The Scientist

The Spot

In a corner of the world often overlooked, there was a park. Commonly named, remotely located in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, only a small city of locals and some others even knew of its existence. Behind the park was a short, grassy path, overgrown in the summer, making poison ivy a definite if you traveled to the spot in shorts. Walk back far enough, and there is a bridge, train tracks above you, and a creek deep enough to swim in ran as far as the eye could see.

    There was also an overpass, all four lanes of the highway running across on the right side, graffiti plastered all over the bridge and the under passage. Most of it was vulgar, middle school shenanigans, but along the posts of the train tracks, there were several, colorful, interesting paintings. It was sort of like a town treasure, everyone loved to hang out under the tracks, the adrenaline rush as a train rushed overhead, all other noise cancelled out over the roar of the engine, and the shaking beneath you.

    I'd done the paintings my first year in high school, finding the spot after theatre rehearsal one day. My nana rarely let me take the car, but when she did, I made every excuse to stay out. She didn't mind; she trusted me, I stayed out of trouble. I kept my grades and my actions in order, my flaws? Graffiti and cigarettes. I had friends all over the county, willing to buy me smokes as long as I paid for them, so despite Nana's concerns, I had them on hand at all times, never once asking her to buy them for me. That made her feel a little less convicted.

    It had been several years since I'd returned to the spot, now well into my twenties, 22 to be exact; I was driving the same exact car I used to keep out late in my teens, a birthday gift from my Nana and Papa, the nostalgia hitting hard every time I was in the drivers seat. As a grown woman, life had been a struggle. I'd dealt with depression, and bi polar disorder, driving away all of my friends. I spent my time with my mother, staying in the cottage behind her house. I'd stayed there all of my life, the solitude and peace of being at home. Comfortable. The woods surrounded me at night and it was always dark and mysterious, and I loved it. I was buried in the trees, the gushing waters of the creek behind the house comforting my slumber. I loved my small town.

    I came from a family of strange traditions and simple living. We lived modern, sure, with our technology and our video games, but as for our way of life, we were old fashioned. My mother had turned me onto cast iron skillets, and I'd become a little bit of a chef, loving to cook and bake as much as my mama did. As for heat, my mother and stepdad had bought a wood stove for their home, and I'd done the same. We cut our wood, tending to the horses and several outside dogs, as well as indoor pets and a few chickens.

    My brother bred and sold rabbits, making petty cash for silly high school things, basketball and girls being his only worries for the moment. We really were plain, but we were all so different. We all had goals, and aspirations, but we were simple to please, loving the smallest of things. I worked part time in a 24/7 dinner called Pete's Pies and Other Things, reading and exploring in my spare time. I often spent my days in the woods, journal in hand, listening to the sounds of the forest. That was my favorite place to be. I'd just recently gotten a puppy, a Belgian Sheppard named Nero. He was named partly after my Trekkie fandom, partly after the Roman Emperor Nero because I was a history fanatic, driving everyone in my family crazy with my fun facts and my knowledge and opinions, and if I was anything, it was definitely opinionated.

    Relationship after relationship, I was finding myself unsatisfied, lacking connection, and solitude being my safe haven. I couldn't find anyone I could truly connect with, and when I had, they were all significantly older than me. It drove my family nuts, my fascination with older men. I'd been thrown out of school my senior year for dating a teacher in another district. It was bullshit, the teacher kept his job, and I got my GED. I was fine, by myself. I didn't mind it. I never had, I could always occupy my time with something else, reading, writing. I had a world full of adventuring to do.