The Rise Of Us

Chapter 16: Puzzle Pieces

A few days later.....

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Amberlee gets done painting the painting of the Angel house that the customer wanted, her getting it done in a matter of days because of how late she has been staying in for work. She looks at her clock, seeing that it is ten at night. She hangs the painting up for it to dry, her going to grab her jacket and put it on and her bag and make her way out of the door.

She goes to her car, going to crank it up and begin driving. Ryder's words resonate with her greatly, his past resonates with her greatly, all that he had to go through.

And it makes her feel incredibly guilty, makes her feel incredibly guilty for letting Lucas do the things that he did to him in High School, makes her feel guilty for all of the backlash she gave to him and judging him on the spot, it makes her feel guilty for it all. It just seems like the puzzles all fit in together now. That is why he didn't give a damn about what people were saying about him when he was in High School at his age, because all he was worried about was his promise to his mother. That is why he never talks about his dad because he doesn't care to, the man being a prick. That is why he is so adamant on being respected on where he came from and proud of where he came from, because it made him who he was today and taught him to always do things for himself.

That is why he wanted to pay her, because he had to fight for every single step that he took, never doing anything for free and use to trading. That is why...he is always alone, that is why he enjoys walking because he was always alone and walking. It all just makes sense now and now it is there right in front of her, and it makes her realize that he is good, Ryder is a good person despite his past, despite the things that he had to do, because he did it for one thing.

Family.

And Amberlee respects that, no it may not have been a big family like hers but she can tell, his mother was his big family and he lost that, he lost that right in front of him. It pains Amberlee to think about that, it pains her to hear all that he had to go through in his life and still has to go through since his grandparents just died. She honestly wonders how in the hell he handles it all. How does did he handle constant abuse, on top of killing his father, on top of watching his mother be killed on top of loosing his grandparents?

Leaving him with no one.

Amberlee tells herself that is not about to happen, she isn't about to just let the guy be alone, he has been through to much to be alone. She thinks about the stories that Lucas always told her when Max lost Billy, how he wished that he was there for her more and how he should have tried harder and not let her push him away, how he should have noticed things sooner. Well now Amberlee notices things and she is going to act up on those things, she is already coming up with things in her head to do, and her first thing is probably something he doesn't want right now, but she is going to do anyways...

See him.

She turns and drive up the rocky path filed with dirt, her turning a little to reveal his trailer and the same tan Honda car that she saw whenever she followed it when Ryder was in the car. She opens her compartment in the car, comparing the license plate she wrote on the paper to the license plate she sees now, seeing that it is different.

"What the hell..." Amberlee trails off, her going to grab the pen and write the new license plate on the paper, knowing that is still the exact same car. After she is done she goes to turn off her car, her making her way out of it and going up to the door, beginning to knock on it. After a few minutes waiting she goes to knock again. "Ryder?!" She questions, going to knock again. "Your motorcycle is here I know you are in there!" She says before she knocks again. "Hello?!" She yells. "I'm just going to keep knocking until you come out!" She says before she begins to bang on the door repeatedly.