperate people," he thought to himself, "I'm not desperate, I just haven't found myself yet." He had this argument in his head several times before. He had never had any type of interpersonal relationship. His friends all kidded him constantly about it. One even asked if he was "sure about not being gay." Hayden just shrugged it off and went along with all of their taunts because he knew it was all in good fun. But little did they know that Hayden had a secret that they had almost stumbled upon.
It was about a year ago that Hayden came to the realization that he was different from the rest of his friends. Not a bad different, but different nonetheless. He realized that he was in fact more attracted to men than women. In order to keep the status-quo, Hayden kept this to himself. He in no way wanted to be the center of attention anywhere.
Just as he was about to close the web browser, he heard the distinct sound of an incoming mail message. He looked at his inbox. It was a message from his Calculus teacher:
Y'all,
I hope you have had a great summer vacation. I just wanted to remind you that the class scheduled for this afternoon has been cancelled. We will be starting tomorrow instead. Enjoy your last day of break! I look forward to meeting you all tomorrow afternoon.
Regards,
Ryne Calloway
Hayden had heard that name somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Great," Hayden thought, "This is going to bug me for the rest of the day."
He finished getting dressed. He then went downstairs and prepared to wash his car. He liked to do this either early in the morning or later in the evening so the sun doesn't dry the soap on the car before he has a chance to rinse it off. He pulled the hose out to the drive way and prepared the buck of soapy water that he would use. He then grabbed a wash mitt and went to work.
Hayden was meticulous when it came to his car. Everything had to be perfect. He began to run the soapy mitt over the smooth curves of his black Pontiac Grand Prix, paying close attention to every little crevice that could be hiding dirt. After about 45 minutes of washing with the mitt, Hayden went for the wheels, polishing each one of them by hand. After he had finished polishing the wheels he began waxing the entire car. By the time Hayden had finished, it was after lunch and his stomach was letting him know.
He went into the kitchen worn out and pretty sweaty. He warmed up some leftover spaghetti from dinner last night, ate and took his second shower of the day. After a refreshing shower, Hayden decided he would relax and do one of his favorite things, play the piano.
He had been playing since he was six years old. His grandmother had forced him to go to lessons. At first he hated it, but then he realized the remedial properties that it had. It allowed him to escape from life for the few moments that he was playing. The only things that mattered were the way his fingers flowed across the keys and how his feet pressed down on the pedals. He loved it. He started with his favorite, Billy Joel's Piano Man, then on to Only the Good Die Young. He had been playing for what felt like only fifteen minutes, when he heard the familiar voice of his mother calling up the stairs.
"Hayden, I'm home!"
"I hear ya mom, I'll be right down," Hayden yelled back. He then made his way down the stairs.
His mother, Victoria Clarkson, was a well-known Oncologist that traveled across the country at the requests of her many patients. She had just returned yesterday from California to check on a patient who wished to remain anonymous. She's had her work cut out for her.
"How was work today mom?" Hayden asked.
"Oh it was busy, but it was good to be back at my own desk for a change." She replied. "How was your day?"
"Quiet, but I enjoyed it. It was nice to relax a bit before going back to school tomorrow." He said.
"Ahh yes, senior year of high school, you know it seems like it was just yesterday that I was changing your diapers." She said with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, yeah, I know I've grown up too fast." He said jokingly. "You remind me every chance you get."
"Well, I've found out today that I have to go to Indiana tomorrow. I've been requested by one of my colleagues to give a second opinion on one of his patients." She sighed, "So, I won't be home for your first day. I actually have to leave fairly early in the morning, so I'll be gone when you wake up."
"That's okay mom, I think by now I can take care of myself." He replied
Hayden had gotten used to being home alone. His mom had started traveling for work when he was 15. His dad had left when he was one, he was an only child. So coming home to an empty house had become something that he expected. At one point, his mother had asked his grandmother to move in, but she refused, saying that she didn't want her daughter to support her.
"I know you can, but it's a mother's job to worry about her children." She said, "I'm going to make dinner so don't go too far."
Hayden decided to go into the living room and watch a little TV before dinner. After flipping through a few channels, he settled on his favorite show, Modern Marvels.
It wasn't long before the odors of a home cooked meal began wafting his way and his mother was calling him to the kitchen table. They both sat down and enjoyed a dinner of grilled chicken breasts, green beans and au gratin potatoes. His mother was a fantastic cook and it seems as if that skill had been passed down to Hayden himself because he was pretty handy with a spatula.
After dinner was finished, he kissed his mother good night and loaded the dish washer. After he was confident that the kitchen was thoroughly cleaned, he proceeded to his own bedroom where he turned on some music and sat down with a book. It wasn't long until Hayden had fallen fast asleep with the book still open to the last page he had been reading.
-- Alright y'all, this is where you tell me whether you like to story so far or not. It may be kind of slow as I develop the main characters, but bear with me. I promise things will get better as I continue. I am open of any sort of criticism whatsoever, so please contact me. Email me at elmquja@gmail.com, thanks!--