To The Moon and Back

𝟎𝟒 | 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐱𝐲

G A L A X Y
A large grouping of stars. Galaxies are found in a variety of sizes and shapes. Our own Milky Way galaxy is spiral in shape and contains several billion stars. Some galaxies are so distant that their light takes millions of years to reach the Earth.

T O  T H E
M O O N & B A C K

I ROLLED OUT from beneath the car that I was currently working on, oil covering my hands as I stood up, wiping my palms across the fabric of my pants, then swiping the sweat from my forehead. 

"She done?" my boss asked as he entered the garage, a can of Coca Cola in his hand.

I nodded. "Yeah, I fixed their exhaust leak but this things old, I think it's fucked." I offered my opinion, glancing over at the nineteen-sixty-six Toyota Corolla. "It needs a shit ton of stuff done to it. By the time they get it all fixed, they may as well buy a new car."

Raven nodded, swiping his black hair out of his face. Despite being in his mid-fifties, he didn't look a day over forty. "Yeah, I think it's sentimental or something." he replied, walking over to stand next to me, analyzing the brown painted car. "The owner was saying it was his grandma's car. Better off taking it to the wrecking yard if you ask me."

I nodded in agreement. He wasn't wrong. Fuck sentimental value, it's useless. With the money they will end up spending on the exhaust leak which I'm sure is going to break again, their broken brake lights, not to mention the overall functioning of the car—or lack thereof—they could purchase a cheap, second-hand car.

"They're fucking stupid. Next time they come in here I'll give them my professional opinion and—"

Raven cut me off with his loud laughter. "Your professional opinion comes off a bit harsh most the time, son." he continues to laugh. "But you are your father's son after all."

Everyone that knows my dad always says that. Apparently, I am just like my father was when he was my age—both looks-wise and personality-wise—I see it in the physical features department, but my uncle Hale told me about all the times my dad fucked my mom over and how he did some really fucked shit as a teenager. Good to know that he got better though, I don't really see that in the books for me.

I think Raven knows that too. He's the only person around here that doesn't treat me like glass. He knows I'm fucked. Just as he knows that the only good distraction that I have is fixing up cars for him. I don't have any qualifications that should allow me to work here but I'm good at what I do and he knows that, besides he's known me since I was a child because he's married to one of my mother's good friends Sabine, so he trusts me and lets me work here part-time.

"Close up for me, will you?" he pats me on the shoulder and I nod. "See you tomorrow, good work today, mate."

He leaves and I am left alone. This is the only place that I enjoy being. There are cars, it's quiet and big, no one can find me here unless I tell them. I can smoke here, do whatever I want.

I cleaned up all the tools that I used today, closing up the garage before walking upstairs to the loft which overlooked the mechanic portion of this place itself, cascading over the cars and countless tools, seating myself down on one of the two couches.

I reach into my back pocket, pulling out both my phone and the little zip-lock bag, placing my phone down on the surface of the glass coffee table, then opening the small, transparent bag, and tipping a decent amount of white powder onto my screen.

Using a business card for Raven's Car Garage, I divide the sugar-like substance into three small lines, then holding one nostril closed, I sniff it up my nose, and then the next one, and then my phone lights up, vibrating loudly against the glass and I groan as my mother's name lights up on the screen. Quickly snorting the third and final—for now—line, I slide the answer button across and hold the speaker to my ear.