ValleyVille

Patch

Patchs POV
I crossed the town line into Raiders Valley. I havent been here in eighteen years. Being here again is like coming home years after moving out. Its so weird. Its familiar but yet its so different now. I parked at a gas station and went inside. Ive been driving for a while and Im hungry. I went inside and went to the bathroom. When I finished my business, I went to wash my hands and for the first time in a long time, I saw myself in the mirror. Marshalls right. I do look like shit. I look like a hobo that would stand on the side of the street with a can in a brown paper bag asking people for money. I sighed. I look just as exhausted as I feel. I dried my hands and left. I bought a few things and left. I got back in the car and looked at my phone. Sixteen unread messages. "Sorry Wyatt. Not yet" I say.

I got a hotel room. I scrolled through every social media platform I could find, trying to find this woman. Ive been here for days. I dont remember much about her. That night is a drunken blur. She was a little shorter than me. She had long slick black hair. She had a voice like an angel. I dont remember much else. After a few hours I gave up and went to bed. Ill figure out something else tomorrow.

Im walking around town. I dont even know if she still lives here. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. I stopped seeing the texture of the concrete change below me. I looked up to see the bar I met her at. The flashbacks in my head are insane right now. I quickly turned the corner and crossed the street. I want to be as far from that place as possible. I kept my head down as I walked. I walked straight into someone. "Shit! Sorry" I say. We both bent down to grab her bag. "Its ok. Dont worry about it" she says. I handed her the bag and we looked up at each other. Our eyes widened and we stood up. "You" she says. "You" I said back. "What are you doing here?" She asks. I stared at her in shock for a moment. "I- uh- I was looking for you" i say. She raised an eyebrow. "Why?" She asks. "Our son-" she cut me off by raising her hand. "Your son" she corrected me. "Look, he finally asked about you after years and he got pissed at me for what I told him. He wants to meet you. He wants to know about you but I dont know anything about you. He needs you" I say. "Well too bad! I gave him to you because I dont want kids. And I definitely dont want to do anything with you" she says. "You think I want to be here?! Im doing this for my son. Im doing this because I love him and I would do anything for him, including coming back to the place where I ruined my own life, just to find the one person who makes me regret everything" I say. "The person whos name you never even learned?" She asks. I looked at her sadly. "Yes" I say. She stared at me for a moment. "Go home Patch" she says. "You remember my name?" I ask. "How could I forget? Just go home. You dont belong here" she says. "Just give me your name" I say. She groaned. "Zephyr. Now go" she says. I shoved my hands in my pockets and walked away. I stopped and turned around. "For what its worth, Im sorry" I say.

Zephyrs POV
I came back to my apartment. I slammed my bag on the counter. He has the audacity to show up after what he did to me. My life was ruined after him. My mother disowned me and all my friends left me. I havent been able to keep a relationship for more than a month. I live in a shitty studio apartment. He wants me to see my son? Why should I? I never wanted him before, what makes him think Id want to see him now? I opened my laptop and searched him up on Instagram. Patch doesnt post much. The last thing he posted was his son. I clicked on the photo. It says happy birthday Wyatt. He looks exactly like me. Well, besides the fact that he's a boy and he has pure white hair like his dad. Other than that he looks just like me. Thats my son. Great. Now I have to find Patch again.

Patchs POV
Someone knocked on my hotel door. I opened it. "Zephyr?" I ask. "Shut up" she says coming in. I closed the door behind her. "How did you find me?" I ask. "You look like you havent left your hosue in 7 years so you could probably only afford a hotel room and not be able to rent an apartment. Theres only one hotel in this town and all I had to do was look at your Instagram page to get your last name and then ask for your room number" she says. Im impressed. "Wow ok" I say. "I wanna meet him. I want to see my son. I want to see Wyatt" she says. "How do you know his name?" I ask. "I stalked your profile" she says. "Are you sure? The drive to ValleyVille is a couple days and I doubt you want to spend that much time in a car with me" I say. "I dont, but Im not going for you" she says. I nodded. "Fair enough" I say. "Can you pick me up tomorrow?" She asks. I nod. "Ill send you my address on Instagram. Bye" she says leaving. "Bye" I say after the door closes.

I used to come to this town all the time. Mostly to escape my father because he always wanted me to get a job. I would come here for weeks at a time and party hard. It was quite the experience. Now Im outside Zephyrs apartment waiting for her to come down so I can drive her to see our son. Honestly, seeing her again makes me feel strange. Noy because of what I did but because this is the first time Ive gotten to really look at her. Shes beautiful. Shes the most beautiful woman Ive ever seen. The worst thing is, I could have had her, but now theres no way. Ive lost my chance. Im gonna die alone and I dont even care. She came down and got in the car. We didnt say anything. I just pulled out of the parking lot and drove out.

I made a pit stop for gas. "Any advice?" She asks walking up to me at the pump. "Not really. He doesn't want to see me even more than you didnt" I say. "He's really that mad huh?" She asks. I sighed. "I should have told him earlier. Its just so hard to bring up" I say. "I get that" she says. I looked over at her. We stared at each other for a moment. "Can you tell me about him?" She asks. "He's a cop. He works for my brother. He's always with his cousin, or his bestfriend. I honestly dont believe that their just friends. His bestfriend is this girl that he's always arguing with. Everyone but them seems to see that they're much more than friends" I say. She laughed. I smiled a little. "Has he said anything since you left?" She asks. "Yeah but I havent read it. I dont want to see the anger in his texts" I say. "What if somethings wrong? You should at least read them" she says. "Ill get too it tonight. I cant drive at night, Ill pass out" I say. She laughed. "Ok grandpa" she says. "I stay up working at night. My schedule has been so fucked up recently" I say. "I can see that. Youd look like a pedophile if your hair was shorter" she says. "Gee thanks" I say sarcastically. "You're welcome" she says getting back in the car.

Its getting late. "Are you pulling over soon?" She asks. "Yeah." I say. I drove a bit more before pulling over. I cracked the two back windows open a little and turned off the car. "Are you ok?" I ask. "Yeah" she says. She reclined her seat and turned over. I reclined mine and stared at the ceiling. I snapped out of my trance about fifteen minutes later when a breeze blew through the car. I looked over at Zephyr. Shes shaking in her sleep. I sighed. Shes gonna kill me but Im not gonna let her freeze. I took off my jacket and put it over her. I looked at my phone and finally read Wyatts texts. The last text he sent shocked me. "Dad, Im still upset but Im not mad at you. I just want you to come home. I need you here. Please come back soon" he said. I texted him back. "Im on my way home" I said.

I woke up to a small cold metal slap to the face. "Ah!" I said grabbing my head. "Why was your jacket on me!" She yells. "You were freezing! Despite what you think, Im actually a nice person" I say. The zipper hit me in the head. I put my jacket back on and started the car. I stretched. "Thanks" she mumbled. I glanced at her. "You're welcome" I say.

I got a call while Im driving. The name popped up on the screen. "What the hell does he want?" I ask answering it. "Yes Mr. Mayor?" I ask. "What have you been doing? We haveng had a paper in two weeks and a lots gone down" he says. "Of course it has" i mumbled. "I cashed in my vacation days sir. Did you check your emails?" I ask. He clicked a few things. "Oh. Sorry Patch. Enjoy your vacation" he says hanging up. I let out a hard sigh after he hung up. "You work for the mayor?" Zephyr asked. "I write the local newspaper" I say. "Impressive" she says. "What do you do?" I ask. "Im a writer. I write fiction rather than fact but still" she says. "I guess thats one thing we can appreciate about each other" I say. "Yeah, surprisingly" she says. "We'll get there sometime tonight. Are you ready?" I ask. "As ready as Ill ever be" she says.