Infamy

A Day to Forget

Ryan ran.

And he ran.

And he ran, and he ran and he ran.

Not stopping, he ran down the old road that led back to the city, he did not know what he was going to do. He wasn't thinking at all, his head was spinning, nothing was working, he was numb. Ryan sniffed as he ran, tears stained on his face.

"Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole," Ryan repeatedly moaned, "Carrie, Carrie, Carrie, Carrie."

His steps felt heavy, as if they were anchors lodging into the sand on the ocean floor, but he still managed to lift them up and throw them to their next pace. Not a sign of life was in eyesight as he ran down the mountain in the dark. As he ran, Ryan began seeing faint lights in the distance, the city.

"Carrie, Carrie, Carrie," Ryan mumbled, "Izzy, Izzy, Izzy...Izzy.....Izzy!!!"

Ryan wailed as he fell to his knees, his thoughts left and returned sporadically, and now he was thinking about his poor daughter, his oh so unfortunate daughter who had her life unjustly taken away prematurely. It wasn't fair, none of it was.

"WHYYY!!" Ryan screamed out at the moon and the lights in the distance, he punched the ground in emotional frustration. Then he slowly got back onto his feet and began running again. Where was he going? He didn't know. Away. From Carrie. That is what she wanted.

The lights grew closer as he continued his helpless jogging, and the roads progressively grew less rugged and more refined. That's when Ryan trotted past the first people he saw since his wife, two men on the front porch of a nearby home, smoking and discussing. Ryan wiped his tears as he continued running, the men took notice of Ryan but decided to overlook it.

As he approached the city, Ryan slowed down to a moseying walk. He walked over to the nearest store, a sports equipment department, Ryan entered the building without any purpose. The building was quite large, but nobody was shopping, the only other people present were employees. He walked and walked, down each aisle, browsing for no reason, why was he here? He didn't know, but he was there.

As he walked by the aisle of baseball bats, his thoughts of Izzy came back to the premise of his mind. He fell to his knees, crouching his head onto the floor, clutching his hair in stress.

Izzy....

An employee turned into the aisle and saw Ryan.

"Sir?" she asked with concern, Ryan did not respond, she repeated, "sir? Are you alright?"

As she quickly walked over to Ryan, another thought rushed through his head.

Cole...

Ryan felt anger pulse through his veins like a shot.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Ryan shouted as he grabbed a nearby bat and slammed it against the woman's head in rage. She couldn't even let out a scream before she was knocked unconscious. Ryan bolted up onto his feet and swung the bat against a nearby shelf in fury. The metal shelf rung at a high pitch as Ryan quickly slouched over to the aisle with treadmills and other indoor exercise machines. In a stupor that almost seemed like he was beyond wasted on alcohol; he swung the bat towards an exercise bike and bashed the center. Causing it to have a major dent, Ryan furiously bashed it again and again, without stopping, until the bike fell over, destroyed in the center.

Then his thoughts flew back to Carrie, he froze in regret, what was he going to do now? Suddenly, Ryan heard a man yell, "HEY! STOP!"

Ryan flicked his head to see a man, who looked like the manager, running at him, seething with anger. In a panic, Ryan bolted for the exit, as he passed the cash registers and the exit door, the alarm of an unscanned item echoed throughout the building. Hearing this set Ryan off again, he howled in fury as he swung the bat through the display windows in front of the building. Shattering the glass into thousands of pieces. He ran to the other display window and swung at it screaming, "COLE!!! HOW COULD YOU!!!"