Diagnosed with a terminal ailment, Ashley Grayson divorces his husband Jonathan in hopes he will be able to move on. But plans go south when Ash ends up falling in love first, with the last person he expected...
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"Papa! Paaaapaaaaa! Where are you!"
A small little boy calls out to the surrounding forest as he walks on the side of the road. Nearly invisible to the passing cars in a small black raincoat and boots to fit his small body.
Clutching his small stuffed tiger close to his chest, Finley Grayson takes a few more steps in the dark. Careful to stray a small distance from the main road so he doesn't get hit by a car like his parents had warned him too many times to count but more than enough to remember.
It had started when he couldn't sleep, there were too many thoughts trailing through his mind of multiple adventures he had wanted to take the next day. Every time he closed his eyes tight, the tired feeling he felt in the bath had dissipated and his energy was back in full swing. He didn't want to bother his older brother because that would lead to more trouble than it was worth.
So instead he went to go find his Papa. Because maybe...just maybe, the reason why he was gone for so long was that he only appeared when Finley was fast asleep. But when he opened his parents' bedroom door, he found it vacant of all life, Including his daddy.
So Fin took it upon himself to go on a mission. He called it operation roar, and the goal was to find the place where his papa was being held captive, and bring him home so his daddy could be happy again.
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Finley's eyes were filled with wonder as he treads the main road, randomly deciding that maybe it would be better to walk with one foot in front of the other to balance on the edge where the asphalt meets the grass and just beyond the grass lay a forest of darkness.
A scary forest in the eyes of the six-year-old, one he didn't want to cross unless he absolutely had to.
The ground was still squishy from the early rainfall and Fin's interest quickly turned from walking with one foot in front of the other to trying to press the soles of his little boot so hard they made an imprint.
Finley had many conspiracy theories about his papa's strange disappearance.
The last time he left, Fin could at least see him every once and awhile. But this time he was gone and he never saw his papa at all.
The passing of time was a new concept to the six-year-old, and although Miss Higgins had drilled it into his brain that there were 12 months in a year, the three months his papa had been gone felt like a lifetime.
Every time he asked his daddy where Papa had gone, there was only a sad look in return and the talk of his papa was very sick and he's getting better somewhere else.
But the somewhere else had never been fully explained.
He could have been abducted by aliens for all Finley knew but his worst fear was his papa had gone missing or disappeared and his daddy just couldn't find him. Which is why it was Finley's turn to try.
He had strayed too far from his house and had lost his way, so now he was walking on the side of the road in the hopes he might either find his home once more or bump into the strange spaceship that had taken his Papa, along the way.
A small cough escapes his body but the cough turns to a louder violent cough that rakes through his body and he doubles over in pain.
His small hands grip the tiger a little bit tighter as he coughs, small tears find themselves squeezes from his tear ducts and he wipes them from his cheeks. A copper taste left in his mouth as he spits on the side of the road, but was unable to see in the dark as he continues walking.
A small rusting grabs his attention and he gasps as he turns to see a small rabbit.
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"Hello, little bunny! Do you know where my papa went? He's very tall, he has like brown hair, and he's very funny. At least my daddy thinks so, but I don't understand a lot of his jokes. He says I'll understand them when I'm older but that doesn't really help me now." Fin says as bends down to get a closer look at the rabbit, which seemed to have more answers than him. The rabbit tilts its little head before dodging into the forest.
"Wait! Do you know who I'm talking about! Is my Papa there!" He calls after it, rushing forward and into the dark forest to catch up.
"Wait!" He yelled as he ran forward before tripping and falling over a log, impossible to see in the dead of night.
Finley screams as he falls with a loud snap and a thud as he hit the mud. He tries to get back up but he can't and starts to panic when he looks around and realizes he couldn't see the road anymore.
"Papa! Papa, you can come out now! I need you!" He calls into the dark for as long as he can before his voice runs raspy and his throat starts to ache. Feeling helpless and alone, he curls up in a ball, clutching the stuffed tiger close.
"Papa, come find me." he cries into the darkness, but his cries go unheard, and his tears pour to the ground without notice.
****
SIdenote
WE HAVE FOUND THE FACE OF FINLEY!!!!
Meet Young Finley Oliver Grayson played by Raphael Alejandro
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