Addicted

The Last

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Shane slammed the door, taking in a deep breath and feeling like complete shit, his mind weighing with the thought of the stack of gifts in the corner of his bedroom that he refused to touch. He leaned his back against the closed door, his hand still on the knob as he heard Jake clear his throat. "I can put her back in the bath and you can spray her with the hose," he suggested in a laugh, not completely serious, but knowing his sister's attitude, was probably something he liked doing. "Or you can go back in there and let her yell at you." Jake was sitting on Maree's porch swing, part of his sandwich still in hand as he looked out onto the property. "Either way, you only got half an hour left for your lunch break." Jake stood from his spot, eating the last of his sandwich. He clapped his hand on Shane's shoulder then walked down the porch steps, disappearing behind the ranch house.

Shane took another deep breath, unsure of how he was supposed to react to anything happening in front of him. Maree had let him back in, served him food, gotten sober; in return he'd hurt her, unknowingly by not opening her gifts. It must've been something that she thought was really important for her to know that he didn't open them. He kept thinking of the gifts as he started his walk down the farm towards the tree line exit. His feet moving without thinking, pushing branches out of his way on the path as he continued towards the ranch. His pace picking up as the ranch came into sight, jogging the rest of the way. Shane walked through the ranch door, shutting it behind him and going straight to his room, leaving the door open, and sat down on his bed, looking at the stack of presents. He decided that the handheld Mega Station was going to be the last thing he opened, since he already knew what it was, and started with the smallest. The small gift box was wrapped in blue shimmer paper with a lime green bow, he opened it to reveal a pair of keys with "home" engraved on the head. Shane sighed, turning the keys over in his hand as his eyes started to burn with tears. He choked them back, managing to grab the rest of the presents, unwrapping them to find normal gifts: socks, a game for his regular mega station, a wallet. The largest gift was a jacket, that Shane pulled out of the box to get a better look at when realizing it had been signed by the Tunnelers gridball team on the lime green sections, the biggest signature being his favorite player, Blake Wheeler, with a heart felt note about wishing him the best life. Shane starred at the jacket in his hands with awe. He wondered how much Maree had spent between all of the presents he and Jas had received. He carefully folded the jacket back up and placed it back in the gift box, electing to worry about framing it later. He reached for the last gift, letting out a sigh with the feeling that the keys were probably the only thing she worried he hadn't seen.

Shane tore at the wrapping paper slowly, now thinking of the walk back to the farm to work. He flipped the game over in his hand, realizing he had opened the box upside down. On the front of the box an envelope was tape with Maree's writing and the words "hope this keeps you busy." In the envelope was a brochure from a rehab center in the Calico Dessert and an appointment card for Maree, dated on the day after Winter Star. He let out a groan looking at it, and feeling his chest tighten at the thought of their fight and him completely ignoring the gift for weeks. With the brochure was a small piece of purple paper saying, "I can't wait to spend my future with you." Shane put his head in his hands, dropping the paper on the floor. Realization washing through him as he glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table. He shoved the keys into his pocket and grabbed the gift he had intended for Maree, leaving the wrapping paper and other presents laying on the bed.

Jake was waiting for him with the van parked in front of Maree's farmhouse, crates surrounding the back of the van. "Alright, dude. Load 'er up," Jake smacked the side of the van.

Shane rounded the front van, "I gotta do something first."

Jake ran around the opposite side to get in front of Shane, "Bro, you're still on the clock. Time's money." Jake put his finger on his wrist to symbolize a watch, starring down at Shane. Shane rolled his eyes and let out a huff, turning around to the back of the van and the crates of fruits beside it. "Load it up. Once you're done with that, you can be done for the day." Jake had a sinister smirk on his face as he watched Shane sigh and begin loading the produce into the van, grunting each time he had to bend over. He joined the produce load up, talking about the crops that are coming in, the potential new chickens for the coop, the new cow, pig and rabbits, Shane only half listening to anything and just wanted to talk to Maree.