Icarus

Chapter 11

The Race Track, Hardwicke

September 2nd, 2015

Midnight 

Hardwicke was a strange little place once the lights went out, I never really thought about it much as a teenager. But winding my way through the mostly quiet streets as an adult I found the occasional bar or club still open, with queues of eager young adults hoping to dupe the bouncers into letting them into such places. I was unsure as to when down town Hardwicke had become such a popular place, or if it had always been that way.

 Growing up, I had largely been naive and unaware of what was going on around me. I guess I had fallen in with the right crowd during school and high school, there had been very little pressure to fit in or follow trends. 

Currently I was brooding over my thoughts out at the old race track, it looked to have been abandoned a few years ago. The wire meshing was coming away from its support poles, a few of the bleachers were rotten and broken, there were tufts of grass growing around the race track and I was fairly sure I had seen a few critters roosting in the old lights.

Sure, sitting out at an abandoned race track at midnight by myself wasn't the wisest thing I had ever done. But being back in Hardwicke hadn't exactly been the wisest move I had made either, it seemed though that I wasn't very wise at the moment and was happy enough to accept that. 

"I thought I might find you out here." I screamed at the sudden intrusion of another person into my quiet space, but recovered quickly when I realized I was in no physical danger. 

"What are you doing here Samuel?" Trying not to cringe I kept my gaze from straying to the man that had forced me to be a lot more introspective than I ever had been. Yes, I did sound like a sulky five year old when I asked the question but that couldn't be helped. I knew I had been in the wrong the moment Sam had confronted me but hadn't wanted to admit it and still did not want to admit it. 

 "I was just out for a nice, evening bike ride and figured I'd head this way. What are you doing here?" In spite of my mood I found myself smiling, a response like that used to be very typical of Samuel that I had almost forgotten he had once been a joker. 

 "Seriously though, I was getting a little worried when you hadn't shown up back at your parents home and figured you were either still at the hotel getting blind drunk with Beth or you were sitting out here over thinking things." Drinking with Beth? Taking a good, long look at Samuel I could barely make out a broad smile on his face and found myself scoffing at the suggestion. There was no way in hell I was going to include Beth in my group of friends, let alone include her in my drinking group of friends. 

 "Have you turned into a stalker now Samuel?" I teased, it was automatic. For some weird reason we had fallen back into Rose and Sam, the inseparably dorky duo from high school, it felt comfortable, normal and one of those 'oh so right' moments that I had longer for since leaving Hardwicke.

 Samuel laughed at my joke before coming to sit beside me. "Fine, I admit to a bit of stalking but only because I wanted to apologize for what I said and how I said it at dinner. You didn't really deserve it, I was getting a little frustrated by the fact that I was getting nowhere nearer to what we'd had in the past. Ya know? You just...I don't know. You always seem to have this wall up around you whenever I come into the picture and occasionally, just when I distract you enough I get to see the old you...the real you. But in the blink of an eye it's gone again and I'm stuck with this stranger who hates me." I sighed, Sam seemed so sad about the entire thing. I guess now was as good a time as any to air all dirty laundry that I had been clinging onto for dear life and I so wished this would be easier on Sam than I imagined it would be.