The Untitled Story

Chapter 1

          All was going well for Aimee for the last 10 years or so since she had decided at 21 to leave and venture on her own. She had made new friends, attended a local trade school to become a cake decorator. She had always been able to do bake, but this gave her something else to look forward too. A few boy friends here and there, but nothing too serious, nothing at all like what she had longed for, anyway.

Aimee sat on the steps of her apartment, that hot breeze of South Florida whipping through the corridor, and all in what seemed to be a few moments in time, but only a matter of seconds, she pulled out her notebook and started writing:

"Days like this, I long to be home, the crisp smell of fall lingering in the air as a mild breeze swimimg past my hair. The autumn leaves slowly changing into vibrant reds while the earthy undertones creep up from below. The sounds change from hummingbirds to crickets, and slowly fade to nothingness as the nights become darker and faster than the summer before. Behind the whistling trees sits the harvest moon, big and bright, clearly visible now that the trees are thin. It's just on days like today I long to sit alone outside and feel the earth touch my bare skin, the smells will forever linger in my mind, until the day I can reach the fall, I will dream, peaceful crisp dreams of how autumn makes me fall."

After a few moments of silence, she picked herself up and headed back inside.

She stood perplexed by the small apartment, its overly modern kitchen, and high end appliances. She turned to look down the hallway, paused, took a step back and looked into the mirror for the first time in what felt like years.

"Do I even know you anymore?"

"Why are we still here?"

"i-i- I don't know why I am even trying to talk to you!"

She turned and continued to her room. As she stood in the doorway, she glanced over how simple she was, how tiddy her room was, and that even though she hated Florida with a passion, there was only one thing that could make her leave this place.

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Aimee had gone back home to the farm after a phone call from her father saying that they needed more help on the land.

Her peaceful childhood home that held so much pride to her parents was in disarray and had become more of a burden that was laying into what little pride they had left for it. Many farm hands had found higher paying jobs once the cattle prices rose, and Greg not being able to buy the stud cattle at the low prices from auction had left them little choice.

The old farm was not doing as well as it had 15 years before, the farm equipment, rusted but still running, was about as outdated as the home. Milly began falling into to old age, not as graceful as most, losing partial eye site due to the diabetes. She had run the family quilt shop, making custom quilts for the residents of the small town of Gunner.

With all the disruptions happening to her family, she felt like she did not have a choice this time. Indiana would always be her domestic threshold, no matter how far away she tried to go. A piece of her would always come running back. This time, she planned to stay for good.

"Maybe. Maybe I can make it here if I really try to my heart back into this place. Probably not, fuck."

She continued the internal argument as she walked around the property. Debating why he didn't sell this place off when the guys from state came down.

Instead, he chased them off with a damn shot gun

"Get the fuck off my land you no-good white-collar bastards!" He kept yelling as they got inside their new company car, and let's just say this-

They never came back.

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Running with the grace of a toddler learning to walk. She scuttled back to her room, throwing on the pant she had worn yesterday.

Scrambling around the room she looked for that one missing shoe. She procced to stand in front of the mirror brushing down her wrinkled shirt, nervous as to the look she was about to receive.

She debated going downstairs for in that moment the warm feeling of affection covered her body again, yet an anxious feeling of impending disappointment. However, she proceeded to walk down the back stairwell to the galley kitchen.

Greg and Milly were sitting at the kitchen table, as they did every morning sipping on their hot coffee. Aimee looked around confused. Before even greeting her parents' good morning, she asked who they were talking to before she came downstairs. Milly smirked as Greg replied,

"it was Tucker our old farm hand".

Greg took another sip of coffee as his eyes glared at Aimee across the brim of the old white coffee cup. He proceeded to ask,

"Do you remember him?"

Aimee tried her best to keep her face calm and not turn into a plum. Thankfully Mama always knew how to handle Greg's haze towards his daughter.

Milly quickly stood trying to cease the conversation that was about to begin as she asked, "Aimee would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Sorry Mama, I have some affairs to handle in town before" she trailed off as she noticed the wind picking up outside.

"Papa, are we expecting any weather today?"

"No, not that was on the radio."

Could it have been that it was the fact that she hadn't been home in so long? Or it was the changing of seasons that made her question the hanging grey in the sky that morning. It all felt so different now. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but she would know before long exactly why she felt that way.

Milly piped up, "Amiee, you said you had go head into town?"

"Yes, Mama, I do. I have to change my address, pick up a few hygiene items from the drug store." She stammered on going on about her list of things and errands she needed to run all the while not ever forgetting about Tucker topic, as she referred to it, brought up not that long ago.

She had finally motioned to the front door. Feeling limber, or more like jelly she thought, she set out to the Jeep, it was an older one, but she owned it and never really like the idea of a payment. Tan was the color, not too old, but showed its age in the design.

Of course, she hadn't really cared about someone else's option on the subject either way. She had paid it off after the 4-year car loan was finished, and it only had 50,000 miles on it, engine isn't even broken in, yet, she mused to herself. Living alone all those years gave her tons of practice in the subject.

As she slid the shifter into reverse and started down the gravel driveway headed to Leeks Road, she knew there were only two ways to go, Left and take the shorter way into town get in, get out and be back before lunch, or take the Right. The right-hand turn that led onto Leeks Road she knew was for the truckers, and farming equipment, but would still take her to town.

"Little off the beaten path it is", she murmured to herself ,"it may take me a little while longer, but I can use this time to figure out what Papa was getting at this morning. That old man sure knows how to get under my skin. If only he could have just let me go without pressuring me into talking."

She continued talking to herself for about a mile down Leeks Road, rolled down the windows and finally shut off the noise inside her mind.